We had to go to town yesterday, and had to feed all three of the hawks a little food to keep a reasonable weight, since yesterday was their normal flying day. This morning all seemed ready to go flying.

Around 11 AM I finally gave in to Jessie's pleas, and we went over to the ranch to see if we could find something to hunt. It has been stormy and the Swans are filling the sky, so I was hopeful.

Dave had taken the excavator and ditched and drained the one spot that Ducks were visible when they were present, so it was going to be iffy at best. There are always Ducks present, it is just getting them in a spot that you can get them over the ground where Jessie has a chance at them. There is a little "handkerchief" pond along that same area that sometimes has Ducks on it. That was what I was counting on.

I gave Jessie to Karen to hold for me and began easing over to the pond to see if I could see anything on it. It is in the Grease wood and has a fairly high bank around it, so my chances were pretty good. After a very careful recon, I finally saw a Ducks head in the pond. I hurried back to Karen and struck Jessie's hood, pointing her into the wind. She circled the area, but didn't seem to be concentrating on the pond, so I decided that she might not have seen the Duck on the pond and was just looking at the ditch. We timed it so that she was a bit behind us, and then I rushed the pond. I was more than a bit surprised to find that it was holding about 30 Gadwalls. Jessie slashed down through the flock, and did a short "throw up", wasting no time in getting back on the Duck that she had knocked to the ground.

  I had to use the telemetry to find her, as she knocked it into the ground out of my vision. We settled back and let her get started eating. Gadwall's taste a bit better to Jessie than Mallards. Not quite so dry. I let her eat most of the neck, back and all the fat on both of those.

When it became apparent that she was going to have to roll it over to get anymore fat, I offered her a Starling. She accepted and stepped up on the fist, to my surprise. While she was eating that, Karen butchered the Duck, giving me both legs and both sides of the breast with the wings attached.

When Jess finished the Starling, I gave her the legs, one by one, then half of the breast as well as the heart.

She had to work at it, but she got around it all.

We went back to the house, and I sprayed Jessie with Hartz Mt Mite and Lice spray to counteract the Goose problem of last week. I also gave her a bath when we got home as she was pretty bloody, so I will probably have to repeat.

Yogi had been pretty low, ( 1100 grams) on Tuesday, and Puddy was heavy, so I took Yogi out here at the house and tried a couple of areas that we had not hunted as of yet. The first, across the hwy and across the creek, was a total waste of time. We walked for a long way and only jumped three Jacks, so I went back to the car and stopped at the top of the gravel pit and dropped down to the creek on this side of the Hwy. I am sure that there are quite a few rabbits holding there, but there is little cover, being mostly grass and low weeds.

We didn't jump anything down in the bottom, but Yogi chased and caught a Jack halfway up the hillside. Unfortunately it got away from her. We walked all over the rest of the hill without getting a close enough slip. I decided to go on home and just feed her enough to tide her over, but jumped a rabbit in a little bit of scrub by the road. She grabbed it, but it too scraped her off on a Sage, leaving her with enough fur and skin to convince her that she still had the Jack in her feet.

At 3:45 PM, Tami, Isabel and Reuben came over to hunt the girls. I wanted to drive to Arock to see if any of our old spots were holding any rabbits. We have been hammering it pretty hard here at the house and the ranch, and I wanted to let these settle down a bit. The rancher where we hunted last year had indicated that the numbers were down, but I needed to see for myself.

We parked and climbed the fence at one of our old spots, and they began to chase rabbits. The Sage is a lot higher than they have been hunting recently, and they had rabbits running every where. Poor ole Reuben was almost run over by a seriously scared Jack Rabbit. Yogi would no sooner land on the perch, when another Jack tried to move out of the way. We were amazed at the number of slips that we were getting. Finally one screwed up and Puddy nailed it. The screams were soon muffled

 when Yogi slammed into the fray. With the two birds there is rarely if ever one that gets away. Which ever hawk that is left grabs the rabbit before it can scrape the hawk off its butt. This rabbit was huge, probably the biggest that I have seen this year, and would have had a good chance to get away.

 I am not sure what happens to the ones that do get away as we have not caught any that showed signs of having been caught before, so I am not sure what happens to them. Perhaps they totally change territories the scare is so bad, or perhaps they are weakened enough that they fall prey to Coyotes. They have to be sore as can be and handicapped as well for quite a long time.

