First 9 Hare of the Season!

[hare_assassin]

Took the family up into the bush for some long weekend camping. One other family camping at the recreation site. Fantastic, quiet, peaceful weekend. (Everyone must have assumed it would be packed).

Went hare hunting on Saturday morning at 6:30am. Found a great new spot for hare! Back to the campsite to make the Mrs. her morning coffee by 8am with first 3 hare of the season. My mother and father visited on Saturday and we ate the hind legs of 3 hare that evening, along with some salmon, etc.. BBQ'ed hare is not the best (a bit tough) but there wasn't any left on anyone's plate! :)

Monday morning my youngest daughter and I headed out around 6:30 again. Nailed 6 more hare along the same stretch of road and back to the campsite by 9am. Could have hit the bag limit if we had of kept going... next time! :)

1 of the hare had a questionable liver so I decided to turf it. So now there are 5 soaking in salt water waiting to be de-boned later today.

So nice to be putting some game back in the freezer!

[adriaticum]

Good show! I guess that's why you're called hare assassin

[hare_assassin]

Good show! I guess that's why you're called hare assassin

Thanks! It's all about finding a "harey" area. Once you do that, it is just a matter of going for a walk and keeping your eyes open. 7 out of nine of them were sitting right on the road, so ridiculously easy to spot. Then the only challenge is to creep up within ".22 range" without scaring them off into the thick stuff. I took a couple of them at about 60 yards, but typically more like 40. Then there are the ones just off the road that you don't notice till you are standing 5 or 10 yards from them. Man, a .22 can make a mess of a hare brain!

Can't wait till my .22WMR arrives so I can go put it through its paces along that stretch of road! My goal this year is to triple my numbers from last year (3 x 68 = 204)

Now that I have found a good autumn hare area to compliment my winter hare area, all I need to do is figure out where they go in the spring and I'll be all set.

I do love hare hunting (and my family loves eating them), but I'm still very much looking forward to putting some deer and/or moose in the freezer! :D

[adriaticum]

Try 22 shorts, I will try that for grouse and rabbit.

[hare_assassin]

Try 22 shorts, I will try that for grouse and rabbit.

You like a challenge, eh?

Me, I just like to kill and bag as many as I am legally allowed to each time I am out. :D

[biggyun68]

Hey HAssassn:
Can I recommend my brine: 50% Vinegar (your choice of kind flavour etc) 30 % Extra Virgin olive Oil 20% Wine (Coming from European parents I prefer a light red for small game and a heavy red for Big game) add in rock salt of your choice:
If you soak this over night or up to 24 hours and baste with it you should not have any problems with Dryness on the BBQ
Cheers BY68

[hare_assassin]

Hey BY68! I will try that next time. It sounds great!

The simple salt water soak is something I do just to get some of the gaminess out of them and soften them up before I debone them. Then they typically get vac-packed and put in the deep freeze.

I might just try adding your brine mix to a few of the deboned vac-packs before freezing them. That way they will marinate as they freeze and then again when they defrost... can't wait to try it!

Thanks!

[Warlite]

Right on hare_assassin! Good to hear you bagged yourself some tasty hares!

Was out camping this weekend too, saw about 4 hare in a couple kms of driving around Johnson Lake. Wish I would have brought my gun with me though........

What kind of 22 do you hunt with? I have a 10/22 on order at Powder Keg and I have not decided if I am going to put a fixed 4 power on it or just leave it open.

Was wondering what your set up is.

[hare_assassin]

Right on hare_assassin! Good to hear you bagged yourself some tasty hares!

Was out camping this weekend too, saw about 4 hare in a couple kms of driving around Johnson Lake. Wish I would have brought my gun with me though........

What kind of 22 do you hunt with? I have a 10/22 on order at Powder Keg and I have not decided if I am going to put a fixed 4 power on it or just leave it open.

Was wondering what your set up is.

Thanks.

Currently I use a Lakefield Mark II (Lakefield is now owned by Savage and the Lakefield, Ontario factory makes all the Savage rimfires, so it is basically a Savage Mark II G).

I've got a Bushnell Banner "Dusk & Dawn" 3-9 x 40 scope on it. It is a centrefire scope, but I adjusted the front objective to bring the parallax to about 50 yards.

This setup works really well, but it has let me down a few times out past 70-80 yards or so. I've got a Savage model 93 .22 magnum ordered and I'll be putting the Bushnell scope on that. Should be able to reach out and touch them in the head all the way to about 110 yards with it, which should be more than enough.

Any .22 setup can be used to bag hare, though. It is just a matter of what sort of success rate you will be happy with. With a 10/22 and iron sights, I would expect to miss quite a few... and I wouldn't be happy with that.

[Warlite]

Thanks.

Currently I use a Lakefield Mark II (Lakefield is now owned by Savage and the Lakefield, Ontario factory makes all the Savage rimfires, so it is basically a Savage Mark II G).

I've got a Bushnell Banner "Dusk & Dawn" 3-9 x 40 scope on it. It is a centrefire scope, but I adjusted the front objective to bring the parallax to about 50 yards.

