I started hunting late in life, only a few years ago and talked my buddy into letting me go with him and his brothers on a rabbit and quail hunt along the South Platte. We busted one covey (pretty good for not having a dog) and then turned to rabbits. I missed everyone and the other 3 all bagged a couple of rabbits each. Being my first time I was anxious to learn so as we stood around the truck at the end of the day I asked my friend to show me how he cleaned the rabbits. He said he just peeled them. His brother's gathered round and he grabbed a bunnie by the back legs and pulled its stomach fur and just ripped it clean off, peeled the rest of the hide off and pulled out the innards. At that point I smelled the worst bowel type smell I'd every known. I asked if he had broke the intestine of if it was gut shot and my friend looked puzzled. We checked and there was no sign of breakage. He broke off the head and legs and had a nicely cleaned rabbit.

These are good guys but I've seen them skin a deer and then eat lunch and never wash their hands. I've seen them clean a bunch of doves and then drive home with blood all over their hands and they don't think twice. Things like this just don't bother them.

Anyway I watched his brothers peel their rabbits and each time I kept getting this foul odor. I kept asking and no one else seemed to notice. I was starting to feel like a real weenie. Then as we packed up the truck they handed me the cleaned rabbits in a bag to load in the cooler. I was going into the back door and reaching over the back seat to put the rabbits in when I smelled it again. I made quite a noise this time. I said " you guys can't tell me you don't smell that", " that the most aweful smell I've ever dealt with", "What have these rabbits been eating?", etc, etc, etc. My buddies brother was at the door across from me and calmly looked at me and said "that was me. I've been feeling sick today." So the whole time I'm making a big noise about the smell, it's my his brother and the worst part of it is that we have a 3 hr drive home and he was the driver. I was dieing. He gassed off all the way home and none of them said a word. I was afraid to roll down a window, because it didn't seem to bother anyone else. If this had been my brothers and I, he would have been strapped to the roof.

Spud