I gave each part of a front leg to eat as a reward. Puddy decided to eat hers in the safety of Karen's feet.

 After they finished, we continued our hunt, with Jacks going every where. Finally we jumped a Jack, with Yogi giving chase. Puddy strangely stayed on the perch. We were all looking at her wondering why she had not joined the chase. Suddenly she slammed into a bush right beside where we were all standing. Tami was right there and was trying to grab the rabbit as he was trying squeeze out of the other side of the bush. Finally I grabbed it by the head and moved it out of the bush. Yogi had landed and ran up to my right rear. When she saw the head she flashed out a foot and grabbed it in the head, her talons going on either side of Puddys toes. I was amazed again that they do not grab each other. I just wish they would extend the same courtesy to me.

 We gave them the rest of their meals, and when they finished we leashed them up for the walk back to the car.

 It was getting dark, and we were rewarded with a nice sunset as we walked back to the car.

This is the two Jacks that we caught, both last years rabbits, and were as fat as they could be. Notice how much bigger, (longer) the one Jack is compared to the other. I didn't weigh him, but he had to be in the 6 or 7 lb range, the other is average. Both had layers of fat around their kidneys.

Waiting for Ducks

Well today it is winter, cold wind blowing out of the South West and temps of 14 degrees this morning. The snow all melted as the ground hasn't dropped enough temperature yet for it stay, for any length of time.

Karen and I picked up Jessie to see if we could find something to hunt over at the ranch. I decided to try the lake, as I had not been there for a long time. The predominate type of Ducks present at the ranch now is Mallards, which are the local birds. The Gadwalls and Wigeon have not come in yet. Not sure if the wind is the wrong direction to get them here, or the Northern storms have not been severe enough to drive them South.

When we got to the Lake, we had to wait for the local Golden Eagle to put some distance between us before I was going to turn Jessie loose. When the wind blows the Eagles are able to hunt seriously, and that is when they are the most active and visible.

I turned Jessie loose and after she got up in the air, her flight over the lake was not promising. She didn't act as though there was anything there. Oh well it was a beautiful day, and she needed to fly any way.

 Unfortunately there were only two Divers, Buffleheads, on the Lake. I did managed to get one of them off the water and to fly over the trees. Jessie went after him, but I think he dove into the swamp on the other side of the trees. In any case, Jessie came up empty. I checked the area, and finding  some thing to flush for her was not an option.

I walked back up the hill, untangling the lure. She knew that the only other option was the lure and she came to me for the lure. I tossed it on the ground and she settled to eat. The dogs were happy to just run around checking things out.

Tami was supposed to come over when she finished helping Dave with the Cows, but at 5 PM, I was pretty sure that things hadn't worked out, so Karen and I went to fly the Harris' here at the house.

I turned both the girls loose since all the Cats and Chickens were already put up. We got out of the weathering area, and I tossed Puddy in the air, and Yogi took a perch on the power pole. Puddy saw a Jack in the front yard and started off after him. He cut in behind the "cat house" with Puddy close behind. He cut through the corral and apparently lost her somewhere in there. The two of them flew out to the property fence and took a perch on one of the fence posts there. Karen and I started that way. Yogi spotted a Jack hiding around the horse trailer, but she missed him. He ran out of the yard and into the Sage outside the fence. Yogi took off after him, but he lost her in the Sage. We got through the fence and Puddy decided that she wanted a ride on the T perch. I had not gone more than 20 yards, when Puddy took off after the same Jack. He managed to dodge her, but Yogi swept around the corner and rolled him in a cloud of dust. Puddy joined in and the fight was over. Yogi stuck a talon all the way into the Jacks lungs, and he was dead before I could figure out a way to break his neck.

 It was getting dark and the wind had a pretty nasty cut to it, so after they finished their reward, I tossed them the rest of their meal.

 One of the guy's that I know had said in regard to how well the girls were doing on game, that " he could do that well if he could hunt in his yard".  I had thought it funny, as this is the first time that we have caught a "Yard Bunny". I don't have to drive 40 miles a day to hunt, but it still takes as many miles walked as when I did.

I often forget just how big Yogi is, until I see her on either Karen or Tami's fist.

She is a real sweetheart though, and remarkably gentle.

Yogi is back in the groove again.

