Wednesday 13 January 2010

Shhhh I'm Hunting Rabbits

Kent: 'The garden of England' Or A Giant Food Plot For Rabbits

If you want an answer: ask the question, ask and ask again, keep turning over stones, keep kissing frogs, until you find the one you want.

Here in Old Blighty there is no hunt-able public land. Animals can be wild and therefore belong to no one, but the land they are standing on is someone’s property and you can’t hunt on it without their permission. No Permission = No wild meat

Meanwhile back in the 'hood

The interview process for a new flatmate had been dragging on. The Co-op sends a list, we call the people, filter out a few nutters and ner-do-wells. Stay in a couple of evenings waiting for no-shows and just when we were thinking we’d have to start again in the new year the corner is turned, a nice chap turns up on one of the interview nights. The others like him and tell me they’re happy to live with him, if I like him he’s got the room.

We’ve chatted for a while. Seems like a good guy, I’m about to tell him he’s got the room if he wants it, when it occurs to me that I’m not just the mild mannered plumber and building contractor from the room next to the kitchen, I also have another identity, an alter ego, a super-hero identity. I’m SBW. The Suburban Bushwacker himself.

So it went something like this:

SBW “It’s only fair to let you know something about the way I live, [pause for dramatic effect] I occasionally come home with dead animals, [another pause for dramatic effect] not from the supermarket, but from nature. Animals that lived wild and free before they became my dinner. I eat road kill, and [one more pause for dramatic effect] I hunt. It’s very important to me, so it’s only fair to let you know up front, in case you’re squeamish about things like that, that I will sometimes be butchering whole animals in the kitchen”

“Really! Well I like eating meat and I’d like to come and hunt it with you”

SBW “ Excellent! As you’re from Kent maybe you can help, I’m looking for a farmer who’s over-run with Rabbits and Deer”

“My dad has a plant nursery, I’m sure he’d love you to come down and kill his Rabbits, they’re a major problem for him because they eat loads of his new plants”

SBW “Welcome home fella”

So the new-year is shaping up well, bathrooms to build, and Rabbits to hunt, wish me luck.

Your pal

SBW


24 comments:

R. Gabe Davis said...

In America we call that manifest destiny.....here's to hassenpfeffer. Your pal the Envirocapitalist.

Keith said...

Well done, and good luck.
Le Loup.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Gabe

that sounds delicious!

'The dish is prepared from smaller parts of a rabbit which are not suitable for roasting. These are braised with onions and wine, the marinade is thickened with the animal's blood.'

SBW

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

LL

Apparently the place is over run, I'm thinking of a bedspread - and a lot of dinners
SBW

Perkunas said...

You gotta stop by in Finland someday to get some Wabbit easily on your plate.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

P

I've always want to go to Finland, Am I right in thinking bowhunting is legal there?

Do you have any traditional Finish recipes for Rabbit?

SBW

Holly Heyser said...

Well, that's a happy ending to the story! After all the incredulous folks Tovar and I have been writing about, I thought for sure this would be another tale of someone who was shocked to find out meat comes from animals.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

The only one this story ends badly for is Mr Rabbit.
His dad was quoted as saying

"tell him he can come as often as he likes, stay as long as he likes and shoot as many of the little fuckers as he likes."

What a great dad!
SBW

Holly Heyser said...

Wow, don't you love making acquaintances like that?

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

And even better he's been suffering in silence up till now allowing me to rock up in the guise of savior.

I can see the headlines now
'Bushwacker rids the world of the curse of the were-rabbit'

SBW

murphyfish said...

Hey Super SBW,
You know what? Some people just get all the luck, well done my good man and don’t forget to wear your y fronts outside your pants now in that super human type manner! (Just commented upon Chad’s “banjo” tale, your new flat mate could easily have been one of them instead you know)
Good Shootin’

John

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Murphyfish

Ha Ha you don't now how true that is, we swerved a couple of proper nutters.

SBW

Jon Simons said...

How cool is that!

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Way cool, and there's more news on the way
SBW

Unknown said...

No, no, no. That's wabbits...wabbits.

Keith said...

I was thinking of telling them myself Ranj, but then thought that they had probably been spelling wabbit with an "r" for years, and I did not want to upset them.
Sorry guys, but Ranj is right, it is "WABBIT". You know as in wallaby. I mean who ever heard of a Rallaby!!!
Le Loup.

Perkunas said...

Yep,its ok to hunt certain species with bow here,but not with crossbow.I dont know why but its prohibited.Although i do like more longbows,they demand even more than rifle-like crossbow and fire-arms.Small deers,rabbit,squirrels etc,are ok by law here for bows.

I dont know definition of traditional,but i do have some recipes that i can send if you want.but one of the best recipe si use aint for wabbit,its for game birds though.

Youll need:

Some game bird,cant say what as i dont know what birds u hunt there.

gut it,remove feather & head.

Fill it with stiff mixture of bread crust,dried raisin or if u have its better to put in few sliced dried plums,some ten cranberries,and some 6 to 10 peppers.

wrap around few layers of bacon,tie it with cotton snare.

put it in cast iron pot,roll it and let the bacon cover crust a bit,just a bit,then pour in 70/30 mix of beer and water,cider wil someones taste better but here its common to use beer.Let it boil for fair hour and then just stuff it into your throat.The leftover boiling liquid a a good sauce base,too.or can be used for making potatoes and garlic,after the meat is removed or at the same time,depending on your taste,but the filling makes good side snack,so you wont need potatoes.

Deus Ex Machina said...

Congratulations on finding new hunting grounds. As beginning bowhunter, I have run head on into similar issues - lack of huntable land. Now, you've got me wondering about how wild rabbit tastes compared with my homestead raised ones. Maybe it's time to expand my hunting horizons.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Ranj

Ok Wabbits it is

SBW

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Perkunas

Sounds great
Here the main game birds are Pheasant, partridge, grouse (and ptarmigan) and Pigeon.

SBW

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Le Loup

OK OK already
SBW

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Deus Ex Machina

Good to hear from you, I hope you'll be chipping in some pointers when i start tanning the pelts.

The difference between wild and farmed Wabbits (OK)
is massive - the raised ones taste a lot like chicken, the wild ones taste like rabbit - opps I mean Wabbit.

SBW

David from Cork, Ireland. said...

All you need now is for him to want your body or maybe he has a lovely sister at his parents place(dont know which way you swing) and you will have everything you need.

LSP said...

Good hunting result, SBW. Get out there and shoot to eat - or just shoot, if you can.

Neat recipe, Perkunas.

Good shooting.