Why skin Rabbits!!!!?

[stuart f]

Hi folks,i have been pondering this for a while now,i've read numerous books from survival guides too accounts of native tribes,and most say to skin a Rabbit then cook it.I know that Rabbits are a low fat meat,so surely it would make much more sense to singe the fur off and then cook it,that way any fats that are in the skin will not be wasted.Some native tribes that hunted rabbits would even powder the bones and add that to their meal for the extra nutrients.

Your thoughts on this would be welcome.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Tadpole]

Hi folks,i have been pondering this for a while now,i've read numerous books from survival guides too accounts of native tribes,and most say to skin a Rabbit then cook it.I know that Rabbits are a low fat meat,so surely it would make much more sense to singe the fur off and then cook it,that way any fats that are in the skin will not be wasted.Some native tribes that hunted rabbits would even powder the bones and add that to their meal for the extra nutrients.

Your thoughts on this would be welcome.

Cheers Stuart.

I posted this a couple of years ago
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=386253&postcount=29

 

[Peter_t]

yeah probably better eating but your better off using the skin to make clothes

pete

 

[stuart f]

Hi Tadpole,thanks for the link,i agree.i just wondered why so many books and the like said to skin the animal first.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Toddy]

I look at rabbits now and they're scrawny wee things. There used to be big rabbits, big fat rabbits. They actually had fat inside on the kidneys and the like.

The last three rabbits I've cooked (I admit it's been a while, I don't do it often, HWMBLT doesn't like bones in his dinner and rabbit's a footer to butcher out of the bones) looked like half grown ones but I was told they were definitely adults.

Did the mixxy cause something to change ? So that only the young ones, that bred too soon survived or something ?

Rabbit starvation is only an issue if you have to go to any great effort to catch them. If you had (not allowed nowadays and I'm not suggesting anyone takes it up again) a dog that was kind of nippy, rabbit for dinner was easy. Same with a good shot with a .22 air rifle, or a .177 if you really knew what you were doing and could guarantee getting close. I knew of someone who only used a sling shot, he regularly brought home three or four from a morning walk.

Rabbits were kept in warrens because they were good food as well as a very beautiful, soft fur.
My first courrans as a toddler were rabbit skin. Like little mocassins with the fur inside
I had a coat, hat and muff too; very warm and comfortable on a child. It's a soft draping fur, doesn't weigh all that much either.

Ye gods, but there'd be havoc if we dressed a kid in that lot nowadays

I don't hold with killing something like an ocelot or an otter or a pinemartin for it's fur, but rabbits, deer, sheep, I can't see why not; and I'm vegan these days, before anyone starts.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[alpha_centaur]

, but rabbits, deer, sheep, I can't see why not; and I'm vegan these days, before anyone starts.

cheers,
Toddy

Because people like to think that they're meat's natural habitat is a supermarket shelf and it's skin is plastic.

They don't want to remember that they're venison used to be bambi.

My personal view is if it's killed it should be used (skin, bones, offal, meat, the works), and nothing should be wasted if it can be used. And if its not going to be used it shouldn't be killed.

Oh and before anybody starts, I'm definitely not a vegan.

 

[lannyman8]

when i lived in cambridge i had 1500 acres of farm land to shoot on with woods ponds and game duck deer and all sorts it was great. raddits ten a penny but would only shoot what i needed or could give to friends. any who i tried cooking a rabbit with the fur on it took ages and stank like things i never want to think or talk about on here. the meat was ok though. the best way i have found to eat it is to slightly undercook the meat letting the juice run not quite clear. i have eaten pinkish rabbit with no ill efect on several occasions. at the end of the day though it is personal preferance and yes its possible to catch worms from under cooked meat but is said to be very rare. like i say personal preferance.

 

[Shewie]

I ate charred whole squirrel on a "survival" course many moons ago and to be honest I wasn't that keen. As mentioned the smell is pretty rank and I was convinced I could taste that same smell in the meat once it was cooked.
I'm quite partial to rabbit but I don't think I'd be tempted to cook one with the fur on.

 

[dogwood]

I know that Rabbits are a low fat meat,so surely it would make much more sense to singe the fur off and then cook it,that way any fats that are in the skin will not be wasted.

Stuart, there's no fat in the skin of any animal, it's all under the skin. (What's *in* the skin is a kind of mucus surrounding the collagen, which is why you buck a hide before tanning it to get the mucus out.)

The only reason to keep a skin on when cooking is if there's a lot of fat *under* the skin that you might want to keep contained -- like with a pig.

