Huntin' Jackrabbits

I found a place chock full o' jacks. Been whackin' them easily with my .223 Savage, going to have to make it a challenge and start tryin' the wheelguns. Any tips? Gonna get good at stalking I reckon. I've already made some pretty good stalks, it's fun.

I'll post up when I start gettin' 'em.

454



22 lr

Now you are talking my kind of fun: small varmints!!! Single shots or wheelguns (have done but no pics avail sorry)... good hits with .17 rimfires and .22's will get the job done...

but ok to go bigger too!!!

I like stalking them with a .45 Colt:


Or with a.44 Magnum:

Just curious if anyone has ever eaten jackrabbit. I like cottontail but I've heard jacks aren't fit to eat.

I love my walk-a-bouts in the desert with my pistols. My normal carry is a MKII Ruger 7.5" target .22. But, I had a 10" T/C 32 H&R Mag barrel given to me, it had a slight bulge where someone pounded a bullet into another one that stuck in the bore, then they ruined the rifling while trying to pound them both out with a screwdriver. Anyway, I had it lined with a .17 HMR and it is a tack driver out to 100 yards. I'm using that a lot now. I use a shooting stick on the long shots but occasionally I get them under 25 yards offhand.

I've eaten both Jack Rabbits and Cottontails. Once the skins off, they're breaded and they hit the hot oil I can't tell the difference.

Bill in OR

Young jackrabbits are good. Old ones are tougher, IMHO.

Gary,

I agree with wt... I have taken my scouts out on survival camps, and we ate what we could snare, etc. Jacks tend to be pretty tough! If they are marinated, they're ok.

Doc

Absolutely--best wild game i ever et'...honestly, wife cooks 'em in a crock pot and they're fine, IMHO.

A crock pot will fix almost anything.

Gary hit the nail on the head. When I was in college at Colorado state U, my room mates and I use to eat Jacks a lot. One of my roomates moms came up from pueblo and taught us how to cook them up in a crock pot. She ate them as a little girl during the deprecition. She could cook.She also cooked up a mule deer I shot down near Durango while hunting with her son.
Jacks are what got me hooked on handgun hunting. We use to go after them with Black powder revolvers.

I've always wondered why cottontails are game animals and jacks are varmints.

Good question. Me too!

In CA they are small game.

Now that sounds like fun!

It was a hoot. I do miss it. Wish we could hunt with BP pistols here in NC. It would be fun to squirrel hunt with them.

I used to love handgunning them when I lived in south centeral/eastern oregon. We used to find that they grew some cysts & boils in the summer so we made them winter fare.
I REALLY miss jackrabbit hunting!

Vance,

When i lived in Idaho, Fish and Game would issue warnings to hunters of rabbits ( cottontails ) and hares ( jackrabbits ) because they were infected with bubonic plague ( buboes - cysts & boils ), and tapeworms. They advised that when cleaning the animals that a person wear gloves and avoid exposure to open wounds on their person. Once the animals were "cooked" ( exposed to sufficient heat and sufficient heat exposure time ) they were safe to eat.

Doc

a crock pot is what we use for those old,tough groundhogs.