Rabbits and hares abound where I am, and I was taught by my grandfather that they were safe to eat in the dead of winter. I never knew why, but I followed his advice and never had a problem. I now know that many rabbits carry tularemia which is a fatal bacterial disease of rabbits that is transmittible to man. Diseased rabbits die in early in the cold weather and fleas and ticks are gone. The remaining rabbits are good. If I were in a survival situation in summer or fall, I would go for birds, fish, snakes, and amphibians. In winter, I would chop and stew any live red meat I could get as Art_in_FL suggests in his post above.