“I’ve got something to show you” my brother-in-law Rod said to me one morning recently in a low-key sort of way. I wondered what. Turns out he’d shot a hare that morning – no mean feat. He was wondering… very politely like … if Yvonne and I might like to um, skin it and whatever.
Family tales of encounters with mammals of the pest variety at Ruamāhanga Farm go back to when Yvonne (aka Mum, Mama, Granny), moved here from Wellington with her three younger children. That was nearly 50 years ago, and a year or so after our father died. Mostly it was opossums at first – scampering on the iron roof at night, and sometimes caught in cage traps after eating Mum’s newly planted roses and veggies. More than one was even bailed up in the bathroom. Battles Mum won. Though the toilet base didn’t fare well. And yes, she confirms that a gun was involved.
My son of intermediate age was staying at Granny’s with a mate one holiday, and the two of them managed to successfully shoot a rabbit. Yvonne then processed it to make a tasty rabbit pie.
Predator control has become critical since we started to restore the wetland on Ruamāhanga Farm. We have fenced it off to exclude grazing stock and allow regeneration, and planted, thanks to my family, and our local community and schools. We must have planted approaching 5000 trees and grasses in just under three years.
It is so-oh disheartening to see the browsing of mature trees, and the munching of tender new shoots and worse, destroy our green babies after all the work. A tale repeated throughout Aotearoa.
So, we use tree protectors, we trap, and we shoot; possums mainly, but also rabbits, hares, feral cats, and now a stoat has been spotted. With news of deer approaching ever closer from the hills to the edges of the Hua-angarua River, perhaps we will see them at Ruamāhanga Farm one day soon.
Back to the Hare. Turns out that although Yvonne has ‘dealt with’ a range of pest mammals never has she ‘dealt to’ a hare. Nor me.
What to do? YouTube of course. An hour or two later, we had ploughed through a wide selection including NZ Hunting and Shooting forums and more. We then found an excellent video from Englishman Scott Rea “Wild Hare – How to Skin Gut and Prepare”. And an hour and a half later, we had completed the skinning and gutting part. Not for the faint hearted. But with Mama by my side and finally, a sharp enough knife and chopper, I could do it all. Strangely fulfilling, and all the while I was thinking of the life of freedom, copious breeding and massive habitat destruction this beautiful beast had lived, up until just before her end.

Stage two the following day was to Prepare. I could not believe the amount of meat, including organs, and not a skerrick of fat. I managed to make three meals for four people. The meat was deliciously tender, after braising and slow cooking for around 3-4 hours (and for the fillets searing 2 minutes and resting for 10). It tasted closer to beef than chicken, and not at all gamey. We enjoyed: Hare Ragoût from the forelegs cut in pieces; Hare Casserole from the hindlegs which was similar, but kept on the bone and cut into four pieces; and Hare Eye Fillet (sort of). Hare Liver Pâté was planned for the fourth meal. but by then the liver was more than a week old, and I thought it best to give this to LuluDog, cooked.
Feedback about my meals was positive and I’m left with a sense of satisfaction, but more questions. Already some are by-passing the supermarkets and only eating what is caught and killed. Might more communities taking this approach help win the pest battle, support families battling the cost of living crisis, and deal with the ethical and practical issues around eating farmed meat?
Food for thought
Premium Wild Meat Pies
https://predatorfreenz.org.nz
Words by Liz Riddiford