For weeks that blasted rabbit had been torturing my dogs behind the fence and when they gave chase this morning and disobeying calls raced across the road after the bloody thing; I said enough is enough or I’m gonna have two dead bird dogs right before bird season.
So tonight after sharing my dilemma with my coworker Allen, he went home during lunch and returned with an ancient Savage 22 that he lent me to kill said rabbit, along with five rounds and I promptly went home and chased the bloody thing throwing my hat and a fishing net at it to corral it back into ‘my yard’, and out from under the neighbors’ car, and then went about missing it with four straight shots and losing the fifth somewhere in the grass while trying to reload!
“%$#@”!!
“Screw this” I said and went inside and rooted around in the dark till I found two shells of some sort of load and went back out with my 12 guage and then couldn’t find the damned thing in the dark. The cows were also a concern since they were close, like less than 100 feet, but I surmised the 22 hadn’t scared them off; “what’s a quick blast of the 12 gonna hurt..?”
Then I spotted it not twenty feet out into the pasture and if its ear hadn’t twitched I’d have never seen it again as dark as it’d gotten. I took careful aim and clean missed it with the first load and after the dust settled I could no longer see the rabbit or the cows.
The herd disappeared to about a 1,000 yards out and I jacked another round and spotted the rabbit just 30 feet further to the right and set the bead on it and let another one rip.
“%#@&”!?
I could see the rabbit take off even further to the right and toward the fence, but I was out of shells and had likely 'pushed the tolerance level of my neighbors’; so thought best of continuing - even though my mind told me to run back into the trailer, grab more shells, and keep shooting...
Still, I was convinced "that last blast had to have done some damage"; and told myself so as I searched my truck for a flashlight, then letting down the cattle gate, I walked the fence line till I saw where I’d hit the ground.
“No rabbit, shit!”
Then I walked a little further and spotted it shaking not two feet to my right in amongst some tall grass and I promptly stomped on its' neck and felt it squirm underneath.
"Gotcha ya"!
I’m not the tortuous type, nor do I enjoy death; in fact I’d been up till now reluctant to deal with the cute little fella in such a way, but I’ll be damned if I’ll have my two best four-legged friends die because of him; so I picked up a large stone and threw it hard toward its head with my left hand and hit my right big toe instead and about died from the pain and stupidity of such a move.
“%#@&”!!
My toe was throbbing in pain and the rabbit had been protected by my boot the whole time, but eventually he succumbed to the weight of a 300lb man standing on his' neck; along with some injuries I later discovered which occurred when I blew his back legs off at some point in my shooting foray.
I gathered the little guy up and slipped him onto the barbed wire as I let myself out and secured the gate behind me, then threw him in the bed of the truck to let the girls out for 'a look see'. At first they bolted off as expected toward where they’d last seen him play hide-and-seek, but when I called them to heel, I held the grand prize and both jumped for joy at the reward, then I dropped him to the ground so they could get a good sniff.
Neither seemed to enthused to grab it and run, both content it was finally dead’ which was nice to see, so I picked it up promptly and threw it back in the bed and sent them inside for dinner and a bag of ice for my toe and some aspirin for my head.
Oh, I also went up to Hyalite Reservoir yesterday and caught over 15 bows and cuttys using dries at dusk - a cinnamon ant pattern was the ticket and it was a blast of another sort...
- This little bird above almost got taken by 'a monster' (something)..take a look below?!
"WTF"? I actually didnt see the fish till later when reviewing my images this afternoon...WOW that's a big fish to go after a bird?!...
Was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed the solitude, as I was fishing alone...
Right at last light though I was granted the presence of this toad of a Westslope Cutthroat and felt sort of deserving of such a prize; after catching nothing but little guys all night.
Till next time...
Moe
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