Oh dear oh deer

This weekend marked us putting out our first lure in the shape of a dog cage.
It felt like quite a step forward for us, having had a long spell of silence, we feel that maybe this is a step in the right direction.

We had a call late Saturday afternoon from a lady called Val who lives near the water tower on Thaxted Road.

They had seen in the fields directly behind their house that a deer leg, very gnarled and chewed had been left nearby. They also noticed lone paw prints of a large dog, and decided to call us, just in case.

We of course went immediately to investigate the prints and the deer bones, and we also walked the area around the water tower, although this was hindered by the failing light.

The prints in the mud could well have been Jacob's - it was a large dog, and definitely there were no other human footprints nearby. The owners of the house also said they had seen the same size lone prints around the back of the house in the snow, but never put 2 and 2 together and thought it could have been Jacob. That's fine, we are just over the moon that Val called us as it might well be a lead, maybe he is in the area still as remember, we have a number of sightings out that way, and so many other things pointing us to that same area.

We decided that it would be worthwhile putting out a cage in case Jacob was round. This is not a trap, just a simple black anodised dog cage, with the door wedged open. We have put a pair of Jon's stinky socks inside, (Oh Jacob for that alone I apologise !) as well as Tiva's blanket and another blanket over the top to make it look less threatening. So far today, Val reports nothing has been touched, no food has gone.

It's of course a long shot, but it's worthy of a try for the time it took to organise.

We might well get lucky and if Jacob finds the cage and familiar smells he will stay closeby, I know from reading up that the dogs will usually just stake out nearby and check the cage is not a threat firstly, so for the next few days we will have to sit tight and wait and see.

I know there are many people willing Jacob to go to that cage, I SO hope that for once he is ears pinned back and he is listening to the advice !