ls6 
Varying Hares. 
Ediitor Forest and Stream: 
Ever}^ person knows that there-is Silch an animal as the 
jackrabbit, but very many know little or nothing of tbeir 
peculiarities, )iabits, etc. 
Climate or altitude has a wonderful effect upon their 
icolol*. IH the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado and 
southern Wyoming, at an elevation of 8.000 feet, they are 
their natural gray color in smnmer time, and in winter 
their color changes to pure white ; while lower down in 
the valley, at an elevation of .t;,ooo feet, within less than a 
hundred miles, they retain their gray color during all the 
year. -This I know only from observation, and have never 
heard any one else even mention it, and would like to hear 
from some one who can give the true cause of this differ- 
ence. A few years ago, in Avinter time, when the snows 
were' deep, they would congregate about the corrals of 
big stock ranches where stock was being fed, to an ex- 
tent that would hai^dly seem credible. At such times they 
do not seclude themselves or keep imder cover during the 
day as ordinarily is their custom, but keep in motion, hop- 
ping about continually. I have seen hundreds in sight at 
one time about these corrals. They seem to be little 
sought after for their meat where they are so abundant, 
and I have wondered why, for their flesh, when properly 
cooked, is equal to that of some small-game animals which 
are much sought after, and their size would make it an 
object to kill them for their meat. 
Where one depends on the rifle, hunting jackrabbits 
affords no mean sport, for they are rather shy, and 
after once being chased up, are hard to approach within 
easy range, if they find they are being pursued. 
In their ordinary travel they string their tracks out more 
as a dog or fox does in galloping than like other rabbits. 
If they are chased up by a dog or other animal, which pur- 
sues them, they go straight up a steep, bare hill or 
mountain, if such be near enough, for there is where they 
can leave any foe behind if it be without wings. One of 
their peculiarities is their power to run apparently as 
fast straight up a steep mountain as on level ground, and 
I doubt if any animal can outrun them up a steep hilj. 
Instinct appears to teach them that this is their strong- 
hold in flight, and they invariably take this ajdvaijitajg'^ 
when pursued. 
Jackrabbits are generally thoifght of a.s b,e!onging to, the 
prairie country, and I knew not that they were i;0, b§ 
found in mountain districts until I found] theiii, ther(^ my- 
self, and there is where all my observations of them have 
been made. The statement is often made and believed 
by residents of the jackrabi)it country that when, they ruiu 
they throw one hind leg out behind and up over thei'F' 
rump, swinging it around loosely, changing legs every 
little while. I had always noticed something swaying' 
from side to side when a rabbit ran, but never believed it 
to be the leg. By getting very close to one before it ran, I 
could plainly see that it was the tail which they keep 
swaying froni side to side as they run. Some of the advo- 
cates of the leg theory claimed they had not tail enough 
to be seen, but to prove the length of their .tail 1 killed 
and skinned one, and the bone of the tail measured just 
S inches, which, with the fur, would make at least a 6-inch 
tail. 
Eagles are the worst enemies of these hares, at least in 
mountain districts, a,nd .1 have watched many a contest 
Ipet-yyeeiji jacltc and eagle,, and fipd that jack does not 
•fj,l-\ya,ys los? H^s scalp, either, for he is not too proud to 
(j:raij\i ii,it;o a badger hole i,f one happeUiS to be near. Like 
^iost other animals, they can be approached more closely 
9n. horscbac!;; than on foot, and will sit still ttntH a hor.se 
almost; steps on them. Oijice while we were on the trail 
y^it^h a, buiich of cattle, one of the cowboys saw one sitting 
under a, sagebrush withip a few feet o| his horse. He 
!?i^'ung his long Mexican whip and snapped the rabbit 
9j;i. the head, killing it instantly.. 
Emerson Carney. 
WtoRGANt^pWN, Ya. 
|Ther? ar-e several species of large hares in the Western 
90uifitry, all of wWch are loosely termed jackrabbits. Of 
these LepUtS bairdi is called also snowshoe rabbit. It turns 
white in winter, as also does L. wmhiiigtonU. The jack- 
rabbit of the plains, L. campestris. also tttrns white. On 
\ht other hand, the Texas jackrabbit, L. callotis, and that 
pf California, L. calif ormcus. do not turn white. The two 
last-named species have the tail black above.] 
Pheasant and Bantam. 
