Rabbit Season

[Lemur]

So one of my neighbors has been raising rabbits for meat. They're locked in too-small sheds in his garage, since raising livestock inside the town line is technically verboten. Anyway, he killed one last winter, and sent some of the meat our way, and it was fantastic. Great stuff. However, the process of killing the rabbit was a bit too much for him, and now he can't deal with them.

I've always felt that there is no moral difference between eating a burger and killing a cow, and that anyone who enjoys meat should be okay with the way it is harvested. So I've offered to help kill the rabbits. My reasons are threefold:

1. If I'm willing to eat it, I should be okay with killing it.
2. Better a quick, clean death than a lifetime in a too-small cage.
3. Rabbit is frickin' tasty.

Only problem is that I have never killed a rabbit before. My neighbor attempted the neck-jerk maneuver, which is apparently quite difficult for a newbie. I was thinking along the lines of some blunt force trauma to the back of the skull.

So, do any Orgahs have experience with offing rabbits? Techniques, advice, reference material to offer? One way or another my hands are going to be stained with rabbit blood, and I'd rather make it as quick and painless as possible. And no, I do not have the carpentry skills to build a miniature guillotine, so scratch that off the list.

[Fragony]

They make a truly horrible sound. Can't help ya I'm a happy hypocrite. Already feel bad when kill a wasp. Bunnies are cute. And tasty indeed, try a normal coque au vain but with rabbit instead it's delicious.

[Andres]

My grandfather hung them upside down. Then he quickly snapped the head down and back to break the neck after which he used a knife to slice the throat. He had a trick to take of the skin, but I don't remember how he did it. IIRC, the rabbit needs to hang for at least a day before you consume (never eat it the same day it was killed, has something to do with taste, I think).

My father tied the rabbit up. He had a friend who used a big knife to cut off the head in one blow, but I guess you need to practice a bit to be able to finish it with one clean blow (so yeah, your first few times will be a bit messy). After the head is off, you hang it upside down (put a bucket under it) for a day.

[Lemur]

Yah, Andres, my neighbor attempted the head-down-and-back-jerk technique, and it didn't work for him at all. Apparently it's one of those maneuvers where you either get it just right or it's a complete waste of time. I was hoping to do something a bit more assured, like decapitation or blunt force trauma.

[Vuk]

I am not sure about whether or not this would be an option where you live, but you could just put the head down, place a .22 caliber pistol to the base of the skull (where it meets the spinal column), and shoot toward the nose. That would be a fairly instant death. I have not slaughtered rabbits that way, but I have done it to sheep, turkeys, and some other small animals.
Yeah, I agree with your neighbor. :P I have no problem butchering animals, but I cannot do it to animals that I raise. Every time I have tried, I ended up giving the meat away, because I felt so sick eating it. :P If you spend months raising an animal, you start to feel attached to it. :P That said though, I slaughter and butcher animals for my neighbors (for a share of the meat of course ), and I have no qualms about doing that. :P

[drone]

If you don't have a spear and some form of enchanted helm, I think you are stuck trying to get the neck-breaking technique correct. Unless you want to put a .22 to the back of it's skull.

[Gregoshi]

Some of the Backroom patrons are experts at splitting hares with the forum rules. Post this there and ask about the technique.

[Banquo's Ghost]

If you are unsure about breaking the neck the best approach is to use a truncheon. A fisherman's priest is fine.

Hold the rabbit by the rear legs, head down, and a hard, sharp blow to the back of the skull will kill it. Be sure and be firm, and strike through the skull, not at it.

Shooting a captive rabbit is not only unsporting, it's really not a good idea to be letting off firearms near the house (it's unlikely you're going to transport the rabbit to a far field just to blow its brains out). Also, don't feed the rabbit for at least twelve hours (give it water) to reduce the dressing challenges.

Rabbit is an excellent meat - try it with caramelised pears or poached in cider.

[Lemur]

If you are unsure about breaking the neck the best approach is to use a truncheon. A fisherman's priest is fine.

