I have been hunting with firearms since I was eleven (11) years old which will soon be a total of sixty-one (61) years.  It is hard to imagine time has gone by so quickly!  My bride and myself just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and looking forward to more to come, the Lord willing of course.  We both give God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Praise, Honor and Glory in all things and thankful for each and every day allowed.

Since I did a short story in 2008 with a pictorial essay about how I skin squirrels, I decided to do a short story with pixs on how to skin a rabbit and this is the method taught to me by our Pop who has been deceased since 2007.  I certainly do miss him and the wonderful times we shared with my brothers Joe, deceased and Allen.  Pop was an honest, hard working man and a devout Christian, of which I have additional information about him on my biography page and other pages such as Memories From The Past, which has family pictures posted in separate web folders.

The past couple years, a friend Bud Ratliff, who owns Backwoods Hog Hunters, LLC has provided myself with plenty of rabbits harvested in front of his beagle dogs and I have shared them with my number one Brother-in-Law Douglas Pettigrew of Reidsville, NC.  So far this year, Bud has brought me twenty-five (25) rabbits and I plan to share them with Douglas Pettigrew, Robert Webster and my brother Allen Porter, of which all of them love rabbit and gravy as much as my bride and myself does.

Now with the rambled and side tracked introduction out of the way, it is time to post some pixs of how I skin rabbits.  I have used a couple nails with the heads removed and/or finishing nails into a post or tree to hold the back legs of Mr. Wabbit to facilitate the skinning process.  Just recently, I made a wooden bracket to hold the two nails which has clearance behind the rabbit and support post member making the skinning process a little easier.

A rabbit's hide is thin enough to allow you to use your fingers and thumbs to pull the hide off the meat without the usage of a knife.  I start at each back leg and break the skin loose from the meat and pull the hide downward to the base of each back leg.  I then, use the knife to cut the tail loose and pull the hide all the way down over the rabbit's head and front legs.

Above rabbit is what we call a "swamp" rabbit; bluish tint color on hide on the belly.

Once, the hide is pulled over the rabbit's head and front legs, remove the head from the body and using a pair of side cutters, cut the front legs off.

I cut between the pelvic bone which will expose the end of the intestinal track.

Once the pelvic bone is separated, insert the knife at the neck and chest area and cut upward until you reach the pelvic bone.  I usually take the left leg off the nail and bend the rabbit leg backwards breaking and opening up the pelvic bone exposing the end of the intestinal track.  I then pull the intestinal track downward along with the viscera (body contents).

If needed, you can use the knife to assist, but most of the time the knife is not necessary, since the entrails will freely pull off the rabbit.

Once the entrails are removed, you cut the back legs off and the rabbit is ready for soaking in regular tap water with a good amount of plain salt to help remove blood.

I rinse the rabbits off in the sink or a plastic container a few times before I add salt to the water.  Sometimes, it is necessary to remove shot shell pellets and rabbit fur driven into the rabbit by the shot shell pellets.  After a good soaking in salted water, rinse off in regular tap water.

I quarter each rabbit and place in a quart size vacuum bag, vacuum seal and place in my basement freezer for later usage.

FRUITS OF THE HARVEST

Below pixs of some "beautimous" rabbit and gravy.

Web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 01-27-18 and updated on 01-29-18 and 01-30-18.

MODIFIED THE NAILS

I modified the nails by bending an arch in them to keep the rabbit legs in place.  Pix below:

The modified nails worked great in keeping the rabbit legs from pulling off the nails.

MORE "WABBITS" 02-02-18

Bud Ratliff brought me eleven (11) more rabbits.  Bud and his hunting companions had a very productive day for sure.  Below is a pix of Bud with his beagle dogs and the harvest of the day:

Click on below thumbnail pixs for a larger screen view:

To date, that makes a total of thirty-six (36) rabbits Bud has given me and I have shared 12 with my brother and friend Robert Webster and will have some more to add to ones designated for my number one Brother-in-Law, Douglas Pettigrew of Reidsville, NC.

The rabbits were skinned, dressed, placed in salt water and soaked for an hour or two.  Rinsed off with regular tap water and placed in my game refrigerator overnight.  The following morning, they were quartered, vacuum sealed; then to the freezer.

I invited Bud and his son Hunter for some rabbit and gravy in the future, when rabbit hunting season ends.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 02-03-18.

"WABBITS" AND QUAIL

Bud Ratliff brought me seven (7) rabbits and six (6) quail yesterday 02-09-18 and they were quickly skinned, dressed, placed in salt water for a soak.  They were later rinsed off and placed in my basement game refrigerator covered until the next morning for quartering up and vacuum sealing.  The quail were vacuum sealed whole, whereas the rabbits were quartered up.  Bud said him and his hunting buddies harvested an even dozen rabbits and one of them kept five.  I have been keeping tabs on the total rabbits Bud has given me and to date it is a total of forty-three (43). 

It took longer to skin the quail than it did the rabbits.  I love roasted quail and gravy and quail gravy is my second choice of gravies, with rabbit gravy my first choice.

I am looking forward to preparing the quail and gravy in the very near future.

Web published update by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 02-10-18.

MORE "WABBITS"

Bud Ratliff brought me a pile of rabbits their hunting party harvested on 01-18-19. 

When I said a pile of rabbits, that is what I meant!  Can about taste that "beautimous" rabbit n gravy right now.

FIELD TESTED LATEST KNIFE CONVERSION

I got a chance to use my latest knife conversion on eleven (11) of the above rabbits and it worked flawless.  I cut through the neck with the thin bladed knife and it held its edge great.  Eleven of the rabbits went to a former employee of H. W. Little, Inc. who lives in Rockingham, NC.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 01-19-19 and 01-23-19.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE