Writer needing help - bow hunting rabbits

[Thornlilygag]

Good evening all,

This is my first post since finding this amazing site!!! I'm currently trying to write a book in which some of the characters have to do a few aspects of bush craft. I was wondering whether I could as a question or two. I don't hunt myself, I'm not too bad with a bow and arrow but all my targets have been the round wooden kind so I have almost no information to draw upon except for what I can gather from the internet. I've tried to search around on the site to see whether anyone has asked any of these questions before but I think I'm the first. Apologies if this isn't the case...

1) Would a character be able to hunt for rabbits near midwinter? if not, what is the best prey for this time of year?
2) Where is the best place to aim at a rabbit (or other prey) for the best and most humane kill leaving the most meat/ fur undamaged?
3) My character is already aware of how to field dress but how would a traveller carry his kill to cook later? Would he hang it from his horse/bag? or would it be put into a bag?
4) ideally how many rabbits would you need to feed 4 full grown men?

Thank you again for any contribution to these questions I'll put a mention in my book when I'm finished.

 

[mrostov]

With a bow and arrow, aim for the chest, not the gut. If your character is in the UK, then their rabbits will behave a bit differently than the rabbits in North America. For example, British rabbits, IIRC, will nest in a warren, underground. Rabbits (cottontails) and hares (jackrabbits, snowshoe rabbits) in North America live in above ground nests.

One hunting trick that sometimes works on North American hares, like a jackrabbit, but I've never seen work on a rabbit like a cottontail is to scream at them. They often freeze in their tracks, at least briefly. This sometimes works even if you are running after them. If done properly you can sometimes club them them with a stick, either handheld or thrown.

 

[mikehill]

If your character is in the UK, and in the the present, he would be arrested

 

[Thornlilygag]

Hi thanks for the info, it's a fantasy so don't have to worry about that which is good for my character lol I won't have to write him sleeping in a police cell

 

[artschool]

If your character is in the UK, and in the the present, he would be arrested

scene:midwinter somewhere in the uk
Characters: 4 hungry men in a house

man#1 - "ok guys I am just going out to shoot some rabbits for dinner with my bow and arrow" (steps outside front door)

(enter police)

policeman#1 - "STOP RIGHT THERE. PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD AND PREPARE TO SHOW US YOUR BOW LICENCE, KNIFE LICENCE AND SPOON LICENCE"

man#1 - "please don't taze me, I have all my paperwork in order" (gets face down on the ground)

policeman#1 - "oh yeah, lets have a look"

policeman#2 - "he has everything, except his TV LICENCE"

policeman#1 - "sonofabitch, lock him up fellas"

 

[Snake]

1) Would a character be able to hunt for rabbits near midwinter? if not, what is the best prey for this time of year?

Rabbits are about at all times of the year just in less numbers in the winter, they are food for all preditors so the ones that survive are alot more alert to danger than they are in spring/summer, contery to what alot of magazine articals say I have found that rabbits dont like bad wether, so if you dont want to be outside chances are the rabbits wont either. Its is often a good time to catch them out if it has been heavy rain for a day and night, and dry morning, they will be out for breakfast as they will be hungery.

2) Where is the best place to aim at a rabbit (or other prey) for the best and most humane kill leaving the most meat/ fur undamaged?

As said before cheast shoot

3) My character is already aware of how to field dress but how would a traveller carry his kill to cook later? Would he hang it from his horse/bag? or would it be put into a bag?

You want to get the guts out as quick as posible so they dont taint the meat, but leave the fur/skin on to keep the meat clean, I would say hang to allow air to circulate.

4) ideally how many rabbits would you need to feed 4 full grown men?

A fully grown winter rabbit can weigh up to 4/5lbs, so maybe 2 to feed 4 people.

 

[artschool]

4) ideally how many rabbits would you need to feed 4 full grown men?

A fully grown winter rabbit can weigh up to 4/5lbs, so maybe 2 to feed 4 people.

interestingly the answer is rabbits are not a suitable diet and the characters will end up with protein poisoning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning

Mr. Stefansson described a time of life as follows: "With a diet of lean meat everything was different. We had an abundance of it as yet and we would boil up huge quantities and stuff ourselves with it. We ate so much that our stomachs were actually distended much beyond their usual size - so much that it was distinctly noticeable even outside of one’s clothes. But with all this gorging we felt constantly hungry... One by one the six Eskimos of the party were taken with diarrhea."

why don't you have your characters hunt muntjac or roe deer?

 

[Ogri the trog]

interestingly the answer is rabbits are not a suitable diet and the characters will end up with protein poisoning.
.....
why don't you have your characters hunt muntjac or roe deer?

Yup, many more potions than rabbit for winter survival - hence the prevalence of poaching in times past - anything to get the "fat" necessary to keep you warm. as well as the severity in punishment for the "crime" of stealing food.

And depending upon your chosen period, roadkill, poached fish, chicken & fowl, newly fallen live-stock along with the opportunistic "liberation" of unguarded foods!

