Peg, Aug 9

I have been trying to find some rabbits here for Peg to hunt, but apparently the West Nile has again gotten most of them. There seems to be only about 3 or four rabbits here, where this spring there were lots. I have wasted several days walking my butt off, my belly stays no matter what, to no avail. Yesterday we went to a spot that I found a couple of years ago that seemed to have lots of Bunnies. There were lots of Rabbits there but, there were more Jacks than Bunnies. She didn't want to chase the Jacks, but made several attempts to catch the Bunnies. They are hardly ever very far away from their holes, so she was unsuccessful This morning we went back with Karen as the holder and me as the shooter.
I started keeping her in the Giant Hood yesterday. It is much easier all the way around, since she cannot get hurt or spooked and the crap is all in one spot. It is made of "coroplast" and doesn't scrub her feathers either. I just put a piece of meat on the perch, she hops in, and use a piece to call her out.

We had just barely parked the truck and climbed the first little hump and a Bunnie ran one way, a Jack the other. I managed to get a clear shot at the Jack, and shot him in the butt. Peg saw him and just as quickly caught him. It was all pretty exciting for her and it took her quite a long time for her to calm down enough to begin eating.
You can tell from her crest, that she is hyped up. Karen and I sat down and ignored her until she began eating and managed to eat about a quarter crop. I then went up to her and fed her tidbits, until she decided to leave the rabbit and come to me for more of the easy stuff. I had a front leg for her to tear on, and she worked on that until we got back to the truck. When she finished, I put her in the box and it was home again, until tomorrow.