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!

Dec 2022

 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 .

Sunset over Idaho

Lost Snow Geese rested a bit before flying on.

They normally do not come this way. 

South Mtn in Idaho catches the last light of the day

Sunset looking South

Catching the last light of the day.