Sept 24 Hope's second

The Sun rise this morning was quite dark. I had expected the day to be clear and calm, but not at Sunrise. It got better as the day went along.

I went out to get Hope at 8:45 AM and she surprised me by tipping the scales at 970. My first thought was that I was wasting my time, by I didn't seem to have anything better to do, so John Hauck and I loaded up and trundled off to the Rabbit fields.

She didn't fly as if she was too heavy however, but all the slips we were getting was of the long range variety. The Jacks when you first begin to hunt them tend to flush as soon as they are aware of you. This however elicits a chase from Hope, however futile, but soon they begin to hold longer in an attempt to not be chased. This works to our advantage, because when they do flush close to her they really have less of a chance to plan an escape strategy. While not as fast as a Goshawk, Hope still has a surprisingly fast 50 yard burst, and will burn down most of the Jacks that flush within 30 yards.

I only had to walk a mile and half before she caught her second of the year.

So far she has not to my knowledge lost anything that she has grabbed. all are head shots however, but she tries really hard to make that kind of a catch every time. Makes life easier for me.

This was the first time that she has made a "throw up" looking over her shoulder and then actually catching the Jack where it is hiding. When a Harris masters that technique it is hard for a Jack to escape.