20 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 4, 1908. 
Hunting Jack Rabbits in the West. 
Charles City, Iowa, Dec. 12.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: One of the most enjoyable sports 
engaged in in the West and Middle West is the 
jack rabbit hunt. My first experience in this 
line took place on the sand and mesquite plains 
in Southwestern New Mexico some years ago, 
where among the sand dunes and drifts of the 
great mesquite area near Deming, I often shot 
the cottontail and the jack which were very 
numerous there. 
During the snmmer both the jack and cotton¬ 
tail—especially the former—are generally afflicted 
with a large grub which burrows beneath the 
skin, and the flesh is tough and strong. Only 
during the winter and late fall are they much 
hunted for their flesh, and then, in the South¬ 
west, mainly by the Mexicans. 
When I first struck the Southwestern country 
I often heard of the big jack hunts which had 
taken place in that region, but not until I had 
been there for more than a year did another 
one take place, when it was agreed that a circle 
hunt should be had and word was sent out. 
Early on the morning of the day set, cowboys, 
ranchmen, miners and others hit the trail for 
Deming, near which point the hunt was to take 
place. They came in from every quarter—from 
the mountains, the valleys and the plains for 
many miles around, as distance counts for little 
with the people of that region. 
When this motly jolly crowd arrived, plans for 
the hunt were matured in short order. It was 
agreed it should be a circle hunt, and that the 
sand dune and mesquite region, several miles in 
extent, and lying just north of the little town 
of Deming, should be the field, as it had been on 
previous occasions. 
A few scatter guns were in evidence among 
the men, but nearly all had rifles. Most of 
the big crowd was mounted on broncos, while 
a few were in buckboards. Several wagons were 
sent along to gather up the game as it was 
brought down by the hunters. 
The great mesquite area was soon surrounded 
and the hunt began. Special orders had been 
given regarding the shooting to be done, as rifle 
bullets were liable to glance and “put someone’s 
light out.” ' Slowly the circle worked in from 
all sides, with constant shooting and a perfect 
fusillade of firearms. The jacks and cottontails 
were here in great numbers and could every¬ 
where be seen running in all directions before 
the advancing line. 
At various points around the circle teams were 
gathering up the game, as each rabbit killed was 
to be brought in. At noon each man stopped 
in his place and. ate the lunch he had packed with 
him. To one who had never seen or taken part 
in such a hunt it was worth his while to go a 
long ways to see. As the circle gradually closed 
in and the hunters came nearer together, a per¬ 
fect “run” of shouting and laughter was kept 
up and the firing increased. The jacks were con¬ 
stantly pressed closer and closer, and in their 
fright they rushed and leaped in every direction. 
But few escaped through the line, and these few 
only when the hunt first began and the men were 
at a considerable distance apart. The hunt 
finally ended late in the afternoon among the 
rougher portions of the dunes and mesquites. 
The comparing of notes and relating of ex¬ 
periences by the various members of the party 
was animating in the extreme. 
The hunters slowly wended their way across 
the sands to Deming where the teams, which 
collected the game shot, soon came in with their 
loads. On a careful count it was shown that 
more than five hundred jacks and cottontails had 
been secured as the result of the day’s hunt. 
They were given to the Mexicans of the place, 
who for some time to come had an unusual feast. 
So ended one of the great circle hunts which 
one should participate in to properly appreciate. 
Jack hunts on a smaller scale than that which 
took place at Deming are often indulged in in 
many portions of the West during late fall and 
early winter. Some use horses and hounds and 
race over the prairies after the game, taking great 
chances of having their necks broken by their 
horses stepping in badger or prairie dog holes. 
This, however, is perhaps one of the most ex¬ 
citing and risky methods of hunting the jack. 
The straight drive and still-hunt are also very 
frequently practiced, especially where the hun¬ 
ters are few, the latter method being by all means 
the most tame and commonplace. In the wide, 
open regions, where the jack is comparatively 
wild and can see the hunter a long way off, the 
sport is much more interesting, as the hunter 
must depend for success upon his good marks¬ 
manship at long range. Here real skill with the 
rifle is required, and success brings genuine satis¬ 
faction to the sportsman. 
Last December a party of four, with three 
hounds, made a straight drive on the prairies 
near Howard, South Dakota, and during the day 
bagged nineteen jacks and nine cottontails. It 
was a fine day’s sport, although the game was 
comparatively scarce. During the progress of 
the hunt the game shot was hung on a fence. 
Afterward the game was loaded on to a pair 
of bobs and packed in. Clement L. Webster. 
