Puddy fat and cranky, Yogi goes it alone

Jessie got another extended flight exercise this evening. She has been maintaining her slim figure, so she was again able to fly. This time she flew so far out that I could not see her any longer. She did not get out of radio range, but she was faint. When she decided to come back she had to sit down and rest a bit before she made it back.

John made it back from Elko, and Tami decided to join us for a "hawking fix". I went in to get Puddy, who was not too heavy, but just too cranky to come to the fist. Yogi had no such problem and we headed out.

The wind was blowing a bit, and the Rabbits were flushing a long way in front of us. We did a lot of walking before Yogi got an even break at a Jack. She took off after it and it hid on her. She cranked up in a steep climb, looking over her shoulder, and at about 25 feet, turned over and slammed into the Jack in a cloud of dust. It was the first time that she has carried out the maneuver to the end. It is one of the most deadly maneuvers in a Harris Hawk's bag. It is  almost always successful. She had hit it in the head as well, and with both feet. Unfortunately my camera would not work, no matter how I tried.

She was so excited that she would not relinquish the rabbit, so I let her eat all she wanted before I picked her up. John and Tami went off to explore an old turn of the century ranch house. It was a long walk home, but well worth it.

Puddy catches her first one, and a typical cluster %$#@^&*%

Jessie

Jessie this year has been suspiciously nice. So far things have gone so well that I am very wary. I am also trying hard to ride this streak for as long as I can. Yesterday she was sore from all the flying that she did the day before, and contented herself with just flying around at about 100 feet and coming to the lure just like a trained bird. Today she felt better and played on the wind, sometimes so far away that she kept winking out. She finally tired and came back flying straight at me wanting the lure. She was content to grab it the first time and sit there to regain her breath.

I also sat there waiting for her to eat. When she finished I offered her the rest of her meal on the fist.

A great exercise day for her. She is building strength fast, probably too fast. Duck season better hurry up.

Yogi and Puddy

Tammy was fulfilling a promise to Grace by taking her to a Concert of her choice. (Birthday present) John H was off visiting a friend in Elko Nev. so that left Karen and myself to hunt the Harris'. The only problem with that is Karen's Stamina, we were going to have to hunt around the house.

I have two groups of Chickens. One is captive, the other has the run of the place, but generally go in of the evening. I had intended to go to one of the lumps of a hill about 1/2 mile away to get out of temptations way. Karen started pooping out, so we turned back towards the house. The HH's had a couple of flight and some close chases in spite of the rather stiff wind blowing out of the north. We went down by the creek quite a ways from the house, and I jumped a Bunny. Puddy was with me and she burned it down in nothing flat. Her first kill of the year!

I gave her a front leg off it, and we went on with Yogi trying to find something for her to chase. Puddy finally finished her leg and joined us. As we walked down by the creek, working our way back home, we had only one chase down there. As we got closer to the house, I asked Karen how she was doing. As she was telling me that she was about done, Yogi took off after a Jack running up to the house. She soon stalled out and sat on a fence post. Before Karen and I could make any plans, the air was filled with Chicken squawks, soon to be followed by a stream of invective from me. I did my best sprint up the hill, and arrived in the yard to find a Hawk sandwich. She had both Hawks on her. I was a bit too busy to take pictures, so you are just going to have to use your imagination.

I tossed a Jack front leg for Yogi, which she gladly accepted, then another for Puddy, which also worked after a bit. The chicken was stuffed between my legs and under my butt, to keep her from getting caught again. In the accomplishment of that particular feat, sweet little Puddy grabbed my bare right hand, causing the air to suffer once more with feeling. Karen was finally able to hold and feed Yogi and disentangle me at the same time. All the while there was a Jack Rabbit frozen in place with very big, big eyes, watching the whole incident. He may swear off grass forever.

 As for the Chicken, she survived. Might be a bit cooler tonight however. She is also one of my Mothers that I fostered three chicks with. Just glad that Yogi caught her rather than one of the chicks.  Other than that it has been pretty boring around here.

Flight to the Jordan Craters Lava Flow

I decided that today was the day that I was going to document the hidden lakes in the Jordan Craters Lava Flow. I flew them before we ever moved here, but haven't been back with a decent video camera until today. The Drift is so handy because I can turn it on and off in the cockpit, saving batteries and saving editing time. My last camera was either on or forever off. The batteries were very expensive and all in all a pain in the butt. Unfortunately the day was very smoky from all the fires. The weather and the Wind in Sept is about the only time that you can count on mild winds, and longer comfortable flight time. Unfortunately the visibility could have been a lot better. All the fires in Oregon, Idaho and California are making things hazy at best.

