The Coconino sun., 1927-08-19


Good news from Don Gilchrist, chief
Of rodent pest control in Arizona.
Don says cotton tail rabbits are more
populous in this section this year and
they are appearing in areas they
haven't been seen in for some time,
which will insure much better hunt
ing. Even in sections right next to
town, where they are supposed be-
cause of the altitude not to be found,
there now are good many.
Rabbits here are not the pest they
are in certain parts of the state, espe-
cially in the Casa Grande, Florence,
Phoenix, Yuma and various other
farming and trucking sections. Both
the cottontails and jack rabbits, espe-
cially in dry years when about their
only feed is the farmers crops, are an
awful nuisance. They have been
known to ruin a cotton field in sin
gle night
Around Stafford and Casa Grande
there is an unusual number of rab-
bits. In Graham county, in which
Stafford is located the supervisors oc-
casionally put up thousand dollars
for rabbit bounty. In very few days,
paying 10 cents for each pair of rab-
bit ears, the bounty money is all gone.
Don and his men started poisoning
down there. He offered each rancher
who brought a certain number of ears
to the county agent an extra can OF
poison. The result in a short time
was 5000 pairs of ears.
One rancher at Casa Grande killed
$50 rabbits in one night. He did this
by batting For two nights he put
chopped cabbage leaves from lot of
unstable stock along their trails.
They spread the news and when on
the third night the bait was poisoned
the number of rabbits there to get it
was many times greater than the first
night the bait was spread.
The United States has been import
ing about S5,000,000 worth of rabbit
skins annually. Stetson, the Philadel-
phia hat manufacturer, gets around
S3,000,000 worth a year. Rodent pest
men a long time ago tried to interest
buyers in our own rabbits, but with
out success until recently. Many Aus
tralians made a living killing rabbits
and now the rabbit crop there is much
more meagre, so another source of
supply is needed. Last year about
S11 900 worth of dried skins was
shipped from Wyoming and consider
able amounts from Idaho and Califor-
MIA. A skin, at the rate of so cents a
pound, brings from seven to 20 cents,
according to size. One Wyoming man
got S1.80 for 10 skins. That same
day he sold a horsehide and a cow
hide, and the two together brought
him only S1.50.
Don says the above reminds him of
the fellow who gave a horse and $3.50
in cash for turkey.
Chipmunks make the finest sort of
pets, Don says. They also come un-
der the head of rodent pests, for they
feed on pine and other tree seeds. The
forest service several years ago de-
cided there should be a certain number
of Seeding trees left on each acre for
forest reproduction. Something proved
wrong with this calculation and after
considerable experimentation at the
Southwest forest experiment station
near Flagstaff it was found there were
enough chipmunks on every acre to
more than eat the seeds.
Old-timers say that in every prairie
dogs hole there also lives a rattle
snake and a jack-rabbit. Of course,
in this altitude, where we have no
rattlesnakes, the claim wouldn't hold
good anyway, even though it might be
true in lower countries. The old-tim-
ers also claim that in each prairie
dog village there is one hole that goes
down to water Else how could the
dogs live, many miles from any sur
face water?
Don says the prairie dog may have
a long burrow, but it is in no place
more than 10 feet below the surface
and usually much less. How they get
water is solved in only one way-they
do not. Don and one of his assistants,
Everett Mercer, got prairie dog here
two years ago. Ever since that he
has been in a cage in Don's back yard
in Phoenix. He has never been given
drink of water or any other liquid
The first year he got nothing but