The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-19
A JACK RABBIT HUNT.
There Is Lots of Fun In It and 1t Is Quit q
Social Occasion.

There Is Lots of Fun In It and 1t Is Ouit g
Social Occasion.
From the Chicago News.
Missouri man crossed his legs re-
hectively in one of the clubs the other
night and told a party of Meadow
brook gentlemen that they did not
know what hunting really was.
I've seen you fellows riding across
country after a fox that wasn't any
fox at ALL" he said You all look
mighty pretty in your rigs. and your
horses are good ones But, bless you,
you ought to come out to my place and
see Missouri society take a whole day
off and go out on the prairie hunting
the jack rabbit.
"Gewhittaker There's a snap to it
that you fellows don't have in your
Eastern hunts. Talk about foxes; why,
foxes can't touch nck rabbits for sport.
Jack rabbits are blue blazes to catch,
and we hunt 'em with the finest grey
hounds In all creation. Some of those
dogs are worth clear up to 1880.
You know it's all dead level prairie
round that way. They grow sunsets
there, though. that can knock out any
thing they have on the Alps. For miles
and miles the prairie stretches along
almost as smooth as a dancing floor
Well, when a party Of US start out for a
hunt we carry along the finest society
people. Probably it's a party of a hun
dred; sometimes a darn sight bigger.
The most of them go on horseback,
but there are tally-ho coaches too, and
lots of carriages.
You see, It's game. The party rides
along with the dogs and the umpire
keeps as close to them as possible. and
behind, In strung-out line. come the
whole field of horsemen and horse
women, tally-hos and carriages, every
thing going at the fastest clip it can set
its legs to.
Like a dead flash of lightning the
jack scoots across the prairie, getting
over the ground with those enormous
jumps of his that make him seem like
a little kangaroo. Gee whiZ! how those
jack rabbits can go! 1t takes a mighty
peart greyhound to come up with them.
It's rarely a race by sight. There's no
real trail, for the hounds don't follow
by smell at all What they have to do
is to keep the jack in sight and follow
him in the turns and oubles he malses.
A good umpire can keep up with the
dogs every trip. He has to, for the
point of the game is to see which dog
plays for that jack rabbit the best. For
example, the dog that swerves the least
In the track and follows the Jack in
the straightest line has a point in his
favor. One of the hounds, for instance,
might run little off the track and the
jack in making a turn might swing
around in his direction, so giving him
the lead. But IL would count for the
other dog just the same, for 1t would
be just an accident of the chase
1T isn't necessarily the hound that
kills the Jack that gets the prize, al
though that counts pretty big. It's the
hound that can run the straightest,
double the turns the prettiest and cut
off distance when the jack commences
to double. About the middle of the day
a big lunch is spread and there's a
lively popping of wine corks and the
fellows whose dogs have won get toast
ed in great shape. Sometimes the girls
pin ribbons on them, and it's the big
gest social triumph man can. have
out in that region for his dogs to be
winners"