The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1889-11-23
ABOUT THE JACK RABBIT.
TROUBLES ENCOUNTERED BY PRO.
MoTERs OF couRslNG EVENTS.

TROUBLES ENCOUNTERED BY PRO-
MoTERs OF couRslNG EVENTS.
Futile Attempts To Catch the Speedy Lit
tic Aninlal-A Rabbit Farm Established
to Obviats the Ditiiculty-A Successful
Scheme Mt Last Perfected.
Jack rabbits NAV be said to be found
now nearly altogether west of the Mis-
souri, river. They were lately numerous
on the town site of Kansas City, but have
now grown comparatively scarce there,
and also at Omaha, although they are
still often seen on tho prairies near the
latter city. The would be captor of the
jack rabbit, however, will find his ami
NAL in bewildcring plenty on the table
lands of certain portions of Colorado, and
i'll good numbers in the western portions
of Kansas and Nebraska, it being native
to almost the whole territory of the latter
two states.
Tho fact is, it is no easy matter to cap
turc live jack rabbit. Plenty of people
say they can catch them, and think they
can catch them, but when it comes right
down to business the results do not war
rant the assertion. One vehement Colo
RADIO citizen who lived in section where
the jack rabbits fairly swarmcd has re-
peatedly declared his ability to capture
thousand jacks in week. He thought
lie could take q number OF men and some
long nets and make q drive which would
round up about an acre of writhing and
seething jack rabbits at n whirl His
project is not new and has been tried.
The result usually is that the big hares
either get away or get killed. Eastern
parties dcsirous of starting incloscl cours-
ing parks have had outstanding offers of
S. apiece for jack rabbits not any longer
than your hand, but they were unable to
get any. A few young ones are occa-
sionally picked up i'll nests by boys or by
hunters upon the western plains, and
once in long while one is caught in u
big "figmc 4" trap or "fail door trap,
although the latter does not often hap
pen, because of the bigncss and shyness
of this particular kind of rabbit Neither
of these sources of supply, however, is in
any way constant and both arc altogether
inadequate to the eNiScncics of regular
coursing events. 1t did not tako long,
therefore, for the projectors of an in
closed coursng circuit to realize that
they must have Il jack rabbit farm. The
only farm of this sort, SO far as known,
is situated on Il flat alkali section near u
town i'll central Kansas. 1t and its lack
rabbits are the property of Il coursing as
sociation which will not sell Il rabbit to
any one else, and which depends OH its
farm for tho supply of harcs taken to
other cities in park coursing events.
AT starting the projectors of this novel
farm had only about thirty jack rabbits,
which had for the most part been pur-
chased when young from farmer boys
who had found them. In ono year, ow-
ing to accretions from similar sources,
and to tho very rapid multiplication of
the species, there were between two and
three hundred full grown jacks on the
farm, and the question of supply may be
fairly said to be settled. If measures be
not taken to keep down the increase the
lacks will before long fill the farm up so
they will have to move the fences.
But when the rabbit farmers wanted
some rabbits for coursng event, they
at first found that they had still to catch
their rabbit. The game was on the farm,
to be sure, but there was u good deal of
farm to the amount of rabbit; moreover,
tho latter remained possessed of all his
native wildness and speed, and positively
declined to be interviewed at short range
In this dilemma, tho owners of the farm
tried the expedient which the sol dislnt
Colorado rabbit catcher suggested. They
took Il large strip of wire fence netting,
through whose meslles the hares could
not pass, and by means of a large num-
Der of men used this rs sort of rabbit
seine. They scined all one afternoon, in
the midst of q gentle Kansas zephyr, and
when tho shades of night fell they had
one small and absent minded jack rab-
bit, which had forgotten to run away.
1t was evident that some other plan must
be tried. There is regulation coursiny
track situated in the middle of this farm,
tho side fences of the course being about
half mile long and, say, a hundred
yards apart. At one end of this arc To-
Gated the escapes for the rabbits, and at
the other, which narrows down to a
point, arc the pens from which they are
looscd before the dogs.
1t was thought that if the coy crca-
lures could be gotten inside the coursiny
track, they could DO driven into the pens
at tho other end without trouble. An
effort was made to drive them into the
track, but they proved obdurate as over,
and only few could be handled in that
way. Tho way finally adopted as most
successful was to set n little covered pit
fall, with a tip up top, on the outer edge
of tho track fence. Tie harcs have q
habit of running along a fence, and it
was found they made a sort Of path
along both sides Of the course. In this
the tip tops were set. a hare steps on
the lid Of the trap, and down he goes.
He finds he can get out all right on the
inside of the fence, and so out he climbs.
When number are found in the inclo-
sure they arc driven into the pens at the
head of tho track. BY using trail of
corn and other food the capture Of the
harcs is expedited.
A jack rabbit is a strong animal, but,
like most of the Lepus family, he has a
soft spot in the back of his head. The
adults are naturally very wild, and
grow SO frantic when handled that some
times they strike their heads against
something and injurc or kill themselves.
The young ones, or those brought up in
captivity close to human beings, are not
so desperate, but there is always to be
feared disposition in one of these great
llares either to pull an arm off his capt
or or a leg off himself. The greatest
care, therefore, is necessary in caging
and shipping the rabbits. They are care
fully netted or otherwise taken out of
the pens and gently placed in padded
crates, SO that they may not hurt them
selves. BY such measures it has been
found that they stand shipment very
we'll, and with almost is, loss of life
E. uough in St. Louis Globe Democrat.
The Stylo of a MARQUIS,