I'd be cleaning them in the field and if they're kept out of the sun/heat they should keep well enough for 12 hours at this time of the year, but I personally am a month with R's kind of guy when it comes to shooting rabbits for eating.
Hi Lads
Some of my furthest permission's are due for a visit (140 mile round trip), if say i shoot my first rabbit at 2pm, and carry on shooting till 3.30 am next day ie 13 1/2 hrs, if i gut the rabbits immediately after shooting and lay them out in a bread tray to cool will they keep until 4am when i can then drop them off in the "Cold Room".
Any advice on the above please.
Dave (warbucks)
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I'd be cleaning them in the field and if they're kept out of the sun/heat they should keep well enough for 12 hours at this time of the year, but I personally am a month with R's kind of guy when it comes to shooting rabbits for eating.
Gut them that night and some use to hang them for a week . i can remember seeing them hanging in the butchers shops for week
So i think you have plenty of time
large cool bags are cheap enough, I would take one with some ice packs in, just for peace of mind
Personally I don't like hanging them at all as definatley get a gamier taste. (to bitter for me)
I gut in the field then skin them last thing the same night ( much easier doing it then than when they have chilled for 24 hours) when they are fully cleaned and quartered I place them in a pot of very cold water ensuring they are fully covered with the water and i then add some salt and place in the fridge for 24 hours. After this they are washed and either frozen or eaten within 3 days.
Just my way of doing it and deffo taste different than hanging for an age .
Allan
I leave the rabbits for another month or so. The best eaters are 6 weeks away. The big does are just that and full of milk. Or some scabby big buck. I just like them three quarters grown in their prime for eating. Most wabbits are eating like crazy for milk if they are big, or to get big if young, plenty of nippers about for the cats to bring home.
However, vermin control is vermin control.
I don't shoot wood pigeons yet either, not until almost harvest time.
A pigeon can turn in the heat in an hour. Flies on them in minutes and eggs laid. A rabbit in two, if that, on a scorching day. A hot night then just about get through to the morning; best in the chiller before 10 am.
Or get them in a cooler bag with a bag of ice. Cooler bags only work if they have an ice/cold block in them. I can't think of anything nastier that a box of gutted rabbits in a hot car for a few hours, been there done it and never again.
Saw one of my fox carcasses the other day, almost gone in less than a week. Great bird table. Foxes this moth may have weaned their cubs, though the cubs might not have the experience to survive being orphaned. Parents are out early evening mousing and vole'ing flat out. Thankfully the parents don't travel far from their dens and territories were sorted earlier in the year.
The grounds way hard so badgers are ploughing up anywhere the ground is soft enough; including my garden
Big flat plastic tray with some 1 / 2 litre bottles of frozen tap water in is good big cool box for back of 4x4 or car boot etc
Looking for TO-6 Trigger unit unmessed with or T0-6 kit for 34
All good advice above and keep the flies off. The meat can be "fly-blown" in minutes at this time of the year and in hot weather !
You'll know this but keep an eye open for Mixy;
Swelling around eyes with puss, lethargy and general drowsiness. If none of these a specked beige coloured liver with indicate the illness.
“An airgun or two”………
All the above is good advice and ,can I just add, avoid heaping them at all costs. If they're heaped they can't lose heat and will spoil very quickly so keep them well separated if you can.