Hi Jack

On a recent trip to see my boyhood home and "stomping grounds" I was idling along in my pickup and caught a tiny bit of movement out of the corner of my eye. Sure 'nuff, it was a big ol' jackrabbit, convinced that he was hidden from view but I saw him twitchin' his big ol' ears.



If this had been the late fall, winter or earliest spring and I'd have had my trusty old .22 rifle instead of my camera, I might have been tempted to shoot my supper. (or breakfast; rabbit and scrambled eggs with biscuits and gravy...mmmm.)

Ol' Jack would've had to have been a bit younger for me to make the effort, as young jackrabbits are much more tender than the tough old codgers like this one. Young jacks are tastier than a cottontail for that matter. Face it, I would have had to have been 16 yrs. old again to have enjoyed being the mighty hunter, the frontiersman who can live off the land, eating prickly pear fruit as I did as a boy, knowing the best places where doves came to roost at night, the places where momma quail hens sheltered their babies from coyotes and hawks.


By-the-way, rattlesnakes are good eatin', tasting like chicken with the texture of deep fried catfish. I haven't eaten rattlesnake in years nor am I craving it, but I would eat it if hungry.

I haven't done it in years, but I expect I could still butcher a rabbit with no knife or other utensils. A quick nip with the teeth on the back of the rabbit's neck, then with fingers under the pelt, undress the carcass with one quick pull, turning the pelt inside-out. Carefully pinching the membrane that holds the intestines in, let them fall out away from the meat. Break off the legs (it might be lucky to own a rabbit's foot, but you're lucky if you can break them off quickly!) and then pull the hide off and if you've done it right, you can neatly wrap up the offal in the hide, roll in a ball and leave for some lucky coyote's midnight snack.

I'd tote my bounty home, slung from my belt, and just before I got to the house would stop at a red ant bed. Stepping on the head with my foot, I would pull that off and leave for the ants. They would have plenty of meat to eat for a while and be sure of surviving and making more ants for the horny toads to eat...and making sure there were plenty of horny toads, such a fascinating creature!

(red ant beds are great places to clean the frogs my sisters and I had to dissect, then clean, label and pin the bones to a piece of cardboard for sophomore biology)

I'd wash the meat in the sink, wrap in wax paper and put it into the fridge. The next morning, usually one of those crisp ones that makes your breath visible, perfect rabbit huntin' season, anyone that wanted could have some rabbit with their eggs, biscuits and gravy, prepared by momma's loving hands.