Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-03-07
A JACK RABBIT HUNT.
There IL Lots Of Fun In 1t, and 1t Is Quite
n Social Occasion.


a Social Occasion.
A Missouri man crossed his legs TO-
flectively in ono of the clubs the 9th
er night and told party of Meadow
brook gentlemen tSat they did Lot
know what hunting really is.
"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 me, you ought to como
out to my place and see Missouri so.
ciety take n whole day off and go
out on the prairie hunting the jack
rabbit
"Gewhittaker! There's snap to
it that you fellows don't have in
your eastern hunts. Talk about
foxes. Why, foxes can't touch jack
rabbits for sport. Jack rabbits arc
blue blazes to catch, and we hunt
em with the finest greyhounds in all
creation. Some of those dogs arc
worth clear up to IL, 500.
"You know it's all dead level
prairie round that way. They grow
sunsets there, though, that can
knock out anything they have on tho
Alps. For miles and miles tho prairie
stretches along almost as smooth as
q dancing floor. Well, when party
of us start out for hunt we carry
along the finest society people. Prob.
ably it's a party Of a hundred, somo-
times darn sight bigger. The most
of them go OH horseback, but there
are tallyho coaches, too, and lots of
carriages.
"You see. it's a game. The party
rides along with the dogs and tho
umpire in the lead until a jack rab-
bit is scared up. Then the first two
dogs are slipped. Away they 60 after
tho jack, and the umpire keeps rs
close to them as possible, and be-
hind, in strung out line, como tho
whole field of horsemen and horse
women, tallyhos and carriages, ev-
erything going at the fastest clip it
can set its legs to.
Like dead flash of lightning the
jack scoots across that prairie, get,
ting over tho ground with those enor-
nous jumps of his that make him
seem like little kangaroo. Gee
whiz, how those jack rabbits can go!
1t takes mighty peart greyhound
to come up with EN-. It's entirely 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 tho turns and doubles no
makes. A good umpire can keep up
with the dogs every trip. He has to,
for the point of the game is to SEQ
just which dog plays for that jack
rabbit the best. For example, the
dog that swerves tho least in tho
track and follows the jack in the
straightest line has point in his
favor. Ono of tho hounds, for in
stance, might run little off tho
track, and tho jack in making a turn
might swung around in his direc-
ton, so giving him tho lead. But it
would count for tho other dog just
tho same, for it would DO just an
accident of the chase.
ut isn't necessarily the hound
that kills tho jack that gets tho
prize, although that counts pretty
big. It's the hound that can run tho
straightest, double the turns the
prettiest and cut off distance when
tho jack commences to double. About
the middle OF the day big lunch is
spread, and there's lively popping
of vino corks, and the fellows whose
dogs have won get toasted in great
shape. Sometimes the girls pin rib
bons on them, and it's the biggest
social triumph man can have out
in that region for his dogs to be Win
ners. "-Chicago News.