Went out this morning and shot 15 BlackTail Jackrabbits. Great shoot we set up like a deer stand, and shot them as they came into the farm field just at 1st light. I shot 7 with a 218 Bee, missed three, all brush misses, and my buddy Jeff shot 8 with one miss, again brush and one run off, he used a 17HRM. shots ranged from 90 to 180 yds.

Jerry




IMG]

'pesky wabbits..... good shooting!!!

Looks like ya'll done good.
GWB

They're supposed to be good eating. Seriously.

I've never had one but I've had rabbit before and like it.

Did you plan on saving and cooking them?

RC: You ever heard the story about how edible coots are. You know cook them on a plank, when ther'e done throw the coots away and eat the plank? Same with at least these jack rabbits. Years ago, I was living in the small Northern Sierra town of Lee Vining, right on the banks of Mono Lake. My uncle had a business up there, and I spent lots of time hunting, fishing in that region. One time we were really broke and out of money, so we decided to find something to shoot, cook and eat. WE happened to come across a blacktail, and we shot it for dinner. Man it was really bad, so bad that for dinner that night it wound up being canned peas.

Here we shoot them as help for the farmers, as they eat acres of small cotton and grain plants.

Jerry

When I was a kid we had a friend named Gertie, she was about 90 at the time and born in Arizona in the 1880's and lived there all her life. We were out camping and we had shot some jacks and the ladies had made a stew. Gertie refused to eat it, she said she had survived some tough times including the depression and decades of drought and they NEVER would eat a jackrabbit. She said they ate boiled tumbleweed but not a jack.

I deferred to her years of experience and passed on the jack stew.

Mark

I've eaten snowshoe rabbits but never jacks.....the snowshoes were excellent!

Vapo: Man you must have a broad palate. Those same, all those years ago, while I was living in the Eastern Sierra, I also had a chnce to shoot Snowshoe's. I admit they were fun to shoot, but IMO almost as bad as the blacktails.

Jerry

as a kid in breckenridge tx we use to shoot a BUNCH of them. we never ate them but we knew a guy who had a pack of coon dogs to feed so we gave them to him. we kept his back porch freezer full uf ungutted, unskinned jacks. those dogs loved em!

I eat everyone i shoot in the winter here in CO--as good as any wild game i've ever had--

Shootin' varmints.......what a riot!

If you are having a VERY large party and are serving elephant stew, but happen to be a little short on elephant, you can carefully and very discreetly supplement the stew with jackrabbit. But be careful. Nobody likes to find a hare in their stew.
I knew a guy that lived with a woman that had about 65 sections of very desolate land that had some angora goats and lots of jackrabbits. We went out at night and spotlighted and shot them. Close to a hundred in a night was not rare. I used .22 cal centerfires with cast bullets--the 58 grain RCBS cast bullet. It was good to whatever range we could spotlight them to. With the cast bullet the blast was much reduced which was a very good thing as we were in a pickup. The jacks here have lots of ticks and worms and eating them was not a consideration--this was just pest control.

Jack rabbit tacos! Yum!

The cottontails in AZ taste almost as bad.....strong mesquite flavor.

Taco spices takes the edge off..... a little!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sscoyote:
I eat everyone i shoot in the winter here in CO--as good as any wild game i've ever had--

[/QUOTE.

I would think so!

For those who don't think they are good, you probably don't know which end of a sauté pan to grab!

Try hanging them for a while, they taste much better.

.

Won't even consider eating them, even the ones with the big black worms hanging from them. Never tasted anything so miserable, although antelope might give them a run for there money.

Since I cook all the game dinners for my bunch of buddies, and they eat everyting I serve them, I assume I can cook. One thing they do know, I won't serve them anything I consider unpalatable and jacks fall in this catagory.

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:
Won't even consider eating them, even the ones with the big black worms hanging from them. Never tasted anything so miserable, although antelope might give them a run for there money.

Since I cook all the game dinners for my bunch of buddies, and they eat everyting I serve them, I assume I can cook. One thing they do know, I won't serve them anything I consider unpalatable and jacks fall in this catagory.

Jerry

Most hunters are not cooks nor experienced food handlers.

That's the reason you hear "antelope is horrible, waterfowl is horrible, venison is horrible" etc....

