ISALC, Lewis and Clark College

Not Catching Jerboas, But Hunting Them by Majed Abulola

 

In Saudi Arabia's deserts, many people of different ages go to hunt deer, rabbits, and other animals. However, maybe this is the first time you have heard about hunting jerboas, and don't misunderstand, we are hunting them, not catching them and, of course, there is a difference between hunting and catching. Jerboa is one of the species of mice that live in the deserts. The reason for hunting them is to eat them, and actually I haven't tried them, but I have heard from some of my friends that they taste like chicken. So how do they hunt this animal?

According to my friends back in Saudi Arabia, hunting jerboas isn't a big deal because it is so easy. In fact, there are two ways of hunting this animal. One way is to hunt during the daylight and the other is during the night. My friends always prefer the daytime because, according to them, hunting jerboas in the daytime is more fun. During the day, jerboas can be hunted with rifles, but how do they pursue them? First, when the hunters are riding on their trucks, they try to see the jerboas in order to start their pursuit, but once they find one of the jerboas, they start to chase it. Some people are actually in the trunk or on the hood of their cars in order to get a very good position to hunt this small animal. Also, the reason for doing that is because this small animal can hide so easily because of his skin color, which is very close to the habitat that he lives in, and because of his small body shape that gives him the ability to stick himself in any small hoes in the desert. After the hunters have good positions, they start to shoot at the jerboa.

In the nighttime, my friends are actually catching jerboas, not hunting them, but they have to do a little trick in order to catch them perfectly. The way of catching them is to have a very strong light that you can shine on the jerboas that can freeze them, so they can't move at all. The, you just have to come behind them and put your hand on their necks and put them in bags.

Honestly, I don't like this kind of hunting because it seems to me that we still aren't modernized, in other words it is like the nomads. However, this could be a lot of fun for other people, but not for me. But I think that hunting and catching jerboas will stay in my country for at least another generation.

Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 10/23/99