Hares

[Oldbushman]

Some years ago now ,our Rabbit population was delt a blow of which it has never recovered ! It was a virus introduced called the Carlsie ! Up till then it was quite easy to go out & shoot 200+ rabbits per night ! These days we're lucky to even see them.
Thing is though right round the country there has been a Population explosition of Hares ! I had'nt really thought about it until several freinds round differant parts of Australia have commented on the same thing in their areas ! One thing it gives the kids something to hunt & keeps em out of trouble !

Dave

[versifier]

Why not? Ours are pretty tasty. We're too far north here for cottontails, but we have varying hares that turn white in the winter. They're a lot of fun to hunt in mid winter when seasons on everything else edible are closed. We hunt them the same way rabbits are hunted, with dogs, and beagles are preferred, though my springer used to kick up one once in a while, too. The population fluctuates with changes in the local predator populations (of which we have many different kinds), but is currently in an "up" cycle and there are plenty of them this year.

[Baldy]

My Grandfather had a saying. "Teach a boy to hunt and you won't have to hunt the boy". He kept me busy hunting squirrel, and rabbits then on to larger game as I got older. Worked for him and me.

[Robertbank]

Dave I am not sure folks on this side of the Pacific understand what your rabbit populations were like before the introduction of that virus. I have the remains of several of them in a couple of Akubras I own.

Take Care

Bob

[versifier]

I had to look that one up, Bob. It led me on a very interesting journey through hats and history. I didn't realize you could make felt out of anything but wool, but I learned a lot. Thanks.

[Robertbank]

Hey Canada gots it's start on the back, literally, of a Beaver. Euros were in love with Beaver Hats at that time. Beaver still goes into Stetson's I believe. Certainly a number of Western Hats made up here enjoy the fur of the beaver.

I do like my Akubras, though.

Take Care

Bob

[Oldbushman]

Yeah ! I suppose for us the Rabbit population was something we all took for granted over here ! I still remember the Rabbit plauges as a kid when they werre like a carpet eating everything in their path ! Most Pro shooters over here started of as Rabbit Trappers ,or Shooters ! It was the norm to shoot 200 rabbits in about 6hrs ! These were sold by the Pair ! I think from memory the last time I shot rabbits for a living ,we were paied $2.20 per pair ! It was fairly easy money! A .22 lr was used with a spotlight & only head shots counted as so as not to damage the meat ! As kids we would lay traps for rabbits & go spotlighting of a weekend & on school holidays for pocket money ! Nearly all of us had .22 single shots with the occastional Bolt action repeater or semi auto ! .410 shot guns were popular for us kids ! 20& 16 guage shoties were something we read about !

Dave

[dale clawson]

D-O-K: In 1957 we had a plague of rabbits in our part of West Texas near Sweetwater. There was no market for the meat, too tough, but the farmers and ranchers suffered loss of crops and grazing. Rabbit drives were organized with a hundred hunters walking in a line and shooting the rabbits as they were driven ahead of us. We also used a spotlight at night and had the hottest shooting I've ever experienced. We would drive into a wheat field and the ground was literally alive with rabbits. One night we lilled a pickup load and fed them to a herd of about three hundred hogs the next day( it became illegal to feed uncooked meat later). These hogs had been fed this way a few times and were catching rabbits we tossed before they qiut bouncing. As a twelve year old I had a fear of falling in the pen and being eaten, didn't figure those hogs would discriminate between me or a rabbit. Disease hit them and in a couple of years it was rare to see one. Dale