# 6

One of the side effects of hunting at 12 Mile Ranch is that the road to there is gravel. Apparently on our last trip I managed to find something to cause a slow leak in my right rear tire. The Subaru is a new one with all the bells and whistles. One of which is a sensor in the tires that indicates when the tire is low. The light came on as we were going down there. No biggie, I also carry a 12 volt pump just for that kind of a problem. While I was out walking, Karen would pump the tire up. When I gave up and we traveled home, I just parked it, intending to pump it up when we next needed the car. The next morning when I turned my computer on I had an email from Subaru that "On Star" had notified them that I needed to fix my tire. :-/

Jessie was down to weight this morning so I ran the drone up high enough so that the lure was hanging at 225 feet. Just another 50 feet higher than the last time, but enough to make her work a bit harder. She had to take another turn and a half to make the height, but did so without any problem at all. Once I got her fed it was time to take Hope hunting.

While I would like some new spots to hunt, they are a bit hard to find, and Hope sometimes suffers by having to hunt areas that I am prospecting that don't carry enough Jacks. So today it was time for the old spots that do have Jacks living there. My truck has been in the shop in Jordan, so the plan was to stop on the way into town and give Hope a chance to grab a meal, then go get the truck.

I changed up my pattern at the field, and she had a flight before I had covered 20 feet. She slammed into the tall Sage and I waited for the scream, but instead I see a wild eyed Jack streaking through the Sage. Another 30 yards, and she was off again, slicing into the Sage about 50 yards away. I could hear the Jack grunting as he zigged and zagged off to some safer Sage. Another 75 yards and she was diving into some large Sage. Three tries, no Jacks. We then had a short dry spell. We were skirting  some tall Sage, and a Jack broke cover about 15 feet to our left. Hope was off in a flash and grabbed him in the butt, then scrambled up his body and secured his head.

I'm sorry that there isn't more pictures, but being by myself it just isn't possible or fair to either Hope or the Jack that has both her feet stuck in his various body parts.

I killed him, and gave Hope the cup full of tidbits, while I was trying to pull off a front leg. She straightened up and released her feet. When the cup was empty, I put a front leg in the cup and she stepped off to eat it. I bagged the Rabbit and put him in my bag. I was waiting for her to finish the first leg, having another front leg in my fist. She kept watching me,so I offered her my fist. She came to the fist with her other leg in one foot. Then she bated back towards the ground. I let her go, and picking up my perch I walked on off through the Sage back towards the car. I stopped about 25 yards away and out of sight. Soon she jumped up off the ground and began flying to me with the rabbit leg in her beak. I let her land, and this time she stayed on the fist eating as I walked.

I tried several other spots just with the Dogs, and still am not finding any thing worth trying. Its just going to be hard time this year.