Ditches and poor choices- again.

Today was Jessie's turn again, and after we had flown Tami's little Kestrel, Meg, I took Jessie out of the car and suited her up. We had noticed some Ducks in the ditch behind Tami's house. Dave had been feeding the Cows in the far field, and we waited for him and the dogs to clear. I watched to see if the Ducks flushed when he crossed the creek, but they did not. I had Karen and Reuben to help me flush, so I turned Jessie loose and let her get some altitude.

She is in the upper left corner of the above picture. We let her get a bit more altitude, and then ran at an empty ditch. The fact that my curses were not audible, didn't mean that they weren't there. I started down the creek as fast as my old legs would carry me. I finally did flush a Teal that told me by its anxious dive into the Tules again that Jessie was still with me more or less.

After I had gotten across the fence and about a 1/4 mile down the ditch I hit some Mallards, but they too decided that the ditch was a lot safer than the sky. I would flush, they would fly down the twisting creek and splash in before she could get to them. She will (almost without exception) not hit a Mallard at speed, but she will bind with one and fight it on the ground. Finally after what I figured was about 3/4 of a mile, grabbed a hen Mallard, but apparently lost it when they crashed into the Greasewood. By this time both our tongues was hanging out and she sat down in a Greasewood bush. I had dressed way too well and was wringing wet, so I gratefully tossed her the lure. I had done my job, even though it was an inadequate one. I had produced Ducks. She had done the best she could and stuck with me for more than 20 minutes. No one wins every time, not even Jessie.

JASPER

Jasper is still with us, but things are getting a bit tougher. I noticed him the other day and he was busy trying to get something to eat, and not getting much, at least that was my guess. I went out to lock up the Chickens for the night and when I opened the door to give them some food, there was Jasper inside the Chicken house. ( You may remember that the Chicken house was one of the main suppliers of Sparrow meat for him when we were hunting him. It is no surprise that if he felt it necessary to switch to Sparrows that he would remember where they could be found. ) He was not happy to see me at all, and neither were the Chickens that he was landing on in his panic. I opened the door and stepped aside so that he could fly out. He wasted no time in doing so. I finished my chore and went into the house to tell Karen of his adventures.

Karen went out to do her chores and when she returned told me that she could hear his "killy killy" alarm call, but could not find him. I decided to check the Chicken house again. There he was stuck in a bit of space under the eves. I reached in and picked him up, taking him outside and again releasing him again. He didn't want me to catch him, but he show no real sign of distress when I did. He has not gone back in again, but he is still here.