Most hunters have no idea how to properly care for the game they just shot, so it spoils before it is taken care of. Antelope is incredible and if I poached for food, I'd shoot nothing but antelope.

quote:

Most hunters are not cooks nor experienced food handlers.

That's the reason you hear "antelope is horrible, waterfowl is horrible, venison is horrible" etc....

Most hunters have no idea how to properly care for the game they just shot, so it spoils before it is taken care of. Antelope is incredible and if I poached for food, I'd shoot nothing but antelope.

RC: Pretty general statement, and lots more than how the game is shot and taken care of comes into play here, however, I want to talk about todays shoot. Killed 11. We were very privileged to witness some real epicurians enjoying our shot jack rabbits. First, a couple of farm dogs came in and found one of the rabbits lying in the field, where they proceeded to eat the jack. I hope they don't get worms!! We let the farmer know they were about eating carion. He wasn't concerned, says they do it all the time. But the real thrill came, as the Buzzards came in a squadron, and began to eat some shot jacks, out at about 80yds. Now those boys know what's good, and of course of this I am certain,that's all jack rabbits are good for, table wise. Further, this thread is about having fun, and if anyone likes to eat jack rabbits, I think it's great, just don't forget the BENO!!

Jerry

I've eaten excellent turtle, showshoe hares, pronghorns, snow geese, ducks, armadillos, escargot, calamari, squirrel, mourning dove and many more species of wildlife.....the only thing I don't like is chicken livers.

As said.....knowing how to prepare it goes a long ways.

Such things as citric acid marinates, bacon, jalapeno, butter and cheese, high salt cooking wine, and a few other tricks can make even old shoe leather palatable.....and it helps if one is hungry and had a few single malts!

Hey Jerry, You can go on and tell everyone you really used a 270Win. Perfect size for those Rabbits.

quote:

I want to talk about todays shoot. Killed 11. We were very privileged to witness some real epicurians enjoying our shot jack rabbits. First, a couple of farm dogs came in and found one of the rabbits lying in the field, where they proceeded to eat the jack. I hope they don't get worms!! We let the farmer know they were about eating carion. He wasn't concerned, says they do it all the time. But the real thrill came, as the Buzzards came in a squadron, and began to eat some shot jacks, out at about 80yds. Now those boys know what's good, and of course of this I am certain,that's all jack rabbits are good for, table wise. Further, this thread is about having fun, and if anyone likes to eat jack rabbits, I think it's great, just don't forget the BENO!!

Hopefully you shot a few buzzards! Fantastic eating if you know how to take care of them!

How to make sure your game tastes good (pretty much regardless of specie)

1. Skin and process it immediately after killing it, if not sooner.

2. Get it on ice immediately after processing if not sooner

2a. Better yet, shoot it while it's on ice in the cooler.

3. Cook no more than medium rare for waterfowl, four legged big game. Quick and hot grill. You won't need to marinate any of it, just salt and pepper, maybe a fresh herb rub.

4. For white meat birds, (and I assume Jacks), cook until "just" done and no longer


The longer game cooks the more it dries out and becomes "gamey". Coyotes and Buzzards know this and that's why they eat them as fresh and as raw as possible

quote:

Originally posted by rcamuglia:
The longer game cooks the more it dries out and becomes "gamey". Coyotes and Buzzards know this and that's why they eat them as fresh and as raw as possible

If you shoot a really big mule deer while it's "in the rut" and with several really horny does with it's neck all swollen up, just try a healthy chunk of neck roast....It'll change one's mind about "fresh"

We take a few every year over the dogs...the wife makes Hasenpfeffer around the holidays. If they point 'em and steady on the flush, they get to retrieve them....well, drag them back.

I am having fun with this, for I believe there is a lot of Caca de Vaca being thrown around.

Jon, very nice dog and pictures.

Vapo: As to mountain Mule Deer. A couple of my buddies shot 2 HUGE Mule Deer last season up near Saint John's. They were showing us pictures, and telling all about the hunt. This was going on during one of our boys nights, where I do the cooking. As they were telling their story, I kept wagging my finger from side to side. Finally, one of the said, "What The Phuck are you doing", and I responded, "don't bring any of that nasty meat near here". Mule deer in the mountains, that eat sage, and manzanita and buck brush don't taste very good, unless made into tamales, or smoked.

RC: I can't shoot those buzzards, they happen to be my favorite bird.

