The humble Rabbit

[moko]

I bagged a rabbit for the pot last friday, making a yummy bunny and red wine stew on Saturday. I love to hunt and take a pride in the fact that I can provide for myself and my family in a self-sufficient way. However, whilst I will only shoot what I need I am also concerned that I am not making enough of what I take from the wild. Could I be using my catch more effectively?
Does anyone have any ideas to help me formulate a list for the number uses I could extract from one humble rabbit. This might include various meals from one rabbit, fish hooks from bones, tanning and so on...
Would this idea also work for other animals and foods we hunt and forage for?

Moko

 

[Grooveski]

I was just wondering ten minutes ago how much sinew they had? Hare's in particular.

 

[Adi]

there is Rabbit skin Glue, now someone is going to say it is not made from rabbit skins, that may or may not be the case nowadays i don't know but i am sure it used to be

 

[innocent bystander]

Apparently it is made from rabbit skins. French rabbit allegedly. Used in the arty world... 'tis said that it's made in the same way as any other hide glue....

 

[Strike Team]

How about using the offal to bait traps or fish hooks, or boil it and feed it to your dog/cat?

 

[bilko]

Sorry Moko but the only thing i can think of is using the fur to make mittens. I would be interested to know how you tel if a rabbit has mixy though. And what effect this will have on humans if they eat a rabbit with mixy.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I would be interested to know how you tel if a rabbit has mixy though. And what effect this will have on humans if they eat a rabbit with mixy.

Bilko,
From the few that I have seen, they just look ill!, but its normally associated with swelling around the eyes, nose, mouth, anus. They can get very lithargic (sp) allowing a hunter to get way too close before struggling to find the effort to get away.
As to the effect from eating one - no idea. Mine were left for Mr Foxy.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Marts]

What Ogri said. Plus white spotting on the liver.

If you're insistent on eating a mixi rabbit I would definitely discard the liver. I'm pretty sure Mixi is rabbit-specific (doesn't affect Hares IIRC). Still I'd just bag another rather than risk it - a mixie'd rabbit will be in pretty poor health anyway and may well have picked up other unsavoury things as it's not taking proper care of itself.

 

[greensurfingbear]

Guys are spot on for identiying which rabbits have mixi.

I know of dogs that have caught and eaten rabbits with mixi, they tend to throw up not to long after wards. Wouldnt suggest eating them, mixi does only effect rabbits as far as know but never a good meal from dieseased animals.

AS for uses....surprised no one has mentioned lucky rabbits foot!

 

[pumbaa]

If you take the meat off the bone for eating the you can boil up the remainder of the carcus for a broth (although it does stink a bit and will drive your dogs into a frenzy!!). Any bits of meat left should fall off the bone , add some veg and hey presto , rabbit and veg soup !
Pumbaa

 

[Wettstuff]

To stop rabbit from smelling when boiled or cooked any other way, remove the Coccyx(sp) bone around the back end. This is what i was told by an old boy when i started hunting

 

[moko]

Thanks wetstuff, I'll try that.
I soak the meet in sult water overnight. This seems to do away with that 'gamy' taste. I will only take young rabbits and try to squeeze two meals from each rabbit by mixing it with other meats and veg. I shoot mixi bunnies at every oppotunity and bury them quick. I would'nt eat one.

I 'm going to try and see how many uses I can get from one rabbit, with the theory that I can apply this idea to other game, deer and so on.

So far this is what I've got.

1) Main meal from meat.
2) Stew carcass to make a soup.
3) Dry bones for a tool making, fish hooks, needles.
4) Tan the hide.
5) Sinew from back and rear legs.
6) Guts for bait.

Not sure about making glue from the skin?

Anybody got any other ideas?

 

[running bare]

AS for uses....surprised no one has mentioned lucky rabbits foot! [/QUOTE]


WHY do they call it a lucky rabbits foot ?? when its blatantly obvious it wasn't for poor roger !!!!

 

[innocent bystander]

You could maybe make felt from the fur ?

 

[Ogri the trog]

Moko,
A quick comment on tools from rabbit bones.
I was told that if you are feeding rabbit to your dog, then do so in a raw state, as cooking makes the bones very brittle and liable to splinter while being digested by your faithfull. Does anyone know, or has anyone tried making tools from rabbit bones, either processed or otherwise?

I think that coming up with a number of uses for prey is a good thing, but I also think that there will always be an element of waste. It is when the waste percentage exceeds the useable percentage that things get out of hand.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Toddy]

Rabbit intestines are pretty scrawny but they can be scraped clean and soaked in salt water (6 tablespoonsful to half a basin of water) overnight and then rinsed and stretched out and dried like raw hide. I don't think I'd try them for sausage casings but you can make cordage from them. Try a two or three part lay. If you oil it when it's done it's supposed to work as a bowcord for a fire bow....I haven't tried this, it's from a 'friend of a friend of someone who'd done it'
The cawl, the thin skin that holds the guts tidy, (okay, so it's not much of a bit on a rabbit) called crepine when used in cooking, can also be used to wrap up little bits of meat and veg in a little parcel for frying.
I had a rabbit skin ball when I was very little and a fur muff.....then I realised what it came from and my playmate next door had a beautiful white rabbit.....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STUNNING-WHIT...itemZ6819319837QQcategoryZ11469QQcmdZViewItem

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Grooveski]

Is there something about eyes? ...for making glue maybe?
Use the brain to tan the hide.
Is rabbit gut any good for, well, gut? ...cordage.[Edit - That's a quick answer Toddy, even for you ]
Extract the teeth and mount in handles for more tools: drill bits, awls, leather tooling chisels....
...hmm, rabbit tooth?

 

[moko]

Thanks everyone, some good suggestions here. I'll stick some pictures up in the gallery of all the uses I can get out of my one rabbit.

 

[Biddlesby]

How do you use brain to tan a hide? Actually, while you're at it, what are the different methods of tanning?

I'm also intrigued about this glue.

 

[pierre girard]

My grandmother used to make an Ojibwe rabbit skin blanket (actually most of what we have up here is snowshoe hare). She would skin the rabbit, cut the skin into one inch strips, and hang them on a vertical pole while still green (before they'd dried out). The strips would furl in the wind as they dried - making a furry cordage. She would weave these furry cords into squares - the length of the average strip. When she had enough squares, she would sew them into a blanket. The blankets were warmer than wool. They are what the Ojibwe used in winter before wool blankets became available through the fur trade.

PG