# Deboning rabbits



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

My brother and I deboned a couple dozen rabbits; 5 jacks and 19 cottontails.

It took us about 5 hours to get 10.7 lbs of jack rabbit and 11.3 lbs of cottontail meat, 22 lbs totals.

Time for some rabbit summer sausage. Stay tuned.

2-gallon Ziploc bags:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

After deboning, the cottontail necks, backs and ribs still have meat on them. They were simmered for about 3 hours and then ground up for dog food.

88¢ per lb chicken and some rice was added to the ground rabbit scraps for some of the best dog food my dog and I ever ate. 

Simmer for 2 or 3 hours. Save some of the broth for making rice: 

That old $99 grinder is still going strong and handles the rabbit bones easily:


I'm thinkin' I can feed this to my hunting buddies:


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Goob, I've never eaten jacks, how is the taste compared to cottontails?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

LostLouisianian said:


> Goob, I've never eaten jacks, how is the taste compared to cottontails?


Uh....I can't answer that on a family oriented forum.

My brother, a ruthless bunny killer, wanted the jack rabbits, not this daisy-sniffing ptarmigan hunter. 

.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> Uh....I can't answer that on a family oriented forum.
> 
> My brother, a ruthless bunny killer, wanted the jack rabbits, not this daisy-sniffing ptarmigan hunter.
> 
> .


So they taste like the south end of a north bound steer huh.... ;-)


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Do you use the squeeze method on skinning?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

LostLouisianian said:


> So they taste like the south end of a north bound steer huh.... ;-)


No, I'm not saying that at all. Taste is subjective and I don't know how to cook.

If you use the UWN search engine you'll find a multitude of positive comments on jack rabbit platability.

.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Dunkem said:


> Do you use the squeeze method on skinning?


Good grief, no.

But thanks, I'm gonna dig that up and show that to my brother. :grin:

.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

De-boned 4 Desert Cottontails. Went as fast as I could and it took about 18 minutes per rabbit, not counting time spent looking for my reading glasses and rendering first aid to cut fingers.

The meat from 4 average Desert Cottontails weighed 3.25lbs or 13 oz per bunny.


important stuff

.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

De-boned an average size jack rabbit. Removed all fat and as much white skin as I could. Took 32 minutes, one cup of coffee and 2 snickers mini candy bars to get 2lbs 5oz (37oz) of meat.





The smell reminds me of turtle meat.


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## Azar (Oct 21, 2014)

This is probably a stupid question considering whom I'm questioning ;-), but have you eaten jackrabbit before? How does it measure up?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Azar said:


> This is probably a stupid question considering whom I'm questioning ;-), but have you eaten jackrabbit before? How does it measure up?


Great question, see: http://utahwildlife.net/forum/26-recipes/130425-jack-rabbit.html

or use the UWN search engine.

Go get ya some jack rabbit and give it a try.

.


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## Azar (Oct 21, 2014)

Yeah, after posting the question I saw the other thread.

I still think I might pass...


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