Questions about hunting bunny rabbits.

[dirtclod Az.]

Jackrabbits #1, cottontail #2
Coatumundi?

 

[TomTeriffic]

.308 win is the best round for all North American game...

bunnyburger?

 

[LuketheDog]

What a great cartoon! Funny and educational too (teaches about pronouns!)

Its a shame that there is no way this cartoon is aired on TV anymore.

It is! My daughters were watching it on Hulu the other day, but it kept cutting off and displaying a message that it was not appropriate for kids

 

[BirdManMike]

Squirrels taste better than (wild) rabbits. Fight me.

 

[shrapnel]

Anything in a pistol cartridge that can be shot in the pistol and carbine of the same caliber. Cottontails are the best undiscovered quarry in Montana…

 

[sureshotshane]

Cottontail are amazing table fare.

It depends on where you're hunting and the density of the rabbits but hunting without a dog can be tough in really thick brushy country. Some places you go, cover is less thick or maybe the cottontails are more prevalent and it can be easy (at times). If this isn't the case you have to work for them. Spotting them with optics can work in the early morning and evening, on cool days they could be out all day. I like the 17 HMR to the head in this case because you can shoot further than a .22 LR.

Busting brush is the other option. In nasty country it doesn't work so well unless you are with a partner because rabbits will run out from the brush and you'll never see them or get only a fleeting glimpse. A perfect scenario for busting brush is to have each person work the lower third of a brushy canyon and you are watching your partners side of the canyon for rabbits running out in front of them and you can key them in on where they are. If it's not canyon country just work thickets strategically walking 30-40 yards from your partner in parallel. I like the 28 gauge for on the move rabbits. They will die if you look at them wrong. I have a scale for toughness of game. Cottontail is at the very bottom and bears being at the top.

 

[Buckbrush]

Don't care to much for the taste of rabbits.
I guess it just the cotton tails and Jackrabbits taste to much like Salt brush. And snowshoe hair tastes to much like pine needles. I remember as a kid in the 70's going up to Idaho to visit my grandmother's brothers. The first thing they did was give us 22 and air rifles to kill starlings and Jackrabbits. I think growing up if someone ever said they were gonna eat a jackrabbit they would have thought you escaped from the mental ward. Not to many rabbits around SLC anymore.

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

I love a super cold, windless morning for bunny busting! I think a .22 is the cultured choice of weapon for rabbits, but I will shoot them with whatever I have handy, and only feel slightly guilty if that happens to be a 12 gauge.

Rabbit pot pie might be my second favorite wild game meal, right behind a properly roasted, grain fed Canada goose.

 

[HandgunHunter]

They are a blast.

 

[Jbotto]

I love hunting rabbits with old .22’s or handguns.

 

[Luis]

Rabbit hunting is my second favorite hunting, forest grouse is numero uno. I've been using my Belgium Browning .22 for over 50 years now. My wife is the cook, but I know to put the hind legs in the pan first, before the rest of the parts to not overcook the thicker hind legs.

 

[Davidheart]

Walk up to a brush pile, kick it a few times. If no rabbits jump out move to the next. Old cars, abandoned buildings are old good too. Look for tracks and poo.

This. ^

We eat cottontails. I use my grandfather's 22 Hornet. Mid-body or headshot. Don't like to use a shotgun because of pellets but my grandfather preferred his 20. No dogs. Make sure to cook all game meat thoroughly and you won't have to worry about consumption. 9.9 times out of 10.

 

[Don Fischer]

Haven't hunted rabbits in years. What I looked at to determine if I was going to eat it of not was the liver. That had to be a clean dark red of I didn't eat it. Spots on the liver really got my attention.

Guns for hunting rabbits? Well all depends on who's shooting the rabbits. One of these days I am gonna go after them again and take my 32 Long S&W with cast bullet's. In the past it was always either a 22 LR or 22 Mag. Would like to have a 22 Hornet shooting cast bullet's, that would be a hoot! have never considered a shotgun but if I was to take a shotgun it would by my 410 SxS. Cottontails are to me the best but Jacks aren't to bad either IF you get young ones! Around here About all I've ever seen is those Pigmy Cottontails and I'd bet they are not bad for eating.

Forgot to mention Snowshoe Hares. They were primary target when I lived in Montana. Use to go out in really deep snow looking for them and now and again scored. Tried to find them following tracks, wasted effort! Easiest was to ease around brush piles easily so as not to spook them and shoot them in the pile. Sometimes getting them out was a problem! But I usually found they didn't spook if I moved easy. Seemed like the figured you couldn't see them!

 

[88man]

Wild rabbit is my favorite meat. I also so much enjoy ruffed grouse.
I have even picked up road killed bunnies in the fall.

 

[kwa_bena]

Anything in a pistol cartridge that can be shot in the pistol and carbine of the same caliber. Cottontails are the best undiscovered quarry in Montana…

View attachment 211578View attachment 211579View attachment 211580View attachment 211581

What carbine is that? A CX-4?

 

[shrapnel]

What carbine is that? A CX-4?

Yes, Beretta CX4 Storm…

 

[Don Fischer]

This thread is simply to da*n long. Now I'm gonna have to go after rabbits this winter. Think I'll carry my 32 long and cast bullet's along with my 22 mag. Used to be a lot of pigmy cottontails around here. Shot one once and ate it, great! But kinda of like eating squirrel! Pretty small. Wish I was rich. Wouldn't mind finding a Remington 541S 22 RF for hunting rabbits!

 

[bucdoego]

Rabbit hunting is my second favorite hunting, forest grouse is numero uno. I've been using my Belgium Browning .22 for over 50 years now. My wife is the cook, but I know to put the hind legs in the pan first, before the rest of the parts to not overcook the thicker hind legs.

The Browning 22 is a beautiful rifle. Nice to see such an example put to proper use, too. They belong in the field as much as any show case. The rabbits look good too!

 

[Luis]

Thank you, bucdoego. I've hunted rabbits in eleven different states with that Browning .22 rifle. My wife and I went out for a short hike today, scouting our bunny areas and saw snowshoe hares in 5 different locations today - can't wait for Sept to get some fresh rabbit.

 

[1oldcoyote]

a. Is the cottontail the best-eating species?
(I believe swamp rabbits are also true rabbits while jack rabbits are true hares.)
b. How can you tell if the rabbit is safe for human consumption?
c. Can they be hunted without hounds?
d. What kind of guns or other weapons do you like for bunnies?
(Oklahoma allows shotgun, muzzle-loader, rifle, archery, falconry and air gun during rabbit seasons.)
e. Without beagles, how are bunnies hunted?

I've eaten both cottontail & Jacks. Like them both fried after coated with flour & seasoning. Jacks being a little tougher meat. We used FC 12 ga shotguns. And if I recall? #6 or #7 shot size for cottontail. #2 shot for the Jacks. As they are harder to kill.