October 12th, 2018

The day dawned bright and clear. Not a cloud in the sky, 29 degrees. I weighed Hope after my chores were taken care of, not surprised to find that she still weighed 967 grams. She was still anxious to come to me, so off we go.

I decided to try a field that I hadn't flown in at least a year. During the height of the Rabbit explosion of three years ago, there was no need to go anywhere else. That field held all the Rabbits that one could wish for and more. Its had Cows on it all fall, so the cover is a bit less than other spots on the ranch.

I turned the dogs out and we began, under the watchful eye of the resident Red Tail sitting in a tree along the fence line. We hadn't gone very far before Hope took off after a Jack in between the Red Tail and us. She put in four different shots at him, with Josie running interference for her, turning the rabbit and not letting him hole up under the Greasewood bushes. He still got away, and Hope returned to the tee perch, ready for another. The Red Tail had seen enough and decided to go some where that this dervish did not hunt.

We jumped two more Jacks before we got to the creek. All managed to avoid her talons. A forth Jack was flushed, and Hope took off after him, slamming into a Grease Wood bush. I listened for the sound that would indicate that she had caught him, but there was nothing. I leisurely began walking that way, and was a bit surprised that she did not jump up on top of one of the bushes. As I neared where she had disappeared Brick went on point on a thick Greasewood bush. I assumed that it was on a hot rabbit "form". ( area dug out under the Sage where the Jacks rest and watch) He seemed to be sure that something was in there, so I looked opposite him, but could see nothing. He still insisted, so I looked on the other side and there buried in the Greasewood was Hope. I looked a bit closer and she was holding a very dead Jack Rabbit. Not sure how she did it, but he was stone dead. She of course had him by the head. Perhaps a talon went into his brain through his ear. Fine by me!

I of course had left my phone in the car, when I began hunting. After returning to the car I decided to take a "selfie" as there was no other way to record the kill. Of course I was trying one handed, with a hawk on the other hand, blood on my fingers, not to mention a wad of rabbit hair, and I can't see the screen because the sun is shinning on it. I decided that I need to put the camera in "selfie mode", so that I can possibly frame the shot, but I can't see or find the little icon that does that. I know where it is though and try to use my nose to punch the button. (Picture a guy with blood dripping off his fingers, holding a Hawk that is eating something on his fist, slamming a phone into his face)  That didn't work, so I went over to the car after four or five useless attempts, laid it on the floor and punched the button with my fingers. I then found out that my arms weren't long enough. To sum it all up, it was the usual cluster #$%&, but I got something.

It appears that Hope has a new flying weight. Not sure now what the ceiling of that weight is. She came to me at 870 and is now hunting 3 1/2 ounces heavier.

I am quite pleased with the way that the dogs are helping out. I am sure that at least one of my field trial friends cringe at the way that I abuse these poor dogs, by training them to hunt Rabbits. However that is the beauty of this breed. It doesn't matter what you want to hunt, if you can convey to them what you are looking for they will find it for you. Josie has learned that when Hope flies, she is chasing something. So when Hope takes off, Josie is right with her, and forms the other leg of the hunt that can supply enough distraction that the Jacks are at a disadvantage, and thus gives Hope a better chance of succeeding. Three of those four shots that Hope had at the first Rabbit came because of Josie.

Oct 10th

After our hunt on the 6th, Connie and I began loading the cars to go to Burns for the night. We were going to Keizer to pick up a set of mews ( Hawk houses) for Pat Brewster. They had belonged to Sarah Morrison, while she was living at home. She had moved to Montana, so her parents, Scott and Sandy, wanted their yard back, thus making them available.

Connie helped me line up the truck to connect the car trailer and we prepared to head out. Connie had put her cat in her car, and I, Tiger and the dogs in mine. Chili, her cat promptly stepped on the door lock, and of course the keys were in the car. It took about 30 minutes to unlock the car with the help of some wedges to pry the door open far enough to get a rod inside to open it up. I managed to not screw up the door, or maim said Cat, either while or after opening the door.

One of Connie's friends had left a bunch of stuff at her house, so we loaded it on the car trailer to take with us the next morning when we went to Salem. Upon arrival in Salem we unloaded that stuff at a friends house and then drove to Sandy and Scott's House and loaded the mews on the trailer ready for our departure the next morning. We made it back to Burns with no problem, and I left the trailer with all the material at Pat's house and came on home last night.

Hope was begging for food when I got home yesterday, but I decided to not feed her until today. She was hanging on the wire begging to go hunting this morning. I thought that she must be starved. When I weighed her she was 968 grams ( more than an ounce heavier than I prefer her to be when we hunt. She will generally try, just not hard enough to actually catch something however. I didn't have anything else that I wanted to do, so I decided to go hunting anyway.

I drove to Arock and tried a new portion of the field that I usually do not hunt. There were a few Jacks, but all were jumping way ahead of us, and she wasn't able to catch any of them. There just isn't as many Jacks this year, and I was trying to find where the ones that were still alive were hanging out. In about 1:45 minutes of walking I had jumped only about 8 Jacks. All at long distances, and Hope had missed all of them. Not by much, but enough that they all went free. I decided to turn back towards the car and eventually jumped a Bunny. Hope burned after it and slammed into the ground at the entrance to some rocks. A feeble little squeal announced her success. I killed the Bunny, tore off a front leg and gave it to her. When she got off the Bunny, I picked it up and walked off. When she finished it she flew to the perch and I went on hunting.

As is usual when I have attempted to double on kills, it takes her a bit to get back to her original enthusiasm. She was not putting her all into the chases as she should, so I sat down, and made the dogs stop and rest. She was sitting on a bush where she had given up on a half hearted chase after a Jack. Pretty soon she flew towards us and landed on a Sage about 10 feet from us. She sat there for a bit then hopped down to the ground and began walking towards us. I was quite surprised when she walked up to Brick and started swatting him with her wing and acting aggressive. It would appear that she was not happy that he was sitting down on the job. We got up and started out again. Within about 75 yards we jumped another Jack that ran behind us. Hope gave chase, slamming into the ground. soon his death song floated back to us. This time I gave her her tidbits, and a large chunk of Jack, taking the Jack off to be gutted. I kept out the liver for her. She soon joined us and was given the liver, as well as another large chunk of Jack as her final reward. I of course managed to go off without a camera, so nothing could be recorded for the blog.

We walked for 2 hours and 45 minutes on this hunt, but we came home with some food. Good trade.