What happened to all the jacks?

I remember visiting my uncles ranch in NM when I was a kid and him handing me his lever action .22 and a pouch full of bullets and told me to go shoot every rabbit I saw.
Now mind you, I was a Southerner used to a rabbit season and he said they have no seasons for Jacks out there. A 12yr old boy with what seemed like an infinite amount of bullets and targets was as close to heaven as I could imagine!! I’d never seen rabbits like that or that many in my life!
 
Spurchaser said:
I remember visiting my uncles ranch in NM when I was a kid and him handing me his lever action .22 and a pouch full of bullets and told me to go shoot every rabbit I saw.
Now mind you, I was a Southerner used to a rabbit season and he said they have no seasons for Jacks out there. A 12yr old boy with what seemed like an infinite amount of bullets and targets was as close to heaven as I could imagine!! I’d never seen rabbits like that or that many in my life!
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Sounds like most Saturdays for me growing up. And a not inconsiderable number of Saturdays as an adult.

- DAA
 
I had about forgot but DAA’s video reminded me when I was stationed at Barstow California in 1965, three or four of us would walk around the outside edges of the irrigated alfalfa fields and shoot desert jacks about like DAA is seen doing. That was some fun shooting
 
parson said:
I had about forgot but DAA’s video reminded me when I was stationed at Barstow California in 1965, three or four of us would walk around the outside edges of the irrigated alfalfa fields and shoot desert jacks about like DAA is seen doing. That was some fun shooting
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My time at NAS Miramar in 60-61 was filled with jackrabbit raids and in great numbers.
 
I grew up in Central N D. and in the winters in the 70's the Mink and Fox Ranch over by Sheyenne N.D. would give us 75 cent per Jack Rabbit. We would go out at night with 22's and shotguns and fill a pickup box full of Jack's. A 8 ft box held between 325 to 350 Jack's. Are spot light was a Bleach jug with the bottom cut out of it and a car headlight pushed in the opening and you had a natural handle. He had a big grinder and would drop the whole animal in the grinder. The frozen animals went thru real easy, the nonfrozen one not as good.

I think all the pesticides and herbicides are what are killing all the rabbits around here. We see very few Meadow Larks and other ground nesting birds now days.
 
1lessdog said:
I grew up in Central N D. and in the winters in the 70's the Mink and Fox Ranch over by Sheyenne N.D. would give us 75 cent per Jack Rabbit. We would go out at night with 22's and shotguns and fill a pickup box full of Jack's. A 8 ft box held between 325 to 350 Jack's. Are spot light was a Bleach jug with the bottom cut out of it and a car headlight pushed in the opening and you had a natural handle. He had a big grinder and would drop the whole animal in the grinder. The frozen animals went thru real easy, the nonfrozen one not as good.

I think all the pesticides and herbicides are what are killing all the rabbits around here. We see very few Meadow Larks and other ground nesting birds now days.
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Don’t think I ever got more than 25 cents, but then old Bodie our fur buyer was never known to be generous
 
borkon said:
I grew up in Moorhead. Mid 70s_ mid 80s, the jackrabbit #s were insane.
Dad used to drop my brother and I off in Georgetown in the morning and we'd walk cross country to our uncles about 7 miles away. We each had .22s Winchester semi autos. Several times, we'd get to my uncles empty of rounds.
We would each have a brick (500) when we started. Man, those were fun times!

Now it kinda rare to see one.
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I truly believe that what made us shooters to this day. I would be walking and a Jack would jump up in front of you. The first 100 or so you would shoot right away. After that you let them get out there farther to make it more of a challenge. I remember shooting them in the ears to get them to run faster. I shot 1000's of Jack's. It was crazy how many there were.
 
I was told Jacks cycle from high to low to high every 7 years. Out by Imlay Nevada a few years ago they were plentiful. Id sit on a rise overlooking a grassy field and pop 15-20 every afternoon and in the morning.
 
20+ Years ago when we were hunting Nevada a lot we would hunt Coyotes hard during the day and spotlight rabbits at night. Killed hundreds of rabbits a night back then. That was the main reason I built my .17 Ackley Hornet and bought my CZ .17 HMR. Didn’t want to waste the barrel life on those shots with my .22-250 and my .17 Tactical. Those were some fun times. Haven’t done that for several years though. Still get after the Coyotes a little bit out there but haven’t shot many rabbits recently.

Good Hunting Chad
 
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Can't speak for northern Nevada but the southern portion of the state has been a wasteland for rabbits for probably close to 10 yrs or better now. Really sad compared to when i was younger or even just 15-20 yrs ago. Lucky if i see even 1 per outing.
 
I grew up heading to the dez to jump shoot jacks. Myself, brother and dad spent many days wandering the sage jumping jacks. Some years we'd only see a few, other years we'd damn near wear out a barrel. It's been probably 20 years since I've seen big numbers like we used to get in certain areas. One of the areas I still travel through quite often. There is a main highway that goes right through the center of it. On big years it was easy to see jack population by the amount of roadkill. When they were thick there'd be a smashed one about every 50 yards.
 
Where I hunt I definitely more cottontails than Jacks, but when I do they’re coming to the Jack rabbit distress call! Once in a while I’ll see one run across the road tempting fate as I’m driving between stands. That being said though they are definitely not as plentiful as 10-15 yrs ago.
 
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