Oh! I didn't post this yet!

[tinylongwing]

Sunday's hunt was the last before the first day of class, and a perfect ending to my winter break. Pele has made a lot of good chases on bunnies this year, but cover has been thick enough where most of them slip away from her before she can get her feet on them. To her credit, she has always kept trying, and on Sunday, within about an hour of me tripping and stumbling my way through patches of vines and brambles, I kicked a bunny out of its hiding spot. It darted for the edge of an agricultural ditch, which at this field is really more of a steep eroded creek bank, and usually that means certain bunny escape as the plants grow very thick on the inside of that ditch, but Pele had the advantage of height and managed to grab it before it could get more than 20 feet. She had it by the shoulders, which isn't great but better than the butt end at least, and was barely able to hold it down while I came to her rescue. The way she had her feet on it made it hard for me to get my hands in and dispatch it, because she could have decided at any moment to grab my hand as it reached under her - that isn't normally a problem if she has it by the head. Thankfully she wanted the bunny more than she wanted to foot me, so I was able to sort of awkwardly help her out.



Aaand of course I fail at having a real camera on me DEAL WITH IT.

I'm pretty sure this is the biggest one she's caught yet. I didn't put it on the scale but I'd guess it was close to around 3 pounds. Compare that to a 410g (0.8 lb) bird, and it's just amazing to me that she can even hold these things down long enough for me to run over there and assist.

Tonight's dinner: slow-cooked cottontail curry. Yes please.