origin of the Jackalope

[JohnHarrelson]

One of my favorite camping memories is of my honeymoon and our first trip to Wall, South Dakota and the world famous Wall Drug Store.. 

Our first year together we decided to take a tour of America on our new Goldwing motorcycle and used a 6' x 10' piece of blue tarp for a tent. 
We were young [font=Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif](me 34 and wife 21)[/font] and some might say we were foolish, but wanted adventure in our marriage.  Boy did we get it.. 

We stopped that afternoon at Wall Drug and decided to stay the night because we were soaked to the skin from riding in the rain all day. 
It was drizzling rain and muggy hot so we stretched out under the tarp to rest in the late afternoon about supper time.. 

We were just lying there talking when suddenly my wife sits up with a wild look on her face and points toward some bushes several yards away. I didn't see anything, so I asked her what was wrong.. 

She said there was a very small deer jumping about in the bushes.. She thought it may be hurt and I should go check it out.. 
I am not a hero, so I picked up a stout piece of firewood and walked over to the bushes.. 

SUDDENLY a small animal with horns jumped out right at my feet !!.. scared the bee-jeeeeze out of me.. 

Panicking, without thinking, I swung that piece of firewood at the thing and knocked it flying... it landed on the grass near the tarp where we had been laying... 

The wife lets out a blood curdling scream and almost tears the tarp down trying to get away.. Needless to say, I was also shook up. 
But I walked over to see what that thing was and could not believe my eyes,,, 

it was an animal that looked like a cross between a rabbit's body and a mule deer's antlers.. Yes sir,, that was the weirdest thing I have ever seem.. 

I felt bad about killing it, but since it was dead anyway, I picked it up and carried it into town to a local taxidermist and had it stuffed.. 

The folks at the Wall Drug said they were very rare and offered to buy it from me.. You bet !! for a hundred dollars, I let them keep it.. 

The next year we took our annual cross country trip in our Chevy Van and once again stopped in at Wall Drug, South Dakota.. We could not believe our eyes... 

that strange animal that I called a "Jackalope" was so popular with the tourist that the Wall Drug Store had started making life-like copies of my Jackalope and were selling them to folks.. 

Talking about a missed opportunity ... If I had only known, I could have done that and would be a millionaire today.. 

When I asked about the real jackalopes in the wild, I was told that they were an endangered species and had been put on the protected list so they could not be hunted.. 

That is why today, you can only find plastic look-a-likes of the Jackalope.. 

The most popular tourist stop in America is WALL DRUG SOUTH DAKOTA ... right on interstate 90.. y'all stop by and say howdy,,, yuh hear, 

John  08/08/11 05:51pm

 

[highdesertranger]

ok. highdesertranger

 

[I Like Turtles]

 animal with horns jumped out right at my feet !!.. scared the bee-jeeeeze out of me.

It can't of been a jackalope sounds more like an African horned tortoise.

Are you sure there weren't any travelling zoos nearby.  They are the fastest known living turtle.  There was a prehistoric extinct turtle that was as fast as a hedgehog.  Maybe a lost link to that.

 

[Pleasant Travels]

I think it is veeeeeeeery important to go find that same source of medication you were on, and get some more.

 

[LivGolden]

Left after visiting Salida & Buena Vista, Colorado, last year, heading South but somehow wound up in SD instead. We kept seeing motorcycles like crazy. I was oblivious about Sturgis and wound up there during the Rally-camping alongside about a million or so bikers - just me and my puppy. Nicest guys you'll ever meet, really. Never felt safer and had a nice time. Being widowed after a long, wonderful marriage to a very nice man, I was hesitant to pitch my tent in a field of obvious desperadoes. The morning a whole group of them left, one stopped to offer their farewells and best wishes to me. He handed me a business card. The entire group were attorneys and accountants. Desperadoes of another nature, perhaps. What an experience and it started at the Wall Drug Store. South Dakota is a good memory...

 

[Trout]

While living in Casper Wyoming we often went to Douglas for work. That is where the original Jackalope resided and was found in the 50's. Must have been a cousin to the Bavarian Wolpertinger of ancient lore.