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Rotten Library > Cryptozoology > Snipes
Snipes and Snipe Hunts
One of the most common hazing techniques for "green" game hunters and Boy Scouts is to send the new members out to hunt for "snipes," which are some species of bird that only comes out at night. No gun is given to them, just a flashlight and a gunny sack, since that's all that's needed to catch them. The other members of the team accompany the greenhorn out into the woods and go their separate ways looking for the creature, with the veterans making their way back to the lodge or camp to find the quarry, since it has as good a chance of being there than anywhere else.
This entire process lacks sodomy or a drinking-related death, so it's pretty tame as far as hazing rituals go. Like every other process or concept on the face of the Earth, snipes and snipe hunts have been comercialized, with shirts, hats, and guides on hunting the elusive snipe. Confusing the matter somewhat, there actually is a long-billed bird called the Snipe. But it is a diurnal creature, so there's really no chance that a yokel squatting in the nighttime woods holding a sack in one hand and flashlight in the other is ever going to screw up and actually catch one.
Other classic campsite pranks involve sending the rookie to procure any of the following gear:
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If you're ever tasked with hunting for snipes, be sure to pull that sack immediately over the head of the goofus who gave you the assignment and bludgeon him with the flashlight; that's really the only way you're going to catch anything.