Saturday, June 28, 2014

Jackrabbits

This photo is reported to be from the journal of Lewis and Clark.  I see these hares almost every morning when I walk.  We still have some vacant lots near our subdivision that are cultivated for hay or grain.  I walk the edges of these lots and that's where I encounter these interesting creatures.  I wonder how much longer it will be before they are pushed out of my area by development.  I wrote a poem about them and I hope you enjoy it.

Jackrabbit Blues
  
With houses hogging every lot
the habitat is shrinking fast
for hounded hares of Harlingen
who cling to every clump of grass.

They‘re long and lean
with ears to match
and walk with rocking gait.
Rumps up, heads low.

In howling wind they hunker down
on sparsely covered bits of ground
and run with blinding speed when danger’s near.
Then disappear in broad daylight.

And when I think we’ve seen the last
I scan the vacant lots’ tall grass
and there they sit, this tiny band
of hounded hares from Harlingen.


 Dennis Price

1 comment:

  1. My grandma loaned us a .22 single shot rifle when I was a seven years old. Come fall Dad and I were out jack rabbit hunting for the bounty. As I recall, the bounty started out at 10 cents a head. By late November, early December, the bounty climbed all the way to two bits. A box of .22 shorts went for 52 cents a box of 50. A kid could make a lot more Christmas money than he could delivering Grit.

    By the way, often I would get up on a Saturday morning, grab the rifle and head out by myself. Times have changed. The concept of a seven years old hunting would cause an uproar. The idea of that same seven years old hunting alone ... I shudder to think.

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