A cold front is blowing through and all around us is foul weather, with snow and wind. As is usual we got the wind, but no real moisture. It was a bit cooler however, and the Harris Hawks are noticing it.

Karen and the gal next door went to McDermitt, Nev. to pick up supplies, ( gamble ) leaving me here at the house to fend for myself again. They still had not returned by flying time for Jessie. Tami was assisting her husband Dave, so Jessie and I went to try our luck alone. I thought that I had a chance with the puddle that had held the Geese the other day, but on arrival found that a new bunch of weaned heifers were in the field and were as jumpy as first time alone heifers can be, so I tried the ditch. It was good exercise for Jess, but nothing flew over the dry ground, so it was lure time. No big deal, and part of the game.

Dave was missing an adapter for the stove that he is installing in their house, so we went to my shop to cobble something together that would at least enable him to start a fire in his new stove.

After that Tami and Isabel joined me for a bit of Rabbit hawking. The wind had come up and I discovered  that I had neglected to put my spare glove  back in my vest, after Karen had washed the lice out of it. Puddy at least was pretty puffed up, and not enjoying the cold cutting wind at all.

We got into the field and after a short walk, a Jack burst from cover, and Yogi nailed him before he had covered more than 30 yards.

 I tossed them their rewards after the Jack was dead, and while they ate, I cleaned the rabbit. I have not found any more diseased ones since the two that we found early in Oct. I am noticing that the girls are not catching any young ones any more. All the Jacks that we have caught in this field are at least a year old. Perhaps all the young ones died of what ever killed the two that I found. Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions too. It is just strange that all the Jacks are the older ones. Young is stupid, so if they were in the field it stands to reason that they would be the first to die.

We went on and had a couple more chases, mostly at long distance, and neither bird could manage to connect. We had walked up on top of a knoll that was mostly grass. Yogi was off after another long distance runner. Pud was riding with Tami, and suddenly she flashed off the perch and slammed into a lone bush, hard. She tore out a patch of hair, but apparently ripped out of the flesh as well. The Jack wasted no time in crawling into a rock outcropping. It was getting late and my hand was getting frostbitten, so we started back towards the part of the field that we had not hunted yet. Yogi as always was the first to see the Jacks, and the first to begin the chase. Puddy was just reacting as is usual. I am not casting aspersions about her, it is just that the lessons learned in the wild can never be taught to a bird raised in a pen. Yogi has one goal, and that is to kill something, and she never strays from that thought. She has the uncanny ability to know if the Jack is hiding somewhere, and will not leave until she has either caught him or lost him.

As we got into the part that we had not hunted in today, we jumped another Jack, and Yogi pounded into him, with Puddy close behind. She had hit him in the side and torn open his side with the force of the blow. Yogi, whether it is the size of her talons or the strength of her feet has killed more Jacks than any other hawk that I have flown. I cannot recall any other Hawk that has killed its prey by any other method than eating it to death. Generally they will tear open the flesh and the prey bleeds to death. Yogi rips big holes in the ones that she catches with her talons.

This time I tossed them their meals. Two Jacks are enough. I would prefer that each hawk makes a kill, but the last time I tried that Yogi caught four Jacks and Puddy still didn't catch anything.
I have just about run out of room in my freezer to store more Jack meals anyway. We still have at least 30 more hunting days before it gets really nasty. I have put about 47 Jacks in the freezer now. I am going to have to get creative if I am not careful.

Feast or famine

There is a storm front moving in for the rest of the week, and today was pretty windy. We had gone to town yesterday to try to get my computer problems (self inflicted of course) worked out. Jessie was still recovering from an overload of Duck fat, and the HH girls were overdue for a casting, ( Raptors require fur or feathers on a regular basis to clean their crop.) So I tossed Jessie a small chunk of Starling, and whole Starlings to the other two.

Tami was deep into school work for the kids, so Karen and I went to the ranch to fly Jessie by ourselves. We were to pick up Tami afterwards to fly the Harris Hawk girls, as Karen wanted to stay home to get some stuff done.

There was a large bunch of Mallards at the barn, so we got behind some loading chutes and installed Jess's transmitter, and turned her loose. The Ducks were only about 75 feet in front of us, but they fly up the creek if they can. I sent Karen out further to try to turn them when they flew that way. Of course that didn't work, and although Jessie tried, they were too close to water for her to do any good.

