The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-10-05
Holed Rabbit Hasn't a Chance For
It's Life.

Jhob AOoo AOA hiNA OONAes
Warden Chases letter in Mondays
Banner on the subject of returning TO
the use of the ferret in rabbit h1I5-
ing, and so had my attention directed
to the report of the meeting of the
Bennington County Fish and Game
Club, which | had missed seeing, and
to the astonishing sentiment mani
tested at that meeting in favor OF
such hunting. ! shall appreciate it if
you will allow me through your cCl-
umns to endorse Mr.. Chase's stand
and register my own protest against
the passage of the proposed bill
which was discussed at that meeting.
Hunting rabbits with ferrets has been
universally condemned by sportsmen
throughout the entire country, and
the origin in the Fish and Game
Club of Bennington County of the
proposed bill to again legalize that
form of hunting in Vermont should
not be allowed to obscure that fact.
The provision in the bill that fer
rets shall be used only to drive rab-
bits from their holes, and that the
rabbits shall then be killed only
with a gun held 10 the shoulder, is
the merest subterfuge. For my part
| cannot see why, if ferrets are to be
used at all, perfectly good powder
and shot should be wasted in mang:
ling the rabbits and perhaps giving
them several moments of keen suffer
ing. A man who uses ferrets is the
most bare-faced pot hunter against
whom the game has not the least
shadow of chance, whether a gun is
used or not 1t is not the use of
gun that makes a sportsman, nor does
a law which emanates from fish and
game club necessarily embody the
ethics OF sportsmen.
1t will be denied ~ no one that
Stewart Edward White is more quail
fed than any other American to de-
fine the ethics of craftsmanship. He
has done so several times, but
should like to paraphrase his latest
statement only, changing it from lion
hunting to rabbit hunting
Il consider it poor craftsmanship
ever to refuse a lion (RabbiD a
chance merely because the adyan-
tages are not all in my favor. Is it
not just a little shameful to pot old
felis leo (Bre'r Rabbit)- at long
range in the open, near his kill
(close up near his hole, when he
thinks only of the bloodthirsty devil
issuing from the den behind him)
and wherever we have him at an ad
vantage-nine times and then to
back out because that advantage is
for once not so marked? | have Of
ten heard the phrase 4 let him alone
Il don't go rabbit hunting any more.)
II was not good enough meaning
that the game looked little risky.
It's harder work and isn't perfectly
sure without a ferret. The surest
way to get lion (rabbiU is to kill
zebra, cut holes in him, al the holes
with strychnine (put that tooth-eX-
tracted demon in the rabbit hole,) and
come back next morning land shoot
him when ne comes OUT. This
method is absolutely safe easy
yes, and as sure as death and taxes)
do not wish it TO be understood
that / am speaking of this subject en-
tirely from an academic standpoint.
| nave hunted rabbits with a ferret,
The first time | was thirteen years
old, and was much pleased 10 be in
vited to AXE my little sixteen gauge
and accompany some grown-up neigh
bors. That was in New York State
and even tten, eighteen years ago. it
was Illegal to use ferrets. and has
been ever since. Accordingly ! was
properly cautioned by them all when
the ferret was produced. IL develop
ed that | had been told TO take the
gun as mere blind, just like the Jok-
er in that bill Nobody wasted
cartridge, nor spoiled a rabbit When
the dogs holed one, the ferret Wen. in
and shortly the rabbit came out into
waiting hands and was cracked re-
nd the ears. The poor rabbit cant
even bite; it's the safest, inanest and
surest sport on earth The next
time was ten years ago, when a man
whose dog | wished to borrow for a
week to hunt the big white ones in
the Green Mountains, wanted to dem
onstrate the dog and get us acquain.-
ed first. That man had the first glim
merings of craftsmanship. He
wanted to see the rabbit run and feel
the kick of his gun. SO when the
ferret went in. he waited until he
heard the rabbit coming out. You
can hear them clearly before they APP
pear, their feet thudding along the
bottom of the hole. The man was
also careful of his pot, and so let the
rabbit get just far enough away so
as not to be blown TO
pieces. He said that he had never
missed one. II was simply question
of how fast the dog could hole them
up.
Now | do not wish to advocate de-
priving anyone of their fun. But
neither do ! want others to deprive
sportsmen of the object which takes
so many of them into the open. And
sportsmen cannot have good wild rab-
bit hunting If others use ferrets. Ac-
cordingly | suggest a compromise.
merely as temporary expedient, and
in the hope that | am being "practi.
cal" My suggestion is, that mas
much as rabbits are so easily raised
in captivity. those who favor them as