Northern Duck Food in Southern Waters 
St. Vincent Island, Fla., Dec. 12.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Last June I secured some 
40,000 wild celery plants from the vicinity of the 
lower Delaware River and had them carefully 
put out in the brackish and also in some of the 
perfectly fresh water ponds of this island, but, 
although the plants were in excellent condition 
when they arrived here, none of them grew so 
far as we can discover. The water in none of 
these ponds being over three feet deep and with 
an average of not much over two feet, is heated 
to a high temperature in the midsummer months 
and that, it seems to me, may interfere seriously 
with the propagation of our more northern 
aquatic plants which are best suited to furnish 
the choisest of foods to our waterfowl. 
However, I am not going to give up until I 
have tested this thoroughly. To that end I have 
secured quite a good quantity of the ripe seed- 
pods of the Vallisneria spiralis, or wild celery, 
which I am keeping in water and in cold stor¬ 
age and which I purpose sowing about March or 
April next, so that it will have time to germi¬ 
nate and get well along before the advent of 
the hot weather of our semi-tropical summer. 
The objection to earlier sowing is the presence 
of vast quantities of canvasback and other ducks 
which would soon destroy the young celery 
plants if they were to be started too early. 
The same fact applies also to the sowing of 
the seed of the Zizania aquatica, or wild rice. I 
have secured eight hundred and fifty pounds of 
the seed of this plant, which I am also having 
kept thoroughly wet and in cold storage until 
such time in the spring, as most of the ducks 
leave these parts, when I shall have it carefully 
sown in my fresh water lakes and ponds only, 
where, if the summer’s heat does not prove un¬ 
favorable to its growth, I shall hope soon to 
see a fine growth of this most valuable plant for 
supplying our visiting waterfowl with food. 
By the way, I have received a letter from Mr. 
E. E. Brewster, game law assistant in the Agri- . 
cultural Department at Washington, in whicli 
he informs me that he has recently visited a 
fresh water lake near Galveston, Tex., where 
he found redhead and canvasback ducks in great 
numbers, and he believes they were feeding prin¬ 
cipally on a there common pond weed which he 
believes to be Potamogeton, and which plant he 
informs me has been successfully propagated at 
Delavan Lake, Wis. 
Perhaps some of your many correspondents 
may know more of this pond weed Potamogeton, 
its value as a food for waterfowl, and the prac- 
ticability of raising it for that use, and may do 1 
many of the readers of Forest and Stream a 
valuable service by communicating something on 
this interesting subject. R. V. Pierce, M.D. 
Odd Deer Heads. 
Louisville, Ky., Dec. 1.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: It is interesting to note the curious 
freaks nature plays with deer horns. On a re¬ 
cent hunting expedition into the heart of British 
Columbia I had the opportunity of studying some 
very peculiar antlers of mule deer (Census 
macrotis), mention of which will doubtless prove 
interesting to natural historians. Mr. Dunlop, a 
storekeeper, on the portage between Seaton Lake 
and Fraser River, exhibits to hunters and sports¬ 
men passing that way a pair of horns which he 
asserts were taken from a mule deer stag. The 
wild deer earned much local fame after a great 
many failures on the part of hunters eager to 
secure the trophy and was finally bagged. .The 
beams are decidedly palmated and very much 
resemble a caribou’s. It is my belief that it is 
a cross between a mule deer and a caribou, though 
I have never heard of a precedent for it. It is 
not in a caribou country, though caribou are now 
found only about 200 miles north, and were prob¬ 
ably plentiful at one time further south. 
Another freak worth noting in this connection 
is a tiny pair of symmetrical horns to be found 
in Grant White’s cabin on Bridge River in the 
same country. They are small enough to have 
been borne by a midget deer, but Mr. White 
avers that he took them from one of the largest 
mule deer bucks he has even slain or seen, and 
his neighbor, Albert Williams, testifies to the 
accuracy of the statement. Both Canadians are 
old deer stalkers and consider the trophy quite 
a curiosity. 
I am aware that nature occasionally plays 
pranks with horns as a result of accident or 
injury in combat, but the two instances I have 
mentioned could not possibly be attributed to 
such causes, and are genuine freaks. 
Brent Altsheler. 
[In old times antlers of elk and of mule deer, 
showing a tendency to palmation, were not un¬ 
common on the Western plains and mountains. 
Such horns are not likely to be seen now except 
possibly in the Yellowstone National Park, where 
deer and elk are abundant and undisturbed.— 
Editor.] 
