Butchered rabbits for the first time today...

[MustangGal]

DH's uncle showed us how to do it. I don't like his method of dispatching them, but beggers can't be choosers. How do you do it? He bopped 'em on the head with a hammer to stun them, then slit their throats. I'm thinking about getting a Rabbit Wringer.

Anyway, he did the first two or three and I did the rest. We butchered six total. I don't know who was more suprised... DH or his uncle. I'm not great at it, but we have up to 18 more to butcher in three weeks, so I'll get plenty of practice.

Anyone have any great rabbit recipes. :D

[thedreamers]

lots of good meals ahead. congrats on doing it. not everyone can kill an animal and eat it. practice when times are good.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Thats awesome! Once you butcher one critter the rest are not that much different, 2 end with guts in the middle surrounded by the good stuff LOL

[Lowdown3]

Try a 2 D cell maglite. Couple blows to the back of the head then chop or cut the head off immediately. It's worked for me probably a thousand times over almost 20 years now.

I hang them from there. Either drive a 16D nail through a post on a slight upwards angle and make a slight cut in the tendons of the foot and hang them through the nail or use a piece of 550 and tie to the ankle and hand them.

Shallow cut at the midsection, peel the opening out a little bit, insert the knife blade away from the meat and cut around to get the skin/fur all the way around. Then roll up just a smitch of the fur/skin towards you making a handle. With constant downward pressure PULL- don't yank- down and keep pulling. It really does come off "like a sock" if you do it right. Pull past the neck stump until most of the front legs are exposed. Cut the skin free.

Eviscerate it, drop all the innards into a bucket, take it down and finish on a table, board, etc.

Our bunnies dropped off this summer in production, had to drop a deer this fall to refill our meat supply. Hopefully this will be a better year for the bunnies. Rabbit meat is much better than deer IMO.

Good luck.

If your feeling queesy about whacking them out, just say a little prayer before hand that they will die quickly and thank God for the food.

Grab them by the hind feet and hold them upside down when you whack them in the head. They WILL pull and tug, just do it quick. I've had some pull so hard you heard and felt their legs dislocate. Then they scream, and you don't want to hear a rabbit scream for the first time when your killing one.....

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Mental note dont let LD3 behind you with a Maglight :)

[qrprat77]

Mental note dont let LD3 behind you with a Maglight :)

I LOL'd.
Only ever dispatched rabbits with a .22 to the head.

[Klayton]

I have seen people use high powered air rifles to the back of the skull midline between the ears... 2 seconds of nerve kicking and its over...
Saw one on youtube where a guy set up a neck snap device, in his video it was like 1 second and motionless rabbit...

[MustangGal]

I have seen people use high powered air rifles to the back of the skull midline between the ears... 2 seconds of nerve kicking and its over...
Saw one on youtube where a guy set up a neck snap device, in his video it was like 1 second and motionless rabbit...

That is pretty much what a Rabbit Wringer does.

LD3 - we did have a couple of screamers today. Both, were white, which I found odd, since none of the colored rabbits did that. I was so thankful the Man Cub had gone into the house. Speaking of the Man Cub, he was really funny today. He had his 4 wheeler out riding it, but he would do drive-bys... really slow. Occasionally he would stop and get off for a better look. Say, "Ewww, gross," hop back on the bike and take off, only to be doing another drive by in a few minutes.

[goatlady]

They can up nicely and are really tasty in just about any meat recipe. I like them with gravies/sauces as they are so lean.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Speaking of the Man Cub, he was really funny today. He had his 4 wheeler out riding it, but he would do drive-bys... really slow. Occasionally he would stop and get off for a better look. Say, "Ewww, gross," hop back on the bike and take off, only to be doing another drive by in a few minutes.

He's just processing it in his young mind

[1Admin]

My boy was like that. When he was younger, we'd tell him to go in the house for a few minutes till the heads were off. Slowly get them acclimatized to it. This year we had one particularly mean rooster. He asked me could he kill it. I told him no for a while. Then we talked about it, the psychology involved, what we would feel afterwards, etc. Told him what would happen with the rooster after he got hit, what to expect, not to freak, not to dump the mag into it, keep the emotions under control, etc. We walked out there, he loaded his rifle GSG AK .22 ;) , said a little prayer first and then shot it. No crying no chest thumping, etc. "This sort of thing is just life on the homestead babe. Your just doing work." I told him. No bad dreams, no machismo, no crying, no bragging about it, etc. He did well.

I've seen grown men who "train" and think highly of themselves about cry doing similar work for the first time. They were not psychologically ready for the work- the death, the pain they caused, getting bloody, etc.

I am most definitely not saying you should kill just to kill, but folks serious about defense and fighting should get at least a taste of it with animals if they can- i.e, hunting, home butchering, etc.

[MustangGal]

We were pretty "matter of fact" about it. He could stay in the house or participate or anything in between. He told me (before we actually butchered) that when his rabbits had kits and were ready to butcher, he felt like he needed to help. "It would only be right, because they are mine." He may have changed his mind since then.

We have a rooster the Man Cub named "Vintage" - he was black and white - he has since changed colors but we still call him "Vintage." He decided to take on DS one day, unfortunatelly DS ran. I told him to kick the crap out of the rooster if he tried that again. DS was still afraid, so I got him a fiberglass cattle prod. I told him to hit the rooster with it...HARD. If he killed him - we would just eat him. lol It took a few rounds and there is occasionally some posturing, but the rooster hasn't attacked anyone since.

A few days ago DS asked if we could change Vintage's name to "Chicken-Noodle-Soup." lol

I think as a nation we are so divorced from where our food comes from it is just nuts. We try to be very matter-of-fact about all the things that take place on our little farm. So, far, that seems to be acceptable to DS. The pigs go to the butcher tomorrow. We wanted to do it ourselves (with our friend who is a butcher) but the weather here has been so warm, I don't know how we would chill it out.

[Mjollnir]

I've dispatched them in several different ways in past. I personally prefer to snap their neck with either a hatchet handle or some type of rod, stick or staff. It is a little easier for the kids to watch too as it seems a little less violent to them compared to smacking them with a rod or stick or shooting them(which is also a waste of resources IMHO as far as ammo is concerned). Had a few rabbits start to thrash and bounce in mid swing resulting in a bad hit and screaming rabbits. My kids have been a part of butcher day since we started. Our 8yo insists on helping with every step of the process, she is a real trooper. Our 6yo likes to mostly just watch and our 2yo likes to pick up the feet off the ground and put them in the waste bucket.

Here is a short vid of how we dispatch with a hatchet handle. (was going to do a set of videos on hatchet butchering rabbits but battery died in second video)

http://youtu.be/3qMYkPkOgbQ