Back at work

Sunrise on the 14th

Sunset the afternoon of the 14th

After 4 days off, Hope was getting pretty restless, perhaps even desperate. Enough that when I went out last night to lock up the Chickens she began calling. I had fed her a Bunny's rear leg on her second day of rest. She wanted more. She weighed in at 926 grams this morning.

Today was supposed to be deteriorating as far as the weather was concerned. It was 32 degrees this morning and the wind was forecast to come up by 10 am with increasing winds the longer the day went on.

I asked Karen if she wanted to go with us, and when she agreed that she did, I decided to hunt on the other side of the ranch next door. There is a small band of Sage that seems to hold about 10 or 11 Jacks. It is Grease Wood with open spaces between them. The Sage extends all the way to the Alvord almost 40 miles away, but the Jacks are only concentrated in one spot - as far as I know. Its nice and level and the Jacks tend to stay close to the road, so it was a perfect place for Karen to have the maximum visibility without having to walk. Many of you might not know that with Karen's heart affibs, she cannot walk very far. She is feels pretty good, just no stamina. With Karen along I can take the Dogs as well, so its almost a family affair.

Out of the hood onto the perch.

Ready to go

We had gone through the good part close to the road, and jumped quite a few of the Jacks there. She was trying pretty hard, crashing into bush after bush trying to get her feet on one, but being thwarted at every turn. It would help if I could run a bit, but even the thought of the visual of me running through the brush as I used to do is rather hilarious even to me. Probably best if I just plod along as best as I can. Some of her flights took her several hundred yards off. I have learned to stand still until she comes back as there is usually more than one Jack close to where the other one had hidden.

We went the entire length of the field to where it opened up to pasture without success. I stopped to tell Karen what I intended to do. We let the Dogs out and I rested a bit.

I started back through the field, a bit further out this time. Karen had stopped to get an idea of where I was going. We jumped another Jack in some sparse cover. I was a bit surprised since the Jacks generally prefer more cover than this area provided. This one was pretty close. She flashed over a Sage about 30 feet away, and the Jack began screaming. I was so happy and relieved that I was jumping up and down.

When I got around the bushes, Hope was lying back out of the way of the thrashing Jacks feet holding him by the head with both feet. I gave him my thanks and dispatched him as quickly as I could.

As soon as he was still, I gave her the cup of tidbits, covered the Jack with a cloth, and offered her a hind leg of Bunny. She soon stepped off the Jack and we walked a bit away, so that Karen could cut a front leg off and put it in my bag for her when she finished the Bunny leg.

We walked back to the car, and I let her finish her meal while we talked, and the Dogs ran around.

I could not see that her toe bothered her at all, or was painful. It will most likely grow back. It may be somewhat malformed, or it could be just as pretty as the original. Time will tell. I know mine grew back, and if there isn't damage to the nerve in the toe, it should be just fine.

This is Hope's Trophy string

I keep the tails off the Rabbits, and string them up by the hall way. This is the way that I keep track of how many rabbits or what ever Hope and all my Hawks catches. Since the Jackalope is extinct in this part of the country, tails are about the only trophy that a Rabbit has. I had the string that was Puddy Cat's share of the last year that she and Yogi hunted together. I had thought that the two birds had taken 40 Jacks that year. When I counted the string, I found that Puddy's share was only 15 Rabbits. This is number 19 for Hope. She is doing better than I  have given her credit for. I have hunted them both the same, and that is every other day.

If Hope can begin to put together an attack plan that will allow her to have a better chance to catch every Rabbit, rather than relying on them making a mistake, she will be the force to be reckoned with that I know that she can indeed be.

The wind now is at 21 MPH with a wind chill of 27 degrees. Time to throw another log on the fire.