42 years old, been hunting small game (cotton tails, pheasant, ruff and blue grouse) on the west side since 16. Never had illness from rabbit fever. What I do is simple... limit fluid transfer by head shooting. Don latex gloves. Make shallow incision up belly from groin to voice box but only skin deep. Use a razor sharp knife and pull skin away from animal while cutting. Peel skin back from belly and chest, cut off head and make underhand windmill motion while holding hind feet.....visceral sack flies out intact without getting juices on animal meat. Now skin the rest and cut legs and backstrap out. Put meat in sanwitch bag. You can use a second knife to biopsy the liver if you are worried about it. I found one iffy (2 or 3 small spots..probably just alcoholisim) out of literaly 100+ checked and have not bothered to check in years now. I have eaten 9 so far this year and all is good. Chances of being killed in car wreck going to hunt far outweigh chance of bunny butt (diarrhea) or bird flu. Check the CDC's website, put fears to rest and just go hunt. Marinate hind legs and backstraps in buttermilk (helps to tenderize) from dusk until dawn, then BBQ sauce from dawn until after work. Stick on medium hot barbie for 7 minutes then flip for 5, baste lightly with BBQ sauce. Serve with corn, sweet roll, and cold beer. yum.
