I remember a few ago I was on a forum and we were talking about rabbit fever and I said you have a better chance of winning the lottery then catching "rabbit fever" also know as tularemia. Someone found a report where a biologist stated during hunting season cases of tularemia skyrocket. Making this sound like a disease several people would catch.  But you see people like to stretch the facts, lets look at some actual facts. The United States averaged 124 cases of tularemia in 1999 and 2000, according the CDC, and three to four cases a year are typical in Nebraska.

The report stated that during hunting season cases of tularemia skyrocket.  A typical year in Nebraska will have three to four cases. For instance they may have 1 case all year and then in 2  months of hunting season they could have 2 or 3 cases an increase of 200-300% this is the skyrocketing disease. How many rabbit hunters are there in the USA? One report I read stated 12 million. So, you have roughly 1 in 96,744 chances of catching tularemia. Think about it. That means 96,743 hunters never catch anything compared to 1 person who did.  Can you catch diseases from animals? Sure you can, but the actual numbers are quite low. If you are careful and wear gloves when skinning you should be fine. The best thing you can do is check with your state Fish and Game or DNR and ask them what diseases are high this year and what to look out for.

Don't let the sensational reporters and biologist scare you away from the hunting or trapping. Check the facts, talk to your state experts and have fun.