[ibthetrout]

Was out walking the back 20 trying to see who the ahole was illegally hunting my property when I scared up a couple of pretty large rabbits. Thought about taking a shot (had my orange on, license in pocket, loaded 12 ga), but I always remember my dad saying something about not hunting rabbit until after the first snow. It had to do with some disease they carried until the cold weather hit. Is this true???

 

[rabbit whacker]

No, its an old wives tale.

 

[ibthetrout]

So no reason to avoid shotting those rabbits as long as they're in season?

I got a hankerin' to thin out the population around my place this year. It sure seemed like we had alot of them this summer!

 

[Airoh]

There was some logic in "wait for a hard frost"

Rabbits carry a disease called tularemia that they probably get from ticks. The ticks will also infect you. So if you waited until after the frost there will be a lot less ticks out there.

http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbtulare.htm

 

[Crowblaster]

You can eat em before the frost but wear gloves when you clean em. Alot of em have Tuleremia and a few have worms. Cooking the meat kills both, just not real appetizing

Here's a pick of me and a bunny, I mostly use my 1022 magnum on em. Always headshots. Yum. That's my old Mitsubishis Pickup truck, thing ran ferever...354,000 miles on it before it died.

 

[ibthetrout]

ick! does that stuff go away with the frost???

 

[Crowblaster]

Yup...it goes away with the frost. But...like I said, once you cook it you'll be fine. Also, many fish you may eat contain worms you just don't see it. Codfish, halibut, redfish, etc...

I bet you have those big ol' bunnies up there too. We mostly have what we call swamp rabbits down here but they can get large.

 

[Gr8 Scout]

Crowblaster, you must at least be from Michigan. I lived in florida for quite a while. I missed the Michigan hunting. Sitting in a treestand, in camo shorts and t-shirt with net camo over me was strange.

I was in South Florida once and saw the strangest rabbit hunt. They were burning off the sugar cane, and along the side where the fire was heading were dozens of folks... hunting the bunnies that scampered out. Hunting with clubs, mostly. No guns.

They were doing VERY good. I saw some big coolers filled up to the top. They'd pretty quickly skin and gut the rabbits, leaving one foot intact, to prove to the folks in Miami and Homestead that the animals they sold to them were in fact bunnies, not cats.

I do miss hunting the pigs, however. That is sport.

Scout

 

[Crowblaster]

No, not from Michigan but I have visited your state a few times. Of course, had to go to Jays and the Cabelas in Dundee. I'd love to relocate to your state, gotta find a job first though. Sure is a pretty state once you get outta the city's...

 

[jdt]

rabbits also carry a fly larva called the bot fly,more often in the warmer parts of the country,like the south (texas).
i have shot rabbits the had the larva in the skin in michigan.
the larva leaves the body in the late summer,but some are found in the fall.the body is healed by the time cold weather hits!

 

[Robert W. McCoy Jr]

I have killed a lot of rabbits in the middle of winter that have tape worms in them.

We also usually find fleas and ticks even in the winter.

We have to worm our dogs every month in the winter because they can pick up tapes from the rabbits.