Running out of Rabbits

Today was the third day for Hope on her own, and the first that she didn't at least get some hair in her toes. There was one field at the ranch that was just lousy with Rabbits, but the pressure on it has taken its toll. As near as I can figure about 150 rabbits were taken from that field. It is no stretch to say that all the dumb ones are dead, and I really need a dumb one now. She has caught three now but was kicked off all three.

She still impresses me by her willingness to come to me without thought of reward. Most often when she flies at a Jack, even if it takes her a hundred yards or more, she will turn and fly back to the Tee perch. We had several flights at the field that I have been hunting and the only excitement was an incident with a shotgun shell.

She flew off the perch and down under a bush. I first thought that she had gotten a lizard. Then I could see the purple shotgun shell. She was footing and biting it, but there just didn't seem to be much nourishment there at all. Perhaps she was trying to tell me that I needed something that was more effective than my 22.

After we had covered the entire field, I decided that I needed to keep going, and check some of the other fields in the hope that there would be more rabbits than I was finding. I walked another one only finding one rabbit that she chased, but it soon outpaced her. I managed to avoid a dead Calf that had been pulled up there for the Coyotes. Thankfully she was far enough away that she didn't realize that there was at least four hundred pounds of available meat that she could crawl up into. After I finished the field, I looked back and saw a Coyote sitting on the hillside waiting for us to leave.

 
I tried one more field, and we got a couple of pretty good slips, just not enough of them. I again packed the Virb camera on my shoulder, and didn't get any usable footage at all. Not to mention that I dropped it four times, so I think I will give that one up.

She did make a kill however, but lizards are so small that they don't do all that much to satisfy the appetite.