In the case of a rabbit, there's so little fat under the skin that it doesn't make sense to leave the skin on.

Rabbit skin is incredibly useful stuff and is worth much more than the fat..

You can twist it and weave it into incredibly soft and warm blankets, etc.

 

[stuart f]

Thanks for the replies folks,it was just a thought that was kicking about in my head though.I am aware of the uses of Rabbit skin,I've made cordage out of a pelt,and will be using the intestines to also turn into cordage,although i need to first finish off brain tanning a deer hide that i'm working on.

Anyway i digress,thanks for the imputus folks.Every day is a learning day.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Omegarod]

Now.... pidgeons on the other hand..... are not worth plucking and gutting.
Just cut the skin down the breast bone and pull out the breast meat.

Rod

 

[stuart f]

Hi Tadpole,i just re read your link with interest. I see that you said the native Americans did'nt cosume the bones or the pelt.I don't know about the pelt but i have read accounts of some tribes such as the Kiliwa who would grind down the cooked spine of Rabbits or Deer in a mortar,turning it into a fine paste for consumption.It was said that it tasted like Liverwurst but a bit grainy.

Cheers Stuart.

Ps This book might be of interest to you,if you don't already have it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=qS...f+native+california&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[skinny1]

I look at rabbits now and they're scrawny wee things. There used to be big rabbits, big fat rabbits. They actually had fat inside on the kidneys and the like.

The last three rabbits I've cooked (I admit it's been a while, I don't do it often, HWMBLT doesn't like bones in his dinner and rabbit's a footer to butcher out of the bones) looked like half grown ones but I was told they were definitely adults.

Did the mixxy cause something to change ? So that only the young ones, that bred too soon survived or something ?

Rabbit starvation is only an issue if you have to go to any great effort to catch them. If you had (not allowed nowadays and I'm not suggesting anyone takes it up again) a dog that was kind of nippy, rabbit for dinner was easy. Same with a good shot with a .22 air rifle, or a .177 if you really knew what you were doing and could guarantee getting close. I knew of someone who only used a sling shot, he regularly brought home three or four from a morning walk.

Rabbits were kept in warrens because they were good food as well as a very beautiful, soft fur.
My first courrans as a toddler were rabbit skin. Like little mocassins with the fur inside
I had a coat, hat and muff too; very warm and comfortable on a child. It's a soft draping fur, doesn't weigh all that much either.

Ye gods, but there'd be havoc if we dressed a kid in that lot nowadays

I don't hold with killing something like an ocelot or an otter or a pinemartin for it's fur, but rabbits, deer, sheep, I can't see why not; and I'm vegan these days, before anyone starts.

cheers,
Toddy

I was out today with the dog and got 2 lovely big buck rabbits gutted them out lots of lovely fat around the kidneys boiled them up for a couple of hours and straight in to a pie got a hare as well (air rifle if anyone asks) will have that for Mondays supper

 

[Chinkapin]

Toddy, I would hate to pump up that 1.77 air rifle you speak of, it would be shooting a pellet over one and three quarters inch in diameter! The recoil must be something to behold! Pity the poor rabbit hit with that, worse, pity the pore person trying to clean that rabbit.

I'm only kidding you, I don't mean to spit hairs (hares?) I know you meant .177, the standard air rifle caliber. I'm just weak and couldn't resist.

 

[Toddy]

'Doh

Sorry, not paying attention

cheers,
M

 

[Bushwhacker]

If you had (not allowed nowadays and I'm not suggesting anyone takes it up again) a dog that was kind of nippy, rabbit for dinner was easy.

Since when has hunting rabbits with dogs become illegal?
They're an exemption in the 'hunting with dogs' act.

 

[Melonfish]

Just given my Rabbit fur Ushanka to my father in law, he's a truck driver and needs the warmth on those cold nights to felixstowe, i wasn't justifying the usage tbh but i'd happily own another, heck i'd love to have a go at making one!

anybody got any tips for washing rabbit fur once its off the rabbit? do you do this before or after you tan? i'm guessing after?

 

[Cael Nu Mara]

Since when has hunting rabbits with dogs become illegal?
They're an exemption in the 'hunting with dogs' act.

Seconded, Rabbits and rats are exempt from the 2005 hunting act in England & Wales

A person commits an offence if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog, unless his hunting is exempt.

Rabbits.4
The hunting of rabbits is exempt if it takes place on land— .
(a)
which belongs to the hunter, or .
(b)
which he has been given permission to use for the purpose by the occupier or, in the case of unoccupied land, by a person to whom it belongs.

Found here http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2004/ukpga_20040037_en_1



Sam