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178 I had one doe that always brought forth nine little fellows at a breeding.

Of course the size of the litter may be somewhat due to the strength and age of the buck, but at one time I tested a buck by breeding him to two does one right after the other. When the litters arrived there were nine in each litter. The two does were sisters and came from the doe which habitually brought nine to a litter. I do not know whether the trait descended from mother to daughter. That is something for the experts to decide.

But the point is this: While litters are generally large, it should not be taken for granted that Nature intends the mother doe to raise all that come. Many will die in the natural state and old plainsmen tell me that the jack rabbit seldom raises more than a pair to the litter. This also seems to be true of the cotton tail and the brown hare of the Northern woods.

If you want to lose them just as Nature calculated, why try and experiment and see how