Hoppy Hunting

[magnanimous_j]

As many of you know, I'm new to this whole hunting thing. This year I'm going to do grouse and pheasant for sure. But a couple days ago I had rabbit for the first time at a restaurant and it was delicious, so I'm thinking of trying my hand at rabbit as well. Can anyone give me a couple noob pointers?

Mainly: are there good places for rabbit on the wet side of the state? Does anyone eat them? (I've heard they can be kind of diseasey). Whats the basic gist of how to hunt them? Is my 10/22 a good gun for them or should I use the 20 gauge I intend to buy?

Any help will be much appreciated. I know its early, but as the weather SLOWLY gets warmer, I'm getting antsy to get outside and scout around a little.

Mag

[bowhuntin]

I have seen a quite a few rabbits out in the greenwater area, though I have no idea of how to hunt them. Probably would be better if you had a dog and I would use a shot gun over a .22 for hunting them.

[andrew_12gauge]

one thing i was always told was dont shoot rabbits till after the first frost because they are really wormy sometimes and after the frost the worms die, dont know if there is any truth too it but i know that all of the cottontails ive shot have been tasty, dont know much about rabbits on the wetside as i grew up on the good side of the state and im now living in idaho, and either the 10/22 or the 20 gauge will work but you wont be able to hit them on the run very well with your 10/22

[boneaddict]

I think the  old adage is only eat rabbits in months ending in er and y  (course I doubt that includes May) 

[btlsoom]

I have not heard about the month ending in "Y" thing but have heard the one about months ending in "R".  Also, if you read many books on preparing rabbits, they mention wearing rubber gloves during the cleaning process?  So I do.  As for the rabbits, where is a good place to look for snowshoe wabbits?

r

[littlebuf]

Hey I am not defending the guy..I like to banter back and forth with the guy like everyone else..but he asked nicely for some advice and everyone was basically a dick to the guy...I can understand if it was a 4 page long political debate and you wanna poke a little at the guy, but come on..

crap now ya made me feel bad. your right he's looking for help with hunting and is new to it so its our responsibility to help the guy out. what area you looking to hunt? as it warms up you should be able to find rabbits on the edges of logging roads during the morning in real bushy areas. once you find a couple trust me they'll be lots. ive taken many a rabbit with a 22 but a little 410 would be fun also.

[tlbradford]

I am not saying that any of the comments that were posted were not deserved, but lets keep on topic when we all venture into the hunting forums. 

Thanks Travis

[rasbo]

22 in the head no fur to pull out of the meat,dad and I would put two on an electric rotisserie and watch a game and brush it with butter and garlic

[CastleRocker]

We used to hunt rabbits a lot.  We only hunted them in months that contained an "r".  (Basically rabbit season, which is Sepember 1 to March 15).  They are great to eat, and a bunch of fun to hunt.  They love blackberry patches, and we used to limit out sometimes in big Scotchbroom patches too.  A buddy of mine had a couple beagles, and it was a blast.  Also, we always used shotguns, a side by side 410 is about ideal.  Like it has been mentioned, a running rabbit and a 22 is fun, but not very successful.  If you do a search, there is a lengthy post about it from a few months back. 

[docsven]

I think the reason for taking them in cold months is the risk of Tularemia is less, but I doubt that people get much of that from wild rabbits.  Last cottontails I saw abundantly were here in downtown Kent.