Entertainment

[pitw]

Cheap entertainment.
  Friday I was down as far South as I spray, doing 270 acres of the 4,000 I do for this customer.  We call it the Indian land as it is hard access, rocky, sandy and generally a real pain.  I hardly ever get it sprayed without a wreck of some kind and Friday was no exception as my rear right tire on the sprayer came off on my third last pass[stud bolts all broke off from the chattering].  I decided to move my Kenworth 7 miles North and 3 miles West so I didn't have to haul the sprayer on that freakin goat trail again. 
  After two and half miles on the goat trail driving in 6th gear[KW has a 13 speed tranny] I come to a gravel road that has a speed curve coming from the East and on that curve is a jack rabbit loping along and it pulls in front of me as is it's right cause it did have the right of way.   It's just loping along in front of me so I figure the race is on.  I grab 7th and then eightth as the rabbit just keeps loping along in front of me with both ears up and turning to keep track of it's surroundings.  I grab ninth and the rabbit pulls over to the left side of the road still just loping .  I grab 10th and she lays back her left ear to reduce wind drag.   Then I figure let's see what she's got and switch to eleventh and put my foot in her, the familiar throaty roar of the 400 cummins at full throttle sounds cool and that rabbit which is just outside my drivers door lays back the other ear and bears down.   For 1/2 a mile she is running right beside me like there is no way in [L] this old truck is passing her.   She had her buck teeth gritted and looked just like a 16 year old in his first drag race with determination written on her face. The gravel is flying behind her as she is throwing it up with every jump and it was the coolest experience of the spring. At the 1 mile mark there is a trail on the left hand side of the road that leads to a fellows yard.  Just before this rabbit looks up at me and fella's I swear she winked at me.   She turned left at full speed and her back slid out in a little drift as she made the turn. 
  Now you can watch youtube vids all day but you will never see something like this without being out in the outdoors yourself.  That bunny made what most would consider a horrible day at best into the best day of the spraying season for me[by far].  I have this memory of a rabbit to go with my other rabbit stories as they have been some of my best entertainment through life.   This prompted me to come home and order two of these.
http://www.mint.ca/store/coins/coin-prod2610109?lang=en_CA&sp_mid=14714068&sp_rid=cGl0dzc1QHlhaG9vLmNhS0&spMailingID=14714068&spUserID=ODI3NzM3MTMyMzQS1&spJobID=800764503&spReportId=ODAwNzY0NTAzS0#.V2aJLaKxnlo

[Hawks Feather]

Pretty neat story and I felt like I was going along for the ride.  For some reason I thought after Jack winked and turned left you were going to say that you hit some monster hole that you didn't see because you were watching the race.  I am glad you posted this.

Jerry

[Okanagan]

Barry, absolutely love your story.  One of the best, especially because it is true to life.

One of my bad habits is to tell "me too" stories but yours does remind me of my youth.   I was 16 years old on my first real job away from home, driving wheat truck on a big ranch in Eastern Oregon.  It was harvest time, likely late July, maybe Aug. firstish, mid afternoon in 100 degree heat when a jack rabbit loped into the road ahead of me as I pulled out of a field onto a gravel ranch road.  Unusually for that country, the road ran perfectly straight for 3 or four miles, up and down a bit and across a big flat.  Sage along much of the left, stubble field to the right.

That rabbit left me way behind as I worked up through the gears with a heavily loaded truck, and he sped up as I closed but he couldn't outrun the big red Dodge.  Every time he would disappear behind the front of my truck hood I'd back off a bit to stay behind him.  He peaked out at 37 mph, not as fast as I expected.  After a mile and a half he started slowing and some sweat started showing like on a hard working horse.  I had to downshift, then again.  My memory is old but I think he made it three miles and I was down to granny gear as he slowed to walking speed.  I came to a stop, feeling sorry for him, and he finally hobbled off to the left, sides heaving, and sat there as I eased past. 

You'd think he would have run off of the road as soon as I started chasing but my guess is that most animals figure that they can run faster on the road so stay with it, thinking that their speed is the best chance for escape. 

Thanks for bringing back a good memory--- and you still get to do such stuff!   

[pitw]

Thanks for the story Clyde.   I was with you on that trip now.

Another rabbit story happened 20 years ago.  A buddy was with me as we followed a Jack down an old road allowance going maybe 25 mph we approached a Texas gate.  That dang rabbit launched itself in the air fully 20 feet before the gate and I'll swear on a stack of bibles it went up at the very least 15' and landed a good 20 feet on the other side.  My buddy and I were  in awe of it's superman power.  We then followed it another 1/4 mile to another Texas gate where we were expecting another grand leap.  That rabbit just hopped over this one clearing it by maybe 5 inch's.   Buddy looked at me with that let down look I was feeling.

[Okanagan]

Thanks for the story Clyde.   I was with you on that trip now.

