Jack Rabbit Hunting

[salvo]

My buddy Mike and I, headed out after work on Friday to an area outside Caliente NV. About 2.5 hours N.E. from Vegas and camped out for the night under the stars and got an early start this morning. Well it started off as a Coyote hunt but after 5 or so stands without even seeing a coyote we decided to get after some jackrabbits, found a large rock outcropping and worked the edges, the rabbits were plentiful and we quit counting after a while, my partner was using a 12 gage and I was using my Contender in .204 Ruger, after he watched me pick one off the rocks at over 100 yds he started using his .223. After a wile I changed over to my Ruger 50th .357 to make it interesting.
I caught this one in the head running past me at about 30 yards. My partner had just shot at it twice, I'm glad he saw me make the shot otherwise he would not have believed me ;D
We had a great time, no coyotes but I think we will remember this hunt for quite some time.

[nobearsyet]

nice bag of jacks

[38 WCF]

Great looking country. Nothing I enjoy more than a good day of hunting Jack's in the Beehive state.!!

[salvo]

We weren't to far from the Utah boarder! 38 WCF were is Riverton? I have some property in the hills of S. Utah.

[461tim]

My favorite game animal.

[Cucuy]

Here's one for y'all. Are jackrabbits suicidally attracted to light? Tonight I had not one, but two, ol' boys tell me the following in separate conversations:

One said that he and his were out shooting after dark from his truck. They spotlighted a jack and it charged the light and broke its neck upon impact with the truck door.

The other said that he and his were out throwing back a little Julio by a fire and a jack charged and broke its neck on his buddy's chest.

Texas is full of tall tales and Deep South Texas has many more stories than the rest of the state.

Confirm/deny?

[salvo]

Here's a little Utah jack, I'll bet those Texas Jacks would dwarf a Black Lab

[nobearsyet]

They ca nget bigger than some deer I've seen down there

[zeek]

Regarding west Texas jacks, let me say that I hunt them each year on a relative's ranch near Sierra Blanca and they are the same size as the ones I take here in the California Coast Range. The most fun Sierra Blanca jack hunt was using my Ballard-rifling-style octo-barreled Marlin 38-55, using paper patched 250 grain flat points at just under 2100 flips. You'd let the hammer fall, feel the recoil, see the "snow fall" of shredded jacket paper and then hear this hell-of-a WHOCK! and watch the big jack flip up into the air.
The purpose of that hunting is to reduce the number of jacks competing with the cattle for food. However, I wonder whether they would have been edible (given a head shot). The Coast Range yearling jacks taste great, as they feed mainly on grass ~~~> you get three to four pounds of lean meat from each one.
Has anyone tried eating Texas jacks?
Regards, Zeek

[2 Dogs]

OUR OWN ZEEK HAS ARRIVED!!!!

Fellas, let me just say that we are in true good company now!

And no, Zeek, one does not eat the Texas Jackrabbit....be too much like a sex stone enchilada wrapped in dry leather. Even smothered with Jeffro's hot sauce it would be a bit too much of a stretch.....

[nobearsyet]

I ate a Texas Jack quite a few times when I lived down that way, you got be careful how you cut them, for the same reason 2 dogs mentions, and cook them slow but they're not too bad marinated in Jack Daniels and with a little BBQ sauce (I like the stuff from RUdy's in San Antonio, if anybody lives down that way and knows where I'm talking about give me a holler, might need to pay you to send me a bottle)

[zeek]

No matter WHAT 2 Dogs says, it is NOT my fault, whatever "it" is this time!

Hmm! Sounds like the Texas jacks are a different animule than our Kalifornijackcators. I have heard that they often exceed 20 pounds in northern-Colorado-up-through-Wyoming, and that they make a nice ground breakfast sausage out of them there. The trick must be in what they have available to eat. Grass-eat'n jacks have mighty sweet-smelling and neat-tasting meat. Sage-&-greasewood-leaf-eat'n jacks? Well, now THAT is a different matter entirely, but they are still fun to shoot.

Did you ever hear Fermin yell about how he just flat HATES to hunt jackrabbits? Sometimes, I just don't understand that boy. He needs to get his priorities adjusterated.
Zeek

[salvo]

zeek, I sure like you choice of jackrabbit rifle, classy

[shorty500]

now that looks FUN! no jacks to hunt here in northeast MS but cottontails are so plentiful that we often have to weed some out of the garden! its a different environment here but unlike most "TRUE" Southern rabbit hunters i dont use beagles or some scattergun, lol. typical weapon is a packing size .44 or .45, cast slugs at moderate speeds. stalk the field roads and edges in the evenings although mornings can make for good hunting. they only run a short distance if spooked before the shot happens and typically rely on natural camo to hide and watch for you which is an advantage because you normally get the shot then. the true sport is to work the creeks, beaver ponds, marshes and cane breaks for the infamous canecutter or swamp rabbit! they often approach or equal those western jacks for size when mature, run large circles if spooked and take tons of punishment. promise to get some pics later in fall or winter