Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Jackrabbit.

well since i grew up around some ranchers in desert climates i call tell you a good way for me to get an azz kicking as a kid was to NOT shoot them. very competive with cattle for graze.
having said that, i quite shooting them a long time ago, don't like the smell or the meat.

This in VA too

I caught one once. Snuck up on it, jumped on it. It was a handful, to say the least. Killed it.

Alcohol was involved.

I've never seen one in the wild.

Lived in CA and TX a bit - we don't have them here (I don't think) in the cedar swamps of the UP/WI I hunt rabbits in.

BTW - Happy birthday Dave.

you da' man!

Geno

I'm remembering, my father caught a litter of very young jacks, brought them home, and caged them, we were raising rabbits then. I don't think they ever slept, or rested. around the cage, thumping back feet.

I had a distant cousin whose parents were both blind, they lived in Dallas. When he was a teenager (shortly after the end of WW2), he was arrested for joyriding or some such and the judge decided that he would not jail Uncle Bill (as I called him) IF he left the area and never returned. My grandfather, who at the time lived in Fabens (downriver from El Paso about 25 miles or so) stepped up to the plate and rescued Uncle Bill from The Law. I don't know exactly what kind of talk my grandfather had with Bill, but there was no more real trouble while Bill lived in Fabens. He was tough as a boot, though. He thought it sporting to go out into the sandhills around Fabens and run jackrabbits down, and he could catch them after he wore em out. One such jackrabbit was brought home, snuck into the house, and put into my grandfather's closet...WHY is a very good question. My grandfather discovered the jackrabbit in his closet and a recently purchased suit that was chewed to shreds. Bill heard about that.

Incidentally, Bill enlisted in the Marines and was sent to Korea where he was in a major battle---one of the reservoir battles, but I don't recall which one. He rescued one or more wounded American Marines while they were pinned down, and for his effort received a head wound that required a metal plate in his head. He received the Silver Star for that deed. He was quite a guy and I'll never forget him. Unfortunately he had an accident while scouting and preparing his hunting area in Southern California in the Fall of '99. He was found beneath his tree stand with an injury and apparently bled to death.

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/36147

Any mention of catching a jackrabbit will naturally make me think of Bill, but that's not the only time.

Gettin smoky in here...


edit: I was always told the battle was one at Inchon or another reservoir, but that does not seem to fit the timeline. Maybe someone who knows more about Korea can steer me to the facts.

They're easier to catch if they're drunk.

Great story!

Thanks!

Richard, I haven’t seen a jack around here since the ‘80’s.

That's way I took the picture, they are rare.

You the rabbit or both?

If were anywhere near the iron range it was probably both

Some ranchers have told me about 7 or 8 eat as much grass every day as a cow. Out here where it takes a few hundred acres to support one cow...

We have some in the lease by Lake Buchanan. There were tons on the lease in Ozona in the 70’s. A hundred at night was nothing. The rancher loved for us to shoot them.

It was 3-4 years ago I was surprised to see one walking and fishing the lake shore. They had disappeared for a few years and were just then coming back.

There were once bobwhites all over that country when I was a big kid. No more. That country was once a lot more open with less large oaks and mesquite than now. Some claim they are partially the cause of less ground or aquifer water.

Still shoot a few each year. This year was really poor though. Not sure if it is a down cycle or if much of the old growth sage brush has burned off. Probably a combination of the two. The days of shooting a hundred plus in a day seem to be gone.

The only jacks I ever saw was when I was in the Army in probably 93. I’ll never forget it. It was at Yakima Firing Center in Washington state.
Me and a buddy was guarding some ammo trailers in the middle of the night. Lots of snow and a little below zero.
The parking lot was up against a draw that ran up to a reservoir and there was trees the whole length of it.
I remember the illumination was good and I just stood there staring out into nothing just playing a game with myself to see how long I could stand in one place without moving. Just something to do to pass the time when you’re in that type of situation.
I hadn’t stood there 15 minutes when all of a sudden I saw something move probably 30 yards in front of me. It was followed by another, and then another and another.
I figured out they were jackrabbits and the things were everywhere. I would hate to speculate on how many there were but they provided some good entertainment and sure helped to pass the time.
They were the only jackrabbits I ever saw.

How much did it drink to get it drunk enough to catch?

Just kidding. I used to try and crawl up to catch one as a kid. Never did.
I dont know how a coyote catches one. I have seen lightening fast dogs and never saw a dog catch one.

I have walked up to sick or frightened too much to move grown Jack's as a kid out in the prairie.

You best have your seat belt on in open country if you plan to run down a coyote in a pickup. It seems I have chased some a mile while driving 40mph iirc across old abandoned farm land out west of Andrews and never gained on them. If there is any bit of roughness in open prairie grassland from dust build up under clumps of prairie grass bunches and you cant run 35-40 in a truck, you probably wont catch a big boar javelina either. Theres a reason they are such hell on bird dogs.