Rabbit hunting

[nmkid]

Rabbit hunting is upon us. Where do you live and how do bunnies taste?

 

[LAH]

Hillbilly bunnies taste great especially with potatoes and gravy.

 

[shortgrass]

In Western Oklahoma, cottontails taste kinda' like chicken. A couple of rabbit hunting Beagles and a .410 or 28g. with a modified barrel is loads of fun. Let the dogs run the plumb thickets and flush 'um out, where you can get a shot. I think you're allowed 10 per day.

 

[stacy]

I USE TO TAKE RABBITS HERE IN THE FOOTHILLS OF NC PUT THEM IN A BROWNING BAG WITH TATERS CARROTTS AND GRAVY AND BLACK PEPPER MIGHTY TASTE BACK IN THE DAY I GUESS TODAY U WOULD DO IT IN A CROC POT

 

[Bojo]

North western PA here.
We used to rabbit hunt almost non stop.
Beagles and Basset hounds in the family back then.
Hound dogs are long gone, most of the family either does not talk or has passed on to the happy hunting grounds.
Still often I can still here the baying of one of our beagles followed by the smells of wet beagle....
No other smell on this earth can smell like a wet beagle.

 

[joshb]

North western PA here.
We used to rabbit hunt almost non stop.
Beagles and Basset hounds in the family back then.
Hound dogs are long gone, most of the family either does not talk or has passed on to the happy hunting grounds.
Still often I can still here the baying of one of our beagles followed by the smells of wet beagle....
No other smell on this earth can smell like a wet beagle.

Try 8 wet beagles? Back when I was a kid, my dad raised them for sale. Sometimes we’d have 15 to twenty running around. We had fun during rabbit season, tho. The chorus of a pack of beagles after a rabbit is glorious. Haven’t done that in years. I sure miss it!

 

[mikeinct]

The Hell w the smell of a wet Beagle. My Buddies Wife makes a kitchen smell like Heaven cooking a rabbit. mike in ct

 

[Bojo]

She's not much of a paddler or a bunny hunter but one good float partner.

 

[centerlineseal]

Man, ... I ain't had Fried Rabbit in a long time. Gravy and mashed tators. Broken bones and/or shot.

That was livin!

 

[snert]

I'll hunt em,beagle or not. Been known to track them in the snow barking out loud to run them to a partner. (Yes, I confess i was poor and dedicated) Shoot em, gut em, skin em. But hate eating them. That was for the beagle or my partner.

 

[perazziguy]

Man, ... I ain't had Fried Rabbit in a long time. Gravy and mashed tators. Broken bones and/or shot.

That was livin!

Don't forget a little bit of rabbit hair!!!
Jonathan Taylor

 

[300_whisper]

How do you guys keep beagles from running away?? I had two I used to run in Georgia, but they would take off like bloodhounds after a mountain lion. I would spend the rest of my hunting trip crying trying to find my dogs! Lol

 

[KMart]

The "eating" rabbits that I grew up with here are called Swamp Rabbits. They are about half again larger than a cottontail and live in the woods and briar patches along fence lines and close to water. We hunted them with beagles, and would sometimes jump one when squirrel hunting. The most effective hunting was to use a one eyed dog at night.

The old ones were usually smothered in gravy and onions to make them tender, the young ones were fried. They are excellent in gumbo.

These rabbits are excellent swimmers. I was down in the woods one day shooting snakes along a pond with a .22 (great fun). One of the beagles followed me to the woods and while I had fun, he struck a trail. He made a big circle and was getting close and I heard noise coming through the palm meadows. A swamper came out and got in the pond and swam out to a cypress tree in the pond and rested up against the tree. The dog came out and lost the sent at the water. The dog left and the rabbit got out on the other side and went about his business.

 

[akajun]

How do you guys keep beagles from running away?? I had two I used to run in Georgia, but they would take off like bloodhounds after a mountain lion. I would spend the rest of my hunting trip crying trying to find my dogs! Lol

Shock collars, IDK where you would get mountain lion scent but deer urine trails can get them off of running deer. Before shock collars guys would take a deer hide or a rag soaked in urine and make a trail leading to a small mouse trap. They quickly learned that deer equaled a pop on the nose followed by a little roughing up.

 

[okie]

SE OK. They are fabulous. Here you might get lucky and get a few swamp rabbits--a grown one is at least twice the size of a cotton tail. I dont cull either one--both delecious!

 

[300_whisper]

The mountain lion thing was just an analogy. A comparison to what I experienced my beagles do. Thanks. That’s a good idea about the deer sent and shock collars.

 

[nmkid]

I have eaten rabbits from, California, Nevada, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Without a doubt, the best tasting came from southern New Mexico. There is a "mesquite" bush that grows in southern NM. and probably Southern Arizona. This bush puts a pod much like a green been. Late Summer the pod ripens and turns very sweet. The rabbit's feast on the bark of this bush and probably also eat the sweet pod. A sweetness is imparted on the rabbit meat that is very good.

 

[Ccrider]

How do you guys keep beagles from running away?? I had two I used to run in Georgia, but they would take off like bloodhounds after a mountain lion. I would spend the rest of my hunting trip crying trying to find my dogs! Lol

They likely were not running a rabbit. Rabbits usually turn and come back at some point. Fox and deer, not so much.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Wyoming here. Usually take 2-3 and smoke em..

 

[GSPV]

Way back in the lawless past, we would spotlight them in the turnip patch and shoot them in the head with a scoped 22 target rifle.

It sure would be easier nowadays with a Sightmark Wraith on my 25 cal Marauder PCP.