Trenton, N. J., Aug. 25.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
An article which was published the other day in re- 
spect to the experimental crossing of the English pheas- 
ant upon the common bantam, with the hope that a new 
variety of game bird could be produced, is interesting in 
so far as it goes, but it does not go very far. The cross- 
ing of the bantam fowl with the pheasant can produce 
sterile progeny only, as each is distinct in species. 
Varieties of the same species can be crossed successfully, 
and several of the most beautiful kinds of the pheasant 
family have been produced in this manner, but the at- 
tempt to produce something new in the game bird 
line by mating pheasants with bantams can result only 
in disappointment for the reason stated above. In Eng- 
land, where the pheasant is artificially reared in great 
numbers,, the game bantam females are used to incubate 
tl-.e pheasant eggs, and rear the young. A few days after 
hatching, the little hen and her brood are taken to the 
edge of the forest preserves and turned loose, but twice 
each day, at night time and morning, they are fed by 
the keepers, and are in a semi-domesticated condition 
until the shooting season begins. The cross of the pheas- 
ant and the bantam hen occurs quite often, but the pro- 
geny have proven enuchs when the breeding between 
has been tried. By the way. there is nothing in the 
eating line that will compare with a correctly broiled 
game bantam. Those who have not tried one' I would 
recommend doing so. 
George N. Thomas. 
The FosiST and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at tk* 
Ut/M by Monday and as mudt curlio- m uracticable. 
t^OREST AND STREAM. 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
In the Indian Territory. 
Arx LA CHAPELf.E, Germany. — Editor Forest^ and 
Stream: I am the lucky possessor of copies of hoREsr 
AND Streaai from May 1 to Aug. 31, 1894, and would have 
some mors, if I had a chance to get the paper in. our 
bookshops. I left the States In Feljruary, i8g6. 
Many times I read and re-read these few numl)ers, aiBd 
thus pass an otherwise lonesome hour with pleasure 
through reading the hunting and fishing stories. 
Now, if you will kindly permit, I will give you a short 
description of some of my experiences in hunting in tlie 
United States. I was a soldier in the regular army,, and 
was stationed at Fort Supply, I. T., from Novemlaer, 
1887, to November, 1892. At thai time the part of the 
Indian Territory within fifty or sixty miles arovm.cL this 
post was a real paradise tor sportsmen; there were in 
plenty turkeys, deer, antelope, coyotes, wolves,. ducks„ 
chickens, quad and rabbits, and all quite close to the post. 
We did not care to hunt deer and antelope as long as. 
we had plenty of game birds; and we hunted coyotes,, 
deer and jackrabbits only with some of our seventeen 
hounds, feeding them with the rabbits. 
In November, two weeks before Thanksgiving day,, 
each troop of our regiment used to send a sural 1 party 
of five or six soldiers hunting for the troop; and, as I 
always desired to go a.long. and asked for it, too, I was 
ordered, in 1890, to join this party. We used to hunt 
along the creeks between the South and North Canadian., 
and traveled twQ days, to find a good place for turkeys, 
hunting along the road, also. 
In 1890 we'went to the left of the North Canadian, be- 
tween, or opposite, Benol and Deep Creek, about thirty 
miles:, west of Cantonment. There is a place called "Sheri- 
((lian's Roost,'', where this gallant officer had some great 
sport \yith the turkeys in the seventies. We were four 
hiint<?rs, one cook and a teamster m our party. The 
b,o.y.s, u-sed to hunt close to camp in the day time, trying, 
tp locate some good roost for the evening or early morn- 
ing hynt, as these men shot the turkeys generally off 
th^ roo-st, I was the only one wdio had a good bird dog,, 
and. in the open sea.son. hunted every hour I had free 
fron.i .service. On the road, traveling, I always shot 
enoiiigb quail, chickens, or ducks, for the evening camp,, 
hut when in our steadjf camp, nothing else than turkey 
wculd go. 
The shooting of turkeys off the trees, when asleep, did 
not suit me. so I generally took my horse in the morn- 
ing, went about two miles from camp, and started hunt- 
ing through the sandhills, partly covered with berry-- 
bushe.s, On the first morning after making camp, riding, 
to the top of a little ridge, I spotted a big flock of tur- 
keys, just on the olher side. Drawing my horse back, I 
disniounted. sneaked to the top, and saw the turkeys, 
thirty yards in front of me, close together in a little hol- 
low. The old gobbler, too wary for me, gave a warning: 
note, and sent the flock running in different directions. 
