1st time out for hare,any suggestions?

[new trigger]

Only ever been grouse hunting for my 4 years of experience, and always see rabbits on the same trips. My wife is the meat cutter in the family but says she wants nothing to do with rabbit meat, so hoping to harvest one on thanksgiving trip and give it a try.I'm going to check u tube for field dressing ideas, but anything I should be careful of or watch for during cleaning and cutting? I was reading about kidney issues and think I have to look out for one that has white lines or spots on it. Do you discard the whole animal at this point?
Any success cooking the entire rabbit over a camp fire? or just a portion on the fire? I think my focus will be on stew when i get home or maybe soup?
hope to feed some inners to our pooch during the trip, any idea where to get photos of what the kidney and others look like? I want to it the safest way for us all.
Didn't see any threads on hare stew here, does it work?
Again, first time hare hunter (i hope) don't want to turn our selves off something good by screwing it up first time.

[Fella]

People have been eating hare stew for eons, so it's gotta be pretty good. There was a thread not too long ago where someone had shot some rabbits and some of the livers or kidneys had something funky going on so try doing a search. Not sure if the issue was ever identified but it'll give you a good indication as to what to look for.

[Sofa King]

i'm not a fan.
I took a friend who had never even been in the bush that much, out on a hunting trip awhile back.
we were seeing lots of grouse and rabbitts, I always take grouse, but he was intrigued to try a rabbit.
so we took one, with the stipulation that he's the one who's doing the cleaning and cooking.
I wasn't impressed with it and really didn't like the taste.
one and done for me.

[hare_assassin]

Hare meat is absolutely delicious! The most under-rated and under-utilized species in BC is snowshoe hare. The old bullshit wives tales about it being a "starvation food" and how it doesn't have any protein or whatever is complete nonsense.

Having said that, they do sometimes carry disease; of primary concern is tularemia, which affects the liver (not kidneys). After seeing some odd-looking livers this fall, I posted photos on the forum here and together with some others we determined that the liver issues were "liver flukes", not signs of tularemia. Based on this, and based on the fact that I have shot and eaten well over 100 hare over the past 2 seasons, I would say the chances of finding a hare with tularemia are very low. Always check the livers anyway. If there are yellowish spots then it might be tularemia. If they are whitish patterns than look like small worms, then it is liver flukes.

Having said all this, it is important to keep in mind several things:

1) Always cook hare meat fully, no matter who/what will consume it

2) Do not let your dog near the uncooked hare, do not let it lick or sniff at any of the blood or guts, etc. Dogs are particularly susceptible to hare diseases. Many a beagle has been lost due to exposure to dead hare and then subsequent lack of treatment by a vet.

3) Shoot them in the head. Chest and gut shots end up in a big mess and ruin the meat, etc.

4) Skin them before you gut them. This significantly reduces the amount of hair on/in your hare carcass.

5) Soak the carcasses overnight in a basin of salt-water. A fist full of salt in a basin of water. Removes some of the "wild" taste and makes them easier to debone.

6) Debone them. 100% of the people I have fed hare find it much more palatable and enjoyable to eat when it is boneless. Follow my video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=620Jr024ICk

7) Soups and stews work very well. I do not recommend dry cooking (BBQ or fire) unless you marinate them in a vinegar/oil/wine brine for a considerable length of time. Otherwise they will be dry and tough.

If you do a search, you will find quite a bit of info on hare and hare recipes here

[hare_assassin]

i'm not a fan.
I took a friend who had never even been in the bush that much, out on a hunting trip awhile back.
we were seeing lots of grouse and rabbitts, I always take grouse, but he was intrigued to try a rabbit.
so we took one, with the stipulation that he's the one who's doing the cleaning and cooking.
I wasn't impressed with it and really didn't like the taste.
one and done for me.

It is all in the preparation and cooking method. I could serve you hare that you couldn't tell from dark meat turkey.

It has become a staple at our house and everyone truly loves it.

[Fella]

Hare_assassin, did you end up eating the ones with the flukes or did you toss em?

[hare_assassin]

Hare_assassin, did you end up eating the ones with the flukes or did you toss em?

The first few, which I had assumed were tularemia, I ditched them immediately.

Once I knew it was just flukes, any more that I shot that had the patterns on the livers we ate them (but not the livers - we never eat the livers anyway).

[adriaticum]

It is all in the preparation and cooking method. I could serve you hare that you couldn't tell from dark meat turkey.

It has become a staple at our house and everyone truly loves it.

Ok boss, you need to wear those sleeved gloves to make sure you don't get any hair in the hare meat

[Sofa King]

It is all in the preparation and cooking method. I could serve you hare that you couldn't tell from dark meat turkey.

It has become a staple at our house and everyone truly loves it.

that's definitely the secret.
the one we ate, it was cleaned and cooked shortly after, and on an open campfire.
it was a dark night, and sitting by the fire eating, I thought it was just not right, the consistency.
curious, I went into the camper and turned a light on to look at my plate better.
the meat was far from cook thoroughly.
into the fire it went.

[monasheemountainman]

man oh man a lot of work to get a little bit of meat...think ill stick to chickens for my small game dinners.