Real Texas Rabbits

Jackrabbits

Of all the animals in rural Texas, the black tailed jackrabbit brings back the most memories for many country raised kids. Whether it was rabbit hunting or rabbit counting, the ever present jackrabbits provide a wide range of predators sustenance and is often the first hunting experience for young Texas hunters.

Ranchers and outdoor enthusiasts know that jackrabbit populations come and go according to disease, rain and available forage in a natural cycle. During a drought period as we have now, jackrabbit populations are lower. However, give an area decent rainfall for a few years, and jackrabbit populations will be extremely high. Also, the disease tularemia takes a big toll on jackrabbit populations.

Another factor in jackrabbit populations are natural predators. If the coyote and bobcat eradication in a given area and time has been successful, then jackrabbit populations will thrive.

And the human factor

As a kid growing up in West Texas, it was not unusual for a pickup load of boys to go rabbit hunting out in someone’s plowed up pasture or even just up and down country roads. We usually hunted at night.  Deer had not made inroads back in the days of my jackrabbit hunting youth in the oilfield regions of West Texas. There are heavy deer populations now, but strangely enough, not back in the early and mid ’60’s. It was unusual to see deer, although now, the highways are littered with deer carcasses when the weather turns colder.

One particular pasture we hunted measured about 100 acres out of several sections and it must have been jackrabbit paradise. It was not at all unusual for the group to bag between 50 and 80 or so jackrabbits in a single night. Of course, our aim got worse as it got later in the evening.  I’m sure there were predators and birds of prey who enjoyed a feast after our night of hunting.

I have no idea if anything we were doing was legal or illegal.  The ranch we usually hunted on was owned by the county judge who totally condoned what we were doing.  Either that, or he generally ignored us as long as we didn’t shoot each other.

There were instances where we came close to doing just that.

One instance even had an eager jackrabbit hunter shoot through the front end top of the pickup cab (which belonged to aforementioned judge) as the driver was zeroing in on a dodging jackrabbit while those in the back of the pickup were hanging on for dear life, not missing a trigger pull on the semi-automatic .22 rifle.

We never thought twice about the slaughter of jackrabbits because there were so many, and because the rancher/father of one of the group encouraged the killing of jackrabbits as a means of control over which animal got to eat his grass, rabbits or his heifers.  Looking back, I’m sure there was an element of cruelty to our hunting practices brought on by blood lust or some other imagined or real neurosis or compensation.

It was an unwritten code of the West we young hunters observed that cottontail rabbits were to be spared. The photo to the left is of a cottontail I observed on one of my morning walks.  Looking back, I assume it was because cotton tails must have be preferred eating for humans over the tougher jackrabbit. If times get rough and we all go into survivalist mode and had to depend on the rabbits for food, the cottontail would be the preferred meal.  Since cottontails are rabbits and not hares, they are rarely seen outside of their burrows on windy days since the wind interferes with their hearing.

 Jackrabbits are hares

Lepus californicus is actually a hare although we had no idea back then what a hare was. We might have heard that Bugs Bunny was a hare….Bugs Bunny was a TV and movie cartoon character and most kids of my age out in West Texas did not grow up with TV’s in the house. We did attend indoor and outdoor movies and I am guessing that is where we first saw Bugs, the ‘wascally wabbit’.

Jackrabbits weigh from 8-10 pounds and their primary features are physical size and the size of its ears. The ears are 7″-8″ long and back in the day, the jackrabbit was known as a ‘jackass’ rabbit, thus the name…jackrabbit as it became known in polite conversation.  The ears regulate the temperature of the jackrabbit radiating heat to cool off or absorbing it to warm its body.

Of course, since jackrabbits are the meal of choice for a wide range of predators, the ears must also give it some advantage in hearing. The jackrabbits, like most hares, live mostly in open country and are constantly on alert. I did observe an old black ranch cook named Theodore Washington whistle loudly to stop a jackrabbit in its tracks as it went on alert to try and figure out the strange noise. That particular rabbit ended up as fish bait at the fishing hole we camped at we called ‘head of the river’.

Jackrabbits very large eyes are also a notable feature aligning themselves on either side of its head to better detect movement and possible danger. Jackrabbit predators are everywhere out in the wild. The larger carnivores dine on jackrabbit including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, and the larger cats where they roam. They also must face red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, and even rattlesnakes.

I have seen many a jackrabbit outrun our dogs as they can reach speeds of up to 40 miles an hour. However, it is their dodging and jumping that often save them and it is common for them to jump 5-10 feet at a time and some have been measured at 20′. It seems they jump particularly high about every fifth hop and turn directions while in the air to run in a different direction. Their elusiveness is legendary but their stamina is what ultimately does them in. If the predator is able to sustain the chase, it is usually rewarded with a fine meal.

There is generally not a shortage of jackrabbits unless the aforementioned disease of tularemia or drought is present. The females give birth 40 or so days after mating and the newborn are known as ‘leverets.’ The young rabbits are self sufficient after 4 weeks. Females have litters of 2-3 as many as six times a year.

Of course Bugs Bunny and all the other jackrabbits are herbivores. They are not all that picky in their choice of food and they will range from 2-8 or even ten miles a day in search of food. They tend to sleep during the day under various covers including overhangs in draws or dry creek beds and some use vacant burrows as do actual rabbits.

A word of warning

Jackrabbits carry a range of disease including tularemia which regularly thins their numbers, along with ticks, lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It is a wonder we never caught anything serious back in the days of handling so many jackrabbits….or maybe we did and it was only diagnosed years later.

I killed off my brain cells at an alarming rate in my youth, in a variety of ways.  Maybe part of my cognitive problems today stem from nights spent hunting jackrabbits or other outdoor activities.  The good news is that I can still generally find my way home in time for supper.

Populations seem to come and go. There are years where the highways are littered with jackrabbits and years when travelers wonder where all the rabbits went.

Jackrabbits figure heavily in the memories of many a small town boy. The youthful days of folks my age where we got our guns and walked just out of town at 10 to 12 years old to hunt rabbits is probably gone.

And I remember one hunting episode in my middle teens when I realized there were three boys in the front seat of a single cab pickup along with 9 guns and a cooler.  Most of us survived our youth although sometimes the outcome seemed doubtful.

Too many rules, worried parents, and safety concerns have limited this particular activity.

Too bad.

I’m David out in Real Texas
Jackrabbit hunter extraordinaire

Tagged as: Jackrabbit hunting, Jackrabbits, Rabbit hunting