JACKRABBIT HUNTING IN TEXAS

[Cupajo]

I was 13 years old when the hunt described below occurred.

A man that worked with my dad at Alcoa lived a couple of miles from us right near the water, at Port Alto, Texas. He had two Greyhounds that he used to chase jackrabbits. He would sometimes stop by our house on his way to an area locally where the brush was thinner and the dogs could run freely. This kind of area with light brush cover was the kind of habitat for jacks as it allowed them to run free too.

On one such hunt, we hadn

 

[Wayne in BC]

sit tucked into the straw stacks on a moonlit and cold winter night. We would watch the snowy field around us for a tiny bit of black moving towards the stack. That would be the Jackrabbit's ears and the white part of him near invisible. There were hundreds of them and we shot them to keep them out of the feed and for Dogfood as well as bait for our Weasel, Coyote, and Mink traps.

We used Greyhounds and Wolfhound crosses to hunt Coyotes but never Jackrabbits, that messed up the Dogs for Coyotes hunting and the pelts brought us welcome extra money.
I think it would be fun to watch the Greyhounds on a Rabbit tho

 

[Cupajo]

Hey Wayne,

You would never forget it!! I haven't.

Cupajo

 

[Dan-MO]

But plenty of cottontails......just south of me are swamp rabbits. They get to be huge and can run like deer. I have hunted and eaten both

 

[david(tx)]

both my granddads owned greyhounds at one time.one lost a greyhound to barbwire.

 

[Micheal_R]

In fact, in parts of Saskatchewan, farmers will buy you the rounds and pay you to kill them.

Fair winds

Micheal

 

[Royal]

A friend of my neighbors has dogs he runs coyotes with up here and the dogs make the kill too. I have never seen it though. I did not realize that greyhounds were used for Jackrabbits.

 

[Cupajo]

There weren't any coyotes in that area at that time. All the farmers and ranchers had shot and poisoned them off. I lost a dog (Ginny) to that poison and it was not a pretty sight. Loud didn't come home after a nights roaming and I suspect he was poisoned too! Poison baited meat would be set out in the area where the critters were active and in a very short while they were a memory. Living in the country, we let our dogs roam and when we heard of baiting going on, we kept the dogs home. Unfortunately, one doesn't always hear soon enough and dead dogs are the result.

A pair of Grayhounds after a Jackrabbit is a sight one never forgets.

Cupajo