I've been itching to set a few conibears at some rabbit trails, but, as I know you're supposed to field dress rabbits asap, (as with any game), I was wondering, would the meat be utterly gross and should I even be eating it if I catch one during the night and it's dead all night until I check it in the morning? Cuz the guts would be in there for a while....... I could just set them when I know it's gonna be below 40 degrees overnight???

They'll be fine to eat.

More fun to shoot though. Get you some #4's for that 20 gauge and start stomping. 4's pass through so not stuck in the meat and they take the fur out the other side with them. Makes em easy to clean. Just don't go blasting them in the middle at 20 feet. Got any snow yet? Stomp where you see tracks.

I'd be happy to eat them for you! LOL If the gut's ain't punctured they won't leak ajd you'll be fine.

OK cool thanks! Yeah, they are more fun to shoot I need some more #6s so I'll pick up some #4s too when I get the 6s. I found that with the high brass #6s it'll kinda mess up squirrels at close range so I started using #7.5s low brass cuz that's what I had

LOL, thanks!

Rabbit ( hare ) snaring is very popular in Newfoundland in the winter. Not much difference from getting hit by a 110 or dying in a snare.

Why are you using a shotgun? Don’t you have a .22? Then if you get them in the head then you don’t have to worry about the shot.

I have a few .22s but it's hard to hit a running rabbit with one. I have killed a few with .22 though

I know I’m just giving you a hard time.

Snares are the way to go if you want to "catch" them. They squiel when caught in a snare, which will attract predators.

Not sure about Wisconsin but some states it's not legal to take non furbearers via trapping. I've caught a lot of rabbits accidentally in snares. Bad thing is the owls or hawks tend to get them before I do.

If ou were set on using body grips on rabbits and legal, id us body grips with pans.

I wish it was legal here

Here snares need to be half submerged

plus they need other things like deer stops etc

Here we can trap some non furbearers such as rabbit squirrel woodchuck

We've caught a lot of rabbits in 220s set for raccoons and such in trails. Most all of them could be eaten, some a predator will come across before you get there.

With a 12 gauge, the trick is to lead them and shoot slightly in front of the head, so that only part of the load hits it. It doesn't take more than 1 pellet in the brain to kill a rabbit or squirrel.

If you get a dog, squirrels will mostly stand for you to shoot them. I prefer feists, but most dogs with good drive will work.

Keith