8 replies to this topic

[treffryraxter]

Talking to a property owner this morning with 6 cotton tails hanging out a stones throw away from us and I remark how I wish I had my .22 and he says: 'oh you don't want to eat those right now, you're supposed to wait till fall when they don't have extra critters on them.'

Is this utter shinaniganze? Or is there some truth to this.

[ShooterJohn]

They are fine now. Don't let that deter you from going or you may not get any. Any rabbit can have parasites but they are easily removed and since you aren't eating them raw won't affect you in any way.

[chuckocaster]

I check them over before skinning, if they've got bugs I pass.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

The fleas, ticks and warbles don't do anything to the rabbit that makes it bad to eat. I've been hunting jack rabbits since early April and cottontails as soon as the season opened in July. I always carry a 2 1/2 gallon ziploc bag in my backpack to put all rabbits into so that creepy crawlies don't migrate onto me or my equipment to suck the life out of me later. When I clean them I always make sure to wear a good pair of rubber or latex gloves to keep from getting Tularemia. Once you cook the rabbit you are good though.

For ticks, I just make sure if I find ticks on the ears that I cut the ticks in half and scrape them off the ears. That way I know they are dead. Or you can just cut the ears off and leave them there where you shot the rabbit. Then the ticks will just crawl off the ears after you are gone. I think it's better to just kill the ticks so they don't attach to something or someone else.

For fleas, you can fill the ziploc bag the rabbits are in with cool/cold water and let it sit for about 15 minutes until the fleas drown and then you can just dump them out with the water. This will also wash off most of the blood that may be on the rabbit.

For warbles, if you find them under the skin just remove them and check the meat where the warble was at. It should be fine since they mainly eat the fat between the layer of skin and meat/muscles and don't harm the rabbit.

I'll admit, it is much nicer to not have to worry about ticks and fleas jumping off of a rabbit and onto me (this summer alone I've found 5 ticks crawling on me that I've immediately squashed/crushed and killed), but like ShooterJohn mentioned, if you wait until it gets cold enough to kill off most of the ticks, fleas and warbles the rabbits may have become coyote, bobcat or cougar breakfast, lunch or dinner by then. Get them while they are easy pickings. Just make sure to check the liver for spots or odd discolorations. If the liver is bright, deep red and clear of white spots all over it or funky coloration, you are good to go. Cook them cottontails up and enjoy!

[Karl]

Tularemia is something everyone should know about.
Extremely rare but it can happen. My brother got it
when he was cleaning a rabbit and got poked by a broken bone.
He got very sick but after some antibiotics he was fine.

[Rooster707]

They should be fine, just check the liver for any spots or discoloration and check for other bugs while skinning. Warbles are common but dont ruin the meat, just your appetite. Maybe wear gloves while cleaning, i try to but am so used to not wearing them that i sometimes forget. Good luck.

[treffryraxter]

Good info thanks everyone

[Thumper Dunker]

Can't realy add any thing that was not said already. Cows sheep deer pigs and goats have the same varmits on them ,more or less. Been eating them sence the season opend.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

One other thing I forgot to mention was something that Bisley told me... that is if you want you can spray the rabbits with Raid Flea and Tick spray and throw them in a bag in you backpack and gas out the fleas and ticks. Then when you are ready you can wash them off and then clean them and rinse them real good.

I've never done that, but he mentioned it as a suggestion a while back so I thought I'd pass it along.