Thread: The New Processing Season has started

Last night was the start of the new processing season of rabbits for the Pud and although the afternoon began moderately the night produced some great volumes of rabbits with some great yields.

I drove out to one of my favourite spots, parked up the truck and started my walk, it wasn't long before a few bunnies started popping up so I laid them out with some precision shooting with the Ruger 10/22. The rabbits were a bit flighty so quite hard to get in close, with only fair numbers night time came and it was time to switch on the LED Lensor spotlight which I had attached to the top of the riffle.

I headed to a spot I have had huge success in the past, however numbers were well down but with my shooting on form the quantity of meat in the pack was slowly but surely mounting, all of a sudden the weather turned and I was hit with a cold southerly change and some sleety showers.

I decided to press on and made my way up a steep hill plugging 2 or 3 more on the way to the summit, once at the top I saw a lane-way so I headed for that as I thought it would be the easiest way back to the truck. Once I got there I shone the spotlight up ahead and saw half a dozen sitting there looking at me so I popped my pillow filled with beans on top of the fence post and cut lose knocking 3 over before the others ran for cover.

I made my way along this track striking pockets of resistance both on the track and in the paddock to my right however after some rapid fire from the semi auto the perpetrators soon got the message and they had to surrender (unfortunately for them no prisoners were taken). Once at the end of the lane-way I lifted the spotlight up over the gate and into the next paddock and if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it, there staring back at me was a paddock full of eyes.

I put my pillow on top of the fence for a good rest and opened fire knock rabbits over left, right and centre before hearing the click click sound. I took one mag out and replaced it with the other, I started walking through the paddock firing and then stopping to reload both mags then off again. With the carnage mounting the spotlight started flashing indicating the battery was low, I decided to finish off the rounds in my pocket then went to gather up the corpses as I knew I was going to be there a while boning out the legs and back straps.

As I walked around gathering up the rabbits there were so many crouching just meters from me and others that ran away, I could have walked around that paddock shooting for ages but the spotlight was flashing on empty. With the pack now full and spotlight low I headed back for the truck, on the way there were countless rabbits sitting on the track and in the paddocks all around me. I just walked past them all and got back to the truck just after midnight, I was satisfied with my effort and headed home happy.


A full chilly bin


Full chilly bin from another angle


The Pud checking out his food


The Pud having a wee taste (YUMMY)


The Pud looking a bit feral


The rabbits were huge, look at the size of those legs


Old seasons rabbits compared to the new spring rabbits, I still shot the wee ones but only processed the big ones

All rabbits were 100% further processed for the Pud and are now in his very own freezer. Job well done

Good work.

Cheers Rushy, it was the first time out since putting the Buris scope on my .22 that came as a package on my Tikka 7mm Rem mag. It was so clear looking through that compared to the crappy scope it came with.

Shoot the cat and eat the rabbits yourself!
Nice work....too nice for a cat.

Top shooting. Good spot too..


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Salt, Pepper, ground Cumin and a little flour shake rabbit pieces in mix and bake in an oven bag 140 -150c 2 to 3 hours depending on oven and size / tenderness of legs. Cat will never see a clean shot rabbit again !!

From the sound of it there are enough rabbits for a myriad of uses. Just remember "if you eat nothing but rabbit you will die"

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Shoot the cat and eat the rabbits yourself!
Nice work....too nice for a cat.

Ha ha no Pud is safe, he is good at de-stressing me so he deserves to have a good feed however he would probably win the Morgan score

Originally Posted by tiroatedson

Top shooting. Good spot too..


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Thanks, yeah I'm lucky to have this spot. It was only 5 years ago I was only getting enough to feed the cat for a week or 2 in a night but now it's like 4-5 months worth, the numbers have really taken off.

That's a lot of meat from bunnies good haul, ever tried doing some bunny sausage ?

One well loved cat

Originally Posted by oneshot

That's a lot of meat from bunnies good haul, ever tried doing some bunny sausage ?

Do you mean for Easter instead of chocky eggs ???

The rabbit numbers are the biggest I've seen in a decade. Our Maine Coon is over the moon.. The bugger brought in three in four days, leaving some fur, gutz and paws behind on the lounge carpet. There's also over 2 cubic feet of prime bits in the small freezer, and I can top that up any time. The latest RCD version has done zilch it seems.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Salt, Pepper, ground Cumin and a little flour shake rabbit pieces in mix and bake in an oven bag 140 -150c 2 to 3 hours depending on oven and size / tenderness of legs. Cat will never see a clean shot rabbit again !!

I should give it a go, the gamy smell puts me off a bit. Thanks for the recipe

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

From the sound of it there are enough rabbits for a myriad of uses. Just remember "if you eat nothing but rabbit you will die"

Yep plenty alright, do you know someone who ate nothing but rabbit?