Against my better judgment, I’m hunting Wabbit.
Seriously, the things I do for a buck.
I’ve mentioned before that I don’t shoot animals for the fun of shooting animals. One of the greatest tools created by man, in my opinion, is the metallic target. But I get paid to be a caretaker, okay, and that involves whatever duties my employer says it involves, and this one has a problem with rabbits. And rats and mice, but I can understand that. He seriously wants his plaza kept clear of rabbits, and that’s harder for me to wrap my mind around. It made sense when they were drowning themselves in the watering troughs, but there are no troughs anymore. Or horses, or humans, and what harm are the rabbits doing? I dunno.
But I said I’d do it, so I do. Once a morning and once an afternoon per week, I park the Jeep elsewhere* and sneak overland onto Former Neighbor J’s plaza with a loaded .22. And then I kill cute little bunnies, when taking the shot doesn’t risk putting holes in valuable things.
And now, even though I don’t even like wild rabbit, just to salve my own conscience I will butcher and stew the cute little bunnies before their meat goes bad. Which in this heat might be before I finish typing this sentence.
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*Not that it really matters. This year’s rabbit crop is positively brain damaged. I could shoot them and let them lay, and still be doing my part to improve the species.
We’re overrun with rabbits here too. I shoot a few each morning, just for moving target practice. I’ve never even made a small dent in the rabbit population, that’s for sure. But this morning I went out and all I could see were little bitty baby rabbits bouncing all over the place.
Now I’m anything but sentimental, and could shoot most anything without a qualm if I had to, but somehow this morning I could not shoot baby rabbits.
I’ll wait until they grow up next week. 🙂
Sounds similar to the live and let live philosophy that allowed your rodent population to take over your property and eat many hundreds of dollars worth of Jeep parts. What harm are the rabbits doing??? Weellllll, I wouldn’t want bunny poop all over my plaza. Or rat and mouse poop. Or fleas that had been living on either one. And I sure wouldn’t want to take over a property where any of them had been livng and reproducing at will for any length of time. Be sure to wear disposable gloves when you butcher those bunnies, and cook that meat well. Even better, soak it in Clorox and bury it somewhere. Bunnies acting more stupid than usual could have contagious health issues. Can you feed the cooked meat to the chickens or use it for rat and mouse bait? instead of eating it. Or leave the carcasses for animals that will eat them. And if the animals don’t, that should tell you something.
I don’t want to sound alarmist. People have been eating rabbits for centuries and they should be just as safe any other wild game. Are wild rabbits exposed to anything that your chickens aren’t also exposed to?
But balance the above against the following tidbit from today’s news:
“People can be exposed to plague:
-From flea bites of infected fleas when pets have contact with rodents or fleas outdoors, or bring infected rodents or fleas back into the home.
-By touching or skinning infected animals such as ground squirrels, rats, and rabbits.
-By inhaling droplets from the cough of an infected person or animal, especially infected cats.
People can greatly reduce their risk of becoming infected with plague by taking simple precautions, including avoiding contact with wild rodents, their fleas and rodent carcasses. They should not feed rodents in parks, picnic or campground areas and never handle sick or dead rodents.”
I’m overrun as well. In the heat of the day they will just barely move when they see you coming. I might begin using a pitchfork to dispatch them so as not to disturb the neighbors.
Kidding, but just barely.
God’s way of helping you keep up your shooting skills.
As for eating bunnies, isn’t there some folk wisdom about butchering bunnies only in months with an “r” in them? Something to do with a parasite, I think.