We were doing our best to head them off for another flush, and I stopped to get an idea as to Jessie's location. I finally saw her out across the ditch flying about 300 yards away. As I watched to see if she was coming back, a bunch of Ducks and Geese took off from some water over there. The Ducks went straight, while the Geese curved to the left. Jessie went into a stoop and grabbed a Goose by the neck and they came tumbling out of the sky. She did not let go and they crashed into the ground very close to the horse remuda that the ranch keeps in that field. I started my best imitation of a run in her direction. Of course picturing her either getting stomped by a horse, or wing whipped by a Goose, either the one that she grabbed or its mate. ( That happens a lot with Geese. They mate for life and will fight for their mate)

It seemed to take forever to get there and I was pretty "wind broke" when I did. I was looking all around, and could not find her. I went to where the horses were milling about, thinking that she was the object of their attention, but she wasn't there. Finally Karen, who had even further to go than I did, arrived with the telemetry, and started scanning. The signal seemed to be every where, so I took it and turned the gain down enough to determine direction. I then found that we had both ran right past her. She was in a small ditch by the fence, and she had the Goose under control, still had it be the neck.

I finally understood why she was still alive and in control. The Goose was a Juvenile Tundra Greater White- Fronted Goose, and only weigh about half of a regular Canada Goose. The bird book says 4.8 lbs.

 Of course she had to scrape every bit of fat off it that she could get. This apparently tasted a bit better, and she actually ate a bit of the breast meat this time.

https://vimeo.com/53051554  Password is owyheeflyer  In the credits I called the Goose a Cackling Goose. I am not going to change it- too much trouble.

After she ate about as much as she could hold, I picked her up with a Starling and we made our way back to the car. Karen stuffed the Goose in my bag.

We got to Tami's as she was finishing up with her Kestrel. I kept feeling something tickling me on the side of my face, and kept trying to brush off the "feather" that was the culprit. Tami and Reuben joined us in the car and we went to the house to drop off Jessie and pick up the girls. I kept feeling a tickle on my face, so I took off my hat and found that the tickle was feather lice. Wonderful! Not that much trouble for me, but a definite pain for Jessie. She is going to have to endure it for at least a week   until I can get to town.

I wanted to hunt somewhere else to give the ranch spot a rest. One should never hunt them so hard that they change where they stay.

We went to the Pillars of Rome for another try. The wind was still blowing, and I wasn't too sure how that was going to work out for the girls. We got in the field and had walked quite a ways, seeing nothing. Finally Puddy took off after a fleeing Jack, with Yogi right behind. Puddy was going low and Yogi high. Puddy took a shot at him, but he dodged and apparently hid for a bit. Yogi caught the wind and was blown up about 60 feet high. She turned over  and came down in a corkscrew, slamming into the Jack and the ground. Puddy wasted no time in securing the head. As you can see they are pretty deep into this bush. I had to break it out so that I could retrieve them from it.

I had left my vest and bag laying on the ground at the house, and had borrowed Karen's. It didn't fit me very well, and I was not comfortable, so we decided that a lousey Goose and a Jack Rabbit was enough for a windy day.

I cannot figure Jessie at all. She thinks nothing of refusing to catch anything for days and even weeks, big small, nothing tempted her. Then she ignores Ducks and grabs a Goose and rides it to the ground. I have to admit, I am in awe of this bird. I have never seen her like before.

Finally all cylinders firing

 Sunrise Saturday morning.

Things have been a bit herky jerky this year. At the beginning Puddy doing nothing more than just waiting for Yogi to catch one, and only then committing to the chase. Then Jessie got pissed at me and just quit trying to catch anything at all, being quite content with just the lure and what it held for food. Yogi ran up quite a score even going so far as to catching four Jacks in one evening. I explored the possibility of retiring Jessie to a breeding project, and entertained the thought of just cutting her loose. Karen asked me to just feed her up for a while and see if that would get things back on track.

Well I did that for three feedings which covered six days. Then I took her down to what I considered her bottom line.

Let me explain a bit about a falcons thinking, compared to a Hawk. If you get a lazy hawk, chances are it is too heavy in weight. You cut their weight, and all of a sudden you have a hawk that is motivated to kill something. You do the same thing with a falcon, and the only result is worse manners. Falcons kill because they want to, and even if you do get one hungry enough to kill something, nothing has really changed. They are just not motivated the same way.

