• Of 2 different sorts •
[2½ MIN READ]
Wife excitedly caught my attention as I walked into the kitchen. A hawk was getting harassed by some smaller birds over our backyard and had just dropped its prey. When they finally flew away, I went out to clean it up. It turned out to be a rabbit that almost seemed to have died more from fright that anything else because it barely looked to be injured. Because the day was hot, I decided not to chuck it into the trash can lest it stink up the entire thing in the days before the weekly collection. I wrote “rabbit” on the bag and tucked it back on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator behind some food. While this might sound like a recipe for terror for Wife, it wasn’t a stretch because we’d tossed out over-aged food before this way. It was just the job of the person who stored it to remember to toss it.
In suburban Philadelphia’s Abington Township, you can’t use a firearm or bow and arrow on your property: probably something about homes being too close together and the potential risk of human injury. But my mind had started racing the moment I saw the condition of this rabbit. I’ve eaten rabbit and here was one literally left in my yard that I hadn’t hunted illegally or even paid for. Without any experience cleaning my own game and determining its safety as food, I needed to do a little research. Having friends up in Alaska who were much more likely to have done so, I sent a message to one for his opinion. As far as having the nerve when most people in the urban lower 48 have otherwise bought prepared meat from a grocery store for their entire lives, I was pretty confident I had what it takes to complete the job.
While I waited for Alaska friend’s reply, I read about dressing a rabbit and confirming quality. The more I read, the more confident I got. I finally admitted to Wife my intent (who otherwise wanted to be as ignorant as possible) and started cleaning. Although it made for queasy going at the start, as soon as I’d skinned and gutted it, the meat became just like any other from a commercial processor. Ultimately, it was delicious with some wine, cracked pepper, kosher salt, garlic, and rosemary. The reply I got from AK friend a few days after I ate it was “Throw it out.”
Yes, I have an adventurous spirit and it connected me to the friends we’ve gotten to know over 8 years of serving in the Copper River Valley (who themselves wouldn’t have thought twice about hunting and dressing game of all sorts). It’s in a different class, but relative to adventurousness, I also just ran my first trail race and managed to win first place in my age group. The rabbit experience makes for a great story that I share with urban-American buddies. The first trail-race experience makes for a great story that I also freely share with rudder bunnies. Both have provided entertainment and experience that I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. Here’s another bit of learning from the hawk happening: At least this one came back to look for the prey it dropped. Oops. I didn’t know then, but I do now.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2024’08’21’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun only with added caption.
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