My first shot, on thc: ground, killed two of them; and the 
second shot dropped one, flying, which came down to the' 
ground with a heavy thump. 
Following the other turkeys on foot, I hunted about 
three miles ahead, without finding one of them, though 
my dog kept on pointing and following the trail of a 
couple all the time. 
At last, getting tired of this, I went about 200 yards, 
to the left, and started back toward my horse, coming 
within a half mile of the place where my horse was lari- 
ated; the <log pointed and flushed a turkey, and I scored' 
a cleatr miss at 40 yards. The shot started another tur- 
key 30 yards to the right, which I killed. One more tur- 
key rose 70 yards ahead of me, but I did not shoot at it,, 
because I had only No. 3 shells. 
The finding of the.se three turkeys close to the place 
of their fir.st rise set me thmking how I could outwit the 
game the next time, and not get so tired out as that day- 
Thinking is a big fault in many cases, but in this instance 
it started me on the right road, how to have the fun ai 
little easier and to "get there'' anyhow. Striking camp 
I told the other hunters where I had found the game and 
thought it would go to roost that night. Tltj<e? men kiiUedl 
five turkeys that evening off the roost, and three in the 
morning on another place. To keep the birds, we ailways; 
put them in a tree, and after freezing, in the mornmg cmtt 
the backs open and stuffed the inside with hay. 
On the following day I started early to another liiid'gffi 
of hills, on Deep Creek. My dog flushed one old gobbler;, 
which I killed from horseback; then, about II ©'clock, I 
saw another big flock of turkeys feeding on some berry- 
bushes, close to the creek. Dismounting I sneaked 
through, and on the side of the creek, to about 50 yards, 
of the birds, when I got spotted, atid the whole flock 
.started to run. One of the birds got rattled and came 
the wrong way. I killed it 40 yards to my left, but after 
the sho? I kept in hiding. After waiting ten minutes I 
mounted the horse, and, riding, a circle, galloped about: 
two miles to get in front of the turkeys without disturb- 
ing them. Then I hunted on foot back toward the di- 
rection the game had run to and walked slowly, holding 
the dog. as close as possible. After hunting a quarter^ 
of an hour, my dog went toward some small timber and 
came to a dead point. Closely following. I passed the 
dog and flushed two big turkeys, which I knocked down 
with a right and left at short range. In the same man- 
ner I shot four more out of the flo.ck. Perhaps these 
birds thought <hey were hunted from both sides, and, 
therefore, tried to hide; it is possible, but I do not know 
this. I tried thc same way hunting some more times, and 
had a good result always. 
The second day afterward I had a chance to try an- 
other way to hunt these birds, which are race runners 
when followed. One of the other hunters asked to go 
along with me, and I. having no objection, we started to 
get to a small ridge four and one-half miles from our 
camp. There was a canon 60 yards wide, with a small 
creek, bordered with a lot of small berry-bushes. After- 
following this up half a mile I got sight of four turkeys. 
[Sept. ^,1901'. 
feeding on the left side of the cafiou, ' li'o yards abeacJ 
of us. Cautioning my comrade to get out of sight, we 
went back 200 yards, and I told him to get on top of the 
hill and try to get 300 to 400 yards on the other side of 
the birds to some hiding place. After waiting abottt fif- 
teen minutes I started ahead to where I had first s€ew 
the turkeys; they had fed slowly ahead, and were only 
100 yards further on, feeding yet. I sneaked as^ low as 
possible, partly on hands and knees, getting Uy aihotit 55 
yards of the birds, when I heard their warning cry. Ris- 
ing quickly I shot both barrels into them, running, and 
stopped one; there were seven ttu-keys in the lot. I fol- 
lowed the others as fast as possible, shortly hearing my 
friend's repeating gun crack four times; he killed three 
of the passing six turkeys. 
On this trip of ten day.s, of which four were marching 
daj'S, we killed eighty-seven turkeys, bringing seventy-two 
back to the fort. 
How this part of the Territory has been for hunting 
since the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, I do 
not know, but I did not care to hunt or fish there after- 
ward. The deer, turkeys, and other large game, must 
have left this part of the Indian Territory long ago. and 
have gone to the remaining portion of the Indian reser- 
vation, between the South Canadian, Wolf Creek, and 
Texas, where they have a chance to live and raise their 
young ones, and are not chased all the time out of the 
country. ^ R. M. 
The Outing of the Three B/s. 
