Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-26
CANNED JACKRABBIT TASTE.
May Result in Saving Millions of
Dollars.

From the Brooklyn Eagle.
The western genius who discovered that
there is a market for canned jackrabbit has
probably sounded the death knell of the
long-legged. long-eared, swift-running crea-
ture that has so long been a picturesque
denfzen of the prairie. The first canning
factory has been established at Echo Ore
and thousands of jackrabbts are slaugh-
tered in that vicinity every month to keep
pace with the demand for this new article
of food. Other canneries are to be estab-
lished IN the west soon, and the Jack will
have no range that he call his own.
Not that the jackrabbit has ever been
free from the persecution of man. He has
been hunted in various ways and for vari-
Gus purposes, but chiefly for sport. In Cal
ifornia, Colorado and nearly every western
state where fruit Is grown fruit growers
wage relentless war on jackrabbits be-
cause of the destructive habits of the ami
NAL. Jackrabbits have been known to de-
stroy huge orchards by girding the trees,
and for this reason they are under the ban
of the fruit growers. In Kansas, Nebraska,
Colorado, California and the Dakotas the
sport of coursing has taken firm hold on a
large part of the public, and this also re-
suits in the death of thousands of jackrab-
bits annually. In spite of these forms of
slaughter, however, and in spite of huge
roundups which have been held to give the
ranch population a holiday and to combine
pleasure with business, the jackrabbit tribe
has continued to increase, and 1t Is esti-
mated that they are nearly plentiful
now as in the earliest days of the west.
There is little doubt, however, that the sys-
tematic hunting of the jackrabbit for mar
ket purposes will soon make inroads on the
tribe, and in time the jack may become as
extinct as the buffalo.
A jackrabbit roundup in the west is full
OF interest to the uninitiated spectator, al
oh ic ont IN ba y I,,t
ant when the actual slaughter of the ami
mails begins. huge circle of hunters is
formed, miles in circumference, and an in
closure, built of woven wire SO high that
no Jackrabbit could jump over, is the OBJ
jecttve point of the hunt From the en-
trance to this Enclosure extend two fences
broadening out they leave the corral
Into this wedge-like space the rabbits are
to be driven, after which they will natural
ly run into the corral as the only exit in
sight, there to be slaughtered al the leisure
of the hunters.
hunt of this sort, on sage brush prairies,
where rabbits are plentiful, will result in
soaring up thousands Of jacks. At a recent
hunt near the canning factory at Echo
Ore, over 5000 American hares were killed
and two coyotes were caught. 1t is esti-
mated that as many rabbits escaped as
were killed, on account of the thin line
formed by the hunters.
The sight as the leaping rabbits rush into
the corral driven by the shouting hunters
are terrified, and as they rush into the en-
trance of the corral at top speed their
crowding. struggling forms are almost en-
tirely hidden by dust Once in the corral
they rush hither and thither in a frantic
effort to escape. They leap high against
the fence and others try to burrow under
the wire. An occasional coyote who is
trapped with the rabbits, is also too fright
ened to do anything but try to escape He
makes no effort to kill the rabbits despite
the fact that jack is the choicest food of
which he knows. When the last rabbit has
been driven into the Enclosure the gate is
closed and then the hunters enter with
clubs and begin the work of slaughter
When the clubs begin to descend and the
rabbits fall dead right and left, the fright
of the victims in the corral becomes a veri-
table panic. Higher and higher they leap
against the wire fence, but always they are
flung back. and the vicious club descends
and ends their existence. Blood is scatter
ed from one end of the corral to the other
and soon the Enclosure is literally carpeted
with dead jackr abbits. Strange as it may
seem, the women who take part in these
hunts do not hesitate to seize clubs and
take part in the work of slaughter in the
corrals.
If the run has been for sport only, the
animals are divided among the hunters, but
If it is for market purposes the animals are
beheaded and dressed and hung in cold
storage until the cannery can use them
The oregon cannery is using about 1,000
pounds of jackrabbit meat day, and or
ders are said to be coming in so fast that
the cannery can hardly supply Them
Jackrabbits have always been a table del
icacy with western ranchmen Their meat
Is stronger than that of the cottontail, but
when properly cooked is very pleasant 10
the taste. Now that the jackrabbt is being
introduced in cans TO the worlds kitchens
1t is quite likely that his sphere of infiu-
ence will be widely increased and it is only
question of tir1e when the establishment
of jackrabbit farms for the propagation of
this table delicacy becomes a common
thing in the west.