Last year about this time, I received a letter from a constituent requesting Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal to extend jackalope hunting season beyond just the single day of June 31. The one-day season, in the letter writer’s opinion, made it very difficult for nonresidents to make it to Wyoming to hunt this particular species.
Growing up in Wyoming, I am pretty familiar with the elusive jackalope and its legend. But like any good writer, I conducted some research before drafting a response. Turns out, there is quite a lot to learn about these rare little buggers! So in the interest of improving our collective hunting prowess, I offer the following helpful hints and facts to ponder when on the trail of the mighty jackalope.
- First of all, be sure which species you are hunting. A true Wyoming jackalope (Lepus temperamentalus) is a cross between a jackrabbit and an American pronghorn, and has antlers similar to a pronghorn. Jackalope are brown to gray in color, weigh between six and eight pounds and have horns up to 10 inches across.
- Do not confuse the jackalope with its more common cousin, the antelrabbit, a hybrid of the cottontail rabbit and now extinct pygmy deer. Antelrabbits are a richer shade of brown and have horns up to 12 inches across, with 3 to 4 points being common.
- Jackalope are thought to be mighty and powerful creatures. Jackalope milk is rumored to be medicinal and can be used to treat numerous ailments and afflictions. In fact, the milk comes out already homogenized because of the animal’s powerful leaps! According to one Web site, it is useful for people experiencing too many Mondays, two left feet, bad work attitudes, selective deafness, and baldness or graying of hair. You may drink the milk, or mix it with egg whites and use it like shampoo. I plan to try mine to help with the allergies that have plagued me since spring warm-up.
- Jackalope season is only two hours, 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. on the morning of June 31— that’s because it is a nocturnal animal. In fact, according to my biologist friend, Janet, they only mate during lightning storms. With Wyoming’s persistent and long-term drought, it’s no wonder they’re so hard to find!
- To locate a jackalope, try singing. They have a rare ability to mimic the human voice. My good friend, Ranch Foreman Ryan, swears the jackalope sing back to him when he’s out checking cows at calving time. “They prefer country music, but I’ve heard them harmonizing with me to a little Def Leppard and Whitesnake,” he swears. “I guess they have a thing for 80s hair bands.”
- When chased, the jackalope uses this ability to throw off its pursuer, shouting things like “He went that-a-way,” or “Hey, over here!” They are sneaky and deceptive— don’t fall for their trickery!
- Ty, the editor for the Wyoming Wildlife News, suggests locating the wiley creatures by locating their nests in stands of sagebrush. “The nests are above ground because their horns are too big to fit in an underground burrow.”
- Zach, a self-proclaimed jackalope expert, suggests baiting them over whiskey and peanut butter. Apparently when the peanut butter sticks to the roofs of their mouths, they get distracted and are easier to catch. He never would tell me exactly how to use the whiskey…some sort of proprietary secret, I’m sure.
- According to Small Game Hunter Carl, the jackalope is really a pacifist at heart and will first and foremost avoid conflict. When cornered, however, he will use his powerful horns to fight to the death rather than be taken alive. That’s why you’ll never see one in a zoo or wildlife preserve. They just don’t survive in captivity.
But one thing I didn’t understand, why the short hunting season? After applying for my own jackalope license, I went to the best source I knew, a Wyoming Game Warden. I fired off an e-mail asking for more information. Imagine my surprise when I received the following e-mail back from my friendly warden.
“Silly Outdoor Girl! Jackalopes can only be hunted on June 31 because, like the creature, that date does not really exist.”
The jackalope is actually a fictitious animal. The legend of this animal started in Casper, Wyoming, in the 1930s when Douglas Herrick, a local Wyoming resident, created a taxidermy mount of a rabbit with a pair of deer antlers. The creation was sold to a Douglas, Wyoming, hotel, and the legend snowballed from there. To this day, the city of Douglas is commonly known as the jackalope capital of the world. The Douglas Chamber of Commerce has issued thousands of souvenir jackalope hunting licenses over the years.
You were ready to go hunting with me June 31, weren’t you?
Don’t worry, it’s a legend all of us Wyoming folks like to perpetuate on unsuspecting visitors and transplants. Sort of a right of passage to become an honorary Wyomingite. Now you can tell family and friends back home everything you know about jackalope…if they believe you, tell them I’ve also got some land for sale right here in Wyoming where the wind NEVER blows!
