# Hunting > Varminting and Small Game Hunting >  Eating Rabbit / Possum

## samusugiru

Hi guys,
I'm new to this and want to find out what's the deal with eating rabbits (and to a lesser extent possums)?  I assume possums are too risky to eat, is that true? Are rabbits generally safe to eat, or sometimes, or what?  If so how can you tell whether an animal is OK to eat?
Keen to hear any advice you have on the topic.

Thanks
S

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## Rushy

Check out the liver while gutting.  If healthy looking (unblemished) then in my opinion you would be good to go with both animals.

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## Ingrid 51

Ate possum waaay back after boiling it then using meat in casserole. Strong taste as I recall. Bunny all good, but check liver and other organs for white blemishes. Vet mate advised me to also look for pencil diameter lesions in the meat, a bit like the eraser off the end of a pencil. If you find anything like this IN THE MEAT YOU WANT TO EAT, then discard animal. Have seen this disease (whatever it is, only once). A good bunny recipe is to joint animal, soak overnight in cold water with a a dash of white vinegar. That will bleach and tenderise meat. Roll meat in seasoned flour, chuck in a camp oven with some chopped bacon. Add contents of one or two two cans of beer. Cook/simmer until tender.We ate this regularly as 'Underground Chicken'. FYI vinegr will help tenderise tougher meat.

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## Feather or Shoot

Rabbit, wrap in bacon and spit roast. Possum, feed to dog and eat bacon.

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## 6x47

By reputation, buck possies are the ones to avoid for eating. I avoid them all but if you think about it, possums only eat the best of the best so should be good protein.

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## johnd

One big thing missed out by people eating rabbit is to remove glands on either side of tail. Gets a lot of the "gamey" taste out. Once skinned rip the tail up and back over the rabbits back bone to remove it, then swipe the knife blade down each side of the inside leg you have just created.
For preference go for younger half grown rabbits. Much more tender.

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## samusugiru

Hey guys,
I've dug up a thing or two, if you're interested.
Stuff article:
-"Possum skinning expert Carl Cooper says you can tell if a possum has tuberculosis because the glands in their groin and underarm swell into large abscesses. "It's never been found in Northland in feral possums."

Josh James takes us through catching/killing/eating:
-Checks the lungs for TB

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## samusugiru

Another possum video for your reference.  
-A Kiwi guy shows a bit of a possum hunt, then processing, and cooking a possum.

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## samusugiru

Stephen Coote describes in detail Skinning and Butchering a Pussom
How I Skin and Butcher a Possum - Ooooby

A guy walks us through shooting, processing, cooking a Possum Stew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyFbr7Mzq0w

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## P38

@samusugiru

Once you have a rabbit the check out Scott Rea's Bunny Burger reciepes, it's bloody delicious  :Thumbsup: 

https://youtu.be/aESuqWNAoto

And for the possums, Paki Paki Possum Pie is ok  :Have A Nice Day: 

Cheers
Pete

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## Chur Bay

Nice young possum is all good. Much lighter colour and a lot less stinky than an old buck.

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## Biggun708

With rabbit, I pretty much only eat the ones with white fat..if the fat is yellow it trends to indicate a tougher stronger tasting animal... White fat means young tender and mild, I always brine in a salt vinegar and sugar mix overnight then cook any way I feel like...

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## Cordite

Don't rely on examining the meat or innards to rule out Tuberculosis or parasites.  
Just cook ALL game well, and pay double attention to your processing if you make sausages.
"Rare" is only an option for factory-farmed meat.

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## R93

> Don't rely on examining the meat or innards to rule out Tuberculosis or parasites.  
> Just cook ALL game well, and pay double attention to your processing if you make sausages.
> "Rare" is only an option for factory-farmed meat.


I must be full of parasites then. 

What heathen eats well cooked venison, thar or chamois?

I treat rabbit like chicken and that is always cooked thru along with most game birds.

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## veitnamcam

> I must be full of parasites then. 
> 
> What heathen eats well cooked venison, thar or chamois?
> 
> I treat rabbit like chicken and that is always cooked thru along with most game birds.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


I wouldn't cook cham at all  

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## Ryan_Songhurst

> I wouldn't cook cham at all  
> 
> Sent from my SM-G390Y using Tapatalk


Nothing wrong with it VC! Treat them a bit like goats though, the older bucks are a bit rough, chuck that aside for salamis, roasted back leg off a young animal I reckon isn't much different to goat, gotta cook them slow and low or they can be a bit tough, they go good in a stir fry too

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## veitnamcam

> Nothing wrong with it VC! Treat them a bit like goats though, the older bucks are a bit rough, chuck that aside for salamis, roasted back leg off a young animal I reckon isn't much different to goat, gotta cook them slow and low or they can be a bit tough, they go good in a stir fry too


Iv had it 3 times and would rather eat the arse out of a old dairy cow that died trying to give birth in a ditch 3 weeks ago.
Hence I stalk past the smelly goats Hoping to shoot something to eat.
I even talk those I am hunting with out of shooting cham(much to their dismay usually) in case it scares off some venison . 

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## R93

> Iv had it 3 times and would rather eat the arse out of a old dairy cow that died trying to give birth in a ditch 3 weeks ago.
> Hence I stalk past the smelly goats Hoping to shoot something to eat.
> I even talk those I am hunting with out of shooting cham(much to their dismay usually) in case it scares off some venison . 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G390Y using Tapatalk


Heathen! 

I farkin love chamois. It is an awesome meat. 

