I had some friends go on a canned hunt in Texas a few years back, they all took large game, but they had the most fun spotlighting Jackrabiits at night.

does anyone know of a guide service that does this?

thanks

I don't know of a guide service that provides this. When I was a kid in the 60's it was our nightly entertainment. Jackrabbits were considered vermin then and the wheat farmers wanted them shot. Later, the farmers began spraying weeds fence row to fence row wiping out nesting sites for the rabbits. There are no rabbits there anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by 7kongoni:
I don't know of a guide service that provides this. When I was a kid in the 60's it was our nightly entertainment. Jackrabbits were considered vermin then and the wheat farmers wanted them shot. Later, the farmers began spraying weeds fence row to fence row wiping out nesting sites for the rabbits. There are no rabbits there anymore.

No or few jacks is a sad fact of life. I've worn our the barrels on fine rifles shooting running jacks with small centerfire guns. Those were the days!

Zeke

I love hares!

They are just big interesting animals.

I did that a lot when I was a kid in the 60's in Alberta. Totally illegal so that was where I got my shifty eyes, from.

As the farmers got too efficient the pheasants and the jack rabbits mostly disappeared. I have not shot a jack rabbit in many years. As a kid we got either 25 or 50 cents each - white and frozen from the mink farmers ..

Almost all land in Texas is private. You don't need a guide, you need a landowner that will allow permission. Most landowners will charge you for this. I shot bunches of jackrabbits and what worked best for me was cast bullets in .22 cal. My friend used a .22 rimfire and did very well, but my rig would reach out a little farther.

Some of the most fun times I had
was riding the car fenders at night
shooting jacks with either a revolver
or .22. Lot of times there was one of
us on each front fender. We'd take turns
driving or shooting.

Now and then we'd kick up a coyote too.

George

I remember to riding on the hood of my dads car at night that was fun. Using 22's and a 410. Around here theres still some. But not like it use to be.

A million times growing up, and the cream that flowed to the top was on many ocassions a bobcat, fox, coyote or ringtail, and on a couple of occasions a Lion, but never got the Lions, they are just too smart..and of course in West Texas a Javalina or 10 got shot..That was back in the day when no season on varmints and Javalinas..Some of that's changed these days but not much..They did put a limit and a 6 months season on the Javalina last I heard..I used a Win. 63 22 L.R. for everything..

Once in a while when out in remote NV I will bust out the bright flashlight and my Ruger MK II target pistol and pop a few Jack Rabbits. I grew up hunting them and always had the most fun at night when they were thick as thieves. Three guys in the back of a truck. Guy in the middle with the spotlight and two shooters. everyone would rotate out until we got bored and decided to head home.

quote:

Originally posted by Palladin8:
Once in a while when out in remote NV I will bust out the bright flashlight and my Ruger MK II target pistol and pop a few Jack Rabbits. I grew up hunting them and always had the most fun at night when they were thick as thieves. Three guys in the back of a truck. Guy in the middle with the spotlight and two shooters. everyone would rotate out until we got bored and decided to head home.

We didn't get bored until the sun was almost up! LOL ...A quick nap and then we'd head on home.

Zeke

Never been a fan of shooting Jacks. I was a fan of shooting cottontails and eating them. Delicious! We had some epic hunts for cottontails back in the day! Sometimes a whole gunny sack full! Now, what I really liked to do(way back when) was shoot rats at the local garbage dump at night with the 22lr. And yes, it was perfectly legal at the time!

I used to do that too. It was a ton of fun + the folks that ran the dump didn't care. I don't know if it's still legal or no. Probably not as it involves guns + the civil rights of vermin.

Years ago we did it with greyhounds in South Texas. Jacks would come into freshly tilled fields and were easy to spotlight way out there. As soon a hound caught sight the chase was on.

More recently used rimfires but for the last several years we just haven't had the numbers we used to. Drought some years and coyotes others.

In the 1950s, we shot most everything that moved, including jack rabbits. We boys shot and cleaned them and Dad made chili meat from the jacks and mom chicken fried the cottontails. I still love a properly fried rabbit.

In the 70s I was driving through Granger, Tx. + this old pickup truck passed me with 2 old black men in the cab. In the bed were 2 Borzoi (Russian Wolfhounds) + strapped all along the length of the truck were jackrabbits. Those guys had done a serious day of hunting. I would have loved to have seen them in action. My dad used to tell me that when he was a kid he would run them down as although they are fast they can't keep it up for long. who knows, he lied to me about other stuff too.

We hunted them nearly every weekend during the summer on the mesa west of Las Cruces, New Mexico in the 60s. Shot them with everything we could come up with; shotguns, deer rifles, 22s, archery, pistols. You name it, we used it. All of it was daylight work, usually middle of the afternoon until dark. Left them where they dropped.

Shot them from the window of the car, the back of a Yamaha, and for one summer from the top of the backseat of my brother's 57 Chevy convertible.

I think our biggest day was 35 rabbits. Usually it was a 10 to 12. Badgers, skunks, coyotes, rattlers, and the occasional porcupine were "once in a lifetime" thrills.

Never spotlighted them. We were "done" by the time the sun went down.

As many as I spotlighted using pistol or rifle in the ranches surrounding Marfa, Texas, my favorite pass time was to walk jacks up and take them on the run at ranges from 50 to 400 yards or further with a varmint rifle or an iron sighted 25-35. Dont remember the misses only the hits! but it was and is sho nuff a great way to spend a weekend..makes you a great game shot rolling jacks at 200 yards.

I remember shooting lots of jacks in those sandhills I believe west of Upper Valley of El Paso, and man were the quail thick, and unbeknown the number of deer that liven out in those sandhills. My brother had a home that bordered those sandhills..My family ranched on the other side of the franklin mountains, as did I years later..those sandhills also had a lot of rabbits and quail, hardly any deer in the sandhills, but lots of deer in the Franklins North end and on top..

quote:

Now, what I really liked to do(way back when) was shoot rats at the local garbage dump at night with the 22lr. And yes, it was perfectly legal at the time

I could never get enough 22 shells for this activity.

Then just as it was getting dark the bears would start coming into the dump.

Nothing like thinking it was one of your buddies coming up behind you.

Only to turn around and find a black furry critter.

Some 20 years or more past, Idaho had a rabbit influx and you could get permission from any farmer or rancher, It was common to kill several thousand a day off one haystack or in any pasture or from the hiway, the liberal out of state bunny huggers went crazy. and the news media rode that pony to death. Local gun nuts, self included burned up there varmint and deer rifles practicing off hand shooting..over several months they deseased out as I recall..More on this can be supplied from Idaho Fish and Game.

Today you might see half a dozen in a day if your lucky..I recall it made the news media and the bunny huggers were up in arms..

I remember in the mid 80's, a friend cut the top off an old Buick and welded the doors shut. He called it the "Rabbit Mobile." We had around 1,500 acres to play on and Jack Rabbits were every where. It was the best practice ever hunting rabbits on the run using deer rifles. We never shot from the car. We would get close, stop the car and hop out. We had so much fun shooting at running rabbits.

This thread raises a Lot of good memories. Sounds like most shared the same experience, groups of boys, motorized vehicles, boxes of shells and piles of critters who’s only perceived value is target practice. I hate to say it, but sure feels like days that won’t return.