The Myth of the Antlered Bunny
Every time my family and I made the trip to the Black Hills when I was a little kid, we always had to stop at Wall Drug. We always got some ice-cream, my mom looked at Black Hills Gold Jewelry and my dad looked through as many of the 1,000’s of historic artifacts/photos that he could.
As you can imagine, a place like Wall Drug that attracts over 30,000 visitors daily during the peak season sells quite the variety of souvenirs. One type of keepsake always caught my attention more than the others….
The Jackalopes.
If you’re not from South Dakota or one of the neighboring states, you might be slightly dumbfounded by the term “Jackalope.” This would happen to be a super-breed of bunny crossed with an antelope, creating a small, horned rabbit supposedly indigenous to the American West. Wall Drug is filled with all kinds of Jackalope memorabilia, large and small, ranging from around $2 to over $100.
But how did all this bunny business start? Here’s what I found out today:
The idea of the Jackalope, also called antelabbit, stagbunny or Wyoming thistle hare, possibly came from sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope Papilloma Virus. This virus is known for causing antler-like tumors to form on a rabbit’s body, hence making the animal appear to be a product of cross-breeding with a goat, deer or antelope.
The myth of the Jackalope goes even further. Many believe the Jackalope to be a very shy, quick and intelligent animal, making sightings very rare. The milk of the females is thought by some to have powerful medicinal purposes, and Jackalolpe meat supposedly tastes like lobster.
Interested in a hunting expedition for mythical bunny rabbit? You can get a hunting license during the one and only official day of the Jackalope season in Douglas, Wyoming, on June 31 from midnight to 2 AM.
Maybe during your next family trek to Wall Drug, you should heed my mother’s advice and keep on the lookout for the infamous Jackalopes. Could it be possible her advice was more than just a ploy to keep my brother and me from fighting in the car? You can decide for yourself.
For more Jackalope info, take a look at these sites:
Holy crap, there’s a hunting season?? I am so there this year. I see you can attract them by putting out a flask of whiskey. Hell yeah. Jackalopes won’t be the only ones getting to drink whiskey that night!
Now be careful, I recently read that they can also imitate human voices. Guns,whiskey and sneaky bunnies at midnight does not shout a passing grade a hunter’s safety course!
Wait till you get gored by one of those buggers. Then you won’t think it’s so darn funny. I know. I been there.
I don’t really see how this who thing can be such a big joke. Animals with serious diseases aren’t good material for joking!! Instead of working to find a cure for shope papilloma virus, they’re actually GIVING it to healthy rabbits and watching to see what it does. If that isn’t cruel and unusual, I don’t know what is!!
I just looked up that virus. Man that is messed up. I also so there is a strain that humans can get. It just causes warts and the like, but some guy in Indonesia had some genetic defect so his body couldn’t fight it and he looks like a tree. Just, wow, messed up.
We must save these noble creatures! I just joined the Save The Jackalopes!!! group on Facebook and I suggest you all do the same. We must pool our strengths and be the voice for the voiceless! Help for the helpless! Help these poor furry creatures crawl back from the brink of extinction.
I see your blog has “bought into” the corporate, mainstream, liberal media lies about Jackalopes not being real. By conveniently labeling these poor animals as a “myth” we remove them from reality and thus remove them from government oversight by the Department of the Interior. As a result the corporate, industrial “harvesting” of these poor creatures goes unchecked. What will we do when these proud beasts no longer roam the earth? Start hunting Snipes?!
I for one enjoy hunting jackalopes. They are one of scariest animals I have ever hunted. They can turn on their pursuers in fraction of a second. I have hunted all game from lions to Alaskan bears and the jackalope is the best hunt ever. Check out this great video of a hunt below….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAD9F8bj7tw&NR=1
Oooh! I see! It’s a conspiracy. Wall Drug is injecting perfectly normal rabbits with shope papilloma so they turn into jackalopes to keep their store supplied? I don’t blame the poor bunnies from turning vicious at that point. Or turning carnivorous. Or wanting whiskey.
I hear that the jackalope is a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived. Bones of full fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth!