Do you hang your rabbits? What process do you follow?

[Tugalis]

Quick question and you will have to excuse the ignorance, Im self taught with my hunting and so I don't know what I don't know...

In terms of rabbits, I shoot, gut on site and then skin etc either the same night or in the morning.

I spoke to a chef this week who said he shoots, guts and then hangs in a fridge for four days before he skins and then portions out the rabbit. He said it tastes better and is easier to skin/portion out if you can wait that long. I spoke to someone who said they gut, remove the head, skin and then hang. As always, there are loads of differing opinions so I thought I would ask on here?

The wife has also asked if hanging in the fridge would cause any damage to the pelt as she wants the pelts to clean up and use at at later date? If this is a good idea Im going to pick up another fridge for this purpose. I don't want to waste the money on the fridge, or more importantly, upset the Mrs, if its a bad idea lol.

Thanks in advance!

[dogger]

fur head down, feathers head up thats what i was taught👍

[RCB56]

And welcome to pigeonwatch 

[Ultrastu]

Welcome .

I gave up on rabbits .a lot of hard work for poor  tasting meat that gives you unsufficent  protein  content .

If I do eat a rabbit it's as soon as possible .ie shot in the morning eaten at lunch. And younger rabbits also .

Cheers 

[bishop]

1 hour ago, Ultrastu said:

Welcome .

I gave up on rabbits .a lot of hard work for poor  tasting meat that gives you unsufficent  protein  content .

If I do eat a rabbit it's as soon as possible .ie shot in the morning eaten at lunch. And younger rabbits also .

Cheers 

Where you getting this low protein tosh from lad!!  !And moreover ,Rabbit is very tasty. No special rules whatsoever other than get cleaned and keep meat from drying out once skinned till cooked.Lovely fried btw  

Edited August 27 by bishop

[steve_b_wales]

1 hour ago, bishop said:

Where you getting this low protein tosh from lad!!  !And moreover ,Rabbit is very tasty. No special rules whatsoever other than get cleaned and keep meat from drying out once skinned till cooked.Lovely fried btw  

+1This, via Google: Rabbit and hare meat are excellent sources of protein. Protein also keeps us healthy by building and repairing our muscles, skin and blood. Rabbit and hare meat are excellent sources of iron. Iron helps make healthy blood that flows through our bodies, giving us energy to be active and to grow strong.

Edited August 27 by steve_b_wales

[Flyboy1950]

Paunch in field on shooting, finish cleaning at home, remove "lucky rabbits feet", head and tail. Skin and portion. Pop into frying pan to seal the portions then into slow cooker with a selection of root veggies. and gravy mix  Add half a mug of Pernod or similar aniseed spirit and slow cook for about 6 hours. When serving add some greens and potatoes of choice. Fabulous grub.

[ehb102]

2 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

Welcome .

I gave up on rabbits .a lot of hard work for poor  tasting meat that gives you unsufficent  protein  content .

If I do eat a rabbit it's as soon as possible .ie shot in the morning eaten at lunch. And younger rabbits also .

Cheers 

I think you mean not enough fat. Protein poisoning is a thing. 

[Ultrastu]

2 hours ago, ehb102 said:

I think you mean not enough fat. Protein poisoning is a thing. 

I'm 100 %sure of what I mean .

Rabbit starvation  is a thing (look it up ) 

Rabbit meat doesn't contain all 9 of the essential  amino acids  required for human muscle tissue repair .while it does provide plenty of protein  . If you were to live on Rabbit alone as your only source of meat /protein  then you would starve  and waste away  .BUT combine it with a complete  scorce like chicken fish,  milk cheese etc then Rabbit consumption  will be perfectly fine for you .

I just  can't be bothered anymore more .but that is me .

Cheers 

[enfieldspares]

No when I shot such I never did. Emptied the bowels and bladder as soon as they were brought to hand, yes, but hung like a pheasant? Never. Skinned and put away the same day.

2 hours ago, steve_b_wales said:

+1This, via Google: Rabbit and hare meat are excellent sources of protein. Protein also keeps us healthy by building and repairing our muscles, skin and blood. Rabbit and hare meat are excellent sources of iron. Iron helps make healthy blood that flows through our bodies, giving us energy to be active and to grow strong.

This is a classic case of not being the whole truth regarding eating rabbits. In fact in extreme it is dangerous advice. Rabbit starvation is well documented and the US Armed Forces advise that if rabbit is the ONLY source of food to in fact not eat it at all. I asked a friend, ex-1 Parachute Regiment, twenty-two years "in" and he said that the British Army advised the same. 

I am loth to challenge a Google with a Wikipedia bit anyway:

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

Edited August 27 by enfieldspares

[bishop]

51 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

No when I shot such I never did. Emptied the bowels and bladder as soon as they were brought to hand, yes, but hung like a pheasant? Never. Skinned and put away the same day.

