Tapstick Hunt 



by Henry P. Davis . . . photograph by James G. Moore 



ON A Saturday afternoon in fall or winter, from the sedge- 

 covered hills or the cotton-furrowed bottoms of almost any 

 Southern plantation, you may hear an exultant cry which sounds 

 in the distance like: "Yonna 'ee goes! Hyeah, hyeah, hyeah!" 



This is the rallying cry of the tapstick brigade, and, decoded, 

 it means, "Yonder goes the rabbit! Here, here, here!" The clien- 

 tele of the tapstick hunt is usually made up of the sons of the 

 plantation tenant farmers. The object of the hunt is rabbit stew 

 for Sunday dinner. But most interesting of all are the weapons 

 tapsticks. 



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