Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-26

of just such a chorus in boyhood's happy
days. Long
Every Country Boy before he
Has Known This Joy. his first gun
he hunted rabbits with Zip and the fell
lers, getting them from under brush piles,
smoking them out Of hole, pulling them
from hollow log or other place of fam
cied security. Rabbits were the first
game he hunted when the proudest day
Of his life arrived and dad give me a
gum" That day a boyish heart beat
prouder than kings on coronation day.
That boy, and you. hunted rabbits with
an old muzzle-loader longer than himself
1t was loaded with black powder. No. 6
shot. an old percussion cap, and the load
was rammed home with crumpled
newspaper to hold it tight.
OF course, you began on a "settin' ="
rabbit Early one morning you crept out
in the apple orchard, the dew still heavy
on the ground. rabbit jumped from a
bunch Of grass. hoped a few PAGES. then
stopped and watched you in wonderment.
Carefully you took rest on the low
est limb Of a friendly apple tree. and
when the site of that long barrel came in
line with those rabbit ears, you pulled
the trigger. No, that was not a cannon
nor mine explosion 1t was Just that
old muZzle-loader and it's generous charge
of black powder. The recol staggered
but a rabbit lay kicking his last in the
orchard, and a happy boy, with heart
beating 400 to the minute, swooped upon
him and held him aloft in boyish pride
and delight.
With ever-increasing confidence your
rabbit hunting witnessed extended opera
tons. Late in the afternoons you crept
down the lane and picked off one here
and there as he hoped along by the old
fence, and stopped from time to time to
look and listen, for an old road is IA
vorite place for rabbit early of morn
woodpeckers, "yallerhammers'' and other
equally unfortunate members of the feath-
cred tribe fell victims to that old muzzle-
loader lsad Then one day you walked
rabbit "settin," but he refused to set
and just ran on off. You raised the old
gun. pointed it a long time, pulled the
trigger, and rabbit rolled over
You had killed your first one running
and new era in your hunting career
had been reached. From then on it was
easy and steady From then on no rab-
bit in any stalk or weed field was safe
from that old gun, and soon those same
cur dogs joined those same boys, and
secured the fields again. This time the
boys had single-barreled shot guns and
muzzle leaders, and the rabbit that ran
the gauntlet of that firing squadron de-
served to get away.
X
But the boys are not the only ones to
whom rabbit hunt is a pleasure. Deep
dow N h s
Even Grown-Ups heart every
sportsman likes
Like Rabbit Hunt. to try his luck
at a rabbit. He will whip his bird dog
Justify for running a rabbit-and all bird
dogs will chase them industr:ously I'M
less the inclination is thrashed out of
them-and yet will say to himself that
he doesn't blame that dog much. A
bounding rabbit, darting here and yon-
der with the speed of the wind, is no
mean target for the best of guns, and
straightaway down hill, over plowed
ground rolling over and over again from
the momentum, is adequate reward for
a well-timed shot. In thick weeds. where
only a fleeing vision of the quarry is
obtainable, 1t takes quick and accurate
work to stop a cotton tail. On many an
occasion a rabbit VIII furnish an interest
ing situation for the sportsman hunting
quail. A rabbit is no respecter of time
or place, and even though the bird dog
is working out hot trail on birds, If it
takes him by the bed of a cotton tail