Yesterday in the late afternoon we went over to the guy's house that is going to trade me elk for rabbit. He wants an extension built onto his mobile home, so Hubs needed to see what he had in mind so he can work up an estimate.
We stayed on into the evening, and shared a few :beer2: . Darkness had fallen, when suddenly there were headlights out front. "Well who could that be?" says he, and of course we all trooped out to greet the new arrivals.
Two young guys got out of the truck, one carrying a body in a game bag. "Dad told me to bring you this pig." said the young man. It was a wild boar, skinned and gutted.
So we all trooped down to his meat locker and turned it on and hung the pig up. He has a kitchen enclosed by mesh shade cloth in the outbuilding, with the full setup- bandsaw, meat slicer, grinder, sinks, etc.
There was a pile of bones and a feed bag of scrap meat leftover from his processing of the elk, so guess whose dogs have been dining on it all night long? Mine!
It looks more like Halloween than Christmas in my yard, with big bloody bones (and the ribcage!) scattered about.
Apparently, since everyone knows he has everything to process game at his house, people often bring him their kills. Sometimes they just give it to him outright, other times he gets a share for hanging and processing it. Consequently, they never buy meat except for bacon and the occasional chicken.
He would love to raise rabbits, but says his wife and son would name them and they would never eat them. They have a calf in their yard right now that had pinkeye, so had to be pulled off the mountain for treatment. His name is Tippy and he says his wife and son wont eat him now. :roll:
So of course, I had a lightbulb moment, and offered to trade rabbit pound for pound for whatever type of meat. Since he runs cattle too, we will have a choice of beef, venison, elk, and wild boar. I have ten rabbits that are slated for freezer camp, and can hardly wait to *ahem* send them on their way.
I am so excited! Who knew that raising rabbits would put beef, elk, pork and venison on the table?!?
inkbunny: :bouncy:
inkbunny:
