Winter has now descended on the Rock House. We have had two small snows, enough to indicate where Jack Rabbits are living. Of course keeping in mind that the Sage leaves and stems that makes up most of their winter food supply is apparently loaded with Amphetamines. One needs to divide the number of tracks by a factor of 50 to get even close to the actual number of Rabbits living in the area. You cannot believe the depth of trails that have been trodden deep into the snow, or the number of trails that have been left by the wanderings of Rabbits. I once read that Jacks will travel up to 10 miles for food or water, yet they are reputed to have a "home range" of 2 acres.
I went out yesterday here at the house with Hope, covering 3.75 miles and actually saw 5 Rabbits. Hope only managed to pull a hand full of hair out of one of them for our efforts. It was not all a waste of time however. I reaffirmed a cure for leg cramps, caused by the different way that you walk on soft surfaces. That is either a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water, or four Ritz crackers loaded up with mustard. I prefer the taste of Ritz to salt. I know that is hard to believe, but Mustard will stop leg cramps.
I have changed things around a bit here, by once again tying Bud (Falcon) up again in the weathering area. Hope is living outside in the other side of the weathering area. I have not hunted Hope in the snow before. I was worried about her ability to keep warm enough to avoid hyperthermia in the past that I kept her in a more protected area at night, thus she was always freezing when we went out in the snow, and unwilling to slog around in it. I must admit that I don't like hunting in the snow either. We have not gotten any of the minus temps yet, so she is acclimated to the weather.She is out of the wind, so that helps, and for once she is hitting the ground as though the snow was a natural event. When we start getting minus temps I will put her in the shop at night.
I gave Bud the last Duck that I had purchased at the beginning of the season, so there is little reason to keep him flying. He now will be fed on the fist every day, without the hassle of trying to fly him. The hood is his problem, yet you cannot transport him without one, so that fight needs to occur every time he flies. Once I take his hood off he is fine. He flies up to the drone, takes the lure, lands, eats his food on the lure, flies to my fist to finish his meal with no indication that we just went through a hissy fit 10 minutes earlier.
I bought 11 Ducks at the beginning of the season because of the Bird Flu that was running rampant in the Western Fly way. The risk is just too great to fly wild Ducks. I needed him to learn that his quarry is Ducks, so bagged ones are going to be the only safe way to teach him that. The deal is to send him up for the lure on the drone, but release the flying Duck just before he gets to the drone. He would then break off the drone and fly the Duck instead. He only lost two of the 11 that I tossed for him. One occurred because I waited too long to toss the duck. He grabbed the lure just as I tossed the Duck, and she flew merrily on her way up the creek. I then raised the drone up to 550 feet before I released the Duck apparently he decided to "gently grab the Duck", which promptly dodged and made her escape to the creek below the house. A lesson that he needed to learn.
So far in December I have walked 13.12 miles in search of Rabbits, catching three. Some of the reason is that Hope is not in shape, and some is how we are hunting. Josie my old Brittany is now12.5 years old. wants to hunt, but she wants to be way out in front of us. She has a growth on the base of her tongue, and huffs and puffs like a steam locomotive. She has lost her hearing so she cannot hear the warning sound on the electronic collar that I used to use to curb her travels. I refuse to shock her, so we have been dealing with it instead. Last Friday I went to Arock to hunt, and she got lost. Luckily she still had enough of her facilities left to go to the car and wait for me. Its rolling Sage and Lava rocks so she couldn't see me and forgot where she was. I put another two or more miles looking for her. I tried to take her out yesterday and it became clear that I was just wasting my time, she was jumping rabbits out so far that I would lose sight of Hope when she chased them. She has been one of the finest dogs that I have ever had, but its time to leave her home.
There is really very little to report. Here are a few pictures that have sparked my interest recently. Brenda and I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year, while we go into hibernation for the year .
Catching the last light of the day.
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