HUNTING JACK RABBITS AWHEEL. 



J. H. Jones. 



" Hold on ! You see that faint, indistinct, 

 whitish spot off to the left ? " 



" What ! That a jack rabbbit, in that short 

 growth of buffalo grass, where a quail could 

 scarcely find cover ? Impossible ! " 



" May be so, but try it." 



You walk carelessly toward the object. Aha ! 

 Like an explosion, he breaks cover ; eyes start- 

 ing from their sockets and ears in the wind. 

 When his feet touch the earth again he has 

 covered fifteen feet — yes, twenty-five, if badly 

 frightened. Bang! What? Bang!! Well, 

 I'll be hanged ! Ha ! ha ! You who boast of 

 your ability to stop the blue wing teal in his 

 swiftest flight, and the crazy woodcock as he 



This is the experience of the average 'novice 

 with his first jack. 



If he has not yet become wild from being 

 hunted, he bounds away from the intruder at a 

 leisurely gait, with a peculiar sidewise motion, 

 turning first one way and then the other, that he 

 may the better observe your operations. But when 

 once he makes up his mind to get out of your 

 vicinity as quickly as possible, and starts with 

 that end in view, it is time to begin hostilities, 

 if you wish to get him, for he is out of range 

 of shot almost instantly. As soon as he is thor- 

 oughly satisfied of this, he coolly sits up and in- 

 dulges his curiosity by scrutinizing you thor- 

 oughly. At your first movement he is off again, 



A NEW USE FOR THE WHEEL. 



jerks himself this way and that, like a dry oak 

 leaf in a gale — yes, and you have missed a plain, 

 common Dakota jack rabbit, right and left, fair 

 and square. He hops serenely away with 

 those characteristic, springy bounds, that lead 

 you to think India rubber enters largely into his 

 composition, and at a distance of two hundred 

 yards, he suddenly halts, sits erect, and with ears 

 that suggest two huge interrogation points, he 

 takes a good look at you ; while you long for a 

 Winchester. Now he is beating tan bark again, 

 with that spasmodic bound which soon carries 

 him out of sight. A mere snowy speck, he disap- 

 pears over the farthest swell in the prairie, a 

 good mile away. 



and this time for good. It is simply wonderful, 

 considering their bulk and size, in how slight a 

 cover they will effectually hide. Flattened 

 out with those ridiculously long ears pressed 

 tightly back on the neck, you will pass within a 

 few yards of them, in grass that barely reaches 

 your ankles, and never dream of their close prox- 

 imity. Spying them thus, I have often ap- 

 proached and by closest attention, tried to note 

 their first movement. Perhaps you have seen 

 the pike, as he lay in some quiet pool, lazily mov- 

 ing his gills in gentle respiration, his eyes turned 

 up in serene content and apparently seeing 

 nothing. Did you ever notice the first move- 

 ment of alarm ? No! Like an arrow fired from 



267 



