2019 going to be a year of "tough Sledding"!

After due consideration and a lot of miles, I have come to the conclusion that its going to be a tough year. You would think that with all my seniority in this job I could get a break every once and a while, but nooooo. Not a chance, but enough whining. I will just call it my new exercise program, and get on with it.

Yesterday John Hauck and I drove down to Oregon Canyon to see if there was any truth to a statement by an acquaintance that there were a lot of Rabbits in the Sage down there. There are always pockets of Jack populations here and there, and it was my hope that this would be so again. However, as almost all of the uninitiated tend to think that two Jacks in the drive way are "lots of Rabbits", I was skeptical but I needed to look to make sure.

Oregon Canyon has two ranches in it. One is Tree Top, a huge holdings in at least two states if not more. The dirt road in the  Canyon goes behind Blue Mountain and on through to the White Horse Road. I know that it is an area sometime frequented by Sage Grouse, as well as Rabbits. I ran the dogs twice in likely spots and walked in two others and didn't see a darn thing. Jack Rabbits are very interesting creatures. They will travel pretty long distances to feed and actually do not need water all that much. So they could be coming from far away pockets at night to feed on their hay and Alfalfa fields.

Giving up on the area we went across the hills heading to another ranch on the Whitehorse Road. On the way we found a fresh road kill on the "two track" dirt road. I stopped to check it and it was still a bit warm and not all that damaged. Food is food, so I picked it up. Aside from being in what I thought was an unlikely spot, the only traffic up there is the rancher in a 4000 gallon water truck that comes through once or twice a day. Life is like that sometimes. When you least expect it, out of nowhere something knocks you flat. I had hunted that spot before with the hawk, and it was not what I would call a productive spot, so we kept going. Probably the only resident, and the victim of as unlikely circumstance as one could find.

When we got to the ranch I did jump three rabbits, but none of them were caught. I put in three miles through the Sage for three Jacks. We came home empty handed.

Today I went by my self back to Arock. I had a spot there that I had not hunted yet. While I did not expect many Rabbits, there were more there than I had located so far. The Cheat Grass is just below the knee, and while I count that as a plus when flying after them. The weeds have to be causing them problems keeping track of a fast flying hawk. The only problem is that the Rabbits seem to avoid that kind of cover, so it just signals to the Rabbits that "something this way comes", and they beat feet as soon as they decide that it isn't Horses or Cows walking. That in return elicits a far off chase by Hope that has little chance of success. If Jacks have time to plan and think, they will come out on top almost every time. Jacks have three basic methods of avoiding being caught. The first is to run far and fast when they are aware of danger. When that gets them chased each and every time they begin using the second which is to hide. The third is to change the places that they hide.

At first they will be scattered all through a field of Sage. All human hunters tend to follow the same trails and patterns when coursing a field. The Jacks notice and start hiding in the places that you do not walk. So at first they are all over. Then they go to the far corners, then they go to the most unlikely spot in the field, hiding behind or under the most unlikely  spot in the field. So one has to pause every few yards, causing the ones hiding in plain sight to lose their nerve and make a run for it. If they are close enough that they don't have time to plan, Hope will catch them.

I left my dogs behind today. I just cannot get Josie to stay close enough. She is a fantastic dog, that has 10 years of experience, but she just runs "too big" to do me any good. My male Brick, stays within 25 yards of me, but I am not going to leave Josie home and take Brick. Not fair, so both suffer. In times of plenty there are enough opportunities to make up for the longer slips at Jacks. Josie will help the Hawk, if she catches one by the butt, and Hope isn't put off by them at all. I just don't have enough Jacks to take any longer flights than necessary.

Another of my problems is the high grass, and my car. I do not want to park over any of the grass, so that means I have to choose my parking carefully. Last thing I want is a fire caused by my car. Then it also has "Eyesight", so if there grass or sage behind me it locks up the brakes. Makes it a bit interesting turning around to leave.

I parked about a half mile from the field that I wanted to hunt. We saw nothing all across the field. I climbed over the fence and had not gone very far when a Jack busted and hope was after him. She missed him in two attempts. I went to where she was and we soon jumped another one and this flight ended with the Jacks death song. I had problems finding them, because I couldn't hear them. Hope always tries for a head shot, and it's tough to scream with your mouth clamped shut, so I had to calm my breathing so that I could hear the grunts the Jack was making.

As I was cleaning the Jack I noticed that he had a very large pocket of Tape worms on his side. I'm not sure how much that contributed to his being caught, but most of the prey that Raptors catch is handicapped in some way or another. Not sure if a healthy one would have gotten away, but having a large pus pocket on your side couldn't have been a plus. ( These are "dog tape worms" and do not affect Raptors at all)

The foot seems to be working quite well. You will notice that she has an ear wadded up in that foot.