Moving to the new place this weekend and the first thing I'm going to do is dish out some lead poison.

I've been planting iron bark & gum trees like mad every afternoon til dark, and the bloody hares are having a feast.




Don't want any of that hanging out to go green & full of maggots shit, recipe's using fresh meat would be fine.

Here's ( sorry about the pun ) my contribution -

bone out Harry Hare , cut him into small bits , soak overnight in lightly salted water , drain , push the meat through a mincer twice ,mix in some bread crumbs , herbs and spices , an egg to hold it all together , make into patties , biff em on the bbq and sit back with a plate of hare patties , and a cold beer and contemplate the joys of a summer christmas and your own harvested food .

You can make a hare casserole the same as a chicken one - substitute hare for the chicken obviously - or stews are good . But you do need to soak the meat in salted water to reduce the strong gamey flavour somewhat or the end product will be very strong .

Remember that hares breed much slower than rabbits so dont shoot them all or there wont be any for next year

Two recipes,
First, take the "back steaks". these will often lift out by hand after making the first cut alongside the backbone. Trim all the membrane and the white covering (ligament?), until all you have is a "sausage" of soft red meat. Butterfly this by cutting lengthways almost through, you end up with a schnitzel looking piece. Marinade if it's for dinner, otherwise fry with your bacon for breakfast. Only takes about 30-40 sec each side. Softest, most tender piece of meat I've ever had, and very little gamy taste.
Use the legs for the next recipe, back legs will cut into two or three pieces. Roll in flour, brown in oil. Make your usual tomato pasta sauce, put the meat back in, add some carrot and a glass of red wine. Casserole for two to three hours. The meat will fall off the bone. Great with mash, or you can take out the bones and serve with pasta.
I reckon hare is the best red meat there is. I spotlight a big farm down south, sometimes we get 200 hares in a night. I'm usually up until dawn cleaning them, they're too good to waste!

BAW, I'm going to be in the Stanthorpe area in January... my son absolutely LOVES hunting hare, seems to have a bit a 'thing' about them (he must have been a seedling in a past life, methinks...)





We'd be happy to help protect your plantation...

BTW guys, keep the recipes coming, they sound good...

I tried cooking one up a while back... didn't know about soaking o'night - the dogs ate well...

Dontom, what do you mean by 'backstraps' is that inside the body cavity, or outside?

1 young hare
4-5 tablespoons brandy
4-5 tablespoons oil
3 onions
250 g streaky bacon
butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 kg fresh mushrooms
red wine
2-4 sprigs parsley
1 clove garlic
black pepper
salt

Clean hare and cut into pieces and put into a bowl with the brandy,oil,salt,pepper,parsley,garlic and one sliced onion. Leave to marinate for some hours;turn occasionally. Cut the bacon and brown in butter, remove from the pan, add the remaining sliced onions and brown, add the flour and cook until it begins to brown. Add the pieces of hare drained from the marinade, stir for a few minutes, then add enough red wine to just cover and simmer gently. Strain the parsley, garlic and onion from the marinade and fry in butter together with the mushrooms. just before the hare is ready to serve, add the bacon and mushrooms. Serve with boiled spuds.

Enjoy

I spose you have all heard about the Aussie who thought Pubic Hare was a relation of Brer Rabbit.....

Or the Kiwi who though oral sex was sittin up all night talking about it

Ruger,are you going through Brissie?

BAW... So did my ex



Easy - wasn't planning to, but our time's flexible... the idea at the moment is to spend 7-10 days or so hunting goats, pigs and foxes near Stanthorpe, then work our way back to Syd via a few friends' hunting for fallow and hares on their places at Walcha and Uralla. Might also go out to Bathurst for more pigs, goats and bunnies. But that itinerary is very open to change, depending on circumstances.



O'Neills, thanks for the recipe...



Looks like the hare population is going to be a bit reduced.

Hi ruger,
The backsteaks are on the outside. You can take the inside ones as well, but there's not much too them. You'll have a great road trip with your boy, I bet. My boy (3yrs) and I are off on Boxing day, three weeks in the South Island. Sleeping in the Landrover. Starting at my Mum's in the Marlborough Sounds (pigs, deer, goats, rabbits and possums), then working our way south via several high country sheep stations as far as Milford Sound if time allows. Catching up with my childhood hunting buddy (first time for nearly 20 years). Main shooting iron will be a Savage 24 combo, .22 over 20G. Of course bringing a Mod 70 .243 and a Mod 69A .22 as well, can never be too well armed for such a trip
Merry Christmas to everyone. This and a couple of other boards have been islands of sanity in a bummer of a year. Thanks.
Cheers, Tom

Tom, thanks for the info, and your kind wishes. I do know there will be some challenges when you're with your son 24/7, as it can be pretty intense, especially at his age, but I'm damn sure you and he will have a great time. We'll be hunting on friends' properties, and I don't know if I'm looking forward more to the hunting, or catching up with good mates. We'll be taking our 270, 223, 22mag and 22 along for the ride - don't have a shotty (anyone want to lend me one???)