Jessie did kill the Gadwall last week, and I did let her alone until she got tired of dry duck, and came to me for a fat Starling. She was back down in weight and ready to fly on Friday evening. I took the dogs and Jess out to the Lake to try again. Unfortunately there was nothing on the Lake at all. She flew well and came to the lure. I was quite disappointed, but the lake is not one of those places that you can tell if there is ducks on it before you turn the hawk loose. Fortunately when the migrants are in, it usually has something on it all the time.

Tami and her Mother came over later in the evening and we hunted here at the house with the Harris'. We walked my butt off, and finally at last light Puddy slammed into a old Jack by the driveway. It was too dark for my camera to get a viable picture.

Yesterday I took Jessie over to Tami's to try again, but first we gave Meg, Tami's little Kestrel, another lesson. She is very jumpy and showed no interest in feathered quarry, being quite content to eat bugs and Mice. We are in the process of showing her that birds are a possibility and since she is quite jumpy and likely to carry, working with her on a fishing pole. Her one feature that works in our favor is that she really likes tidbits. When she has a bagged bird in her feet, she will stay for a tidbit, so we have been tidbiting her as much as we can, and she is slowly responding. It is still not a sure thing for her, so we are going very slowly. She will never develop the confidence and desire of Jasper however.            ( He is still here)

After we got Meg fed, I noticed that there were ducks on the ditch right by Tami's house, so we turned Jessie loose right there to see what we could do with the opportunity. Jessie took a good pitch, and we did our best to get a clean flush, however there was a bog right in front of Tami, so she was a bit late to the ditch, so the ducks flew up the ditch. Jess came down and smacked a Hen Mallard to the ground in front of the ditch, but it got back in the water before she could get back to it. She sat down on a Hay stack and contented herself with the lure yet again.

Today all three birds were at their optimum weight, so at Three PM I loaded every one in the truck and headed to Tami's. Meg's lesson today was the fist and the lure, so we headed out to the ditch with Jessie to see if we could get things together for a change. This time there were no Ducks at the Barn, so I turned her loose and was hoping that there would be some Ducks at a little pond out in the Greasewood a ways. It generally holds one or two most times, and I was hoping that this was one of them. She took a pretty good pitch and seemed to be centering on the end of a ditch close to the pond, so I focused on the ditch. Thankfully there was a little group of Mallards in the reeds there. She was hanging pretty tight, so when they decided to go, she was coming back right over them from the front. She turned into an outside loop and slammed into a Hen Mallard taking her down in to the Willows at the edge of the Marsh area.

She allowed me to pick her up and take her to some flat ground where she could eat. I just let her do as she wished, since it is unimportant how often she flies, just how well. She proceeded to pick every bit of fat off that Hen's back. She really doesn't care all that much about the meat, but she does like the fat. It took her about 45 minutes before she would consent to leaving the Duck.

Then it was the HH's turn. We had a bit of trouble finding any rabbits close for quite a long time. We finally found the area that they were hiding in, and soon Puddy had one by the butt, and Yogi on the head. Yogi again killed it by herself. That is very unusual, and it is the second that she has killed without my help. (Hawks just grab, and eat their prey to death. Death generally comes from loss of blood.) Of course if I was to compare the length of her talons to human size, we would be talking a 12 to 14 inch knife. The Jack was an old one, quite fat and nicely healthy. I gave each a chunk of their last kill to eat while I cleaned rabbit.

We again picked them up and began again. We had not gone far, when Yogi saw another one. They took turns trying to catch it, but it anticipated every move that they had and escaped. Yogi was sitting on a bush, looking around. Puddy came back to Tami, and we began again. I was trying to get Yogi to come to me, but she was not interested. Finally she took off and crashed into a bush about 15 feet in front of her, and came out holding onto a Jacks head. Puddy honored her kill. I secured the Jack, killing it. I wanted the birds to have a casting, and I had brought a couple of Starlings with me to feed them at the end of the day. ( I forgot to get a picture of this one too.)

 Puddy grabbed hers and flew a bit off to eat it. ( Yogi with her also big mouth has been eating her chunk, and then trying to get Puddy's, so she has been taking her food off a ways and out of temptation) Apparently she couldn't find a spot that she liked and kept changing positions. Tami was watching her while I was cleaning the rabbit. She could see Puddy jumping around where she had last gone. Something was strange, so I started that way, and ran a Coyote off that was apparently trying to catch her. I assume that he got her Starling, but not her. I am not sure what would have happened if it had been Yogi. I am not sure that Yogi would not have attacked him. That is a scary thought. I don't think it would have turned out well.