This setup works really well, but it has let me down a few times out past 70-80 yards or so. I've got a Savage model 93 .22 magnum ordered and I'll be putting the Bushnell scope on that. Should be able to reach out and touch them in the head all the way to about 110 yards with it, which should be more than enough.

Any .22 setup can be used to bag hare, though. It is just a matter of what sort of success rate you will be happy with. With a 10/22 and iron sights, I would expect to miss quite a few... and I wouldn't be happy with that.

Thanks for the advice hare_assassin.

[hare_assassin]

No worries. I'm just learning this as I go along and sharing anything I can as I go, like so many others here.

Welcome to the forum, BTW!

[hare_assassin]

Biggyun68,

I processed (deboned and packaged) the 5 hare after work. I put all the backstraps and tenders in a vac-pack for a pie I am making for dinner guests on Friday. All the bellies, shoulders, hearts, and tougher offcuts (forearms, calfs) got divided into 2 x 1lb vac-packs, for future stews/soups. The thighs were divided into 3 family portions. One went into tonight's curry, and the other two got your recommended brine into the vac-packs. I put one in the fridge for tomorrow night, and the other is in the freezer.

Thanks agin. I'll let you know how we like it.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

We love hares...although we have never taken close to our limit.
I'd love to whack enough to have enough to freeze some until later.

Nice work!

SSS

[BiG Boar]

pics or it didn't happen. Any booners?

[biggyun68]

Biggyun68,

I processed (deboned and packaged) the 5 hare after work. I put all the backstraps and tenders in a vac-pack for a pie I am making for dinner guests on Friday. All the bellies, shoulders, hearts, and tougher offcuts (forearms, calfs) got divided into 2 x 1lb vac-packs, for future stews/soups. The thighs were divided into 3 family portions. One went into tonight's curry, and the other two got your recommended brine into the vac-packs. I put one in the fridge for tomorrow night, and the other is in the freezer.




Thanks agin. I'll let you know how we like it.

You move quick HAssasin- Just curious as to what Vinegar and Wine combo did you use?

[Wackman]

Nice, right on! :-) I have been out a few times
but never seen any more hare for about a month now.
Same with black bear, not a single fresh turd in 2 days.
Keep shooting straight

[jag]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but what's the story on the questionable liver? What does a questionable liver look like, and what does it mean? Has the bunny got some kind of disease? Have seen a lot of rabbits around this year and plan to pop a few as soon as the season is open.

[hare_assassin]

We love hares...although we have never taken close to our limit.
I'd love to whack enough to have enough to freeze some until later.

Nice work!

SSS

Thanks!

As I said earlier, it is all about finding the right "harey" area. This can take time, because sometimes when you find a few hare you think you've found the spot, but then on return trips it is always just a few of them around and they aren't easy to find. Eventually, you'll find a spot where there are so many it is hard not to find them. You don't have to really "find" them because they are just right there in plain sight.

[hare_assassin]

pics or it didn't happen. Any booners?

Don't know what a "booner" is ...

By the time I thought of taking photos, I was all bloody from skinning and gutting the first one and I didn't want to put my bloody hand in my pocket and grab my cell phone.

I did, however, get wifey to snap some shots as I was processing them yesterday:

Here are the 5 that I shot on Monday, soaking in the saltwater basin:
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/hare_processing_1.jpg

Here is the biggest of the lot. He had muscles where a lot of hare only have thin connective tissue. I couldn't believe how packed full of food his guts were. Incredible! :
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/hare_processing_2.jpg

Here are some of the (left to right) backstraps/tenders, bellies/hearts/tough-cuts, thighs:
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/hare_processing_3.jpg

Some brined thighs...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/hare_processing_4.jpg

[hare_assassin]

You move quick HAssasin- Just curious as to what Vinegar and Wine combo did you use?

I used PC red wine vinegar and "Anciano 7 Year" Gran Reserva Tempranillo. One of my all-time favourite reasonably-priced wines.

[hare_assassin]

Nice, right on! :-) I have been out a few times
but never seen any more hare for about a month now.
Same with black bear, not a single fresh turd in 2 days.
Keep shooting straight

Thanks!

All the scientific info I have read on snowshoe hare says they don't migrate, but I don't believe it. In my experience, they do migrate and I suspect it has everything to do with different food and cover needs at different times of the year. The place I am hunting now had no hare in the spring. The place I hunt in the winter has no hare in the spring and very few right now. They move. That's why I am so excited to have found an autumn area so full of them. ;) When it starts to dry up, I am confident that I will find loads of them at my winter spot.

[hare_assassin]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but what's the story on the questionable liver? What does a questionable liver look like, and what does it mean? Has the bunny got some kind of disease? Have seen a lot of rabbits around this year and plan to pop a few as soon as the season is open.

No worries about hijacking. It is a very relevant question. I am no expert on this, so take it for what it is worth.