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## Rushy

Somehow there has to be a way to settle this debate by arranging an eating and drinking challenge.  I will think on this a while and come back to you both.   Or you could just do the pistols at dawn thing.  Ha ha ha ha.

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## Munsey

> Iv had it 3 times and would rather eat the arse out of a old dairy cow that died trying to give birth in a ditch 3 weeks ago.
> Hence I stalk past the smelly goats Hoping to shoot something to eat.
> I even talk those I am hunting with out of shooting cham(much to their dismay usually) in case it scares off some venison . 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G390Y using Tapatalk


Ive only had Cham that tasted like Arse once , probably because it came from a Safari park ( Stressed Im guessing )  Cham backsteak is almost as good as Venni

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## veitnamcam

> Ive only had Cham that tasted like Arse once , probably because it came from a Safari park ( Stressed Im guessing )  Cham backsteak is almost as good as Venni


I must have got unlucky each time I have had it.....I could even have walked past 10 inch plus ones honestly I have never shot one . 

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## R93

> Somehow there has to be a way to settle this debate by arranging an eating and drinking challenge.  I will think on this a while and come back to you both.   Or you could just do the pistols at dawn thing.  Ha ha ha ha.


I could settle it with one of my mates chamois pies or kebabs.

Easy.

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## doinit

[QUOTE=veitnamcam;610792]Iv had it 3 times and would rather eat the arse out of a old dairy cow that died trying to give birth in a ditch 3 weeks ago.
Hence I stalk past the smelly goats Hoping to shoot something to eat.
I even talk those I am hunting with out of shooting cham(much to their dismay usually) in case it scares off some venison . 

Sent from my SM

Spent a fare hunk of time livin out of huts and draped over many camp ovens lol,,the local butcher only supplied Chamois,Thar and venie,oh and goat.
They all tasted great at the end of the day,steak,left over stew or what ever,all good. Like most things younger is better,,chamois wasn't as poppular as Thar or venie all the same

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## Marty Henry

The old forest service camp cookery book lists possum, rabbit, canada goose and all the rest. Seems a camp oven makes anything edible. Much respect for those guys, we probably look soft compared to them.

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## veitnamcam

Slow cooking makes pretty much anything tender it is a given.


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## Wirehunt

> The old forest service camp cookery book lists possum, rabbit, canada goose and all the rest. Seems a camp oven makes anything edible. Much respect for those guys, we probably look soft compared to them.


Cause you are  :Grin: 

Around here there is a full selection of camp ovens and cast fry pans, in fact it's all that we cook with. Oh, and one enamel billy for spuds, hard boiling eggs etc.
Give the alloy and non stick crap to the mother in law.
Medium sized campoven, skin arse end of rabbits and throw back wheels in on top of several chopped up onions, salt, peppper, bit of red wine, mixed herbs.  Thicken a couple of hours or so later.  Bit of chilli powder goes good as well.

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## Maca49

> Iv had it 3 times and would rather eat the arse out of a old dairy cow that died trying to give birth in a ditch 3 weeks ago.
> Hence I stalk past the smelly goats Hoping to shoot something to eat.
> I even talk those I am hunting with out of shooting cham(much to their dismay usually) in case it scares off some venison . 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G390Y using Tapatalk


Cow Ass now what wine with that?

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## Micky Duck

backstraps off either rabbit or hare (hare is bigger n better) treat these the same as you would venison, slice thinly across grain 2cm-3/4" at most hot frypan or camp oven with a real cooking lube (fat great, oil ok,butter plurry pricey but great if you can sneak it past the cook) a bit of seasoning,salt/pepper or the likes of masterfoods   quick fry and chuck on hunk of buttered bread......try this with hare and I dare you to tell me its much different to venison...tastes the same just smaller.
have eaten rabbits and hares all of my life ,chunked and fried,casseroled,stuck on stick and cooked over open fire
vastly underrated tucker.

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## veitnamcam

> Cow Ass now what wine with that?


Any of them would be a fitting compliment to rancid beef. Scourges on the landscape are vinyards... like pine trees only worse. 

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## EeeBees

No matter how good some say that possum is to eat, I would have to be at absolute starvation point to even contemplate eating one ... I have shot and skinned too many to ever countenance eating one ... rabbit on the other hand ... with mustard sauce is better than just alright ...

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## kotuku

iluvs a wee bit of ye old bunny-in fact at my oldest sons christening party  iroasted 3 and served em up after late FIL showed me how.after a few swigs on the std westcoast 9gallonkeg ,no bugger was any the wiser .a bloody lot thinking they were tegel eagles -furry bastrds WTF.only downside was last time i had a feed of tasty brer my farts developed a bouquet you most certainly would not find in parisian perfumeier!!
young fat jacko -never eaten it though nursed an old sth westland roadman years ago who swore by it -his rationale was if the furry bastards seemed to be so sprightly as it got colder -well if he ate em hed feel more energetic too.his favoruite was a bloody great possum stew,left bubbling away beside the fire all day..reckoned hospital tucker would kill him -it eventually did.
 my favourite canada goose salami-Ill eat one of those and if im on song a knot hole in a paling fence can make me mighty springy!!!

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## Carlsen Highway

I grew up with fried rabbit. Pieces battered in flour and egg, and fried up like chicken. 

With hares soak the backsteaks in salted water overnight or three four hours beforehand if you cant wait, then do the same. 

Monkey stew...

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## Hutch

This is a favourite at our place. 
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...-whittingstall
got to say love hare as well.

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