So finally it appears that things are finally aligned as they should be. Don't hold your breath!

Jessie finally relents.

Tami and I decided to hunt early today, she, because her Mother was coming, and I, because I was going to have to hunt three birds. A lot to do and not enough time in the day.

The wind was supposed to come up later in the day, so at 2 PM I drove over to the ranch and Tami, Isabel and I walked out to the field with the Harris'. Both girls were anxious, but the rabbits had seen them before and were busting a long ways out. Yogi was taking slips that were as much as 200 yards out, all to no effect. We made a circuit of the field and finally Puddy grabbed one. Yogi wasted no time in anchoring the Jack. Since we were on short time, we walked back to the entrance of the field hunting as we went. They had a couple of other chases, but were not able to connect. I tossed them their meal on the ground, and after they finished, leashed them up and went back to Tami's house.

Meg, Tami's Kestrel, was ready to fly, so we got things ready. We called Karen, who had stayed home to get the car ready for the upcoming falconry meet in Madras this weekend. She agreed to come over and bring the dogs, so that we could hunt Jessie when we finished with Meg.

We flew Meg free yesterday for the first time. Tami called her to the fist several times, and I had a Starling on a fishing pole to give her her first bag. Meg is quite jumpy and is going to be a bit of a problem with wild game. When I flicked out the bird, she was unsure and did not seem to realize that it could be a food item. After a bit of studying, she gave chase, but missed. She flew back up to the fence, but the bird was still there. I think she made three attempts before she finally made contact. The bird was giving her quite a tussle, but she would not allow Tami to help. Tami stayed back and let her wallow it around until she finally killed it. Meg was still ready to bolt with her prize, so I split a dried weed and had her put a tidbit in the split and offer it to her while she was giving the food call. Well that seemed to be different. Tami stayed kneeling down in a very awkward position and fed her tidbits until Meg finally allowed her to help with the bird and feed her tidbits.

 Today she was back at weight and we wanted to continue our lesson. She was actually a bit lower in weight than yesterday. Meg wanted to fix that situation and sat on a fence post scanning for bugs of any type. I flicked the Starling that had volunteered for today's lesson out, and today Meg wasn't wasting any time. At the first wing beat, she was off and after the bird, who had attempted to take refuge under my feet. They did a couple of loops around my feet and Meg caught him right where she is in the picture. I didn't dare move, but she paid me no mind at all. They were wrestling around in the hay in front of me, and Tami and I agreed that she should help her, if she would allow it.

Tami met no resistance from Meg at all, and was able to kill the bird by crushing its skull. She gave her a tidbit, and opened the skull for Meg's favorite part of the meal. Tami clipped her leash up and continued to feed her tidbits as she ate. I was very pleased to see that the reaction today was totally relaxed and she showed no desire to flee with her prize.

Karen had shown up in the meantime, so we left Tami with the tedious part of falconry, and went to see if Jessie had seen the light.

Jessie was down to 780 grams, and had begged me to pick her up as I was getting the Harris' out of the weathering area. I had not intended to take her out until later in the evening, and quite frankly wasn't looking forward to it at all. She managed to make me feel guilty, so I picked her up and took her with me.

Karen and I drove to the Lake, ( beginning of Crooked Creek) with two happy dogs. Betsy fogged up the car with her constant panting. Its been a while since they had been able to go hawking and they had missed it a lot.

The wind had picked up a bit, but it was still flyable. I turned Jessie loose out of sight of the lake and we began our walk to see what we had on the water for a choice. Jessie began to get her pitch and here came a Prairie Falcon who resented her presence at her favorite spot. She made a few feints at Jessie, who responded by making a grab at the Prairie. The Prairie took the hint and decided to go somewhere else for a while.

