Jackrabbit Drives of the Past

[CatDaddy]

Interesting read.....anyone ever been part of anything like this with rabbits or any other species?

https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/dust-bowl-jackrabbit-drives/

 

[Lou63]

my grandfathers both participated in them in western Kansas, somewhere there are photos.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Those were quite the days, my father in law told about how many there were. He and his brothers waited till the fur was prime and hunted them at night with 22 and a spotlight . It was big money back then , they would get 50-100 or more in a night.

 

[CatDaddy]

Those were quite the days, my father in law told about how many there were. He and his brothers waited till the fur was prime and hunted them at night with 22 and a spotlight . It was big money back then , they would get 50-100 or more in a night.

50-100 in a night is INSANE!

 

[watson]

I remember stories from my dad that he and my uncle would fill the trunk of a big old Ltd in a night and would bring the fur buyer a heaping pickup load after a weekend of hunting jacks

 

[AR-15]

When we were kids in the late 60's, the fur buyer would give us a box of 22 shells for a jack rabbit, we had more shells than we new what to do with

 

[Lycanthrope]

Dont see a lot of jacks these days, here and there but not numbers that you could round up. Im guessing they killed all the predators back then so prey would flourish?

 

[Jigaman]

as a rimfire enthusiast, that would have been a lot of fun hunting! Nothing like this obviously, but in the mid-late 90's I remember there being quite a few jacks around. Shot a ton of them bastards back then.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Those were quite the days, my father in law told about how many there were. He and his brothers waited till the fur was prime and hunted them at night with 22 and a spotlight . It was big money back then , they would get 50-100 or more in a night.

It was legal. And then shining became prohibited. In 2021 three Representatives and two Senators passed a Bill making an exception. Artificial light, (red green amber) night vision, thermal, infrared legal.

Have a rifle that belonged to my dad with a cracked stock. He had several wounded and ran out of ammo. He clubbed them.

 

[jdfisherman]

 

[db-2]

Yes, i remember one drive back in the fifties. Dad had me sitting in the car as the circle of hunters was getting smaller. At that point only shotguns. There was a fox and a bunch of rabbits running in the circle, guys shooting and rabbits trying to get out. Circle kept getting smaller.
In the spring the pasture was solid rabbits. One could leave the farm with a spotlight and in no time come back with a dozen rabbits.
In the spring they would lay in the furrow of the plowing. Their white coats stood out like a sore thumb.
Once in the family car, a 49 olds convertible, dad drove out into the field. We shot about two dozen rabbits and fill the trunk and back seat up with a model 70 22 K Hornet that hangs on my wall now. Prewar.
Walked many of miles hunting with my first rifle, a single shot 22.
db

 

[1lessdog]

Back in the mid 70's we would go out at night with a car headlight in a bleach jug that we cut the bottom out and used for a spotlight. We would shoot Jack and take them to the Fox and Mink farm by Sheyenne N.D. A full pickup box would hold right at 350 Jack and they gave us 50 to 75 cents each. Gas was 48 cents a gallon so we made money. He had a big grinder and would stand on the tailgate and drop them in a grinder. The frozen one went thru like butter. The ones that weren't froze, not so easy. It was unreal the amount of rabbits we would shoot and see.

 

[1lessdog]

Dont see a lot of jacks these days, here and there but not numbers that you could round up. Im guessing they killed all the predators back then so prey would flourish?

I think all the pesticides and herbicides that they spray kills most all the young rabbits. In the city limits of Fargo/Moorhead its unreal how many you see.

 

[espringers]

@1lessdog what's a fella do w/ ground up rabbit?

 

[guywhofishes]

@1lessdog what's a fella do w/ ground up rabbit?

mink / fox food

 

[guywhofishes]

I think all the pesticides and herbicides that they spray kills most all the young rabbits. In the city limits of Fargo/Moorhead its unreal how many you see.

I think they need prairie / wheat mix type of habitat

Bismarck area used to be nothing but a perfect mix of the two

 

[risingsun]

@1lessdog what's a fella do w/ ground up rabbit?

Set Lycan up with another experiment?

 

[Zogman]

Back in the early 60's when there was alot of Soil Bank up in Pembina County I heard of some folks dragging a heavy barn rope between 2 pu's to kick the pheasants up. Shooting from the box of the pu. Stickly rumor but I think maybe true as there are NO pheasants in Pembina County now.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I think all the pesticides and herbicides that they spray kills most all the young rabbits. In the city limits of Fargo/Moorhead its unreal how many you see.

Yup , Iv'e watched more jackrabbits in west fargo than anywhere else in my life. Our grandkids trapped one CR using a cardboard box, stick and string for a trap. There is a full blown battle for territory between our grandkids, jack rabbits and Canadian geese. Its the only sliver of city life that I appreciate .

 

[NodakBob]

North Bismarck is full of them now. Used to do rabbit drives on Malard Island in the winter in the 1970’s