Ogri the trog

 

[C_Claycomb]

When I used to shoot winter was the least productive time for hunting rabbits (day time shooting). The only exception was sunny mornings of hard frost on the rough pasture and derelict allotments where there was a mix of hawthorn scrub and tall grass. Didn't see many rabbits anywhere else or at any other time of the day. Areas that had been hopping with them during the summer would be empty, unless you came back at night with a lamp.

Rabbits can be killed with chest shots, or a blunt to the head.

For carrying, if they can be hung up in some way it is nicer than having them in a bag. The standard approach is to paunch (gut) them very shortly after killing, and if dropped into a bag not only do they bleed all over each other and mat the fur down a lot, but also they go into rigor mortis in contorted positions which make skinning more awkward.

In the far north, fat was needed for caloric heat, but if you are getting adequate carbs, then rabbit is fine as your sole source of protein. The protein poisoning thing comes about when you are attempting to get all your calories from such lean meat alone.

 

[hughlle1]

What an odd coincidence. Your book doesn't by any chance start with words along the lines of "inhaled deeply"?

 

[santaman2000]

If a previous poster was correct about the size of your rabbits (3 to 4 pounds) then yes, each rabbit would be enough for the meat (protein) portion for meals for two men. That sounds more like the whole weight before cleaning to me though. probably a third less once gutted, skinned. and beheaded.

Regarding the nutritional value, that's actually more fat than in lean (93% lean) or extra lean (98% lean) ground beef. Of course this chart is for domesticated rabbit and I expect some variation with wild rabbit:

 

[C_Claycomb]

I can't recall ever having found fat on a wild rabbit. Squirrels, sure, loads of fat in the Autumn, but not on rabbit.

 

[Macaroon]

The traditional way to carry rabbits was, after gutting, to make a slit in one rear leg between the tendons and the bone and then insert the other leg through this slot; they can then be slid onto a stick which you can carry over your shoulder or hung in a tree for collection later leaving you free to hunt further unencumbered.

 

[santaman2000]

I can't recall ever having found fat on a wild rabbit. Squirrels, sure, loads of fat in the Autumn, but not on rabbit.

Kinda my experience too. At least with the rabbit; the squirrels I've kill
led havet had any visible fat either though. They did taste fatter though, like dark meat chicken.

 

[sunndog]

lads in a fantasy book you have to assume plenty of game about or just getting fed would be the whole story.

Chest shot as said. Couple of tricks your hunter could use.
Blunted arrows with a wide head have been used just to cause trauma rather than slicing clean trough the rabbit.
Clicking your tongue or making a small squeaking noise can make them stand up on thier back legs to look for danger, and present a bigger target

Dawn/dusk are your hunting times

As for them being poison. Yes but you have to eat just rabbit and nothing else for quite some time

 

[sunndog]

The traditional way to carry rabbits was, after gutting, to make a slit in one rear leg between the tendons and the bone and then insert the other leg through this slot; they can then be slid onto a stick which you can carry over your shoulder or hung in a tree for collection later leaving you free to hunt further unencumbered.

This is what i do. Hanging until cool also allows the wee mites to fall off

 

[mrcharly]

I've done considerable bow hunting in the past, in australia.

Don't just restrict your characters to hunting rabbit. Other suitable small game include squirrels and birds. Birds can be shot out of trees, with care - in fact this is one of the best ways of bow hunting if you are trying to conserve arrows, as long as you only shoot at birds on outlying branches (so missed shot arrows don't get lodged in the tree). In the event of a missed shot, the arrows will fall vertically, stick in the ground and are easy to find, unlike a missed shot at a rabbit, where they will be buried in the grass and very very hard to find.

For authenticity, skill at shooting is less important than skill at stalking. I shot most of my small game from less than 15ft away, probably closer to 10ft. A rabbit or pigeon-sized bird is a very small target to hit (when you don't know the distance and it isn't perfectly level shot), so forget being able to hit from 30yards. Also, arrows are very expensive in terms of time to make, so it is more efficient to spend time stalking and take time setting up a single shot than take 10 shots and spend 2 hours looking for the arrows in the undergrowth, scaring off all the wildlife in the process.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Better have your hero set a trapline using snares than heading off with a bow if you don't want the group to starve. But I agree it's less visually appealing to the reader.

K

 

[mrcharly]

I agree with kenchblaize. These can be made from horsehair for authenticity.

Also, I forget the writer, but I had a book written by an author who wrote about the english countryside who talked of hunting with what was essentially a weighted club. He and his fellow reprobates made these by taking a thumb-thick hazel a little longer than a forearm, standing one end in a tea cup and filling the teacup with lead. Thrown, this would bring down a pigeon from a tree, or stun a rabbit or squirrel. The heavy head ensured it would not lodge in a tree.

Something similar can be made by strapping a small-fist-sized round stone to a stick with rawhide. It's a handy club for other uses.

 

[santaman2000]

Not sure about there, but here, Autumn or Winter hunting for small game is preferable to hunting in warmer months because of the parasites.