Its not looking at all good for this seasons hawking. It is the second year of what is probably a "normal" drought here in Southeastern Oregon. Almost all the back country ponds are dried up. None of the little marginal springs have water, and the normal feed that the desert provides is very scarce indeed.
We did have almost an inch of rain at the beginning of Sept., but it all soaked into the ground and very little made it to any of the little "drain water" ponds. The rain did however give us a little boost with the Cheat Grass, but it is very localized, and not very thick.
We held around 60 Jack Rabbits here at the house over the winter, but at this time I have only seen two here at the house. The Bunnies ( Cottontail ) seem to be close to normal, but considering where they live and the cover in those areas, they are not a viable hunting prospect.
We pulled the Harris Hawks out of the mews anticipating a fun year, but so far I have not found any game for them to hunt.
We first tried here at the house. Yogi and I walked for about an hour and half and saw one Jack Rabbit. Next I tried the Danner area, ( a 40 mile drive ) There were a few Bunnies, and we saw two Jacks.
We then tried the 12 Mile area, off the Whitehorse Road, and Yogi saw one Jack Rabbit in an afternoon of walking. Over the winter the Jacks made some serious inroads into my friends Hay stack, but we couldn't find any of them. I have one more place to try, and if it doesn't produce, we are faced with the prospect of putting the birds back in the mews and feeding them for another year hoping that it will be better either later or at worst, next year. I have no idea what happened to them.
I began cutting Jessie's weight at the same time as the Harris Hawks. I had put her into a breeding project at a friends house, thinking that she would lay eggs with no problem. I was surprised to find that she accepted the male, but it was a platonic relationship only. Apparently she is a bit imprinted, and only loves me? Yeah, right! She spent from January to about April in the breeding chambers. I stipulated that if she was not successful, I would get her back.
I finally got enough weight off her to be able to turn her loose to try to build some condition. The dogs are loving it, and at least they look forward to the days that she flies. I am unable to get any helium for my balloon so I was just turning her loose and hoping that she would build a little muscle. After the first flight, she started sloughing off. The last flight here at the house, she made one circle around and landed on the hanger. It was pretty obvious that she knew what we were doing, and would rather just eat and get it over with. Karen and I started walking down to the creek, and she took off and held position over us. Much more like it, and released us both from the boredom of building condition.
Since it was obviously a waste of time, we loaded her and the dogs up and went over to the Ranch to see what Ducks were available. I was not optimistic that much was going to happen. I have stated before and most likely will again, that ditch hawking is the best and shortest route to frustration that exists.
We stopped and borrowed a fax machine from Rosie. She told me that a little pond in the horse pasture had a bunch of Ducks on it this morning. I carefully checked it, and found that there were still some Ducks there. I put Jessie in the air, and waited until she was in position and we rushed the pond. I was very surprised when Jessie cut through the flock, snatching a Gadwall on the way through.
They ended up in a Greasewood bush, and I had to extricate them.
As you can plainly see, the little darling is trying to decide whether or not to attack me for my troubles.
As usual, being a connoisseur of all things wild, the only part of a Duck that she likes is the fat. I can't say that I blame her, I don't much care for Ducks either, but she caught it, she has to eat it.
Just for grins and to get something inside besides all that fat, I tossed her the Starling that would have been her meal if she had missed. She much preferred it to the taste of Duck. I let her eat all she could hold while I looked over the ditches near us. Apparently the little pond held all the ducks close by, as there was none on the section of Creek close to our position. Thanks Rosie!
She finished as the sun set behind the Steens Mountain.
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