Article: Whether you're going to dress out a rabbit you shot while out hunting or are going to harvest a farm rabbit, you need to make sure it dies as quickly and painlessly as possible.   If you shoot the rabbit, hold the rabbit firmly by the two back feet, and use your hunting knife on the back of the neck at the base of the skull to sever the spinal cord with a quick incision. You can either remove the head completely at this point to facilitate blood draining out, or you can wait until you've started skinning.  If you're harvesting a farm rabbit, it's common to use a blunt object like a rolling pin, broomstick, or other device to strike the animal at the base of the skull, or to dislocate the animal's neck with your hand. Dislocating is easier, because it eliminates the possibility of a missed strike, common for beginners. Holding the rabbit by the hind legs with one hand, grasp the animal with your other on either side of the head, pulling both hands away from each other firmly, twisting the head up and back to dislocate the neck. The animal will become unconscious immediately if done properly. Before skinning the rabbit, it's common to remove the head with a heavy knife, laying the rabbit flat on a cutting surface and inserting the knife at the base of the skull where it meets the neck. Push through with a firm chop. Hang the rabbit from it's hindquarter, just under the hock to drain into a bucket.   You can pierce the rabbit's hind leg into the Achilles tendon to hang it upside down, just under the hock (the big part of the hind leg, like the thigh). There's some discussion about how necessary it is to bleed out a rabbit you're planning on eating. Because there's not a lot of blood to drain from a rabbit, some hunters skip this step and remove the head during the skinning process. Bleeding out will, however, result in "cleaner" looking and in some cases more tender meat if you bleed the rabbit immediately after killing it. You can dress the rabbit more or less immediately after killing it, and since it's usually easier to remove the skin while the rabbit is still somewhat warm, it's recommended to dress rabbits as soon as you get the chance. If that doesn't happen until you get home, that's fine, though the rabbit will usually be more difficult to work if it's gone cold and stiff. The whole process shouldn't take more than a few minutes.  Since rabbit season is usually during cold weather, there's less of a need to hurry and worry about spoilage. Because it'll likely be chilly, your rabbit carcasses should be fine until you get home if you'd rather wait. You might consider doing it in the field, though, to leave the mess in the great outdoors.

What is a summary?
Harvest the rabbit as humanely as possible. Hang the rabbit to drain. Dress the rabbit as soon as it's convenient.