Hope's first trip with Yogi

As you might remember Jacks are scarce this year, and Hope has caught only two but it is a struggle. I have resisted trying to fly her in a cast, but came to the conclusion that it was going to be necessary if she was going to catch much of anything.I have not seen many Jacks that I could say were young of the year, and an old rabbit doesn't get that way here in the desert by pure luck. The Jacks were simply outsmarting Hope at most every turn, when we could actually find one. If one of them screwed up and let us get close, it was caught, but if they started early and had enough of a start they were able to think of a tactic that would work on a dumb second year Harris.

As you may remember also Sarah Morrison gave Yogi back to me, and I in turn gave her to Tami next door. Good for me as handling two birds is a bit more than I want to do, or can do as well as I would like. Plus Tami, in the middle of the first year with a new kid, being a full time wife that is home schooling her remaining four school age kids, working cows when needed as well as the other chores that come with ranch life, while still desiring to practice falconry, was very limited in the type of raptor that could fit that type of lifestyle. Yogi does fit that niche for her. So far with the limited time available she has still caught four Jacks to my two. I don't have any where near that amount of drains on my time, and she still has more Jacks in the bag than Hope and I. Yogi has been on fire since she came back to the desert.

Now until I transferred Yogi to Tami, I kept Yogi and Hope in adjoining mews with flight pens that they could see each other, so they "knew" each other already. I wasn't expecting any troubles putting them together for the first time. Both are very laid back Hawks, and very sensible.

Today was the first time that Tami could come out to play with Hope and I. When we parked, I took Hope out first and had her on the tee perch. Tami took Yogi out and other than Hope recognizing her indicated by her posture, it was a non event.

 Hope jumped off the perch and into the car where she promptly grabbed one of the white towels that Tami had to cover herself while she was feeding Gabe. I tried to call her out of the car, and she brought the towel with her and I had a hell of a time getting it away from her. In her mind it must be edible.

Elsie (who is 11) carried Gabe and followed along while we hunted. ( Have I mentioned that Tami's kids are the best I have ever seen)

We walked for a total of two hours, and jumped 7 Jacks. The Hawks worked well together, but 5 of the Jacks still outsmarted and avoided both the hawks. They got in a couple of quick shots and a couple of them were pretty close, but it was a long way between slips. Both Hawks were getting impatient, but never lost their desire or try. We went for long periods of time where we jumped nothing. We finally turned to go back to the car, which by that time was so far away that we couldn't see it.

Finally a Jack jumped in front of us and ran into the wind of course. Yogi started climbing into the wind after it. When she got high enough that the Jack felt threatened he turned back under her. The only problem was that Hope was right there and slammed into it. Yogi turned back to help. When we got there they were both holding the Jack by the head. I was a bit surprised because Yogi had with the other Harris's that I had hunted her with, would not crowd in if the first Hawk had it by the head. If the first had it by the butt, then she would grab the head. Neither one actually laid a talon on each other. I got a few holes by Hope, because she was really hyped up, more than I have ever witnessed.

Yogi got off with little problem, but Hope was excited, really really excited. she wasn't about to let that Jack go, even for food. We finally got everything straightened out again, and continued our trek to the car. I told Tami that the next Jack that we jumped would be in real trouble because Yogi was going to catch it if it killed her. We hadn't gone all that far and Hope started after a Jack that jumped behind us,  it made a reverse move that threw Hope off, but Yogi was right there and she slammed him hard. We were a lot closer to the action this time, and when we got there Hope was standing to the side because Yogi had control of the head. I was not surprised that she didn't barge in, and very glad as well. Tami volunteered to offer Hope a leg, which she accepted with no problem, while I killed the Jack and gave Yogi a token to eat. I bagged the Rabbit and took Hope from Tami, while she called Yogi to the fist for the rest of her food.

My concern with flying Hope in a cast  was that I didn't want her to adopt a submissive role. I was very pleased to see that she did not. Neither bird showed any jealousy or aggression. Yogi came to my perch and Hope went to Tami several times. All in all it was a very rewarding excursion. Unfortunately we will not be able to do so for at least the next week. Cows to wean, lots still to do, but it will not be the last, things will calm down some time.