#16

I suspected that today Hope would be a bit fat. The morning was overcast, hinting of the winter to come. It was actually a bit warmer than usual for this time of the year. Low hanging rain clouds covered the sky, but they are heading towards Idaho, and will not be a problem for Hope and myself this morning.

As I went out to turn out the Chickens and do my morning chores, I listened to see if Hope knew that today is a hunt day. It takes her a bit, but she begins calling to me quietly before I get done. I go back in the house to gather up my stuff, and by the time I get back out, she is peering around the corner to check my progress. I pick her up after tying Jessie to her day perch, and we go to the scales to check her weight. 965 grams, the heaviest she has ever been. I stand on the step to the shop with her and weigh my options. I decide that I need the exercise, so we will go and if she is too bad, we can always come home.

As I mentioned before there is a bit of a magical, hunter type feel about the day. I can recall many such mornings where the promise was so tangible that you can almost taste it. The only problem is that my weapon for the day may not be loaded.

The desert here gives the impression that it is empty, with nothing to see. One needs to be able to actually look beyond the obvious empty appearance to see the things that are around us. The first thing that I saw this morning was a Prairie Falcon that swept through the yard on the off chance that it could pick up one of the birds that live off my Chicken food. While driving to the hunting field there were three wild (feral) horses by Burns Junction, a road killed Coyote by the old Zimmerman place.  ( Too bloody to pick up) Three Golden Eagles sitting on the same set of cross arms overlooking the Owyhee River. Another about a 1/2 mile up the road. A Sharpshin Hawk was hunting by Jordan Creek. Three Deer were hiding in the Sage where we were hunting rabbits. A Coyote pup darn near walked right in our laps while we were resting. Geese practicing their wedge flying in preparation for migration. You cannot travel this country at hwy speeds and begin to see what is there.

Hope seemed to be just as interested in catching a Jack Rabbit as ever, and unfortunately as unable as she normally is. She did seem to be a bit more selective than normal, watching some walk away, while trying others that were way the hell and gone. Again lots of close misses. We worked our way zigging and zagging in my attempts to find as many Jacks as I could, hoping that one would make a fatal mistake. I saw at least three of them leave hair floating in the air after they had made a desperate jink to avoid her reaching talons, going through a piece of Sage that didn't have a passage for them. It worked however.

The most effective evasion is a sudden stop in a bush, waiting for her to overplay her hand and get just that little bit out of position that they needed to make their escape. I saw one do just that not more than 15 yards in front of me. Hope was bout 20 feet in the air, and had turned to look for him. I threw my tee perch at him to try to flush him before he was ready. Hope followed the perch, landing on it quite confused. She didn't seem to understand my laughter.

At that point we had been at it for about two hours. She was beginning to get desperate. I walked by a bush that had a Jack's tail hung in it.

She flew off and was picking through the hair on the ground trying to find something in it to eat. We hadn't gone more than 50 yards when she found an old dried up front foot of a Jack.

 She was on it as though it might be the very thing to pull her through this last stretch of imposed starvation. I didn't bother trying to take it away from her, there was nothing of sustenance on it any way. I went over to sit down on a ledge while she worked on it. She flew with it to the perch, and then down on the ground. I walked over to the lava to sit. She flew off to my right on the same ledge. She no more than landed than I saw a Bunny run back over the ledge and away.

I am not sure if she swallowed some of the leg or not, but she finally finished and landed near me to let me know that she was ready to explore some more.

I decided that I was done, and started towards the car, still hunting. One never knows when the magic will take place, so the trip to the car was through the best cover that I could find. We had a few more flights,  one was a Bunny and several were Jacks. We were within about 100 yards of the car, when a Jack flushed fairly close in front of us, and wonder of wonders, she caught him. The cover was pretty sparse, and I was sure that the catch was in jeopardy. I decided to walk to where she was in the hope that she would be able to tie him up. Unfortunately just as I topped the rise I saw him scamper out of the Sage. Hope took off and caught him again within about 15 yards. Unfortunately he managed to tear away again, and take refuge in some heavy cover. She took a perch on the other side of the cover. I walked through it trying to flush it towards her. It did flush out and she made another shot at him, but missed. Another Jack flushed out going the opposite direction.  She gave chase back and over the hill. I went that way, sure that we were after the wrong rabbit, but having no choice. I got her on the perch and went back to where we left what I thought was the one, and started a new search. The rabbits that we were jumping were obviously not the one that she had caught twice, and I was running out of gas, so I turned back towards the car, ready to accept defeat. We jumped a close one a few feet from the little road, and she made a crashing shot at him in cover, but missed. I watched the Jack circle around in front of a lava ledge. He crossed over a bit of bare dirt, hesitated and then turned back, disappearing from view.

Hope flew back to the perch, and I began walking over to where I last saw him. There was a thick patch of Sage as well as a Badger hole under the lava, and a possible escape route where the lava broke up. I felt that the Jack had taken refuge in the badger hole. They normally depend on their legs rather than hiding, but occasionally will do so. I was just standing there trying to decide what to do, when there was a thumping sound, and a bit of dust coming out of the big hole. Hope flashed off the perch and down against the rock further down, followed by a screaming Jack. I tossed my perch down and she had her feet down a hole at the base of the rock. I moved her wing out of the way and could see both her feet stuck in the Jacks head. I reached down past her and grabbed him by the head and pulled him out. He had lost his nerve and tried to escape out of a small hole a bit further down.

The hole that he went in is not the little one close by, but up against the Lave. Its a pretty good sized hole, but not visible from where the picture is taken.

The one he tried to get out of is that small one on the other side of the weed.

I gave her the tidbits in her cup and sat there amazed at the events of the day, thankful for being alive to experience all the wonders that the day had produced.