Hold the rabbit by the rear legs, head down, and a hard, sharp blow to the back of the skull will kill it. Be sure and be firm, and strike through the skull, not at it.

This is extremely helpful. Thank you.

My grandfather [...] had a trick to take of the skin, but I don't remember how he did it. IIRC, the rabbit needs to hang for at least a day before you consume

Here I am fortunate; my neighbor knows how to dress the meat and all of that. In fact, I'm looking forward to learning this from him. I've never skinned, gutted and dressed a rabbit before, and it seems like the sort of thing a guy should know.

Nor do I doubt that with enough time I can kill a rabbit. My reason for seeking advice is that I want it to be as quick and humane as possible. I'm a meat-eater, not a sadist.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Is it a good idea to kill animals as an amateur? The cute furry things don't need to suffer needlessly. Maybe you can drive 'em to the local butcher?



Speaking about driving, alternatively you can set the wabbits free in your backyard, rent this thing and run 'em over for sports:

[Rhyfelwyr]

We used to get rabbits in my garden, so I would catch them, then my dad would used the neck-twisting technique.

Although he is a Teuchter (from north-east Scotland, where all the farms are) so he probably knew how to do it already.

[Centurion1]

Use a heavy duty industrial cleaver or a hatchet. Back of the neck just make ire You do it cleanly.

I hunt rabbits all the time as they are delicious just when you dress the sucker its not going to look like a lot of meat

[Lemur]

Is it a good idea to kill animals as an amateur? The cute furry things don't need to suffer needlessly. Maybe you can drive 'em to the local butcher?

Obviously I have no intention of making them suffer, needlessly or otherwise. I should think that would be obvious from everything I have said in-thread. I don't know how many times I need to specify "quick and clean" to have it register, but I'll do it nine or ten more times if that's helpful.

Sadly, nobody offers a "how to kill rabbits" course at the local technical college. This does seem like the kind of thing where you read, you ask, and then you do as carefully as possible.

The butcher isn't a bad idea; I'll call the local one and see what they have to say.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I'm willing to use a toilet but not willing to clean a septic tank.

[InsaneApache]

No wonder CR is crazed with that maniac Lemur about!

I've no idea how to despatch a rabbit, a chicken on the other hand......

[Lemur]

Yes, I think most everyone can claim some level of expertise in chicken-choking. Whole 'nother topic, that.

SK, I have a hard time imagining anything that I use, be it car, plumbing, computer, etc., that I would not enjoy learning how to maintain and/or fix under the right circumstances. Moreover, the moral decision in eating meat is more compelling than where Sasaki Kojiro voids his bowels. There is no meaningful moral dimension to where you poop, good sir, whereas eating meat is a conscious choice with ethical, economic and ecological ramifications.

I know way too many people who enjoy meat but are deliberate know-nothings about how that meat got to their lunchbox. I think it's healthy and morally sound to be on terms with your decisions and their moral ramifications. If it makes you more comfortable to see that burger patty as having originated in the meat aisle of your supermarket, well, all I can say is that you are in numerous company.

[Louis VI the Fat]

How could you!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

But eating meat isn't immoral. Regardless of the fact that personally killing animals is unpleasant. I'm not really feeling you on this one lemur, though I've heard people say this before. The argument seems to be tangled up somehow. If it was wrong to kill animals, it would be wrong to buy meat at the grocery store. But since it isn't, it isn't. Our willingness to kill them ourselves is irrelevant. A kleptomaniac may be willing to steal but that has no bearing no the morality of theft. I think it's just one of those vegetarian arguments, I saw it on a billboard somewhere once.

I think if I claimed that using a toilet was immoral, and used the argument that you wouldn't be willing to clean a septic tank, it would be a parallel argument. And you would in no way have to prove your moral soundness by actually cleaning a septic tank.

I'm not opposed to personally killing animals (have done so), but I'm not going to go out of my way to, it's unpleasant. And it's a good think that it's unpleasant. That's an important instinct. The most valid argument made by vegetarians is that regularly killing animals hardens people and weakens that instinct. I don't think it's a coincidence that dog fighting and such were more popular in times when people more often killed animals themselves. Grabbing a box in a grocery store doesn't weaken that instinct.