This is a classic case of not being the whole truth regarding eating rabbits. In fact in extreme it is dangerous advice. Rabbit starvation is well documented and the US Armed Forces advise that if rabbit is the ONLY source of food to in fact not eat it at all. I asked a friend, ex-1 Parachute Regiment, twenty-two years "in" and he said that the British Army advised the same. 

I am loth to challenge a Google with a Wikipedia bit anyway:

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

I think for the average uk rabbit shooter ( not a parachute regiment  3 month long  yomp through a barren  rabbit infested wasteland) scoffing  a delicious bunny every week will not put them in harms way though 😁

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, Depends how many you shoot to eat or sell but your need a Fridge of sorts for Spring to Autumn do to blow flies, In my younger days with 410 a shot rabbit was Paunched in the Woods and fields i was lucky to have as a Perm then if not cooked at home sold that day , Rabbit Stew mum cooked

[enfieldspares]

49 minutes ago, bishop said:

I think for the average uk rabbit shooter ( not a parachute regiment  3 month long  yomp through a barren  rabbit infested wasteland) scoffing  a delicious bunny every week will not put them in harms way though 😁

LOL! And of course absolutely right. 

[London Best]

One of the most delicious meats of the lot. 
Youngsters fried or roast like chicken. 
Adults I think are best cooked slowly until the meat is just falling off the bones then bones removed and meat put in a pie.

[ehb102]

2 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

I'm 100 %sure of what I mean .

Rabbit starvation  is a thing (look it up ) 

Rabbit meat doesn't contain all 9 of the essential  amino acids  required for human muscle tissue repair .while it does provide plenty of protein  . If you were to live on Rabbit alone as your only source of meat /protein  then you would starve  and waste away  .BUT combine it with a complete  scorce like chicken fish,  milk cheese etc then Rabbit consumption  will be perfectly fine for you .

I just  can't be bothered anymore more .but that is me .

Cheers 

That's not what you said though.

[Ultrastu]

I did .but I expanded on it in my second post for clarity for those who either haven't heard of rabbit starvation or have misunderstood  it .I also googled it  and the information given  is over simplified  and basically wrong .it states that there is a lack of nutrients in rabbit meat .( the lacking nutrients are the missing essential   amino acids that make up the  protein  chains ) 

beens are full of protein (but again are an  incomplete   protein  required  for human muscle repair)   and you  wouldn't   rely  on these as your only  meat / protein  replacement  source .

Additionally  Google recommends that you should eat fat to solve the  "nutrient " problem  as rabbit is a  lean meat . But what it means is you should eat meat from a different  protein source  like beef  lamb etc to give you  the full protein/ complete amino acid content your body requires  . 

Google over simplifies things into the lowest common denominator . 

I could  list the amino acids but they are big words that I would probably spell incorrectly  anyway they are easy to look up .

I used to buy amino acid tablets many years ago when I was into lifting  .meaning that you can basically get a complete protein hit  from almost any meal as even cabbage contains protein  .

[Stonepark]

17 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

 

Rabbits and Hares are some of the highest protein content meats, running at 60+ percent compared to say steak at 45% or pork at less than 30%.

Reason being is the meat is very low on fat content.

Eating rabbit provides no issues in the short to medium term (days to weeks), for a normal person , especially if you also eat the liver as your body will burn body fat to supplement the rabbit meat lack of fat.

 

Only those with less than 5% body fat (I e. Generally already starving or some extreme ultra marathon runner types) would have a problem in the medium term as they have insufficient fat reserves to compensate and historically it was the already starving who suffered from rabbit starvation, especially if they didn't eat the offal and relied solely on the meat.

 

Rabbit starvation is and always has been overblown as a risk/outcome of eating rabbit.

10 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

I did .but I expanded on it in my second post for clarity for those who either haven't heard of rabbit starvation or have misunderstood  it .I also googled it  and the information given  is over simplified  and basically wrong .it states that there is a lack of nutrients in rabbit meat .( the lacking nutrients are the missing essential   amino acids that make up the  protein  chains ) 

beens are full of protein (but again are an  incomplete   protein  required  for human muscle repair)   and you  wouldn't   rely  on these as your only  meat / protein  replacement  source .

Additionally  Google recommends that you should eat fat to solve the  "nutrient " problem  as rabbit is a  lean meat . But what it means is you should eat meat from a different  protein source  like beef  lamb etc to give you  the full protein/ complete amino acid content your body requires  . 

Google over simplifies things into the lowest common denominator . 

I could  list the amino acids but they are big words that I would probably spell incorrectly  anyway they are easy to look up .

I used to buy amino acid tablets many years ago when I was into lifting  .meaning that you can basically get a complete protein hit  from almost any meal as even cabbage contains protein  .