You don't know Jack. . .

[jinman]

. . . jackrabbit, that is.

Holy smoke! I grew up in Denton, Texas and loved to hunt rabbits as a kid. I can't ever remember seeing jackrabbits on our place, but when you would get a few miles out of town, it was fairly common to see them hopping across a farmer's field. My Uncle had a 20 acre place that was on Hwy 380, east of Denton where we hunted jackrabbits all we wanted. When we would go to my other Uncle's place just west of Jacksboro, we would hunt jackrabbits all the time because they were just everywhere.

Now if this sounds like a jackrabbit slaughter, I should qualify my comments by saying that we were using .22 rifles and I can count on one hand the number of jackrabbits we actually killed. We shot a lot of bullets, but the jackrabbits always seemed to elude our aim.

Fast forward to today, and you hardly ever see a jackrabbit it seems. I can't tell you when the last time I saw a live jackrabbit was. Perhaps fireants and pesticides have wreaked havoc on the jackrabbit population. That's around here. I can't speak for those in West Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona. Are there still lots of jackrabbits out there?

All of this is leading to the huge surprise I got when I brought in the chip from my game camera and saw the pictures attached. What a hoot! This is a huge jackrabbit, bigger than a cat. I feel so lucky to have seen this critter on my place. Of course, they can devastate a garden, but I'm sure they won't do anymore damage than raccoons.

The third picture is of a crow. I guess the expression, "As the crow flys," takes on new meaning with this shot. I was surprised to see how its left wing bends up and the right wing is bent down. I thought everyone here might like to see this lucky shot.

Finally, we have our usual number of raccoons, turkey, and deer. I put a few of those shots here too.

 

[Rudevette]

Hey, great pics. We have jackrabbits and cottontails both that are just thick. When I drive to work in the morning they are all over the road. We also have an infestation of Coyotes the last few years. We could go out and shoot dozens of rabbits everyday and they would still be everywhere. Whitetail deer, turkey's, geese, ducks, fox, wolves, are all just a few of the animals I see out and about on the back country acres of my farm. It's all kind of cool stuff to see.


-Justin

 

[Unclebuck257]

Jim,

Thanks for those pics! For several years now, we've had around a dozen resident jacks on our place here in Wise County. I'm sure there are more, but those jacks I see all the time, especially at night, when I'm coming home with my headlights on in the truck. What I never see around here anymore hardly are cottontails. I'll see one once in a while on the county road, crossing in front of me, but certainly not like the numbers I used to see 10 years ago.

At the same time, the number of coyotes seems to have dwindled around here too. I saw one yesterday morning and that one was the first I had seen in months, out in the open. I attributed it all to the increased number of new people out here, although we are still very rural with a lot of open land right around our place.

 

[John D]

I have seen alot more cotton tails and road runners around the place this year. They have been building new houses and a school close to me and Im sure that is the reason why they are on my place.

 

[jinman]

For several years now, we've had around a dozen resident jacks on our place here in Wise County. I'm sure there are more, but those jacks I see all the time, especially at night, when I'm coming home with my headlights on in the truck. What I never see around here anymore hardly are cottontails. I'll see one once in a while on the county road, crossing in front of me, but certainly not like the numbers I used to see 10 years ago.

We have hundreds of cottontails up here near Sunset. When I first bought this place, I only saw a few armadillos and an occasional road runner. Of course, I also saw cougar tracks on a regular basis. Now, we have lots of cottontails and squirrels, but I never see cougar tracks. I see an occasional bobcat and hear lots of coyotes. I've never got a coyote on my game camera yet.

 

[Skyco]

Dang those turkeys sure get around- here they are on my land in NC

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

Nice pics. Looks like the game camera is doing a great job for you. Any more sine of that hog?

I think that after a tractor, the game camera is a must have item. I couldn't imagine living out here without it.

Eddie

 

[mjarrels]

Jim, we use to ride in the back of a pickup truck around the farm and I would shoot rabbits left and right at night, never missed... sadly my partner in crime is no longer with us... died at 52!

mark

 

[Ridgewalker]

Great pix gang, I think deer cams are a hoot. I have a Moultrie Game Spy 200 that done a fine job for two years.

I just ordered a Stealth Cam IR. Everyone has been telling me the flash scares the deer so I am going to give IR a shot.

I keep hoping for a black bear to turn up...

 

[Bird]

Jim, as a kid at Healdton, OK, in the early '50s, I used to see occasional jackrabbits and of course, we shot and ate every one we could get. Then in the mid-60s, I used to see them at night around North Lake, but rarely see one anymore. The last time I saw any great numbers was about 1980, when I went with my brother to pick up a new Cessna 152 at the factory and fly it to Anchorage. We picked it up in the late afternoon and spent the first night on that trip at Scottsbluff, NE. As we were coming down to land, there were literally dozens of jackrabbits all over the airport. It was pretty scary to me because you can imagine what could happen if the landing gear on that little airplane hit one just as you're touching down, but fortunately we didn't hit any.