Evening journal., 1913-12-02
RABBIT HUNTING
POPULAR SPORT
Requires Good Shot and a
High Order Of Intelligence
These Days

Rabbit hunting is among the best
of sports in which the bagging Of small
game Is involved" said habitual par
ticipator in utumn recrcations afcld
and in woodland covers. by rabbit
hunting, though, ! don't mean hiding
with gun at the edge OF old wood
roads at dusk ana from ambush shooting
the unsuspecting game.
"Nor do | mean following the tracks
of a rabbit on new fallen snow until
they lead to the refuge of some friendly
stone wall or hollow stump or tangled
roots of fallen tree OF scraggy brush
pile, there TO dig out ,ne maker of the
feathery footprints and kill it by a
thump on the back of its neck. Nor is
the sending of trained ferret into the
rabbit shelters TO drive the hiding crea-
lures out in big-eyed terror To the cud
gel or the whippet of the ferret's waiting
owner.
1T is none of these that / mean when
] hymn the rabbit hunt. The exciting
chase before the well.tained hound is
quite different affair. and no sports
man who mas once INDUCED himself in
it will ever again treat the rabbit hunt
with scorn.
The part of the dog in the rabbit
hunt is in itself enough TO enlarge the
sport TO a point worthy of any sports
mans consideration Then to Kill rab
bit while it is fitting before the dog
through the brush or across the narrow
space in some hazy vista is a feat which
tries the skill of the best and truest of
wing shots. The gunner will be amazed
TO find, the first the he goes out TO pit
his skill against the tactics Of rabbit.
how many of the fleet little cottontails
he doesn't get.
However much birds or deer may
vary in number in different parts of the
country. rabbits are always in sufficient
evidence everywhere for the furnishing
of sport in the chase The cOverts OF
nearby New Jersey abound with them.
Long Island is a paradise for rabbits
The as yet unsettled and thicket grown
areas Of the Palisades of the Hudson
throng with the timid yet Venturesome
creatures. as do the Westchester wilds
on the very border of New York city.
In the farther away but yet not distant
hills and swamps and tangled reaches OF
Orange county not only the cottontail
but that larger and lleeter relative. the
VARYING hare. known locally as Jack
rabbit. is plentiful denizen, and ca
pable of inducing the dog to still greater
efforts in the chase, and. requiring SUI
perior skin in the gunner.
with a gun that has no choke in its
barrels-for a rabbit need not be bored
through and through TO bring IL to bag
and with not more than four drains OF
powder back of charge for No. shot,
a hunter who can shoot quick and Judge
well the course of the game as his bea-
gle sings it along TO him from cover,
ought to be able to 90 out OF New York
of an afternoon and return by supper
time with his bag of rabbits up to the
law. limit. and he viii have had exert
ing and blood quckening sport
"The beagle is the best dog for rab-
hits. This hound is short OF leg but
long OF wind. lie won't leave the rabbit
trail TO follow the track Of foX-and
even in the country on the city's very
threshold there is much cover yet that
attracts and keeps Reynard in home and
foraging 60 his liking.
And your beagle takes his time IN
the clasc. lie doesn't rush the game, at
the foxhound Is likely to do. He is as
once tenacious and true. And the music
of his voice in the chase is sweeter yet
than the bay of the foxhound. mellow
and far-reachng as that is.