When I could see the lake, my heart sank. There were only a couple of smaller ducks at the far end by the reeds. I was pretty sure that this was going to be another disappointing flight. Even if Jessie did want one of them, the odds were stacked against her. The dogs happily ran at the water and apparently flushed a couple of them. Jessie gave pursuit, but she was out of position and they cut back through the trees and back over the water. They decided to  not land because of the dogs, and as they attempted to climb out over the reeds Jessie clobbered one of them back into the water. She hit him hard and he landed in the water upside down. Curse words never left my mouth, but they were there. I walked down   towards the Lake, and for some reason the clobbered Duck lifted off over the reeds and he and Jessie disappeared behind the trees.

 I am not sure if the dogs flushed him, or he just wasn't thinking straight, but whatever the reason, I was very thankful. She needed no assistance, and I wasn't going to give her any even if she did. I sat and watched her eat, while the dogs explored every nook and cranny ( muddy nasty spot) at the lake.

I let her eat for a while, and then offered her a Starling, and she stepped on the fist like a ??lady??.

Hopefully her snit has passed and she will get down to business. She is a great hawk when she wants to be, and when her mind is right, nothing is safe. Even so I was seriously considering getting rid of her.

Hunting by Moonlight

I decided to give Jessie another chance to see if she is ready to hunt yesterday. So late in the afternoon I took her over to the ranch and stole Tami away from her Chicken cleaning to go with me. Yesterday was butchering day for both of our old Chickens. Some of mine were at least three years old and hadn't laid an egg in months. Tami just got rid of a bunch of her older ones to make room for the new ones coming on. Totally there were 17 Chickens to be cleaned. Reuben came along to help. I was tired enough when we were done that I didn't intend to hunt. After a soak in the hot tub and a serious case of boredom, I changed my mind. Poor Tami still had 6 Chickens left to clean when I got there, but I guess she needed a change of scenery, so she went with me.

I had put Jessie up for a bit and fed her some Pigeons and just let her sit for a week or so, on the off chance that she would want to hunt when and if she got another chance. There were plenty of Ducks at the barn, so we put her in the air, and when she was in position, we flushed them. She goofed around without ever committing while most of them flew. She finally decided that she wanted one of them, but was not able to catch up before he splashed back into the creek. She then flew over to her favorite hay stack and sat down. I had seen this before, so we went back to the shop and watched Dave work on a truck. I was monitoring her whereabouts with the telemetry, and could see where she was sitting, and I knew what she wanted was for me to call her to the lure. We sat there for an hour each determined to get our way, but I had already had my dinner and didn't really care if she came or not. Finally she blinked and flew over to where we were. There had been some Ducks in the creek there, but they had all swam somewhere else, so there was nothing to do but call her down to the lure.

She should have anxious to hunt as her weight was about three ounces lower than what I hunted her last year. Well I guess we will have to step it up a notch. She got some rabbit on the lure and half of a Starling for her dinner.

Today was the Harris' day, and I waited quite late to pick up the girls hoping that the wind would moderate a bit. At 6 PM I decided that I couldn't wait any longer and started picking up the girls. Jessie wanted to go, even trying to fly to me while I was holding Yogi. Sorry Pal, not today, and maybe not tomorrow either.

I decided that we would hunt the field that had the dead rabbits in it, and I would check the ones that we caught to see if I could find anything wrong with the ones that they caught. If there is anything wrong with them the Liver will generally show abnormalities.

Unfortunately by the time we got out in the field the Moon was already coming up over the hills to the East.

  Oh well, Harris' don't sweat the small stuff. They will hunt by flashlight if they have to. We jumped one not far into the field and he sure didn't run like he felt bad. He turned the girls every which way but loose, leaving them sitting on the ground wondering which way he went. We went a bit further and the next one also gave them the slip after several repeated attempts to bring him to bag. Strangely enough I was elated. One of the symptoms of Tularemia is sluggishness. These guy's were not sluggish at all. Finally the next one made an error, and Puddy slammed into him, with Yogi soon making the anchoring shot to his head.

If you look closely at this picture you will see that Puddy has him by only his foot, and that there is a big wad of Jack Rabbit butt fur including the tail off to the left of the bush. His butt was ripped to shreds, but he would have escaped if not for Yogi.

I tossed them each a chunk of the last rabbit that they had caught while Tami went to examine the rabbit.  He was not a youngster by any stretch, and was carrying a substantial amount of fat, and his liver was nice and normal, which pleased me enormously.

 We hunted for a bit more, but it was getting really dark, so after a couple more chases we called them back and tossed the rest of their meal on the ground for them to eat. By the time we got to the car it was fully dark.