For two months we had been "showing" our wives, 
who had lately become Missoiirians, the advantages and 
efficacy of a man getting away from his familv, himself 
and his business, to drop twenty years of his life and 
become a boy again for ten days or such a matter. And 
n was finally settled that early in November we would' 
go to some point where we could" find sport that was 
equal to that "we used to have." So we began casting 
about for the Ipcality, and, after absorbing the map and 
a fairy tale of a railroad press agent, we decided that 
the St. Francis River c6untry, in Arkansas, promised 
greater variety of sport than anything we had heard of, 
and we are compelled to admit that the country is "as 
advertised" to a greater degree than is usually the case 
m such matters. I wrote to Atlanta, Ga., to my old boy- 
hood friend and hunting chum. Bob, and stated the 
case to him briefly, believing, however, that he would 
hardly consent to so long a trip. In due time. I re- 
ceived his reply, with a draft enclosed for his share of 
the outfit, and saying that he would meet us anywhere 
at any time on an hour's notice. 
For the next three weeks our spare time was taken upi 
with outfitting and receiving the ralJyings of our wives 
and friends, who decided that from the appearance of, 
things we were going to the wilds of Africa to hunt 
elephants and catch whales on the way. We took their 
joking as gracefully as possible and continued to loadl- 
shells for bear, and declared if we met one there would 
be a fight, or the bear would do the running. All thi.s; 
time the weather continued warm and unfavorable for 
duckshooting, but we hoped for improvement before our 
start, and we still were hoping up to the day of our de- 
parture. On Nov. 2 we telegraphed Bob, that if he 
made good coimection we would take breakfast with 
him at Paragould, Ark. We then shipped the outfit and 
could hardly wait until the next night to start. All next 
day we received the calls and messages of many friends, 
who modestly expressed their special fondness' for wild 
ducks, bass, 'possum or wild turkey, and no one got 
less than a promise, Saturday evening found us and our 
wives, who, by this time, were into the spirit of the 
thing and determined that if their wishes were carried! 
out we would have a successful outing, at the station,, 
and, after many good-byes and good lucks, we were sooii 
rolling along to the southward. On the train we met ai 
sportsman friend on his way to his suburban home„ ajadl 
being quite familiar with the locality of our campaigni 
with the game and fish, he gave us much valuable infor- 
mation regarding conditions, etc. We arrived at Para- 
gould after a fair njght's rest and found upon leaving 
the train the first evidences of frost of the season. 
It was still dark, but we found our way to a hotel and 
bolted for the register. There were plenty of hen-tracks 
on it, but no sign of Bob having registered. We went 
itp the street to another hotel only to be disappointed 
again. Going back to our hotel, we sat around a very 
cheerful wood fire until breakfast was called, which we 
proceeded to stow away with a will, for it seemed our 
appetites had improved wonderfully, although we. were 
hardly started. After reshipping our outfit and making 
the better acquaintance of Mr. W — , express agent, who. 
hy his clever courtesies then and afterward, convinced 
ns that the proverbial Southern hospitality had been- 
born and bred in this gentleman, and meeting one more 
train from the south, on which Bob might come, but 
failed to, v/e left a message for him and boarded the P... 
& S. E. for Bertig and the Buffalo Island Hunting audi 
Fishing Club, where we would make headquarters. Oitr 
train rattled along through forests of cypress, oak and 
gum trees, with here and there a clearing and an oc- 
casional glimpse of water and sWamp, which gradually 
increased as we approached the river. Arrived at Ber- 
tig we could have tossed our baggage out of the car 
into the club house, which is built on a level with the 
tracks on piles about ten feet above the river. In fact, 
Bertig is about all built on stilts or on boats, and the 
native goes about his business in a dugout oftener than 
in any other way. Steve V — ,- manager of the club, re- 
ceived us and very soon made us feel at home, and 
proved to be a genial and accommodating host through- 
lout our stay. 
W^ith our party still incomplete, we decided that only 
•prospecting shoidd be done the first day, so Burt vol- 
-imteered to be "gondolier" or pusher or whatever the 
man is who propels the dugout, while I was to try and 
raise a bass with some very flashj' flies which had been 
the cause of much joking by several friends, and Burt, 
after he had paddled and pushed two miles up the river, 
joined them in doubting my ability to cast^ a fly, for I 
never got a strike. This, to me, seemed remarkable, for 
prettier bass grounds no fisherman ever saw, and we 
could see fine specimens down deep in the clear water, 
but they were not attracted by my bunch of feathers. 
