Thank God for the ability to laugh at myself!

 I had thought that I would not be posting much, because there isn't that much that is worth taking your time to read this blog. However today's exercise in futility is worth sharing. Many cliches come to mind- "Some days are diamonds, some days are stones". "Life is tough, especially if you are stupid", and on and on.

I have been trying to get Hope in shape and back in the groove to stock up on food for the coming year. Rabbits are a bit more scarce than I would like, but I have found one field 26 miles away that seems to have more of a population than anywhere else. 

It is getting colder each day that passes, and I am worried that we might be getting our "normal" below zero temps" soon. Hope is holding her weight well, and I have been trying to fly her every other day. With this snow on the ground the Jacks are flushing at least 100 yards away, making it tough for her to have much of a chance to put anything in the bag. I have been taking the dogs, as both love it so much. Poor old Josie has gotten to the point that I can't keep her reeled in close enough for Hope to even get a fair chance at one. I started out yesterday, and she was so far out that the only way I could reel her back in was to fire a couple of shots in the air. I took her back home, and went back out with just Brick. We got a couple of chases, but no luck. I didn't feed her thinking that I would go to Arock today and leave both dogs at home.

It was fogged in this morning so I got a couple of things done here that need fixing, and at 1:30 we loaded up to make the drive to Arock. I left Brenda in the car, while Hope and I struck out on our own to see if the Jacks would be a bit slower to head to the next field.

These are some of the trails that the Rabbits make, going too and from the field.

I just get in the field and a Jack starts sneaking off into another field. Then another heading the same way. Hope flies in that direction, but he either hid or went on without stopping. Hope lit on a fence post, and I began that way hoping to flush him. Nothing! As I neared where she was sitting, she took off after another one out there about 100 yards. I went over to see if I could make anything happen, but nothing was moving that we could see. I eventually picked her up and went back to the first field. 

I had told Brenda to take the car to the other end of the field, with the intention of hunting towards her, hoping that she would be able to see some of the action. I managed to walk about 25 yards, and Hope flew off the fist to the ground at the base of a Sage Bush. As I stood there trying to figure out what she had seen, she gets down on her belly and crawls through the Bush. She picked something up in her beak and crawls back out. I thought that it was a Rabbit foot that an Eagle had dropped. I look a bit closer and it was a Duck head and neck that I had thrown away last week. :-/

When Bud catches a Duck he will kill it by biting its neck. He will then pluck some of the feathers off, eating the neck and leaving all the little vertebra, and head attached. When he stops eating on the Duck he will come to the fist for the better tasting Quail. I then cut the neck off to make it fit better in the freezer, tossing the neck away. I had forgotten this neck in my bag, so the next time I took Hope hunting I found a nice thick Sage to "dispose" of it.

After the initial temper tantrum, and the accompanying cussing fit, I began to see the humour in the situation.

 There was no way that I was going to get it away from her, and no way that she would be able to hunt successfully with that much food in her crop. At least not well enough that I was willing to slog through all that snow to just get her exercise.

Just the fact that she was able to see the damn thing was wonder enough, but the chance that I would walk close enough for her to pick it out inside the bush was amazing in its self.

 

This is what I am hunting in There are a lot of Bushes, whats the odds that I could have found it if I was looking for it. Hope has always been able to see Rabbits that are hiding, and consciously looked under Sage to spot Rabbits that are hiding. Some times it is helpful, others not so much.

It was at this point that I could see the humour in the entire mess, and go home laughing. There will be other days!