Making rabbits more viable

[Axe]

I'm currently finding rabbits not really being a viable food source, for this reason I rarely trap rabbits and think they could be improved a bit making them a feasable source of food, rather than a source for making and repairing gloves. The amount of calories you have to expend for what you get really limits their potential. Of course simply increasing calories wouldn't be balanced as you want to avoid overly easy meals.

Since rabbits are small, why not just pick-up the whole rabbits and carry them with you to your cabin to slaughter and skin them there. Deer are too large and heavy but rabbits are small and light so it is quite reasonable that a person would be able to carry a few of them quite easily. This would give you the benefit of harvesting without suffering from cold effects, giving you some benefit for trapping them.

Anyone have any other ideas which could be used to make rabbits more wothwhile?

 

[KD7BCH]

I do like the idea of picking up an animal and either backpacking it or dragging it. I think in time they will add that feature. For sure with rabbits it could be as simple as recovering the rabbits you capture with the snares, reset the snares and walk back to camp. This would reduce the exposure time which is a key component of the risk factor in the game risk vs reward for gameplay so it is more of a B priority to be sure but it still would add some realism to it. 

As far as the resources you get for a really small investment rabbits are a great resource provider. You can easily get 3-5 rabbits per snare before it breaks, each rabbit providing meat as well as a pelt and guts. The guts can be used for many things to include a bow, fishing line, and binder for clothing, as well as only one for another snare. The key is to place snares in a relatively localized area where they are likely to catch a bunch of rabbits. Mix that up with a good quantity of snares and you will find they are extremely effective and efficient. Low risk too. Jackrabbit island for example is where you can easily nab yourself 4 rabbits a day. The Ravine another place where 3-4 rabbits a day is easy. Even in Mystery lake if you find a nice patrol route you can nab 4-6 rabbits a day while also gathering firewood between rabbit stops. Building up pelts and meat, certainly guts is most efficient this way, can free you up for longer trips later on when you have really good clothing and you have a bunch of snares for in reserve. 

If you only eat before you sleep and you take the 1% hit per hour if you are starved it will allow you to regen much faster in  your sleep. If you find yourself with a big reserve of meat, keeping your food intake high also gives you a 1% regen per hour if all of your conditions are out of the red and you are healthy. Another thing to consider, it is always better to eat cooked rabbit calories than carry them. 450 calories at 2 lbs is very heavy. You can consume 2500 calories and at a rate of 450/2lbs that = about 11 lbs of meat that if cooked you could simply eat instead of carry. 

[Dirmagnos]

I like rabbits. Making snares is extremely cheap and relatively fast. While they dont provide as much meat as other sources, considering that catching them takes no effort nor spends precious bullets/arrows, i absolutely love them.

Ability to take them with you to skin later is a must. Also more crafting options for hides.