Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-21

SAN DIEGO. Cal. May Is. 1915.
a RABBIT drive is interesting or
IN tragic according to ones point
A\ of view. The Jack rabbit of
q q California breeds with great
rapidty and is nuisance and often
real danger to the fruit grower and
rancher. At intervals. therefore. they
must be rounded up and killed
1t seems a cruel proposition and it is
sometimes done in a cruel way. espe-
cially in what are known as the club
drives" but that some method of curb
ing their increase is very necessary
means of protection to the interests of
the rancher is evident to any one who
sees the havoc wrought by these pests
that destroy valuable crops upon
which the welfare of the rancher de-
Ponds.
The writer went to a shotgun drive"
recently. 1t was not one of the very
large drives, but ii served to show the
purpose, the method and the results
just well as though many additional
thousands of Jacks had fallen by the
wayside in this unequal fray.
To fully appreciate the atmosphere of
II one must hHo~- tHdl ii SiltlS uu
drive had been widely advertised in
the newspapers. 1t was to be held at a
certain ranch a Sunday. 1t APP
peared to be taken quite as a matter
of course that Sunday was the proper
day.
The writer drove to the appointed
place. Tackled upon the barn was the
fresh skin of coyote. Asked about
il, the owner said:
Got him last week Had a good
crack at another one this morning. but
he got away Gun was loaded with
number seven. for rabbit, and only
peppered him a little. He got off before
I could run to the house and get better
shells
One of the party asked: Doesn't
killing off the coyotes result in a more
are fighting today
Yes, said the host. but the coyotes
get my lambs. We've got them pretty
we'll cleaned out now. Only see one
once in while. But | guess there
are a thousand rabbits down in that
one lower alfalfa field by the river.
They destroy the alfalfa so fast that
IL we don't get good roundup today
! may as well just throw up the
sponge
There were a good many men al
ready standing around leaning on their
guns, and others to act as heaters
or belonged on the place were tied up.
on shotgun drive the dogs are in
danger all the time Indeed. such a
drive is not wholly free from danger
to the men engaged in il. If one man
loses his head his neighbor, instead of
the rabbit. gets a charge of number
seven shot in his legs,
Fortunately the aim is necessarily
low and the shot small, the gun range
not great and boys are seldom allowed
to take part except as rear-guard
"beaterS. There were few boys and
even a few women who took active
part in this drive. Some of the ranch
women were good shots and seemed to
enjoy the sport.
The line of hunters marched down to-
ward the San Joaquin river from the
bluffs above. where the ranchhouse
stood Now and then Jack" scurried
across the path of one or another. but
no one paid the least attention to these
stragSlerS. The squirrel the other pest
which burrows in and undermines the
earth to an extent vastly dangerous to
the legs of man or beast. lodged about
holes. turned. poked up their inquisitive
heads and watched intently.
The rancher has given up the SOUR
rels. He is too numerous to hope to
shoot. He is too wise to eat poison
all sides. His underground home has
more than one avenue of ingress and
egress, and he can remain indoors while
you wait outside to shoot him. Also, his
children grow up so fast that no matter
II You do pick off the head of the
family nobody will miss him and his
relatives Meantime they dig holes SO
fast and undermine banks and lawns
and roads so persistently that it takes
most of ones time to watch his foot
steps so as not to walk into a trap
which will turn the ankle, sour the
temper and produce a tendency to pro-
family which no amount of grace can
hope to counteract.
Therefore the sightseers proceeded