Upland Bird Hunting: Snakebit Annie Update...

It's been more than 7 weeks since Annie's rattler run in at Freezout Lake. And just a few days ago since we declared her severely atrophied leg and foot almost back to normal. The way she has been rambling the past couple afternoons pretty much erases any doubt we might harbor.

A couple days ago obvious she smelled birds but in the howling wind just where who knows? So after much tail wagging and snuffling back and forth over a wide area suddenly she took off. At warp speed, a quarter mile out wheeled around, went a quarter mile the opposite direction; wheeled about came back part way turned into the wind, dropped into a kitty-cat-like moving crouch would make a hunting lioness green with envy and...Pointed. But apparently the birds were on to her, because as soon as she stopped the whole bunch lifted from the sage 50 yards ahead, caught the wind and vamoosed over yonder hill.

Gale yelled, "Looks to me like she's back," to which I gave her assertion a hale and hearty thumbs up, turned and muttered "Good girl,"...Which of course fell on deaf ears, as Annie baby was by then flat out gone over yonder hill in what can only be described as hot pursuit...Hooray!   

Snakebite Victim Update...

It's been 15 days since Gale shot this gruesome photo; some 12 hours after Annie's run in with a rattler in the grass beside Freezeout Lake. As I posted previously up until a week ago the leg was not looking good, things were not going well. She would not drink unless forced to and was eating very little. She would not put her foot down instead continued to hop about on three legs...Trust me, for us it was damn frustrating, difficult to deal with and tough to watch. But then last weekend something of drastic turn for the good, the swelling began disappearing, the discoloration began to fade, and every now and then she started using her foot. Better still she began eating although still not drinking anywhere near normal, she did drink.

The above two photos shot a couple days ago show how fast the healing is progressing. The swelling is gone, hair is growing in and except for the two places where dead skin sloughed (also sloughed between her toes where the snake hit) if it weren't for the short hairs you would never know. Especially if you saw her running through the snow this morning...leaping Annie of old fashion from the concrete to the deck...twice mind you...Well hell, can you blame us for cheerin' like two little kids at Christmas...Anyway Dandy Annie is if not herownself at last, my take is she's damn close...Hooray!