Another Bunny- # 15

It is getting pretty cool in the mornings. It was 27 this morning.  I waited until 10 AM to start, so by the time I got to where I wanted to hunt, it had warmed up above freezing. Hope weighed 954 this morning. Apparently there are a few calories in Bunnies after all. I decided to give it a try anyway, to see if she would perhaps be stronger rather than just fat. She shows no less enthusiasm for hunting when she is this weight. I am still trying to find the weight that she hunts best. So far I can't really tell the difference between 900 and 950. She seems to try equally hard at either weight. I decided if she started slacking off I would just come on home, and give it another day.

When we got to the field, I again switched it up on my route to try to keep the Jacks off their game. It seemed to be working, with the exception that Hope still was missing. It was a bit strange, in that some of the medium distance Jacks would be ignored by her, but she would occasionally try Jacks that were a couple of hundred yards away. We had a couple of close misses with Jacks that were trying to hide close enough to me that I could flush them out for her after they had hid, but she still ended up missing. She is still working on flaring up into the air trying to locate the hiding rabbits. I find my self straining to hear a screaming Jack at the end of one of those dives, and am always disappointed when it doesn't come.

I made a pretty big circle around the field, hoping that things would go our way. All the while she was crashing into the bushes from low pursuit and high dives. We got a few slips at Bunnies, and she saw where one ran into a hole under the lava rocks. When I got there she was down as far as she could go and trying to find him. She tried for about 5 minutes to find him, but gave up when she could not get down the hole. When I walked away she gave up and flew to the perch. This is the first that she has realized that they were going underground.

I had walked almost all of a 3 sided rectangle at least 3/4 of a mile on a side, when Hope took off and thumped down over a small rise. When I arrived she was holding a Bunny.

This one she killed herself. I gave her the tin cup of tidbits, and then picked her and the Bunny up. I tore the skin off the Bunny and gave her the rear end to eat while we walked back to the car. She was finishing the hind legs when we arrived, so I cut off the head and let her finish her meal on that. I no longer hurry, and we enjoyed the Sun while she ate the head. From the time I started till we finished at the car had taken two hours. Nine Hundred fifty four grams might be a little high for intensity, but she will still hunt. If she had known what she was doing or needed to do she would still have caught a Jack. She will get there, I have no doubt. Already at the point she is now, she is better than the last four Harris Hawks that I have had. She is a pleasure to hunt with, even with all the misses. I have the time and will spend the time and effort to make her a truly great hunting hawk.

A little easier, #14

It was a bit nippy this morning, 27 degrees. I wasn't all that interested in going out, but the wind is supposed to come up this afternoon, so I forced myself to leave the comfort of my coffee and the warmth of the house. ( I spoil pretty easy it appears.) Of course it was 9:30, so I wasn't all that brave.

Hope's quiet days went with the warm weather, and while she has not perfected the Harris Call, she was doing her best. I was pretty sure that she was close to starvation, so guilt was forcing me to get going. I am leaving Hope outside all the time, but she is sheltered from the prevailing wind, so its not all that bad. She was still feeling the effects of the below freezing temps. With as much as I feed her, I can use all the help that cold temps can provide.

I picked her up and put her on the scales. 936 grams, apparently she isn't starving. That's OK, its only necessary for her to think that she is.

This morning I found that the rabbits had changed their location in response to the pressure that I have been putting on them the last few trips. I feel that Hope has a better chance of catching a Jack with less places for them to hide, and the area that I went through is pretty thin cover. The last three times there were lots of Jacks hiding there, but not this time. We had to walk into heavier cover before we even saw one. She got about 6 slips in the heavy Sage with no success. She is still working on the flare up to try to locate their hiding spot, but she still hasn't put it together as yet.

We covered quite a bit of ground with a smaller than usual number of slips than usual, but about half of them were a lot closer than they have been. Her success rate is increased by a closer slip. After all a Jack can turn upward of 45 MPH, where she is full speed in about 15 feet, plus the Jacks don't have a chance to learn what she is going to do. I therefore do my best to sneak up to areas that the Jacks cannot see me due to the terrain, but she is in sight of the area due to the tee perch.

I popped up over a small rock ledge and a Jack busted about 15 feet in front of us, and she managed to barely grab him in the Butt before he could make it around the first bush. Her hold was pretty iffy at best, but she kept grabbing higher with every turn around the bush that he made. When I skinned him his buttock was ripped from the knee to the hip all the way to the bone.

                                    I forgot to take a camera, so I had to shoot this one with my phone.

All in all this one took about 30 minutes to the catch. There wasn't as many slips either. I fed her most of the Bunny that she caught Monday. Its too soon to tell if she is getting better or just lucky. This Jack was last years model as well. He was pretty fat, and not all that small.

Number 13

The forecast for today was high winds that would not slack off until late evening. My opinion concerning Harris Hawks is that wind is not their friend, so I decided to leave the Chickens in their house and do a short hunt here and perhaps feed her enough to maintain her weight, and try seriously when the wind dies down tomorrow. There are enough Jacks living around here that would give her a chance if she wanted to take it. So rather than drive 20 miles to a site for Jacks, I figured a bit of exercise and then a light meal.

The wind was blowing about 14 MPH when we started, and we did get a few slips that ended up of course with the Jack running into the wind. Doesn't bother the Jacks, but slows Hope down considerably. She had some close calls, but the Jacks are still managing to dodge enough to leave her on the ground or stuck in a bush.

I made a big circle around the place ending up down by the rock outcropping by the creek. I stood on the top for a while hoping that one of the Jacks that lives down there would break cover. Nothing, so I intended to cross the creek and try some of the Sage further down the creek. We hadn't gotten in the bottom more than 15 feet and a Bunny squirted out. The cover down there is pretty deep and Hope didn't have much of a chance. The little Bunny was running under bushes while Hope was stuck on top. I think we busted four of them in a space no bigger than 30 feet. I was watching where they were hiding and intending to flush them out for her again. Another that I had not seen busted to the right of us and I heard one short squeal.

I was quite happy to quit with just one Bunny in the bag.