# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Hunting & Trapping >  Hypothetical situation/question with a snared rabbit

## Cryov

Lets say you are out in the woods on a trip or survival excercise and you set some simple slipknot rabbit snares. You check all your snares one last time before calling it quits for the day. While sleeping a rabbit gets snared and manages to die from the elements or choking itself out and you discover this rabbit a few hours after you get up. How would you know if the rabbit is still good to eat? 
I had a friend years ago who did something similiar to this and he cooked up the rabbit but didnt tell me its been sitting out for awhile before he collected and processed it. I can still to this day taste that spoiled rabbit meat when i think about it. Id love to avoid that taste if at all possible, so anything to help would be appreciated.

----------


## Rick

There was no spoiled meat unless the temps were high and it had been out for hours. If it's hot then you want to process the meat as soon as possible. I've been rabbit hunting and carried rabbits in my coat all day and I've never had a problem. But that's when temps are cold, too. You'd be surprised how much you can get away with on meat as long as it isn't contaminated with fecal matter or urine.

----------


## crashdive123

Yep - sounds more like incorrect processing than spoiled from age.

----------


## Cryov

Sounds about right, it was a 110 degree summer so it could have been the heat. However now that you say it, he probably did process it wrong, more than likely cut an internal organ he wasn't suppose to.

----------


## shiftyer1

I see your in Texas,  i'm in central TX and only eat rabbits after it freezes.  We have found way to many bad rabbits when it warms up.

----------


## Cryov

Yeah shiftyer1, I use to live near Amarillo and they have crazy cottontail/jackrabbit/prairie dog problems. I am use to just shooting them with my .17 hmr or prairie dog fishing and processing them. I recently moved just south of Ft. Worth and can't find a rancher down here as of yet to let me go on their land and hunt rabbits. Also it is a lot more wooded here so I figure trapping would be the better alternative than trying to shoot. Been paranoid about leaving rabbits out over night in a snare since that incident with my friend. Never gonna trust him to make rabbit stew again however thanks for clearing things up!

Also as a side note, it bothers the hell out of me when people call Dallas/Ft. Worth area North Texas. Our state is freakin cross shaped and Amarillo is North Texas, I consider dallas/ft.worth to be east or east by north east Texas.

----------


## Rick

There is an old saying that most everyone knows. Perhaps you do too but I'll repeat it just in case. Only take rabbits in months that have an R in them. That would be September through April.......or the colder months.

----------


## 1stimestar

Isn't the rule of thumb for rabbit "only eat rabbit in months that have Rs in them"? So that would knock out the summer months.

----------


## crashdive123

> There is an old saying that most everyone knows. Perhaps you do too but I'll repeat it just in case. Only take rabbits in months that have an R in them. That would be September through April.......or the colder months.





> Isn't the rule of thumb for rabbit "only eat rabbit in months that have Rs in them"? So that would knock out the summer months.


Déjà vu all over again.

----------


## COWBOYSURVIVAL

Your in prime time Bubonic Plague territory. DO NOT eat rabbits until the second frost and then only in cold months. Then there is the whole issue about hunting and trapping out of season. 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/info.htm

----------


## hunter63

I hear an echo, echo, echo, echo

----------


## Rick

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

----------


## Cryov

> Your in prime time Bubonic Plague territory. DO NOT eat rabbits until the second frost and then only in cold months. Then there is the whole issue about hunting and trapping out of season.


Rabbits are such a wide spread problem in Texas that they are not ever out of season.  As for permits for them, you only need them if you are on designated hunting lands. That is why I need to find a rancher down here who'd be willing to let me hunt/trap on his land. 
Eating rabbits you get in the months of R sounds vaguely familiar. Sadly my experience comes from Boy Scouts, 4H, my dad, and self teaching. So some subjects I excel in, others I know little about.

