St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-27
JACK RABBIT CHASING.

It's Great Fun Down Missouri Way
and a Gala Social Occasion.
A man from Missouri crossed his
legs refectively in one of the clubs the
other night and told party of Mead
owbrook gentlemen that they did not
know what hunting really is, says an
exchange.
'I've seen you fellows riding across
country after 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 come out to my place and
see Missouri society take a whole day
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 jack rabbits for
sport Jack rabbits are blue blazes to
catch, and we hunt 'em with the finest
greyhounds in all creation. Some of
those dogs are worth clear up to
$1,500.
"You know it's all dead-level prairie
around 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 dancing
floor. Well; = when a party of us start
out for a hunt we carry along the
finest society people. Probably it's
party of a hundred, sometimes it's
darn site bigger. The r2ost of them go
on horseback, but there are tallyho
coaches, too and lots of carriages.
.tYeu see, it's game. The party
rides along with the dogs and the UNI
pire in the lead until jack rabbit is
scared up. Then the first two dogs are
slipped. Away they go after the jack,
the umpire keeps as close to- them as
possible, and behind, in strung-out
line, come the whole field of horsemen
and horsewomen, tallyhos and car
riages, everything going at the fast
est clip it-can set it's legs to.
Like a dead flash of lightning the
jack scoots across that prairie, getting
over the ground with those enormous
Jumps of his that makes him seem
like a little kangaroo. Gee whiz! how
those jack rabbits can go! 1t takes
mighty peart greyhound to come up
with 'em. 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 the turns and
doubles he makes. A good umpire can
keep up with the dogs every trip. He
has to, for the point of the game is to
see just 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
fine has a point in his favor. One Of
the hounds, for instance, might run a
little off the track, and the jack, in
making a turn, might swing around in
his direction, so giving him the lead.
But it would count for the other dog
just the same, for it would be just an
accident of the chase.
'It isn't necessarily the hound that
kills the jack that gets the prize.
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 big lunch is spread, and there Is
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
biggest social triumph man can have
in that region for his dogs to be the
winners"