It sounds like you and your boy are also in for a great trip - I'd love to 'git' over the 'dutch' (and have corresponded with Muzza on several occasions in that regard) but the likelihood of my ex agreeing to it is sadly somewhat remote.

You wrote:

"This and a couple of other boards have been islands of sanity in a bummer of a year. Thanks."

Mate, (should that be 'bro'? ) I know exactly what you mean... this and AHN have been fundamental to me retaining some sense of sanity as well.

Feel free to pm me if you want to have a yarn, or if I can be of any help.

Have a great Christmas and a great trip.

All the best,

Peter

If you like chicken liver wich I do! After soaking the rabbit in water and orange juice I fry mine in butter, onions,mushrooms and chcken liver. When finished add a bit of gravy mix and simmer a bit. serve on bisquets or rice. Also makes squirrels tasty.
Dean

Once while hunting in RSA I missed a kudu and accidently hit a rabbit. My PH said that the trophy fee for the rabbit was $600 and I was really pissed.....my wife, seeing the dilema went to her bag and got a spray can and said



"Don't worry." She walks over to the limp, dead rabbit, bends down, and sprays the contents onto the rabbit.



The rabbit jumps up, waves its paw at us and hops off down the road. Ten feet away the rabbit stops, turns around and waves again, he hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and repeats this again and again and again,until he hops out

of sight.



MY PH was astonished. He runs over to my wife and demands,"What is in that can? What did you spray on that rabbit?"

She turns the can around so that he can read the label.



It says...

(Are you ready for this?)

(Are you sure?)

(This is bad!)

(You know you could just click off and not read the punch line....)

(You can still delete it)

(You know you're gonna be sorry)

(Last chance)

(OK, here it is)

It says,

"Hare Spray - Restores life to dead hare, adds permanent wave."

Rugeruser
i soak the rabbit in a 50/50 mixture of water and orange juice over night. I cut all the meat off the bones first. How much liver , onions, and mushrooms depends on how much wild meat I have. (if one rabbit or squirrel I use more liver I got 3 boys to feed)I fry the meat and liver first in butter when the liver is about done I add the onions, mushrooms and some water( this makes the gravy around a cup or a cup and 1/2. Once it is all simmering I add a package or can of instant beef gravy. Then I turn the heat way down cover the pan and let the entire thing simmer until the meat is tender and the gravy thickens. You can spice to your taste a little crushed red pepper gives it a bite. But garlic and meat seasoning is a must.
I have a hard time with amounts as I cook by taste, takes more attention and time but the end result is worth it. Just pull a stool into the kitchen and drink a few cold ones while you cook. Then it tastes even better. You also get points with the wife because she doesnt have to cook. when is the last time you wife told you thanks for drinking beer.
Dean

Thanks Dean, I understand the cooking by taste - it's how I do it myself... I also us eth esame technique for 'keeping my palate clean'

You wrote

"You also get points with the wife because she doesnt have to cook. when is the last time you wife told you thanks for drinking beer."

Hehe... I did most of the cooking when I was married, never got thanked for it, and fortunately haven't had to speak with her since I flicked her 18 months ago...


Mate, have a very merry Christmas, and a happy and safe New YEar.

Pete

This is great stuff fellas, keep it coming. When I'm finished eaten all them critters, what can I do with snakes, goanna's, frogs & scrub turkey's

I hunted rabbits in Germany years ago and there the meat of a rabbit (hare) was called gume. We hunted hares one day and ate the meat the next day....we did that so many times that it gave rise to the saying....."hare today, gume tomorrow".

Now that , ladies and gentlemen , is a lame-ass joke if ever I heard one.

in case you accidently shoot a rabbit (hare) and want to undo it.....

Oh GOD!!!!

What a groaner!!!
LOL,you are going to fit in here just fine.

BAW when I was on my farm we had shit loads of problems with hares and I've shot heaps of them bastards mate, I've read some of the replys here, this is a easy one mate,,forget all about soaking and the marinate stuff, around a bbq mate we have sucked piss and stuffed ourselves with hare. all you do is bone out the hare and cut into little steaks, nice and thin, mix up some chilli powder, crushed pepper, garlic powder, and what ever turns you on, just slap it into ya mix and staight onto a hot bbq maybe 10 sec a side and bob's ya uncle, mouth watering, you can do the same with wild duck, bloody good shit mate just try it...Les

FIRST DON'T GET HAIR IN YOUR TEETH

check your e-mail

BAW,
I do not mean to interfear with your motivation to shoot hares, but why not make chicken wire cages to go around your new trees. Make them large enough to stand away 6-8" from the tree. Hares cannot eat the bark, you do not have to replant new tree.

As for the snakes use them for shotgun practice, CAS style. It will help you on your reloading skills.

Hog Killer