----------


## COWBOYSURVIVAL

> Rabbits are such a wide spread problem in Texas that they are not ever out of season.  As for permits for them, you only need them if you are on designated hunting lands. That is why I need to find a rancher down here who'd be willing to let me hunt/trap on his land. 
> Eating rabbits you get in the months of R sounds vaguely familiar. Sadly my experience comes from Boy Scouts, 4H, my dad, and self teaching. So some subjects I excel in, others I know little about.


Looks like your right about hunting rabbits (no season) in Texas. I couldn't sort out if it was legal to trap them. I used to live in NM and we waited for the second hard frost.

----------


## hunter63

I'm sure a lot of people consider rabbits a valuable food source in a survival situation, but with many small wild animals, they are a major disease carrier,... don't do you much good if they make you sick.

Anything left out in 100+ heat surely wouldn't last long........guess that's why everyone seems to cut up their deer and put in coolers full of ice in Louisiana.

----------


## Rick

Man! Fried rabbit. Some gravy. Fried potatoes. Home made biscuits with molasses. It just doesn't get much better than that! Okay, you could substitute squirrel if you want.

----------


## newzealandsurvival

can rabbits have diseases in America / Canada, what diseases ? sorry for the ingnorance but all we have is TB and that is very rare, cooking the meat well gets rid of the TB anyway. interesting about the meat spoiling, it must have been really hot weather ?

----------


## crashdive123

A few are......

Rabies
Tularemia
Tick Fever
Powassan Virus
Myxamitosis

----------


## Rick

Don't forget Halitosis.

----------


## intothenew

They are also susceptible to warbles. I have never seen one on a rabbit, only squirrel, season opens much earlier on squirrel here. Supposedly, it is OK to eat the meat of a warble infected animal. I would, but only in a must situation, they're nasty.

To the original question, kinda sorta, you may can prevent the problem by using the techniques described by Beowul65 here. Non-lethal, leastwise until you decide.

----------


## tank

In trapping the one biggest problem is the animal has not blead out, I have noticed the strong taste of blood in the meat if I don't bleed it out. That could be the taste you have. That is why some people will cut the throat of an animal to let it really bleed out. 
An like everyone else says, you need a frost to eat rabbit, I understand the rabbits have a bactiria that needs a frost to kill, someone else might know more about that.
Tank

----------


## Rick

I think the concern is generally Bot Fly larva. Rabbits and squirrels can be infected but I've never seen it in either.

----------


## RandyRhoads

Can anyone elaborate on this more? I eat rabbits year around in California, never had a problem. And I thought bot flies weren't in the US?

----------


## Rick

I think you'll see this only in the southern U.S. although I have read that some species are found as far north as Kansas. I've never seen it in Illinois where I grew up and I skinned a bunch of rabbits as a kid.

----------


## oldtrap59

The area of East Texas I'm in starts squirrel season early in the fall when it's still pretty warm. I don't hunt them then. I wait till after the close of deer season (jan 1st) to hunt the little buggers till jan 31. Not many rabbits in this area. So they're not a problem. I have three large coolers that I use when hog and deer hunting. Both are put on ice as quickly as possible when taken in warmer weather. I also get either deer or hog bled out and gutted as soon as possible no matter the temp.

Oldtrap

----------


## RandyRhoads

Why is this though? The warm months are purely for bot flies, or is there another parasite/ disease I should be aware of that blooms in the hot months? I have DFAGs wild game PDF and there's only 2 or 3 risks with rabbits and squirrels I see and only one applies to me. If I read CDC right there are only about 18 cases of plague a year. Sounds like I don't need to lose sleep over that. Definitely going to wear gloves from now on.

----------


## Rick

The rule of thumb is only hunt for squirrels or rabbits in the months with Rs in them. September to April. The other issue is how long you keep them in your coat or where ever you place your game. The meat will spoil quicker in warmer months. On cold days I've shot rabbits in the morning, dropped them in the back of my hunting coat and hunted most of the day. The meat stayed cold and I've never had a problem.

----------


## RandyRhoads

Oh so that rule is just so the meat doesn't spoil as quick.

----------

