A Rabbit in the Garden

[heelerau]

G'day all
                     shot a rabbit this morning from the cottage veranda with a  Neil Fields .40 Lancaster flintlock rifle, shot him through the shoulders at about 75 yds. I am cooking him up to a Jamie Oliver recipe, Essex Deep fried rabbit !! wendy is most pleased, as all the ingredients including the meat have come from our place, I even cast the ball the rabbit was shot with.  Why the fuss? The War Office has been at me the thin the rabbits out in our garden, I don't get to hunt much these days due to time constraints, which may improve in time!! He was pretty tough, should have aged him or, cooked him for longer than the 45 minutes, tasted good though. The family enjoyed the feed to.

Cheers

Gordon

[satwel]

Hello Gordon,

Nice shooting! I like your rifle. I assume you live in Australia?
Is there an active flintlock community in your area? How hard/easy is it to buy black powder?

Cheers

[Standing Bear]

Good shootin', Gordon!  I'm a great fan of .40 flinters, too.
TC

[JB2]

75 yards?  Great shooting mate!  A win all around.  War Office is happy, family is fed, and rabbit no longer raiding the garden (until the next one becomes 'dinner').

[WadePatton]

waskally wabbits! 


As to tough, bbq is the answer to any tough meat.  Low (heat) and Slow (long time).  Maybe a brining would help (soaked in saline solution for a few hours).  4 hours on my smoker at no more than 220f would be my guess for wild, garden raiding wabbit.  Reload and hunker down, there might be another.

[hanshi]

Big rabbit, good shooting and nice rifle.  Yeah, slow cooking is a good tenderizer.

[heelerau]

Gents, you are dead right about the slow cooking,  I just should have let it go longer.  I live in Western Australia and getting black powder is not a problem at the moment. About $90 A for a Kilo of Wano (Swiss) FFFg.  We do have a pretty active group of blackpowder shooters around Perth and Albany which is way down south, mostly tied up with clubs.  I guess there would be a few free lancers like my self, and some would hunt as well. Most of these blokes will have a mixture of rifles, muskets, shotguns and long rifles.  Long range shooting is becoming popular, with Gibbs, and PH Volunteer .451 rifles as well.
  There are at least two more wabbits lurking in the garden, one is just a kitten, so will let him grow up some, and another. they are pretty shy, but will persevere.

Cheers

gordon

[William Worth]

"$90 a kilo."   

[WadePatton]

"$90 a kilo."   

as I understand it (and this is not a political discussion) BP or air-powered is all the rabbit-slaying options for folks down under. 

and what's a kilo?    oh, that's only 45 bucks a pound.   

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Actually, that's closer to $40.90 / pound.  Which is the same price we pay for Swiss BP.  We have to drive to Saskatchewan to get it too...round trip ~ 1200 miles.  GOEX we can get for ~ $22/lb.  And those are Canuck dollars, which are a little fatter than your Yankee bucks.  We in North America are pretty spoiled, compared to the rest of the world, when it comes to paying for our shooting sports.  Or gasoline, for that matter.

[moleeyes36]

Wow.  And to think I stopped buying Swiss when it reached $22/lb (case price) delivered to my door by FedEx.  I guess I didn't appreciate how lucky I was.

[WadePatton]

...  We in North America are pretty spoiled, compared to the rest of the world, when it comes to paying for our shooting sports.  Or gasoline, for that matter.

nearly everything, yes.  but we gotta stop there to avoid devolving the convo into the how and why of such...

I gotta get my rabbit/squirrel/hog/bear/deer (when you only got one) rifle finished.  Powder Inc. fixed me up a while back.  Have yet to open one of those plastic "cans".

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Wade, the pour spouts I made from brass cartridge cases soldered to the lids of powder cans, fit the plastic Swiss powder 'cans' better than the steel ones.

[heelerau]

"$90 a kilo."   

as I understand it (and this is not a political discussion) BP or air-powered is all the rabbit-slaying options for folks down under. 

and what's a kilo?    oh, that's only 45 bucks a pound.    Wade, we still have access to most calibres, .22 ver popular for rabbits, as is .17 and the like. We just have a big palaver getting licensed,. takes time but once you are in the system you can have most stuff. You blokes would find our system odious, we do as well, but have little choice.   
    On a more cheerful note, have seen another large potable rabbit, but will have to wait till I get back from my two weeks swing in the mines.   I see we pay similar for our black, as a kilo is roughly a bit over two pounds.  I am finding keeping the .40 loaded for several weeks, but with the touch hole plugged with a  toothpick, no problems in the reliablility ignition stakes, goes off ever time !!

Cheers

gordon

[hanshi]

Just recalled that every single rabbit I've taken was killed with my Sheridan "Blue Streak" or a few times with a Ruger single six .22.  Never with BP, shot or any rifle other that my old air rifle.

[omark]

might try soaking it in milk or salt water for a few hours for improving the flavor and to tenderize it might want to try pressure cooking it. just some more ideas that work for us.    mark

[heelerau]

 Mark,
 thanks for that, will give it a try with the next rabbit.  I am about to fly home from up north, and will report back in a couple of weeks. My home computer seems to only once again have only occasional access to this site so may not be back online here till then.

Cheers all

Gordon

[Feltwad]

We have plenty of rabbit here in the UK I shoot them with a percussion sxs shotgun ,it is good sport walking them up through rough cover over dogs but for me the best is shooting them they bolt from the hole when ferreting. Shooting them in your back garden is definitely a no go  which would end with been prosecuted because it would be classed has a public place
Feltwad

[heelerau]

We have plenty of rabbit here in the UK I shoot them with a percussion sxs shotgun ,it is good sport walking them up through rough cover over dogs but for me the best is shooting them they bolt from the hole when ferreting. Shooting them in your back garden is definitely a no go  which would end with been prosecuted because it would be classed has a public place
Feltwad

Feltwad, thought I have better ad that we live on a small farm !!

Cheers

gordon

[WadePatton]

We have plenty of rabbit here in the UK ... Shooting them in your back garden is definitely a no go  which would end with been prosecuted because it would be classed has a public place
Feltwad

Feltwad, thought I have better ad that we live on a small farm !!

Cheers

gordon

Hillbilly-style in my corner of the world, shoot off the porch (sometimes).  I've shot two whitetails from the house over the years.  And now that they're getting close again...

[mountainman70]

I have a dear bro,disabled Marine,when he was in good shape,was a consumate hunter with bow and long gun.He built a new house for himself out in the country,and managed to shoot 2 whitetails out his bedroom window.After years of draggin em out of the woods,he said he liked this.Short,level drag to truck.
Dave