ShropshireJohn Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Just shot my first Doe over our land, Unfortunately its rather heavy with a milky underside and fat tummy.. So I assume its carrying offspring. Obviously it can't be eaten, but I was suprised to see them breeding around this time of year Having a read suggests they breed anytime, but I always thought it was over the winter period. One to hang the guts out ready for the Corvids to be set upon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeh Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) There's nothing stopping you eating it, I've eaten pleanty of milky/pregent rabbits before. (The taste isn't as good though, but fine for mince etc.) Also, Rabbits breed through-out the year, but you are more lightly to come across pregent rabbits march/april onwards. Edited August 5, 2009 by Bleeh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlin vs Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Eat the bloody things, just cut off the milky tissue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 there's never any milky tissues left by the time it's skinned anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silpig5 Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 im with nick , once you skin em its just normal meat . the ones full of babies are a ****** to paunch , you think its the stomach but it aint ! at least killing a mummy bunny you can notch up a 4 kill , coz without her the babies will all die ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireJohn Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thanks for the responses chaps, Unfortunately I was too freaked out by the Milkyness so decided to give the two dogs a treat of a back leg each. Then once I'd seen more responses on here.. I decided to try and save the front legs for some tasty 'Essex Rabbit Recipe' unfortunately though I had a second thought! I'd shot the Rabbit side on at fairly close range with my 12 gauge Hatstand. I knew there would be meat damage, so instead of throwing the Rabbit in the field for the fox to find I opened it up with my penknife to see what was lurking within. I had managed to place the shot around the neck - shoulder - ribcage region of the Animal (1/4 choke, 30 gram of No6) at 6mtrs quite a wide pattern considering the size of the animal, There was some meat damage and about 12 pieces of leadshot greeting me as a skinned the r/h side, I then wanted to see if the animal was carrying offspring so I opened it up. The milk gland area of the rabbit was very dense and oozing milk out as I tried to get through it, upon opening it up I could see a piece of lead shot had perforated something near the liver which had left a nasty smelling brown matter inside.. I couldn't see any offspring inside. Are the young rabbits noticeable (inside the rabbit upon opening)? If the rabbit is already releasing milk this suggests that the offspring are down in the burrow and have already fed from the doe previously? Sorry for the essay! I felt like trying to explain the situation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenhunter Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 I have to say, this is just me mind,that I don't shoot rabbits until September for this very reason. Soft, I dare say, but I don't like the idea of leaving young to starve to death in the burrow. I'm lucky in that the farmer only wants the numbers keeping down not exterminating so I can leave them for a while. More shooting for me and tender young meat too!! GH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecooper1 Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Have to agree with greenhunter, on this one, my brother did a few woodies last night, called for a brew, said there were loads of little rabbits about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 I dont like shooting them much at this time of ear either (though I do if the crops are getting hit). I'd rather give them a rest till September, that way there are more about for me to shoot (and eat!) ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireJohn Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thanks once again for the replies, If rabbits breed all year round then its bound to happen again at some point Howcome September is the prefered month to start hitting them? I'm rather annoyed that the offspring will die as a result of my actions.. I want plenty of rabbits over our land and definately don't want to knock the numbers back down to mixxy levels of the latter years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Some of it is the old "dont shoot rabbits if there isnt an R in the month", ie not from May-Sep, which itself stems from the days when they were a staple of the country diet. A lot more rabbits were killed for food in those days, and a shortage of rabbit meant a shortage of food in poorer households. Simple husbandry really. They can breed all year round given the right conditions (the earliest pregnant doe I have had to date was in the first week in January on a particularly mild year), but the most intense breeding period occurs within the warm "non R" months. This is also the time the young have the best chance of reaching sexual maturity themselves without death from cold etc being a worry. Like I said, if they are bashing the crops hard, I go out and shoot them in summer. If not, I let them be and then bag up at harvest time (august, so not ideal) and then into Sep/Oct and so on. ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireJohn Posted August 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thanks for that Zapp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted August 5, 2009 Report Share Posted August 5, 2009 No probs SJ. In answer to your earlier post about what you found when gutting, the object you hit near the liver is almost certainly the stomach, and the brown material is partially digested food (or half made poo if you like ) The young, if there were any, would be in the pelvis area, if they are small, slightly higher up if they are more developed. They go from looking like a bunch of tubes with "bubbles on" (which remind me of bladderwrack seaweed) to obvious small rabbits. I dont mind saying it that since I (that is to say my wife ) had kids, I really dislike shooting pregnant does. I press the tummy of the rabbit just above the pelvis if they are milky or a bit "fat" looking, and if I feel bumps in there then the bunny goes straight to a friends ferrets. I dont even look inside. ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silpig5 Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 i do agree in principle about mothers and young , but in our defence in four fields appox 400 acres the farmer guessed at 6 -7 football pitch size areas of dammage , so on his request hit them hard all year round to gett the numbers down .he was so determend he even mowed the head lands so we had better shotts ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenhunter Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 i do agree in principle about mothers and young , but in our defence in four fields appox 400 acres the farmer guessed at 6 -7 football pitch size areas of dammage , so on his request hit them hard all year round to gett the numbers down .he was so determend he even mowed the head lands so we had better shotts ! Thats fair enough. If you have a job to do and it means you have to shoot all year round then that is how it is. As I said, I,m lucky enough to have a couple of permissions where they don't want them wiped out so it doesn't conflict with my thoughts on when to shoot them. GH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildfowler.250 Posted August 6, 2009 Report Share Posted August 6, 2009 I had managed to place the shot around the neck - shoulder - ribcage region of the Animal (1/4 choke, 30 gram of No6) at 6mtrs quite a wide pattern considering the size of the animal, There was some meat damage are you surprised pounce on them at that distance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Shot 1958 Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 I agree totally with Greenhunter , we all go on about clean kills so that the animal does not suffer but i feel that by shooting milky does thus allowing young rabbits to starve is cruel. I do hunt rabbits this time of the year but coped ferrets ferrets if I happen to get a milky doe then I let her go ,maybe I am too soft but that's what I do. Everybody to their own I do not want any debate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckyshot Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 Don't really understand this don't shoot them as they have young but I will admit I'm pretty heartless. For me and my farmers shooting milky does is a good thing as like has been mentioned above your can clear a lot of rabbits with only one shot. With regards to the young starving to death as bad as it may sound that's life it happens to a lot of animals not just rabbits. I've had young rabbits on my permission fro late February and a lot of them are now half grown with nine out of tem does full of young again so a few young dying isn't going to wipe out the rabbit population in a hurry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 Can't see how waiting until after the harvest to shoot them is worthwhile crop protection, although getting a load of young or milky does is no real fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 (edited) i do agree in principle about mothers and young , but in our defence in four fields appox 400 acres the farmer guessed at 6 -7 football pitch size areas of dammage , so on his request hit them hard all year round to gett the numbers down .he was so determend he even mowed the head lands so we had better shotts ! Yep. Same with me. Its no mercy year round or someone else gets the job. Mine get a let-off through high summer when the crops and vegetation are too high to shoot, but by then they're doing little damage anyway since the crops are fibrous and less palatable and they find better pickings in the wild vegetation on the margins. It does no harm to give them a break at this time as they are more relaxed for stubble shooting after harvest. Pregnant or not makes no difference to me. If its got long ears and hops, over it goes, even if its 6" long. During a glut I fillet off the loins for myself and other than a general loss of condition caused by the stress of suckling, I don't find milky does eat any differently to dry does. Otherwise the ferrets eat most of my rabbits and if its a doe full of well develop foetuses they'll crunch up those as well. They love em. They always stash the heads for some reason in a little heap in the sleeping box. I draw the line with tape worm infestation and disease. Those get left for Reynard and the crows. Mixy rabbits are always left hung up off the ground for crows where other rabbits can't come into contact with the fleas. Edited March 23, 2014 by Gimlet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegasus bridge Posted March 23, 2014 Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 The Romans considered rabbit foetus a delicacy http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurices 😷😷😷😷 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted March 24, 2014 Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 The Romans considered rabbit foetus a delicacy http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurices Well I never knew that! I'm prepared to try most things but I think I'll give that a miss. Ferrets can have them I'll stick with the loins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.