Its oh so quiet Shh Shh

[anji1971]

That's one heck of a rabbit.
Could make a lot of stew with that one.

[count dewclaw]

Not that one! She is my daughter's 4H Showmanship rabbit. But the others we have cooked were tasty....

[anji1971]

So how does that work? If they aren't good enough for showmanship, they're dinner?

[count dewclaw]

Basically, also if they are not good enough to keep as future breeders. However, my daughter has decided she really doesn't like eating her rabbits so she is looking for other ways to handle the culls. Like selling them as pets or selling them to someone else who will eat them.

[anji1971]

I can certainly understand why that might bother her.
I've never been a big fan of "meeting" my dinner before I eat it, either. Especially if it's been a pet for a while.

[count dewclaw]

Oh I understand, too! That is why I have been encouraging her to look for the other ways to take care of the ones that are not good enough to show or breed. I also have food allergies and I think I may be allergic to rabbit as well...I know I'm allergic to their fur!

[drache]

I've recently considered raising rabbits for food
it was quite common where I grew up and I remember that they were tasty
Jeff's a vegetarian though and I haven't addressed it with him

[Lori P]

I've wanted to raise some meat rabbits, also. But my butcher pal up the road doesn't want to do poultry or rabbits, so the whole thing would be up to me. I don't think I'm ready to take that on... but bunnies are yummy....

[count dewclaw]

My husband took care of the butchering. I don't think I could have handled killing the rabbit. I could have done the rest, but he wanted to do the whole job, so I didn't argue.

[jitami]

OK guys, my herping skills need some serious improvement!!!

We were trying out the new gold pans yesterday... a little tedious for me, but relaxing at the river is never a bad thing. There's this submerged rock out in the water that I find makes an excellent seat. I'm sitting there for 20 minutes or so, when I feel something brush up against my leg under the water. I jump three feet from the rock and scream like... well, like a girl Then almost instantly I calmly say, "It's a garter snake" and start laughing. Ok, so the chase is on... in the water... I'm wading about waist deep and it's swimming(way quicker than I am wading!) toward a large rock outcropping. It goes around the corner of the large rock and disappears. Now I know that garters are not great at hiding and I even tell my husband that the snake is probably just barely out of the water, just enough to think he's hidden. Sure enough, found his fat little body wedged into a crack, half his body still in the water, head sticking up swaying back and forth. Ok, so I slowly reach under the water, get a couple of fingers around his body, slowly make the grab... he comes at me quick! and I drop him.... geez louise... so the chase is on back in the water again. He heads out toward the deeper, swifter water, ducks under the water and disappears. I watched for him to come up, but never saw him. So, eventually, I go sit back on my rock and start talking to hubby while he's still gold panning... we didn't find any gold, btw and maybe five minutes later, I feel something rub against my leg again. Didn't scream this time, just said, "he's back." Sure enough, same silly garter. My husband says, "he's just f'ing with you now" You'd think I'd be able to just reach down and grab it, right? Nope, he was quick as lightening swimming away, this time straight out into the swift water, head still up, around a rock cutting the current, and out of sight. All the while I'm thinking, "damn I suck at this!"

Sorry no pics, camera was in the car... sigh... I think it was an Oregon garter(T. a hydrophilus) but I'm not positive. Haven't checked range maps yet, but it was rusty brown in the water and a really muddled brown/grey/green color out of the water, had a very faint dorsal stripe, which was only obvious at the neck and then faded away, looked like a clear checker pattern in the water, but really muddled when out, light colored head & neck, with prominent dark stripes on his labial scales, and light eyes. Really not very attractive compared to most garters, but a garter non the less.

We later saw another smaller individual swimming down river further, but I had already changed into warm clothes for the long ride home in the topless/doorless jeep and didn't want to get wet... wimpy, huh?

Hope you all had better luck(skill) than I over the weekend!