-edit-

Wow, that ended up long and rambling. Anyway, in summary, I think vegetarianism and animal rights is a complex debate, and that the pro-eating them argument is not helped in the slightest by a willingness to kill the animals by hand. If someone said they didn't think stealing was immoral and I disagreed, I would not be impressed by their willingness to rob a gas station even if they are now less of a know-nothing.

[Lemur]

Louis, of course I couldn't. That one is too young and has too little meat on his bones; complete waste of time.

But eating meat isn't immoral.

I think this is where we diverge; I don't think eating meat is immoral, rather, I think there is a moral dimension to eating meat. You're asking for another creature to die so you can have a tasty snack. How can that not be a moral choice? Likewise, we can all survive quite nicely without meat, and meat requires greater resources to produce. So as a meat-eater, I feel that I need to be okay with all dimenions of my choice.

You compare meat-eating with theft (twice), as though a morally wrong choice is comparable to a morally ambiguous choice like eating meat. I think this is where we part company.

[miotas]

Living things must die for me to live, debating the morality of which living things and whether I kill it personally or get a farmer/meatworks to kill it for me is splitting hairs. The economic and ecological points have merit however.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Louis, of course I couldn't. That one is too young and has too little meat on his bones; complete waste of time.

I think this is where we diverge; I don't think eating meat is immoral, rather, I think there is a moral dimension to eating meat. You're asking for another creature to die so you can have a tasty snack. How can that not be a moral choice? Likewise, we can all survive quite nicely without meat, and meat requires greater resources to produce. So as a meat-eater, I feel that I need to be okay with all dimenions of my choice.

You compare meat-eating with theft (twice), as though a morally wrong choice is comparable to a morally ambiguous choice like eating meat. I think this is where we part company.

If you think it might be wrong, you shouldn't do it...if that's what you mean by ambiguous. If you don't then I'm not clear on what you mean. I also used a choice that wasn't immoral (using a toilet).

The theft example works for how I am using it. If someone was able to steal without feeling that it was wrong, that wouldn't mean that it was right to steal. Just like the fact that someone is able to kill an animal without feeling that it is immoral doesn't mean it isn't. Those both work in reverse too. People in general often feel that something is immoral that isn't (like those gay yet anti-gay activist people). And people often feel that something is moral that isn't.

I think the basic reason behind "if I'm willing to eat it, I should be willing to kill it" is fine. But it works better hypothetically speaking. If I knew nothing about the animal from which the meat came, I couldn't judge whether it was wrong to eat it. You should be ok in principle with the animal being killed. But that doesn't lead to the conclusion that you should try and show something by killing it yourself. I mean, I could argue that it is wrong to buy clothes that come from a factor I wouldn't work in myself, but if I know about the factor my clothes came from it isn't necessary for me to go and work their myself.

This is all tangential to your OP though. Since you are killing the rabbits so that you can eat them. I think the vegetarian debate is an interesting microcosm though, I apologize if I took your thread off topic arguing about the "if you eat it, you should be willing to kill it" argument.

[drone]

Another option:

[Lemur]

If you think it might be wrong, you shouldn't do it...if that's what you mean by ambiguous.

This is a strange reading. Having sex might be wrong, depending on circumstance and motivations. Driving your car might be wrong, depending on circumstance and motivations. Going back to your very colorful poop analogy, defecating on the dining room table is probably wrong; in the toilet would be correct. So is taking a poop morally right or not? Stealing food for a starving child would be morally right; stealing under most circumstances is wrong. There are many, many activities that "might be wrong."

Killing an animal for food is, to my way of thinking, morally ambiguous. There are strong, sane, cogent arguments to be made for and against. So it "might" be wrong. Does that mean I should never eat meat?

@drone, wouldn't that make meat prep a little ... messy? On the other hand, instant shredded rabbit might be an interesting dish ...

Living things must die for me to live, debating the morality of which living things and whether I kill it personally or get a farmer/meatworks to kill it for me is splitting hairs. The economic and ecological points have merit however.

I don't understand how the economic and ecological are fundamentally separated from the moral. A good solution is a complete solution. Also, I don't understand equating, say, a stalk of wheat with a cute little bunny. Killing a blade of grass is surely different from killing a deer, yes?

[Vladimir]

Living things must die for me to live, debating the morality of which living things and whether I kill it personally or get a farmer/meatworks to kill it for me is splitting hairs.

Puneriffic.

[Louis VI the Fat]

There is a moral dimension to eating meat. So I think one ought to be aware where meat comes from.

Ham does not grow in the frozen foods section of your supermarket. It grows on real, living cows and needs to be sliced off of them, often causing the cow much distress.


If one is unaware of this fact, needless maltreatment of animals looms.

I do not think it means one has to be prepared to personally kill animals to eat meat. It's gross, bloody. (Not to mention, a profession I think is best left to professionals, or people who know exactly what they're doing) I am all for transplanting human organs, but it does not mean I am willing to cut out a kidney from a human corpse. Unless in case of emergency, which is, like the odds of me having to kill for food, not very likely to happen.

[Samurai Waki]

For some odd reason I was doing a quick lurk, and saw this thread. Anywho, I used to raise rabbits for meat, (used to be in 4H) and while I've used the neck breaking technique there is an equally humane and quick way to do it as well (as long as you've got the hardware). Which I'm sure you can scrape together in no time.

The problem with chopping it's head off, or bludgeoning it with a hammer, or even shooting it, is it leaves a small margin of error for painful death, and a bloody mess to boot.

Here's a quick "educational video" that shows the method I used to great effect. (Warning: Involves Rabbit Death)

Good Luck Lemur

[Rob The Bastard]

Wow... re the video... can't argue that wasn't swift enough. Very basic hardware, but about as effective as you can get.

[Cyclops]

...If I'm willing to eat it, I should be okay with killing it....

Mate I applaud the moral way you have thought this through.

I try to do so with little choices in consumption (non-slave chocolate other tree-hugging nonsense). What can one person do? Will it make a difference? Only to you, and maybe the people around you.

Found this grisly but practical demo, hope it helps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErmiaawHVAI

[Vladimir]

There is a moral dimension to eating meat. So I think one ought to be aware where meat comes from.

Ham does not grow in the frozen foods section of your supermarket. It grows on real, living cows and needs to be sliced off of them, often causing the cow much distress.


If one is unaware of this fact, needless maltreatment of animals looms.

I do not think it means one has to be prepared to personally kill animals to eat meat. It's gross, bloody. (Not to mention, a profession I think is best left to professionals, or people who know exactly what they're doing) I am all for transplanting human organs, but it does not mean I am willing to cut out a kidney from a human corpse. Unless in case of emergency, which is, like the odds of me having to kill for food, not very likely to happen.

OK, I find this offensive. No self-respecting Frenchman should eat frozen ham. I'm shocked at the insinuation that it is in the frozen food section. And, in less there is an advanced grafting technique involved, or that Europe is genetically altering it's cows, I'm quite sure that you can't slice ham off of a live cow; or any cow for that matter.

[Vladimir]

For some odd reason I was doing a quick lurk, and saw this thread. Anywho, I used to raise rabbits for meat, (used to be in 4H) and while I've used the neck breaking technique there is an equally humane and quick way to do it as well (as long as you've got the hardware). Which I'm sure you can scrape together in no time.

The problem with chopping it's head off, or bludgeoning it with a hammer, or even shooting it, is it leaves a small margin of error for painful death, and a bloody mess to boot.

Here's a quick "educational video" that shows the method I used to great effect. (Warning: Involves Rabbit Death)

Good Luck Lemur

Interesting. Reminds me of killing chickens. Although my uncle liked finding new ways to remove their heads. Very disturbing. Blood EVERYWHERE!