How to skin a rabbit.
1) Find yourself a nice healthy rabbit and dispatch it the most humane way possible.
2) Take a small knife and make a slit between the tendon and the leg meat on each foot. Insert a twist tie through the hole while the knife is still though the leg (this makes it easier to find the hole). Close the loop on the twist tie but do not pull tight.
3) Hang the rabbit upside down on a rail, board or anything so that it is at chest level. I attached mine to a two by four with two nails in it facing out at an angle and hang that over two chairs. (I sit Indian style while i dress it). Use the ties to make the rabbit stretched tight but not crazy super tight. Cut off the front feet with a pair of wire cutters (to cut the bone) and a knife to cut through the hide. Cut off the head.
4) Make an incision around the base of the leg, where the foot meets the leg. This can be easily done by pinching the fur and making a slit from one side to the other. Make a cut around the whole leg.
5. On the inner part of the leg make a cut from the first cut you made to the bottom of the tail/anus. Do the same thing on the other side.
6. Using a small but sharp knife pull the hide away from the rabbit and use your knife to gently separate the fat/meat from the hide. It is kind of like skinning a fish or removing silver skin from a piece of meat.
7. Separate the hide from the meat until you can get a firm grasp on both parts of the hide on both legs.
8. Pull down slowly. The hide will come off rather easy, so easy it might scare you. If the hide resists use your knife again to gently sweep the fat/meat away from the hide.
9. Keep pulling down. If you did everything right the whole hide should come right off.
10. Using a small skinning knife if you have one, cut downwards from the anus to the neck. A skinning knife has a sort of concave insert that allows you to cut the belly open without cutting the organs inside. Google "skinning knife" and you will see what I mean. This is not necessary but it sucks to pierce the stomach and have the offal spill into the meat. If you don't have a skinning knife just stick your fingers inside the cavity and slowly cut while using your fingers to make sure you don't cut any organs.
11. I leave the kidneys inside the rabbit, they will be about 3-5 inches down from the anus on the back walls near the tenderloins. As you get down towards the head you will see the liver which you can keep or discard with the rest of the offal. Twist the bladder, the yellow sack about the size of a grape and cut above the twist you made so you can pull it out without piss dripping on you or the rabbit.
12. Below the liver will be a papery like skin that you can puncture or cut through, under this is the lungs. Remove them any everything else in that area.
13. Wash, dry, and your done.
