Location: Doug Duffy's
Weather: Sunny
Temperature: 36 °F (Start) 39 °F (End)
Companions: Steve Abell, Logan Abell
Dogs of mine: Bailey
# of Rabbits Ran: 4
# of Rabbits Shot: 0
Today was the last day of the 2008-2009 Vermont Hare season. Dad, Logan and I pulled into our spot at about 8:15. The time change made it a little darker, which was nice. We geared up with snowshoes and headed down the logging road. Bailey got a start right off and worked it slowly down parrallel with the logging road we were standing on. She lost it after about 50 yards. I found a cross trail that I walked down with hopes of cutting the rabbit track that Bailey lost. I found the track, called Bailey in and put her on it. She took off on it, slow at first (zig-zagging) but then picked up the trail on a steady pace. She ran it out away from us on a nice solid run. She brought it just to the edge of hearing range and started to make the turn. She got through the turn and started to bring it back to us when she lost it. I thought for sure I was going to get a crack at it. I had the "perfect" spot. Dad thought the same from his position. If I were to put money down I would guess my Dad would have got it, don't they always? Bailey was in line to bring it back to us when she hit the check. We waited about 10 minutes in hopes of her solving the check before I called Bailey back in. We worked back onto the logging road and headed down towards the beaver pond. We found the pond that Google Earth told me was there, and walked along the edge of its profile. Not much of a pond anymore, looks like the beaver dam broke and it was drained. We worked the cover near the pond with now luck and decided to head back up where we came from as the rabbit sign was lacking. Bailey picked up a track and started working it. She worked it slowly, off and on for about 5 minutes. She finally started on the line and this is where I feel she needs some work, lots of it too. She would run the straight line for about 10 yards and then zag to the right. She would bark (off the line) for about 5 yards and then realize that she wasn't running the line and then stop. She would go back near the line, find it and then run it for another 10 yards and then zig to the left. Barking the same as before. She finally picked up on the line and ran it solid after those two episodes. She ran it well and deep and ran it just about out of hearing distance. She made the turn to come back towards us. Dad made a comment about how good she was doing. And then she lost it. It was the same as last time. Can't quite run the rabbit in a full circle. I would like to blame it on the ground conditions but I know that a lot of it is Bailey. The 3 feet of snow was soft and slowly melting. She would sink up to her belly and struggle to climb up any kind of elevation. We worked back up below the NC camp and made our way over to the other running ground that I ran on in October. Bailey kicked up a rabbit and ran it pretty hot for about 2 minutes. It sounded like it turned and was heading back up towards me, when she lost it, AGAIN!! I can't catch a break. Bailey needs to get over that! I'm hoping some good summer running will help refine her. After letting Bailey work for about 20 minutes and try to find the track again I called her in and headed closer to the clear cut. There was one last clump of softwoods on the edge of the clearcut that Bailey worked and she got another start. She had a couple of good bawls that sounded like she was sight chasing it. It made a real tight circle and was coming back towards me. I felt that I was going to see it, and I found out later that Dad thought so too. She made the turn on the small circle and then lost it again. Four times in a row she seemed to loose it in the same spot…..on the turn. What is it? Hopefully next year at this time she will be able to run a rabbit non-stop until I either shoot it or call her off. We made our way back up towards the road, that was tiring. Uphill and softer snow, made for a tough climb. A good year, I guess, but I look forward to a better year next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment