Wilderness
posted this
07 January 2025
Another "well done Jeff".
Real targets have fur (or equivalent).
In another life I used to shoot hares and rabbits. A female hare made a very good stew or curry. I wasn't so keen on rabbits. For those not in the know, hares have dark flesh like beef, while rabbits are white meat. I don't know how this plays out with American Jackrabbits.
European hares owe their presence in "the colonies" to the old sport of coursing - chasing hares with greyhounds. Once our more modern sensibilities converted coursing into greyhound racing as we know it today, with greyhounds chasing a "tin hare", the real hares were more or less left to go feral.
My father and his brother had two packs of hunting dogs, one working, one resting, that included some greyhounds. Game was hares, rabbits, foxes and pigs. At one time, just as the tin hare was coming into vogue, Dad had a particularly fast greyhound. He worried that being so fast the dog would end up running into a tree or a stake and killing himself. His local barber was a greyhound racer, so Dad gave him the dog. The barber arranged for a pedigree and papers and the dog was a big success. Dad said every time he went to town for a haircut there was ten pounds waiting for him courtesy of the greyhound races. It was a few years after this that Dad paid 12 pounds 10 shillings for a new Winchester Model 65 .218 Bee - so that dog was making real money.
You are only as good as your library.