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When I was a boy, a friend and I would walk the rail road tracks out of town shooting rabbits. We would shoot as many as we could carry and then head back. He was a couple years older than I was and when he got old enough to drive, he bought and old pickup truck. We would take turns driving and the other guy would walk slightly ahead of the truck and off to one side and head shoot the rabbits with a .22 long rifle shell. We did this at dusk and only hunted them after the first snow or real cold snap, as that would kill off the sick ones.

We did this out in the country along the many dirt roads we had around here back then. Usually we would wait till the snow plows had pushed though the roads and pushed up large snow banks on either side of the road. It was best to pick an East/West road, if possible, because our prevailing winds usually comes out of the North in the winter. The Rabbits would burrow down into the snow banks on the North side to get out of the wind and we could shoot them there at very close range. Head shots only!

We did this at dusk and only hunted them after the first snow or real cold snap as that would kill off the sick ones. His Dad was laid off one winter and they didn't have much to live on. He and I filled their freezer with Rabbits, Quail, Pheasants, Squirrels, and Deer, they didn't eat too bad that winter! We would shoot rabbits till dark or till we got as many as we wanted to clean that night. His Mom would have a good hot supper ready for us, and after supper we would clean rabbits till almost bedtime. If I had any homework to do that night it meant a real late bedtime for me.

One of the things I loved to make was rabbit sausage, we would bone out several rabbits and cut up a bunch of pork fat into cubes, then run the whole thing though a grinder. We would buy packets of sausage seasoning at a locale store and would mix in about three teaspoons of that for each pound of ground meat. It was wonderful stuff to eat on a cold morning along with your eggs and homemade toast!
Bob

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I wish I had photos from when I was just out of school and I and my friends could drive. We used to go spotlighting for rabbits on a sheep station near the Murray River, at Blanchetown. Near here. My friend's dad had an old ute near the river, unregistered, which we used to use for the spotlighting. I think we used to get arounf 75 to a 100 in a few hours, but weren't too serious about it. Not a lot by true commercial standards, but a LOT when you have gut them all. My friend used to sell them to a restaurant at the back door ... for maybe a dollar or a dollar fifty each.

I remember when we were shooting, we saw a building's lights in front of us, Oops, the local cop shop! Which was near a road bordering the property. We moved elsewhere. When driving across the only public road earlier in the day, from gate to gate, a truck went past and behind it in the dust was a police car. It drove on though.

Later after a few hours shooting, we returned across the road, and maybe a hundred metres in. Were busy gutting the rabbits, throwing the guts in every direction. And the local police decided to pay a visit. Had to walk gingerly through the minefield of rabbit guts to get to the vehicle. Of course asked whether we had permission to shoot on the station, we did. They used to catch about 50 or more groups poaching on the station a year. Then of course had to check all the firearms for registration. All were registered. Then gave Andrew, the guy with the access "curry" for driving an unregistered ute across the road ... left with giving him a warning. %%%%######****((( always have to act that way ...

A photo showing 75 rabbits hanging on the ute would be nice to show to our NE friends on here, particularly when rabbits can be rarer than deer in some parts of Europe and elsewhere.

I am planning to make some winter rabbit comfort food this month soon.

Will have to do "another report" on a rabbit hunt. With the mornings recently having been from minus 4 deg C to zero, no nude backyard rabbit shoots though !!! ie seeing my last "rabbut hunt report". I have enough bunnies probably in the freezers, but why not get some fresh meat. Again lots of them around.