catching/eating rabbit

[razzaefc]

good morning people.
this is my first post on what looks to be a very informative forum. Anyway, me and my girlfriend are looking at doing some wild camping in the coming months, thats why i have came here to here to gain some advice.
question time

is it legal to catch wild rabbit and eat it? if so what are the most humane methods for doing so.

thanks for any replies.

 

[ged]

Welcome to BCUK!

Yes it is legal to catch and eat rabbit in the UK, although wild camping (as we think of it here on BCUK) is illegal in England and Wales (but not in Scotland and I don't know about Northern Ireland).

You can use a catapult if you are accurate enough, which is probably the most humane way. You can use a firearm but you cannot use a bow (to hunt anything in the UK).

People use snares and non-lethal traps, and that's legal under certain circumstances, but I think they're inhumane and wouldn't use them myself. Lethal traps are legal but it's difficult to be sure you won't harm the wrong species, and many species are legally protected.

 

[Bowlander]

You'd also need the landowners permission to take rabbits.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

 

[JulesC]

Yes, you MUST have landowner's permission first and foremost, going with an air rifle without permission could be serious. Traps again need permission and the snares cannot constrict i.e. strangle they must hold but expand. You MUST check at least twice per day and you must remove or deactivate snares otherwise some poor kid's cat or dog could get caught and die in the active snare. Other than that have fun and remember to flush the pee out of the rabbit as soon as you've killed it.

 

[Saul Gilsenan]

Sorry, a bit off topic but I thought it's worth posting this. https://www.thebmc.co.uk/wild-camping-worries

 

[mrcharly]

Saul - it is against forum rules to promote anything which is illegal.

Maybe alter your post to something like this: "Slightly off topic but here is one organisation's take on Wild camping."

 

[Saul Gilsenan]

Altered, sorry. You make it sound like I'm selling drugs haha! I do see your point though as I am looking at it from the perspective of a mountaineer/mountain walker that would wild camp well out of sight and follow the guidelines in the link. Whereas a lot of people reading it will probably see it from the viewpoint of wild camping lower down and not on access land, not that camping on access land is legal of course. Anyway sorry for going off-topic and I didn't intend to break any rules.

 

[spandit]

Aren't rabbit snares supposed to kill the rabbit when it's travelling at speed?

 

[Hedgecrafter]

I don't see traps and snares as being humane or ethical unless you are in an emergency/survival situation.

I don't think it's a thing to do on a camping trip.
Many will disagree.

 

[dwardo]

Some great links well worth reading,

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52652

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52767

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94271


Struggling to find the great one about hunting, seasons, regs etc.

 

[GGTBod]

Rabbit is fair game all year long in England, best and easiest place to get permission is any farmer, they will welcome you with open arms and encourage you to get as many as you can as they are a true pest to the farmer, most will even show you exactly where they are on their land, as mentioned earlier catapults work great, train up on the skill first and practice as you want headshots for an instant death, i train with coloured clothes pegs hanging on thin branches, yellow at 10 paces, blue at 15 and red at 20, when you hit them they spin on the branch and once you are hitting the red ones regularly you will have no bother getting rabbits.

Personal favorite technique is cycling in the dark with a high powered headlamp (catty in hand 10ml bearings in bumbag), as you enter a field full of rabbits spotlight one and it will freeze momentarily and then they try not to run into the light (lamping of sorts), you can hustle them into not running out of range as they won't run into the main area of the beam, practice makes perfect, i also only ever take the best cuts (back meat and the rear legs) so i go in from the back and do not even touch the guts, for me the meat is taken in the field and the carcass is returned to the deep grass for predators, we got as many foxes as we do rabbits here

it is also the easiest way by far to get your meat, pinch the flesh just above the tail and make a cut into the fur, once in peel it back with the knife just under the surface until you can geta grip, peeling back the flesh with the knife and fingers is easy even first time, you reveal the meat, 2 slits either side of the spine and the meat is then easiest to remove by hand, then literally pop the rear legs out of the skin and 2 or 3 cuts and all meat is removed, bag it and move on



Or get the fire going and get the kebabs on

 

[Tom_oxv]

Hi just wondered if you as experienced rabbit hunters hunt rabbit through the summer. You read ally about only shooting Sept-April as the rabbit may well have illnesses harmful to humans when shot during the summer months. Have any of you found that to be the case? Do you take rabbit meat all year round or are they best left alone in the summer months? Any advice would be well received - Thanks in advance

 

[Tyla]

It's better to leave them alone in the Summer as they are breeding, not ideal to kill milky does with kits to ground. Winter is time for rabbiting but if you have to hunt in the Summer go for the 3/4 grown youngsters. They are better eating anyway.

 

[Macaroon]

If you ever eat a milky doe you surely won't do it a second time, and you'll realize why most don't hunt coneys in Summer; and apart from that, kill a doe in Summer and you kill all her kitts left underground. That's pest control, not hunting, and in any case is cruelty and as such not good practice to say the least.

 

[razzaefc]

its coming up to a year since i posted the original question and as yet i havent done anywhere near enough camping and certainly no rabbits, but ive returned here to find some more very useful comments, thanks again.

 

[razzaefc]

am i jumping the 'gun' a bit by seeing a picture of a webley tempest and thinking this could be an alternative to a catapult? i can practice shooting before hand obviously, would i need a license? thanks

 

[British Red]

Air pistols lack the power and accuracy needed to take live quarry. No landowner would give permission for hunting with a pistol and to do so without permission is "armed trespass"

 

[razzaefc]

well that clears that up lol. what is the point of those sort of pistols? i thought it would have had more power than a catapult!

 

[razzaefc]

so, my next idea will be a catapult. any suggestions for beginners?

 

[British Red]

They are for target shooting. You would be wrong about catapults, they can generate more power than an air rifle (> 12ft lbs). But, you shouldn't hunt at a range where you cannot put 10/10 shots into a 2p piece...so very few are good enough with a catapult to hunt without cruelty. Me, I use a proper gun and am sure to only take safe, clean shots.

I can't imagine many landowners will give permission for catapult hunting tbh.