Hot Core you Old Buzzard! The 270 is good on Jack Rabbits out at about 10,000yds. Where we are shooting, a bit much as we are concerned about zinging bullets across the desert. It is though, one fantastic elk cartridge.

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:
I believe there is a lot of Caca de Vaca being thrown around... The 270 is ...one fantastic elk cartridge. ...

quote:

Mule deer in the mountains, that eat sage, and manzanita and buck brush don't taste very good, unless made into tamales, or smoked.

Sorry, but NO

It's all about taking care of the meat ASAP after shooting.

I shoot nothing but mulies in the areas you speak of.

I cook for a living. Trust me.

I ate a Colorado jack rabbit about 40 years ago and it tasted real good. I've also tried to eat jack rabbits from northcentral Nebraska and they were real bad. Is there a difference in the meat of the various jack rabbits? All cottontail rabbits I've ate were delicious.

Don: I can only talk about California and Arizona, and there they taste real bad also.

Here's another Arizona story. My buddy Jeff, the guy in the first picture above, like me wants to find a use for all the critters we shoot, if possible. He thought, you know, I could shoot jack rabbits, skin and clean them, then cook them up and serve them to my dog. So he did just that, cooked up a bunch, and served them to his dog. A Springer Spaniel named Ringer. He wouldn't eat the meat!

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:
Don: I can only talk about California and Arizona, and there they taste real bad also.

Here's another Arizona story. My buddy Jeff, the guy in the first picture above, like me wants to find a use for all the critters we shoot, if possible. He thought, you know, I could shoot jack rabbits, skin and clean them, then cook them up and serve them to my dog. So he did just that, cooked up a bunch, and served them to his dog. A Springer Spaniel named Ringer. He wouldn't eat the meat!

Jerry

Jerry

"skin and clean them, then cook them up"

That's the problem !


I sometimes just throw them at the dog and says that's dinner.
15 minutes later, head and 4 feet left.

Most animals (dogs, dingoes etc) eat the heart, liver, guts first.

I recently shot some black tail jacks here in Idaho and found them with a lot of ticks. We have a lot of sheep on the high desert now and the ticks seem to follow them.

Usually we are using .22lr on them but will pop them at the longer ranges with the varmint rigs if the opportunity arises. I once found an alfalfa field surrounded on three side with sage brush with a creel running through it and on an early morning shoot connected with 43 jacks by the end of the morning. At night with a spot light there are many many more.

Teancum: Sounds like your shoots are about like ours. The picture attached, shows a jack shot with a 218 Mashburn Bee, built on a Martini Cadet. The rifle was built by Larry Komach of Rawlins Wyoming, and was shot and is owned by my friend Jeff. In the previous photos, I was shooting a Model 43 Winchester in 218 Bee. Next week, we are going down to a different farm, and we are going to have a 22 Hornet shoot. I find like you have, the poor old jacks are afflicted with all kinds of vermin from worms to ticks.

Regards

Jerry

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Eden:

Teancum: Sounds like your shoots are about like ours. The picture attached, shows a jack shot with a 218 Mashburn Bee, built on a Martini Cadet. The rifle was built by Larry Komach of Rawlins Wyoming, and was shot and is owned by my friend Jeff. In the previous photos, I was shooting a Model 43 Winchester in 218 Bee. Next week, we are going down to a different farm, and we are going to have a 22 Hornet shoot. I find like you have, the poor old jacks are afflicted with all kinds of vermin from worms to ticks.

Regards

Jerry

I don't have any experience with the 218's but it sounds like they could be a match for the jacks. I like to use the 10/22 whenever possible but will move on up to a .223, 22-250, or a .243 as the distances get out there and here in Idaho those distances can get long. Those high velocity rounds turn the jacks into acrobats along with the rockchucks.

That's interesting that you also find the bunnies carrying a lot of parasites as well. Some people here will eat the cottontails but I'm passing on that for the same reason that you are finding there.

Jerry Eden---Everybody, well almost everybody, knows a dog named Ringer wont eat jackrabbits. Change his name.

Well Carpetman: I'd change the name of that SOB Ringer, but there is 2 problems, 1. he belonged to the other guy in the pictures attached, the other? He's dead! No more springers in our group all labs now. Oh and BTW, labs have much too much class and taste to eat jack rabbits.

Jerry