The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1914-03-13
A TENDERFooTS IMPRESSION
OF A RABBIT DRIVE.
Caldwell. Idaho, March 5, 1914


i, ! have been asked to give my i'm
preston OF your country, your city
your climate, your water, your peo-
pie, your sales day, your stock sale
and your rabbit drive.
Now OF course it was not a news
paper man who made the request
Had it been he H@ould have said
something like this What would
you ask to write a series of articles
on the above topics to be published
in my newspaper for the benefit and
amusement of its readers along next
winter when the evenings are long
and the people have plenty OF time
to read" as he would have known that
each of the subjects contained suffi-
cient food for thought to have made
an article of ample length for any
newspaper or magazine, so | will take
only one of the above topics for this
article, and as the impressions of the
Rabbit Drive are more clear in my
mind, will select that; besides, the
! Scriptures says, the last shall be first
and the first last. Now | have not
always been able to make a compre-
hensive application of this text, but
| | think | can in this case, as this is
the first article | have ever written
for your valuable paper and | pre-
| sumo it will be the last, as | expect
both the editor and his readers will
view it as the woman did in divorce
| When asked by her attorney if there
was another man in the case was why
she was SO anxious for her decree,
her reply was, Lord, no, once is a
dOSep
When | first saw the bills stating
that there was going to be Rabbit
Drive near Caldwell, | decided at once
to attend and in reading the bill over
carefully | noticed that there was
lunch to be served at the close of the
drive to the sports. Now, being an
xious to get in on the lunch, and there
being such variety of definitions of
the term sport, this troubled me some
what and | made inquiry as to what
constituted sport in a rabbit drive.
| was told all that was necessary was
TO have gun, get in line with the
other sports when the drive began,
So ! at once hiked myself to the
hardware store and bowed myself
for full box OF shells, borrowed a
gun and thought | was ready for the
ray, but on being informed that there
was from five to seven mile tramp
over thick sage brush country, my
ardor began to dampen and my cour-
age to weaken, so l got hold of
friend who had span of mules about
the size of half grown jack rabbit
and proposed that he take me out
and follow up the drive. At first he
hesitated, then demurred, saying he
feared that some ardent sport would
take his mules for rabbit, but alter
discussing the subject and assuring
him that he would be kept far enough
in the rear that his mules would be
in no danger, he consented to go.
And when we got on the ground and
saw the sage brush so high and the
mules SO low, | could easily compre-
bend that his judgment was in order.
However, we made arrangements to
keep close to one of the captains, who
gave his men strict orders to keep
their eyes and guns pointed ahead Of
the firing line, this put my friend and
his mules at ease, and right here al
low me to say that that one gun
and one box of shells made two sports
as my friend and myself both got in
on the lunch.
| have often read OF the famous
rabbit drives of Colorado, Utah and
Idaho, but as We never have rabbit |
drives in Mont. (ahem, my home is
in Montana) and the write-ups of |
these famous rabbit drives never en-
ter very extensively into details, |
had some queer ideas relative to the
same, the writer's usually dealing in
general as to the number slaughtered |
and the disposition of the same, some
thing like this: "A couple of carloads |
were sent to Chicago to be distribu-
ted among the poor" IAN enterpris-
ing packing firm of Kansas CITY took |
a couple of carloads to be made into |
canned chicken" and "a fertilizer man
u!acturer of Salt Lake City took the |
balance and made them into guano."
supposed the manner in which
Inc drives were conducted were some
thing like this: first they would build |
a large corral of woven wire netting
with wings extending from half to
three-quarters of a mile on either
side; then the line would be formed
sports would be armed with tom
toms, tin pans, COW bells, and a strong
club; they would beat the sage brush |
miles away in Semi-circle and the
sports would be armed with tom-toms
and make the air hideous with the
music OF torture to the timid lack
rabbit and cause him to run ahead of
the ranks into the improvised corral,
and when once in they would close
in and slaughter them with their
clubs. And | have read that their
means and cries were SO pitiful that
they would bring sympathy and re-
morse to their would-be Slayers. How
ever, find that Idaho has more
humane plan as the sports take guns
and the rabbit is not kept in suspense
long enough to know that he is scared
Now | can see a mutual benefit to
all concerned in these drives. First
the rancher is benefited by being rid
OF these pests; second, the merchant
is benefited not only by selling am
Tor the guns but for the in
ner sport as we'll; third, all are mu-
tually benefited by taking a day off
breathing in the pure ozone, exercis
ing the physical and social ORGANS