Hunting them is only half of the fun for Adrian Kenney
The experience of consuming game meat can range from a delicious, cheap and tasty meal to an unpleasant duty that hunters feel obliged to perform. One of the most popular game meats apart from venison would have to be the ever reliable and resilient rabbit. Even many non- hunters will request a couple of free bunnies for the table. It doesn’t really matter if it’s cooked as a soup, in a stew or simply fried, if it’s prepared right, it will be a delight. While the full-grown rabbits may be better suited to a casserole or soup dish for best results; those half-grown kitten rabbits are delicious fried. Seasoned and fried kitten rabbit is my favourite game meat by far! Most prolific during late spring and early summer, kitten rabbits can additionally be harvested during winter as litters, although fewer, are also common around July.
Hunting smaller half-grown and kitten rabbits can be beneficial to hunters in ways other than simply tantalising our taste buds. Young rabbits are easier to clean and prepare than full-grown buck rabbits, where the skin can be amazingly stubborn to remove. Younger rabbits seem to have fewer tapeworm cysts, which are much more common in older rabbits, and they are also easier to kill being of a smaller body size. To top it off, due to their lack of life experience they can also be more inquisitive and faster to remerge from burrow and brush when disturbed. On the downside they tend to sit close to the mouth of burrows and can quickly dart down into the safety and darkness. The main problem with any rabbit that sits close to a burrow mouth is that annoying habit they have of kicking their way down out of arms reach despite being killed instantly with head or chest shots. With that said let’s go for an afternoon hunt and see how things go.
At last, I was back at one of my old properties that I hadn’t hunted for years. Driving down the gravel driveway during the mid-afternoon I was greeted by kangaroos and rabbits that sat upon and crossed the track in front of the vehicle. I would be hunting with the old Air Arms S410. On strolling around the property to see where the best areas now were, it was obvious things had changed and the old areas up the back gully were devoid of rabbit life. Now, the best location was just below the house where several rabbits ran into cover and burrows on my approach to the property. Just like 15 years earlier when I first hunted the property, ginger bunnies were still present, with the gene pool being passed down through the generations.
I chose the shade of a tree to settle in behind the air rifle and observe the nearby cover and burrows for bunnies to reemerge after my initial disturbance. As time passed the wildlife began to relax as rabbits jumped out of junk piles and tussock to frolic and feed. I was soon reminded about the patience required when hunting with an air rifle compared to a rimfire. As I dropped my head from the rifle’s stock to wait for the rabbits to move within 30yds, and then for the correct broadside and still headshot. Needing to place the tiny pellet between the eye and the ear for best results, I had to wait.
Eventually the time came and as I squeezed the trigger the full-grown bunny simply bolted back into the junk pile without a scratch. After being so patient and waiting for the right shot, I wasn‘t impressed with myself at all. I worked the bolt carefully, as you need to do with this particular rifle, and settled in to wait for the next opportunity.
A kitten rabbit soon leapt up onto the mound at the entrance to his burrow and was quickly joined by another. Eventually one grew tired of playing it safe and with a lazy stretch of his body hopped down and began to feed. Unsure as to my point of impact after my previous miss, I decided to go for a chest shot. If it were a full-grown rabbit, I wouldn’t take such a shot with the air rifle but these smaller kitten rabbits could be taken cleanly with chest shots. As if struck by lightning he tensed up and then quickly relaxed and lay lifeless while his companion bolted back down his burrow.
It was a repeating process, as kitten rabbits would quickly reemerge and then keep close to the burrows as I waited for one to stray away, allowing it to be taken with a chest shot. Not wanting to leave these excellent table rabbits too long before field dressing, I would go and quietly collect them and clean them back up the hill behind my shooting position. As usual I put them on top of a sheet and then fold it over to provide protection from flies and ants. Then get back in my position behind the rifle and lay still. Out of nowhere I noticed a full-grown rabbit sitting camouflaged on the hillside 25yds away. I didn’t know where he had come from or how long it had been there as I slowly shuffled around, moving the S410 as I went. Allowing a little for wind drift I fired my shot, causing the rabbit to lay on its side with one back leg stretched out before slowly relaxing.
Two ginger rabbits had been appearing from different warrens and moving about feeding as I waited for other rabbits to get within shooting range. Another full-grown rabbit could be seen slowly but continually hopping down the fence line on the opposite slope while another kitten had appeared. As the mature bunny dipped his head and slipped through the fence wires with a shake of his head, I knew which one I was going for. It continued following a strip of lush green grass that lay in the gully bottom directly below me. Stopping briefly behind a tussock I quickly spun around to shoot while its view was obscured. Well, so I thought! Instead, all I was left with was a quickly departing rabbit and a bare set of burrows where the kitten had been. Clearly, I had treated the rabbits as halfwits and now laying alone on the hill they had shown me who really was. Great, now I was following in Elma Fudd’s footsteps.
My confidence would soon be renewed however as a young rabbit strayed far away from his warren down by the farmer’s dam. Feeding on lush green grass at about 45yds I held the cross-hairs just above his shoulders and released the airgun’s trigger. Thwack! Now, that’s more like it I thought as I went to retrieve it. Moving across the field I spooked another young bunny that bounded over the clumps of lush green grass towards the tussocks that lined the dam. Peaking ever so slowly over a stump there was the rabbit at 10yds. Pleasingly it sat up on its haunches, providing an easier shot. With the cross-hairs just above its head to allow for the difference between the scope and barrel at close range, the pellet thwacked home with force and I had another. Returning to the vehicle briefly, I snuck carefully up the driveway towards a blackberry bush and a grassy bench. A large doe fed happily at about 10yds again but as I didn’t have my shooting sticks this would need to be a free hand shot. Lifting the cross-hairs slowly up over her head as it fed busily on grass the shot thwacked home with a solid head shot. Back at my tree and laying behind the rifle over the bipod I was brought back to earth by a kitten rabbit. The first shot missed high, only managing to disturb the dirt and leaves above. Thankfully it soon reappeared, and the pellet struck home.
The day was beginning to draw to a close as gloomy storm clouds gathered as the afternoon light dimmed with the approach of night. One kitten rabbit had been driving me nuts all afternoon. He simply refused to move away from his burrow to give me an opportunity for a shot. I had nine rabbits under the sheet and he would make a neat 10. I had had enough of this rabbit and I was shooting him regardless. I would just have to be quick getting over there! I had an each way bet. The cross-hairs quartered his chest, meaning if the pellet went left or right it would be a killing shot and if it went high it would be a headshot. With all bets covered I sent that little lead pellet on its way, with its reply to sender being a solid thump as the bunny tumbled down into his burrow. I was down across that gully in a flash and quickly threw my arm down that burrow as if it held the world’s gold supply. At the very tips of my extended fingers, I felt the velvety ears of a rabbit and out he came with a solid head shot. I had my neat 10!
Cooking kitten rabbits
Due to their young age it’s hard to go wrong when cooking kitten rabbits, provided you don’t overcook them and dry them out. It’s simply a matter of seasoning to taste (I use Italian herbs and garlic salt) and keeping the moisture in them. Wrapped in tin foil with butter and cooked on 120C for about 90 minutes and turned every half hour should have that meat falling off the bone. Man. They’re good! It’s also hard to go wrong with egg and breadcrumbs.