Wild Rabbit

[JKEEN33]

Are the rabbits we have any good to eat? If they are how do you cook them. Went out grouse hunting tonight and wound up coming home with a nice sized rabbit, but it's my first one.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Check them over real good.  I saw a Botfly larva a guy took out of a rabbit he killed a few days ago.  Black thing about 1" long and 1/2" thick.  Nasty looking thing.  He went home and found another one in the skin of the same rabbit!

[littletoes]

Cook it like chicken,.....and don't look at it too close.   

[WA hunter14]

they're great!

[littletoes]

Actually, if the organs have white spots on them, don't eat them.

[littletoes]

Well, we don't eat the organs anyway, or the head...so just cook it till its well done, and enjoy.

If the animal looked healthy before you shot it, its most likely very safe to eat. Stop worrying, and eat that dang thing already!

Enjoy! If I could find enough of them, I'll take a few and cook them up. Maybe while grouse hunting this weekend I can get a few of each!

[Tacomahunter]

I put mine in a stew...tasted like chicken! It was good 

[Kain]

Started raising my own.  MMMMmmmm 

[Kain]

Lots of people recommend not shooting them until after the first good frost.   You should always look at the liver of the rabbit.  It should not be swollen or have any spots or streaks on it.  A nice solid dark color.  If you got to see the rabbit before the shot and it was acting funny in any way I would not shoot it.  If it was walking funny or just standing still even after it saw you it could be sick.

Im no expert this is just what I have heard over the years.

[lokidog]

Don't worry about the organs!  The only thing you really need to worry about is tularemia (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001859/)  which is a blood borne pathogen.  You can wear gloves when cleaning if you are worried about it but I have never worried about it in 35 years of shooting bunnies....

Slow cooker works great on bunnies.  That grilling looked yummy too, but wild ones will be more tender with longer moist cooking.  Fry up some bacon to crunchy, remove it from the pan, roll the sectioned up rabbit pieces in flour with whatever spices you like, braise them in the bacon fat. add chopped onions, cook to almost tender but not brown, add equal parts beef broth and red wine, toss the crunched up bacon back in, toss the rabbit back in, simmer for about two or more hours.  Serve over noodles or rice.  It should be so tender it is falling oiff the bone.

[longknife]

When i was a kid instead of raising chickens we had rabbits. Great eating! We used to put them in bbq sauce and bake in the oven for a couple hours. It reminds me of home.
I have heard (southern- old wives tale), Only eat wild rabbit that the month ends in R, SeptembeR-DecembeR.