Rabbits

Rabbits appear as both abundant game and a small source of cash in Kenyon Clutter’s rural childhood. His occasional roundups with his friend turn marksmanship into a practical enterprise: a successful delivery could mean as many as fifty animals sold to a Garden City processing plant.

The Roundups

Kenyon was a good shot, and his friend was better. Together they sometimes brought half a hundred rabbits to the processing plant, which paid ten cents for each animal. The rabbits were quick-frozen and shipped to mink growers, linking the boys’ local hunting to a commercial trade beyond the farm.

Place in Kenyon’s Childhood

The roundups were profitable, but the account distinguishes them from the boys’ most cherished outdoor activity: overnight hunting hikes along the river, whose reward was a dozen duck dinners swinging from their belts. Rabbits belong instead to the practical side of their shared country life, where skill in the field could produce money as well as game.