Hare and rabbits are susceptible to a disease called "tularemia". It can be passed on to humans under the right conditions. From what I have read, one of the signs of tularemia infection is "spotty liver". A good guy at Wholesale Sports indicated that autumn is the time to really make sure to check the hare livers. I don't really know exactly what I am looking for, but one of the hare's liver looked "questionable" to me; as in "not like the others". A healthy liver is just plain, shiny, smooth, purple. It is obvious when you see a healthy liver. The suspicious liver wasn't exactly "spotty", but it had some odd whitish patterns that looked sort of like veins of gristle or scarring. I half suspect it was not indicative of tularemia, but since it looked "not perfectly healthy" I said "#@&* it" and threw it into the bush. This may have been a mistake, but as I said, I am just learning as I go along.

I know it is an offense to waste game meat, but under the circumstances I erred on the side of caution. My family's health is far more important than the life of a hare. I wonder what "the law" would say...

[biggyun68]

I used PC red wine vinegar and "Anciano 7 Year" Gran Reserva Tempranillo. One of my all-time favourite reasonably-priced wines.

Nice!!! Please keep me in the loop how they taste.

[hare_assassin]

Nice!!! Please keep me in the loop how they taste.

Will do. I'm very optimistic. The thighs I put in last night's curry were so delicious and tender, I could have easily passed it off as turkey.

Nice to continue to add more hare recipes to my repertoire. Nothing worse than eating the same 3 recipes all the time.

[Lionhill]

Hey HAssassn:
Can I recommend my brine: 50% Vinegar (your choice of kind flavour etc) 30 % Extra Virgin olive Oil 20% Wine (Coming from European parents I prefer a light red for small game and a heavy red for Big game) add in rock salt of your choice:
If you soak this over night or up to 24 hours and baste with it you should not have any problems with Dryness on the BBQ
Cheers BY68

How mach salt to a measured total?

Thanks

LH

[hare_assassin]

How mach salt to a measured total?

Thanks

LH

I wondered too, but since I didn't have time to come back here and ask I just winged it.

My mix, for 2 bags of 4 thighs each, went like this:

- 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar into a bowl
- filled the 1/4 cup measure about 2/3rds full of olive oil and then topped it up with red wine - into the bowl
- dumped about 2-3 teaspoons, maybe more, of sea salt into my hand a threw it in the bowl and mixed the whole works up

[hare_assassin]

Nice!!! Please keep me in the loop how they taste.

Well, I planned on grilling them on the BBQ, but plans changed... http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?98662-Tomato-Basil-Hare-with-Zucchini

The brining/marinating made the thighs very tender and tasty. I'll be doing that again! Thanks!

[hare_assassin]

Fall hare tally up to 14 now. :)

[longstonec]

Speaking of brine...

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/zen_of_brines.html

[Wullfen]

You guys should try adding fresh herbs to your brines, sprigs of rosemary are nice as they don't break down to from the acidity of the vinegar/wine you use in the marinade, but lend a great flavour. Adding whole peppercorns is a good thing as well.

[hare_assassin]

You guys should try adding fresh herbs to your brines, sprigs of rosemary are nice as they don't break down to from the acidity of the vinegar/wine you use in the marinade, but lend a great flavour. Adding whole peppercorns is a good thing as well.

Thanks!

This occurred to me too. I love herbs, so I'll be trying it. Juniper goes well with hare, and I've got all kinds of it in my yard.

[Warlite]

Hey HA,

What is the ratio of water/salt you use when you soak your hares overnight?

Thanks

[hare_assassin]

Hey HA,

What is the ratio of water/salt you use when you soak your hares overnight?

Thanks

"Basin of water and a fist full of salt" ... as per Mark Gilchrist's video (skip to 2:36):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpwhOE74TMA

Note: I have since learned an easier, cleaner, quicker way to skin and gut them. Also, I do not boil them whole as he does - I choose to debone them and sort them into cuts.

Oh, and I use sea salt, not that Windsor table salt crap.

[Warlite]

"Basin of water and a fist full of salt" ... as per Mark Gilchrist's video (skip to 2:36):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpwhOE74TMA

Note: I have since learned an easier, cleaner, quicker way to skin and gut them. Also, I do not boil them whole as he does - I choose to debone them and sort them into cuts.

Oh, and I use sea salt, not that Windsor table salt crap.

Thanks HA! I will try this out on the next hare I get.

[KevinB]

Great thread. I stumbled across this recipe last fall, and used it for all of the hare's I got last winter.
http://leitesculinaria.com/73052/recipes-rabbit-confit.htmlWow, I can tell you I've found my new favorite method. It really coincided with my find of a great area that seemed to produce hares like a factory. Confit is basically a slow poaching in oil, traditionally duck fat I believe. I know it looks like it would result in pretty greasy meat, but it doesn't. We had several dinners with many non-hunter friends where I would confit 6 or 8 bunnies, which disappeared like candy around fat kids. I even grew extra rosemary this year, specifically for the confit (tidbit - rosemary plants buried under snow will last all winter just fine).

Good bunny hunting!!