Another rabbit story happened 20 years ago.  A buddy was with me as we followed a Jack down an old road allowance going maybe 25 mph we approached a Texas gate.  That dang rabbit launched itself in the air fully 20 feet before the gate and I'll swear on a stack of bibles it went up at the very least 15' and landed a good 20 feet on the other side.  My buddy and I were  in awe of it's superman power.  We then followed it another 1/4 mile to another Texas gate where we were expecting another grand leap.  That rabbit just hopped over this one clearing it by maybe 5 inch's.   Buddy looked at me with that let down look I was feeling.

  "Nother good one.  Thanks.

[Dave]

Great stories guys! 

[Carolina Coyote]

Better than a Roadrunner  cartoon!!!

[5 SHOTS]

A few years back, a close friend and I were out spotlighting rabbits and I spotted a big jack out in the field along side us. The jackbunny was running hell bent to cross the road in front of us. As he crossed the road ditch he jumped straight up about 10 or so feet in the air. When he came down he ran back out into the field to circle and try again with the same results. 4 times he tried to cross the ditch and went straight up before I noticed the electric fence buried in the snow. Jim and I joked about how dumb they were for about a mile when Jim spotted another one doing the same thing, only this one made it onto the road and as he turned to cross the other ditch on the other side the road he ran square into an old cedar fence post and knocked himself out. We spent a while sitting alongside the road laughing and decided to let both them go. 

[pitw]

Man I'd paid good money to see that.   I've watched a lot of deer get sling shotted backwards from hitting barbed wire fences.

[FinsnFur]

I gots find me a rabbit to race now
Quite an interesting thread I must say. I'm enjoying these lol

[Okanagan]

5 Shots, on your story about the rabbit that ran into the post, I wonder if he was blinded by the lights?  Years ago we had a cougar in our headlights that seemed blinded and kept bumping his nose into things along a woven wire fence as he tried to get out of our headlights.  After a few minutes of following him down the fence line, a big rock forced me to swing my headlights away from him and as soon as he was in the dark he jumped the fence easily, as if he could finally see what he needed to do.

This is Barry's thread but we likely shouldn't limit it to rabbits.  I've chased several coyotes, some moose and deer, etc.  30 years ago a trucker on the haul road north to Ft. McMurray or somewhere up in the oil patch got a cow moose trotting down the road ahead of him.  The trucker who told me the story said that the fellow eased up and nudged the cow in the rear end just for fun.  She kicked a big hoof through his grill and radiator...

[pitw]

Barry's thread.
I would hijack a thread started by god so expect same.
Have chased many animals down roads but one I remember well was an emu in Australia.  They had page wire fences where I was at least 8 foot tall to keep the roo's outta the crops. Well the boss is driving the '29 Indian with me in the sidecar when we come upon an emu that takes off down the road and we're doing whatever over 30mph when that bird that is running right along side that tall fence sticks it's head through the wire  . Well that emu's head stopped immediately which cause the rest of it to slow down some rapid.  There were feathers, legs, head and neck flying and I just knew that we were gonna be eating emu.  Then to my total surprise that bird got up and away it went again at which point the boss yells, "Watch This".  He gets it going even faster after a 1/4 mile and again it stuck it's head through the wire which necessitated the exact same reaction .  The boss said we could do many more times but instead we turned about and left that poor bird alone.  
  Boys I can tell you I  for hours after that one.

[Okanagan]

That sounds like Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark!    Did you write the script for that movie? 

Hard to imagine that the emu didn't break its neck.  Had no idea they were that tough.

[FinsnFur]

Yeah I was expecting "blood" to be added to the "feathers, legs, head and neck flying"

[pitw]

I figured that bird was dead too.  Couldn't beelieve it survived once and twice was beyond comprehension.
What happened to the shocked smiley thingy?

[FinsnFur]

 

[pitw]

[FinsnFur]

 

[Okanagan]

Here's a coyote vs Ford Bronco with some after-impact subtleties...

I was heading down a two mile long dirt road to a friend's house one night when I rounded a tight bend and close ahead of me in the headlights was a coyote turning from broadside into a sprint away from me.  He accelerated and reflexively so did I.  My rig was a '73 Bronco running a blueprinted and balanced 302 with a 3/4 race cam.   The road was a dusty slot between walls of thick brush, chokecherry and Saskatoon berries.  The coyote stayed on the road and I took him dead center of the vehicle, accelerating all the way.  Two or three bumps under the rig indicated contact with front axle or something similar.  I stopped, backed up and put the coyote in a big trash bag to take home and skin later.  Coyote pelts were bringing sky high prices that winter. 

My friend was a traditionalist in his tribe, where coyote is the most prominent power spirit, so I didn’t mention it to him.  We got to talking folk stories, many of which feature coyote, and my friend said, “Coyote is stronger than Christ.” 

I pondered that a moment, considering the coyote in the back of my vehicle parked outside.  The comment sounded like a man trying to convince himself.  I slowly took a sip of good black coffee... and said nothing.

[FinsnFur]

  Awesome read. I think your Bronco with the Boss Mustang 302 in it, was more on the levels of Christ