Wild European Rabbits Vs Domestics

[Minkenry 1,044]

I have a question I've been wondering about for some time. I'm from America, so the only contact with European rabbits I've ever had are the domestic ones. Here in America our wild rabbits have extremely thin pelts and very fragile bodies. If I kill one of our native wild rabbits, like say a cottontail, I don't even need a knife to prepare it for eating. I can take my fingers and easily tear a hole in their hid without using an knife or any sharp object. I can also separate the joints easy enough with a quick twist and a pull. Dispatching one of our rabbits is as simple as grabbing the rabbits head with one hand, and it's back legs with the other, and give it a sharp pull. It's so easy even a child can do it.

 

However, when I've butchered domestic rabbits (which of course are descended from your European Rabbits) I've found them comparatively tough. Their skin is thick enough that you need a good sharp knife to open them, and when you go to kill the rabbit you need to grab their head just right and give it a good hard pull and a twist. It takes quite a bit of strength to dispatch a large rabbit by breaking it's neck, and I often just end up whacking it in the head since it's much easier.

 

My question is if the domestic rabbit has thick hide because it was bred to be that way so the hide was usable for clothing, or if all European rabbits just naturally have thick skin. Has anyone butchered both domestic and wild rabbits and noticed a difference?

 

I've also wondered what the average wild European weighs. Do any of you weigh your rabbits that you catch?

 

 

Thanks to anyone who answers!

[Jamie m 668]

They weigh a good bit this time of year but as winter goes on they thin out , rabbits were released on this island to be harvested , and need to be still some of the areas where there not the damage is unreal , they are tough as old boots a hardy creature ,

[Hot Meat 3,109]

You couldn't poke a hole in a skin with a finger here, well not unless your Freddy Kruger, and its easier to chin them than tap them on the head mate, but j can't comment on your cotton tails an such tho...

[gnipper 6,307]

Domestic rabbits are harder to neck imo and their necks are thicker but that could just be the breeds?

[TOMO 25,810]

They weigh a good bit this time of year but as winter goes on they thin out , rabbits were released on this island to be harvested , and need to be still some of the areas where there not the damage is unreal , they are tough as old boots a hardy creature ,

Really ? That's not been my experience,, rabbits defiantly get heavier as the year progresses, the only time rabbits will thin out is from disease or bad weather,,, snow in particular,,, the winter rabbits I catch are with out dowt bigger than now.

 

As for the weight of a wild eu rabbit,,, fully grown average is around 3 lbs,,,, but this can vary from place to place,,, very often in upland areas of the uk they will be bigger 4 lbs and sometimes more,,,,,

 

As for them being tuffer than your cotentails ,,, I have no idea ,, a small child would struggle to kill one by stretching the neck,,, and I can't say as I have ever put my finger through a pelt

 

As for pelts being unusable for clothing,,, that's not the case,,, rabbit fur was widely used I believe in the past,,,, and one thing that was a massive industry a hundred pluss years ago was the skins being used to make felt,,,

 

There were factory's using millions of wild rabbit skins in Norfolk to produce felt,,, these rabbits were in plague proportions in this area of the uk a hundred pluss years ago...

[lifelong cumbrian 1,826]

Some of the old bucks are a bit tougher to skin, European ones I mean.

[Giro 2,648]

I would agree with Tomo...

 

Rabbits up my way get bigger and fatter as the season goes on and a fell rabbit can weigh good few pounds more...

 

As life long cumbrian says some old bucks are tough as old boots... Seen me rip one in half, trying to get its jacket off..

 

Seen some unusual rabbits in one area must be hybrids that have breed with a domestic Dutch rabbits, they must of been realised or escaped ..

 

Seen blacks, black and tans , sandy coloured and tortoise shell type..

[Ideation 8,216]

Rabbits differ from area to area, I weighed a lot and they seemed to fall mostly between 1 and 2 kilo.

[The one 8,445]

As the season progresses and that you seem to catch will have a good layer of fat around the kidneys no sure if it because there getting bigger or your thinning them out and there getting better grazing ,

 

And i think they have evolved to suit there condition with there jacket you get a old buck up here you need a bloody sharp knife to skin it

[micky 3,325]

old bucks are tough because the have shagged all their fat away so the skin is fast to themeat , cotton tails are more like hares and they skin easily.

[alan81 110]

yes you definitely need a sharp knife with the rabbits here in Ireland. I weighed a good few rabbits and they usually weighed between 3lbs and 4lbs with some just under 5lbs.