{"id":39614,"date":"2014-04-16T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T21:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=39614"},"modified":"2021-06-01T21:46:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T02:46:17","slug":"how-to-field-dress-and-butcher-a-rabbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/skills\/survival\/how-to-field-dress-and-butcher-a-rabbit\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Field Dress and Butcher a Rabbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Man

Everything is bigger in Texas — even the rabbits apparently.<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Creek Stewart<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

**Disclaimer: This post contains a graphic step-by-step depiction of the skinning, slicing, and disemboweling of a real rabbit. If you\u2019re eating, have always had a soft spot for Thumper, or faint at the sight of dismembered rabbit guts, please skip this post. Seriously. You can watch this video of an adorable rabbit stampede instead.<\/a>**<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love rabbit meat. It\u2019s probably my favorite meat. It is among the world\u2019s cleanest and healthiest meats. It is high in protein and low in cholesterol. Unlike most meats such as chicken, pork, and beef, rabbits are rarely (if ever) pumped with antibiotics and hormones. They are typically raised entirely on water and hay \u2013 can\u2019t get much healthier than that. Wild rabbits are even better, foraging on fresh greens year-round. If you’re raising rabbits, two does (female) and a buck (male) can produce up to 50 rabbits a year. They are an incredibly easy, economical, and sustainable meat-producing animal to farm.<\/p>\n

I am fortunate enough to be able to purchase whole dressed rabbits from my local butcher down the street, but I also believe, as a meat eater, I should know how and be willing to do the dirty work myself. This involves the killing, the dressing, and the butchering. I never want to take the meat I eat for granted and this process helps me to keep things in perspective and also reminds me of exactly where my food comes from. I believe this connection is important. Below is how I dress and butcher a rabbit.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

The Field Dressing<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Dressing

There are many ways to get the job done. Though my method isn\u2019t as field expedient as the rabbit dressing illustration in the official Air Force Survival Guide (shown above), it should only take 2-5 minutes, even if this is your first time.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

I start by placing the rabbit on a nice solid working surface. In this case I\u2019m using a cutting board.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

You\u2019ll want to pinch the hide on the rabbit\u2019s back and make a small cut. The hide of a rabbit is very thin and you don\u2019t even need a knife to do this; I\u2019ve used a sharp stick to puncture the skin.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Once you\u2019ve made the cut, work your middle and index finger from both hands into the opening.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Tear

Now, firm and steady, hook your fingers under the skin and pull one hand toward the head and the other toward the rear.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

The skin will begin to tear and separate from the body in two pieces.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Keep pulling, grabbing more of the hide as you go to get a better grip.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

You\u2019ll want to work the legs out.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

A sharp tug will tear the hide and leave the fur on the feet like little shoes.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Continue pulling the hide off the rear. The tail may or may not come off.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Pull the front up around the neck just to the base of the skull.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Cut off the feet at what would be the ankles. It\u2019s easiest to snap these at the joint with your hands, and then just cut through the muscle and tendons.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A

After the foot is cut off.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Cut off the head.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Also cut off the tail if it didn’t come off before.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

With the head, tail, and feet all gone, you\u2019ll want to make a small incision in the belly. Be careful here, the guts are just underneath and you don\u2019t want to go slicing open the colon or bladder.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Using two fingers to lift the skin away from the intestines, run the knife up to the ribcage and down to the pelvis.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Now it\u2019s time to remove all the innards. Be sure to cut into the chest cavity where the heart and lungs are. There is a membrane that separates the chest cavity from the intestines.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Insert your index and middle fingers in the top of the chest cavity and press them all the way down against the spine. With one steady motion you should be able to pull down and remove all the organs and intestines. Keep pulling down until everything is out of the way.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

Cut through the pelvic bone and clear out any remnants of the colon. Also pull out any remaining membranes or pieces from the chest and abdominal cavity. I typically keep the heart, liver, and kidneys and cook them in a variety of ways. Each is unique and delicious. A deep red liver is the sign of a healthy animal. If the liver looks weird or is muddled with spots or discoloration, the animal may be unhealthy, in which case I would not eat it.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Butchering<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Washed

I typically do this inside and start by thoroughly washing the rabbit in the sink to clean off any remaining blood, hair, or debris from the field dressing process.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

I begin the entire process by removing the skin and little fatty pieces. This can be a tedious process but I\u2019ve found the end result tastes better with this gone. This is often referred to as the “silver skin” and it\u2019s worth taking the time to remove.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

After the silver skin is removed, I focus on the front legs. They are not attached by bone to the body so it\u2019s pretty simple. Cut close to the ribcage and remove as much meat as possible.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Next, I remove the belly meat. It doesn\u2019t seem like much and I often see people throw this away, but I consider it a choice cut of meat. This is actually the area where bacon comes from on a pig. Would you throw away the bacon? I didn\u2019t think so. Trim this down the ribs and close up against the loin. In the photo, I have removed the belly skin on the left side and am working on the right.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

I then move to the back legs. I cut through the meat to the hip joint and then snap that with my fingers.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

After removing the back legs, I cut the pelvis off. I save the pelvis section and use it to make a rabbit stock with the neck and ribcage (mentioned later).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

After removing the pelvis I then cut through the ribs against the spine. Here I\u2019m using my knife, but I\u2019ve also used scissors before as well. Before doing this you\u2019ll want to filet the back loin away from the ribs so that you don\u2019t cut any of that off with the ribcage.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

Once both sides of ribs are cut from the spine, I cut off the ribcage and neck and include it as one piece with the pelvis for rabbit stock.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Man

The rabbit loins line the top and bottom of the spine and are my favorite pieces (along with the back legs). For portioning and serving I will normally cut the spine\/loins into three sections. Each of these make a great portion.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Complete

With the pelvis, neck, and ribs in the stock pot, above are the pieces left for cooking in any way you wish: 2 front legs, 3 loin sections, 2 belly meats, and 2 back legs.<\/p><\/div>\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When my grandfathers were my age, they went through this process every time they ate meat. The modern conveniences we enjoy today didn\u2019t exist, nor did the commercial meat industry. Though I don\u2019t necessarily enjoy the butchering process (and certainly not the killing part), it\u2019s important to me. I feel connected to simpler times and, on some level, to my ancestors. It\u2019s also a reminder that the meat I eat comes from a living, breathing animal. I never want to take that for granted.<\/p>\n

Remember, it\u2019s not IF but WHEN,<\/p>\n

Creek
\n___________________________________<\/p>\n

Creek Stewart is a Senior Instructor at the Willow Haven Outdoor School for Survival, Preparedness & Bushcraft<\/a>. Creek\u2019s passion is teaching, sharing, and preserving outdoor living and survival skills. <\/em>Creek is also the author of the book <\/var>Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit<\/strong>.<\/a> <\/em>For more information, visit Willow Haven Outdoor.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Creek Stewart.  **Disclaimer: This post contains a graphic step-by-step depiction of the skinning, slicing, and disemboweling of a real rabbit. If you\u2019re eating, have always had a soft spot for Thumper, or faint at the sight of dismembered rabbit guts, please skip this post. Seriously. You can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":39687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,42259,277],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-39614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-skills","category-survival"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rabbit1-475x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rabbit1-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2014\/04\/rabbit1-320x494.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39614"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128055,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39614\/revisions\/128055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39614"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=39614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}