Our first stop was Antelope Reservoir. I had noticed in years past that there seemed to be a few Rabbits there, but had never hunted it. There were indeed a few, but only a few. The ground was miserable to walk on, all uneven from Cow tracks and other stuff. We had a few slips, but there was nothing there that I wanted to spend all that much energy on. After about an hour or so, I put Hope in the box and started to drive down to the camp ground to turn around. I began to see some cover that I did like, and took her out again for another fruitless walk.
The reservoir normally covers all the bare area that you can see, but since it is intended for irrigation, it is drawn down pretty low.
We then decided to try on the other side of Danner at a private airstrip that I had hunted before in the past. It holds both Jacks and Bunnies. The Bunnies are tough because of the Lava and all the Badger holes. I have never seen any other area so covered in Badger diggings and holes any where. It makes for a very good population of the Western Brush Bunny, but darned hard to put one in the bag. You have about 20 feet to get it done or they are gone.
I am not sure why Hope is having so much trouble catching Jacks here lately, but whatever it is, I sure wish that she would get it figured out. I spent at least an hour and half walking all over that area, jumping Jack after Jack and she just couldn't get it done. All of the few short slips that we had were so close that it was painful, but long or short the answer seemed to be the same. The Jacks were just that little bit better.
Karen and the dogs were in the car trying to follow along. I began to feel guilty, along with discouraged, so I told Karen to go back to where we came in and wait for me. I decided to make one last drive up towards that and if she didn't catch something we would quit until tomorrow. Hope had several slips while I was walking up there, but again just couldn't make contact with the Jacks. When I got to the car, Karen told me that Josie, my Brittney had been watching the strip of brush between the runway and the road. She was pretty sure that there was a Jack hiding in that strip. I told Karen to follow along the road and I would walk it. Before we ran out of cover ( it was about 15 feet wide and a 1/4 mile long. ) I jumped 12 Jacks out of it. Hope still jinked when she should have zagged, and it was obvious that we were going home without a Jack in the bag.
Hope weighed 894 grams this morning, and was quite anxious to get my attention. I decided to try a new area again today. This one is on the West side of the ranch next door. It is a Sage flat that is a transition area bordering on a cattle pasture with a lot of springs and grass. It is about 1/2 mile from the pasture. I have found Jacks there in years past, but the numbers were not all that high, as well as I had other spots that were better so I never hunted it much.
I have had several years of observation concerning Jack population areas. For instance here, on any given day 30 to 60 Jack Rabbits travel through the field below me to drink water in the evening. Lots of them eat the lawn around the house, but during the day you would be hard pressed to flush more than 6 Rabbits within 1/4 mile of the house. Perhaps there are more, but one thing for sure there are not 30 to 60 Jacks living around the house. I checked the internet for papers and studies of the Black Tailed Jack Rabbit and found that the normal home range of a Jack is about 40 acres, but that they will travel up to 10 miles for forage.
So no matter how good the food supply is for Jacks, such as Alfalfa fields, all the Jacks using it do not live there, most commute there from the surrounding country side. Timing is very important as to when you hunt, as well as the location.
This area that I hunted this morning was one of the fields that they travel through to get to the food and the water. There were rabbit trails all over this area. Some were about two inches deep, and all were covered with rabbit tracks. It was still prime habitat, as well as an avenue to the food source, so it was a good bet in the middle of the morning, but probably prime just before dark.
It was much the same as the last few days, lots of tries, with no success. We were sometimes jumping them two at a time, and at least twice, the Jack she started after was not the Jack that she made the shot at, but again, it just wasn't happening. Finally after more than an hour she made a shot at one that ended in a cloud of dust and a squeal. I hustled up there and possibly caused her to lose it. It managed to pull away from her just as I got there. Sigh!
We made another wider swing around the area, and it seemed that the closer that I got to the pasture the fewer Jacks I saw. I walked back towards the car, thinking that I had just about had it. We got up to the fence and had two more slips at Jacks, with her crashing into the Sage as hard as she could. I decided to make one more swing before I quit. We kept jumping Jacks, and she kept trying. Finally we managed to jump one right in front of us and I saw it dodge 90 degrees just as she got there. Her talons raked through the hair, but not deep enough to get the Jack. This was perhaps 20 feet in front of me. She got back on the perch and we continued on. I had decided to go back to the car and decided to go along the skimpy cover next to the hill. A Jack was hiding in a single bush, and he waited just a bit too long to run. Hope nailed him within 10 feet. This one wasn't getting away. He was a big boy, with lots of fat on him, and apparently in his prime. Just goes to prove that every one has a bad day.
After killing the Jack and giving her the tidbits from the cup, I gave her a front leg to chew on while I cleaned the Jack. The cup also made a good place to put the liver for her. She was able to eat it without getting it all full of crap and sticks.
I then gave her the head to eat, tied her to my bag and relaxed while she worked on the head. When I was rested and she had about all of the meat she could get off the head, I offered her a hind leg and we walked to the car. Tired but happy.
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