In 1934, Douglas taxidermists Ralph and Doug Herrick through the combination of a jackrabbit and deer antlers, created the first ever jackalope. Over 80 years later the legends and lies associated with the creature have continually grown and Douglas, Wyoming has earned a solid reputation as the “Jackalope City.”
Local citizens grasped the moniker with pride, erecting an eight-foot Jackalope in the community center (see inset photo), fittingly named Jackalope Square. The giant jackalope was the largest on record until a local resident stood a 13-foot jackalope silhouette on a hill outside of town.
On July 10, 1990, citizens across Wyoming held celebrations for Wyoming’s 100th anniversary of statehood. Douglas residents chose to commemorate the occasion by dedicating Jackalope Square in the city’s center. Public restrooms, a gazebo and an expansive lawn surround the eight-foot jackalope that stands along center street on the main route through downtown. Farmers markets, Christmas caroling and more are held in the downtown park. Each June, on the second weekend of the month, Jackalope Square serves as the headquarters for the annual Jackalope Days celebration.
Guests in the Douglas community are encouraged to visit the local Train Museum where they can obtain their very own jackalope hunting license. The licenses are filled with some little known, and mostly unbelievable, facts about jackalope. Here are a few of our favorites...
- It is only legal to hunt jackalope between sunrise and sunset on June 31 of each year.
- The first recorded sighting of a jackalope was by Roy Ball, an occasionally sober trapper, who staggered into Wyoming territory around 1829.
- Jackalope only mate during flashes of lightning common to violent thunderstorms.
- The nocturnal, and quite large, saber tooth jackalope is thought to be the predecessor species to the modern jackalope.