The area here is one of frequent Volcanic eruptions. Most of the land is covered in some kind of Volcanic rock, or soil. On the way to the flow I passed over numerous vent holes and older ropy lava flows. The Jordan Craters flow is thought to be only 2500 years or so old, and it is young enough that it has not broken into the normal jumble of individual rocks that one generally associates with these flows. The tops of the lava is "smooth" at least for Lava. There are spots in the flow that have sunken in, or better still the lava tubes have fallen in at certain spots, and the wind has filled them with blown dirt. The birds and the wind have "seeded" them with every thing from reeds to trees.

https://vimeo.com/50340550

This link will take you to the video. The password is as always, owyheeflyer  For some reason the original movie that I recorded had some kind of flaw in it and would not upload until I redid it.

Here is the spot page that recorded my flight, sending a location every ten minutes. Of course each sending is shown as a straight line, but at least the wife would have an idea of where I was if something happened to me.

Official opening of the 2012 Hawking season

I finally got the two Harris Hawks out of the mews, and back onto their perches. I began to despair of Puddy getting down enough to come to the fist, but after 6 days of no food, she began to see the light. Once she was out, and jessed up, it all came back to her, and she has done much better than I expected. The first evening I fed her enough of a meal to bring her back up a bit, and when I took her into the shop to put her on her night perch, she attempted to fly to it as if she had always been sleeping there. I put her on the creance (restraining line) to see if she would come to the fist, and she never hesitated. The lure, when presented, was greeted with vigour, and she even came to me after she finished the food on it. All in all, I could have flown her free yesterday.

Yogi, after a slow start, decided yesterday that she remembered what Rabbits were, and wanted one. John Hauck and I took her for a walk late last evening and she made her first real attempt at catching a Rabbit. She almost pulled it off on two of them, slamming into the ground and the bushes trying hard. I didn't feed her very much, planning on teaming her with Puddy today.

I also turned Jessie loose for the first time yesterday. I am unable to obtain helium due to the shortage of said product, so I am left with nothing but a kite for an exercise aid. The wind does not blow here in Sept and most of October, so my only recourse is to just turn her loose and hope that she doesn't wander. She flew around at about 50 feet and put in about four circles before going to a rock ledge to rest. After she regained her strength, she came well enough to the lure and was really quite well mannered, coming to me after she finished her lure food.

Today when I turned Jessie loose, all of the weakness that I had seen yesterday was gone, and she started cranking up into the sky. When she went through 400 feet, I decided that I needed a pigeon for her, so I ran to the loft and grabbed the first one that hesitated long enough for me to catch it. By the time that I got back she had taken it up to about 600 feet, so I yelled and tossed. She folded up and put in a sizzling stoop, She would have killed herself if she had hit it at the speed she was going. Pigeons are not easy for a falcon to hit on the first stoop. She put in a couple of half hearted passes at the lure and then went to rest on her rock again. After a while she recovered enough to fly again and capture the lure. Again she did well, so I fed her a bit more this time. I will probably not feed her tomorrow, but she is ready to catch ducks. This is the first time in years that I have been ready before the duck season has opened.

Then it was time for the HH to make their presence known to the local Jack populations. Karen and John Hauck went with me today. Karen was handling Yogi, while I had Puddy. We went to the fence by the hack tower and found that there were two Jacks just on the other side of the fence. We finally crossed the fence, and one of them busted and the girls were after it. It eluded their efforts, and they sat on the bushes after their miss. Yogi was staring at a bush between her and us, when all of a sudden she took off and slammed into a bush just 20 feet in front of us. We were all surprised and gratified to hear the sound of a Jack Rabbit in pain. Yogi had taken her first Jack of the year. She had it by the head with one foot on one side of the main stem, and the other on the head on the other side. Puddy stayed back, which surprised me a bit. I killed the Jack and gave Yogi a front leg. Karen walked Puddy on down the field in an attempt to find another Jack.

When Yogi finished her leg, we joined them and continued on our hunt. After a bit we jumped a couple more Jacks, but they both missed. We began walking down towards the fence at the lower end of our field. Both birds took off, but we saw nothing. They landed on the fence posts. I walked to the area that Puddy had dipped a wing at as she flew by, and jumped a hiding Jack. Puddy was off and in hot pursuit, slamming into the ground and skittering on her butt when she missed her grab. Yogi had been in flight as Puddy missed and she put on a burst of speed and rolled the Jack. Puddy this time came in and slammed into the Jacks head. When I got there Yogi was lying on her back, stretched out by the Jacks hind legs. I was finally able to kill the Jack and distribute front legs to both of them. When they finished their appetisers, we gave them hind legs to finish their meal, from a Jack that I had shot earlier for food.

Quite a day. I flew for an hour and forty five minutes this morning, Jessie flew well, and Yogi put two Rabbit tails on her 2012 game string. The only glitch was that I forgot my camera. Oh well pobody's nefrect!