It was a bit cooler than the last few days with the temps at 30 degrees. We got all our chores done and was out of the door by 9:30. Hope, when I weighed her, came in at 943 grams.
I decided to try another field this morning, but after walking the width and breath of it we only saw one Jack. Then a Prairie Falcon decided to horn in and make a shot at Hope as she was chasing it.
We loaded up, and this time for a change up we went to another field. This time to the top of the hill, where I generally end my hunt, before we started. After a fair amount of tries and misses, Hope finally caught one. It broke loose before I could get to her to help. Grrr!
We kept running into Deer. Only one of them was a buck, and from the looks of him he might be an old on on the down hill slide. As you can see? he is only a three point, but he is pretty big. As they age they keep the height and width of their horns, but they eventually end up with only wide spikes or forks.
When I got to the bottom, I met Karen and asked her to take the car across the field to the other side, where I would meet her. As I walked, I jumped two different Jacks and while Hope was getting close, they were still scraping her off on the Sage bushes. As I neared Karen, I asked her to let the dogs out since I was pretty sure we were going home empty handed. This time I had put their shock collars on them, and while I had it set to call rather than shock, I was pretty sure I could keep them in useful range. We hadn't gone very far when a Jack that had been successfully hiding lost his nerve and made a break for it. Hope caught him in no time. Josie was with me as we made our way to her. Josie couldn't stand it any longer and ran up to the bush that Hope was stuck in. The Jack was on the other side however, trying his best to pull away. I believe that Hope was so surprised that she either let go, or a charging Dog was all the incentive the Jack needed to pull away. Either way, Hope was left sticking in a Sage, while I threw a temper tantrum. Not at the Dog or Hope, but at myself for not stopping the Dog. She didn't know any better, while I for sure did. Just not fast enough.
Karen asked if I wanted to put them up, but I decided to leave them out for a while longer. Both dogs were staying in nice and close, as well as working the cover quite well. We hadn't gone more that 100 feet when another Jack jumped and again Hope caught him. I made sure that Josie stayed back with me as we approached. The set up was just like the other two, Hope on one side of a bush holding onto his butt with one foot, while he strained to pull away. This time I drug out my 22, thinking that I would make sure that this one didn't pull away. The range was about 10 feet. As some of you might know, the bullet, when leaving the barrel dips below line of sight and then rises until gravity starts bringing it down to the ground. The gun is sighted in for 50 yards. That means that it is about 2 inches low at 10 feet. The Jack was somehow still alive after five shots. ( I could dig up a logical excuse if I had more time.) Josie firmly believing that I am in real life as wonderful as she thinks I am, decided that it was surely dead, and went in to anchor it for me. Hope again let go or had it pulled out of her feet, I haven't decided that as yet. I stood there with my mouth open trying to decide if I was happy or pissed. I eventually came to the conclusion that "all's well that ends well", and left it at that.
The dogs were both grateful for the chance to participate.
I am going to have to spend some time thinking about the benefits of the dogs compared to the possibility of having Josie perhaps hurt Hope, by grabbing a Jack when she is stuck in a Sage Bush, or if the dogs cause enough of a distraction to the Jacks to make them more vulnerable to her attacks. I am quite sure that the latter is the case. We caught two Jacks in two flights today. This last one is another Old Timer. He had fat packed all over him, so I know that he is well aware of the dangers of life, and not likely to make a dumb mistake. I am also quite sure that he knew that the two Dogs were there as well. I think the Hawk was the surprising factor that he didn't see.
Karen really liked and admired my temper tantrum. She said I looked cute jumping up and down like that.
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