Hunting

Willie Jack and her dad hunt

**Hunting** is the sixth episode of the first season and sixth episode overall of *Reservation Dogs*.

## Plot

Leon pulls his truck over by the side of the road and gets out. He gets a bag of feed out and carries it into the woods, where he spreads it. He hears a sounds in the distance and drops the bag. He says he doesn't want any trouble. He sees a figure with glowing red eyes.

**A Year Later**

At 4:30, Willie Jack's alarm goes off, waking her.

Willie Jack pours herself a mug of coffee and drinks it. Then she talks to a photo of Daniel, saying she misses him. She's about to take her dad hunting, since they have unfinished business. Chunk is still out there and she wants to get him before she goes to California. California was his idea. She asks him to help her bullet go straight.

Willie Jack prints off a picture of a deer, then goes to wake Leon. It's the first day of the season. He's not feeling it, but he sits up anyway.

Willie Jack is impatient as Leon checks his shoes.

Leon gives Willie Jack a driving lesson as they drive out to the woods, but she's heard it before. She reminds her not to swerve if she sees a small animal in the road, because swerving causes accidents. He pulls off the road and they get out. He asks if she cleaned her rifle. She says she did, but he says he always uses a toothbrush and Q-tips, which she blames on his OCD, which she says has been flared for about a year. Hunting is one of his favorite things, but he hasn't hunted in a year. He says things change. They climb over a fence with a no trespassing sign as Willie Jack says she won't be around forever, so they need to get some more hunts in. He asks where she's planning to go. They hear a shot in the distance and he says they should have gotten there earlier. They enter the woods.

Leon and Willie Jack walk through the woods. They hear more shots in the distance. Leon gestures for Willie Jack to back off a little. Then he hands her his gun and moves some branches. They settle in behind the branches and Willie Jack puts on some red face paint, which she says is for good luck. Leon says there are a bunch of chemicals in the paint, so she shouldn't put it on her face.

Willie Jack and Leon, who now has paint of his own on, wait impatiently. He asks again about her leaving. She says if she leaves, she won't be able to do weird stuff with her friends. Willie Jack says they're going to. It was their idea. And Daniel's. They're thinking California. Leon wonders how California could be better than Oklahoma. He finds Oklahoma fun. He tells her all the fun things she can do there. She says the stuff she wants to do, she can't do there. Like be an MMA fighter. He says there are too many bodily fluids in that. She says she could be a gourmet chef, but he says they have restaurants. She could be a dog rescuer, but he says she'd get bit. Plus there are a ton of dogs there that need rescuing. Willie says no one cares about Rez dogs. They just let them run the streets. Leon's the one who told her she could be whatever she wanted, which he knows. She asks why he never left. He says there's nothing out there for him. Everything he wants is there, his friends and family. People leave all the time, but come right back because this is where their people are. It's their home. They hear rustling and snap to attention. Willie Jack aims her gun, but a turkey emerges, not a deer. They try to shoo it away. Willie Jack says it'll scare Chunk away. Leon doesn't remember Chunk. Willie Jack shows him the picture. She and Daniel named him after seeing him a few years prior. Leon asks where she got the picture. She says she got it from his trail cam, but he doesn't own one. It probably belongs to the owners. They don't own the land, though they always hunt there. It used to be theirs until Leon's grandfather sold it in the 30s. A couple years ago, some Texas ranchers bought it. He's never seen them, so he started hunting there. But if she saw a trail cam, they might be back or there could be poachers. He asks her to take him to the trail cam.

Leon and Willie Jack wander through the woods, goofing off for the cameras. Leon asks Willie Jack why she wants to go to LA. They don't have trees like this. That'll be what brings her back. Willie Jack says Daniel wanted to leave. Maybe if he had, he'd still be alive. Leon hopes they don't have them on camera. They sit down to see if they can spot anything. Willie Jack asks if there's hunting in California. He says there probably is because California's a big state, but not in LA. Leon apologizes for the way he's been for the last year. He wishes Daniel were still there, scaring off the deer with his atomic farts.

*Daniel mimics the sound of gunfire until Leon tells him to stop.*

Leon sometimes feels like Daniel is still around. She gets that feeling often, too.

*Daniel starts singing and Willie Jack joins in, while Leon looks at them. Daniel sees this and says he's bored and hungry. Leon says they'll eat after they're done. Daniel says there are no deer out there and that's true every year. Willie Jack says Chunk is still out there, but that's not enough for Daniel. He yells for Chunk to come out so they can kill him. After a few minutes, Leon stands up and calls for Daniel to come with them.*

Leon spots the trail cam as it takes a picture of them. It's a fancy, expensive one. Leon wants one for Father's Day. Willie Jack says she'll give it to him right now and starts to pull it off.

Leon is still trying to get the camera off the tree when they hear noises. Willie Jack thinks it's Chunk, but it's actually two Texas ranchers complaining about things they don't like. Leon hopes they'll go away if they just wait for a while. Willie Jack pulls out a bag of jerky. It was Daniel's. She pulled it out of the freezer. It's still good. Leon has to tell Willie Jack something. He says a few weeks before season, he brought up bags of corn and he saw something, a being covered in hair. He thought it was Tall Man. His eyes were looking right at Leon, which scared him to the bone. That's why he didn't want to come hunt. That and Daniel. Willie Jack thinks the figure was Daniel, but Leon says it was Tall Man. Leon's glad they came out there. He trusts Willie Jack, but she doesn't have to go to California to do all the things she wants to do. But if she needs to leave, he's always there for her. Willie Jack says she misses Daniel. Leon couldn't help him in the way he needed to be help. He wonders if he failed Daniel. Willie Jack says there was nothing he could have done. He can't control everything. Leon pulls Willie Jack into a hug as she cries and tells her it'll all be okay. They both miss Daniel.

*Leon loads corn into his truck. Daniel offers his help. He was just heading home from a honky-tonk with Elora. Leon's preparing to take corn out to the hunting ground and he's just about finished. Leon says they'll do some hunting. Daniel goes to leave, but Leon stops him and gives him a jacket to keep him warm. He asks if Daniel is okay and Daniel says he is. Leon tells him to be good. Daniel leaves.*

Willie Jack pulls back, upset because she's messed up her war paint. They hear rustling nearby. It's Chunk. Willie Jack grabs her gun, aims, and fires.

Leon and Willie Jack pull away with both Chunk and the turkey in the back of the truck. The figure stands at the edge of the woods and watches long after they're gone before going away.

Willie Jack visits Daniel's grave and tells him she got Chunk. She tells him everyone wants to leave for California, but it's really hard leaving everyone here. She doesn't know how he did it. She's not mad at him anymore. She leaves him some jerky in case he's hungry and tells him to watch over them.

## Cast

### Starring

* Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak (credit only)
* D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill (credit only)
* Lane Factor as Cheese Williams (credit only)
* Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack Sampson

### Guest Starring

* Jon Proudstar as Leon Sampson
* Jennifer Podemski as Dana Sampson

### Co-Starring

* Dalton Cramer as Daniel
* Brian Shoop as Texas Rancher 1
* Darryl Cox as Texas Rancher 2

## See Also

 **#02** | "NDN Clinic"
 **#03** | "Uncle Brownie"