# Cotton tail time.



## Speedbump (Mar 7, 2011)

Almost cotton tail time I can't wait.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Almost in five months...


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

TEX-O-BOB said:


> Almost in five months...


He could be from Southwest Wyoming. It will be winter again in 3 weeks.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> TEX-O-BOB said:
> 
> 
> > Almost in five months...
> ...


Right!


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

TEX-O-BOB said:


> Almost in five months...


Huh?!?!?



> Cottontail rabbit (desert and mountain)
> • Season dates: Sept. 1, 2011-Feb. 29, 2012
> • Areas open: Statewide*
> • Bag limit: 10 Possession limit: 30


Less than 5 weeks, the way I read it. You may not want to eat them until after the first big freeze, but at 9,000 feet that will be in about 5 weeks.

Fishrmn


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Bingo! You hit it right on the head. I just don't trust those little parasite packin fur balls when it's warm out. Besides, there's so many other things to chase when the weathers nice. I usually wait till there's nuthin else to hunt before I dust of the old .17 HMR and head out after bunnies. but that's just me...


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

I am with Tex..ya hunt 'tails in Dec and January! Period, exclamation point, etc,etc! I don't care what the stupid proclamation says.  I am firm on this one, even though I put up a smiley face.


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## richard rouleau (Apr 12, 2008)

when have hunt them in july in airzona and they are fine also shot some cal. in aug. and where fine


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm with richard on this one.

I prefer to eat cottontails taken before the snow covers the ground. When the snow gets deep they eat sagebrush, rabbitbrush, stuff that makes them taste more gamey. A far as the parasites go I don't see any difference between September or January.

As far as hunting them goes, the dead of the winter is best hunting, especially a clear -20 morning following a good snowstorm with a pistol or a recurve.

Ah, what the hell do I know; there's no rabbits in Wyoming anyway. he he, he, he


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## polarbear (Aug 1, 2011)

I'm with Tex and BP. I used to hunt bunnies before the first freeze. Then one time I was carrying one I had just shot, looked down, and saw a giant botfly larva the size of my thumb crawl out of its skin. Between that and the fleas I decided to wait until winter.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

polarbear said:


> I'm with Tex and BP. I used to hunt bunnies before the first freeze. Then one time I was carrying one I had just shot, looked down, and saw a giant botfly larva the size of my thumb crawl out of its skin. Between that and the fleas I decided to wait until winter.


It's those sorts of things that have made me decide not to hunt those things at all.

Ticks, fleas, tularemia, etc. _/O Better to hunt fish or something.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

I love eating those little buggers. I really don't get the "gamey" taste late in the year at all... When I kill em I jerk the hide off while they're still twitchin, huck the guts in a ditch, sack up the meat right there in the field and slide it into my game vest. Gets em cold fast and keeps the fleas off me!


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

I learned how to clean them without touching the guts. No knife needed. And the only thing you have to touch is the hide when you peel it off of the back strap.

Fishrmn


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I have found bot fly larva in cottontails between Christmas and New Year's here in southwest WY.

And fleas, always the fleas.

And like TEX says always clean yer rabbits as soon as they drop. Geeze, you can't carry 10 rabbits unless you skin and gut them.

But what the hell do know, there are no cottontails in southwest Wyoming.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Did somebody say Bot fly??






yikes


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

BPturkeys said:


> Did somebody say Bot fly??
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't wanna look. I grew up on a farm.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

MR Google says the bot fly will lays eggs until a hard freeze. The eggs turn to grubs and after 5 weeks squirt out and pupate before they hit the ground, uh...sort of. Later if there's a warm spell the pupas can hatch into flys and the whole thing starts over again. 

I never seen bot flies on our cows in the winter.

No big deal on a rabbit, just flick that puppy out and trim around the hole the grub left. I bet those things swould be good ice-fishing.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Cottontail seem to be crawling with fleas the past few seasons, more so than I remember from seasons past


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