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.

Can't catch her butt with either foot!

Apparently the last dumb bunny was indeed the last dumb bunny. I know for a fact that there were none in any of the places that we have hunted the last three days.

A friend, Toby Parker came over from the coast to spend a few days with us. He had wanted to be able to see Hope hunt. Careful what you wish for! Today she did put one in the bag, but it took three days to do it.

                                  The first two days Toby wasn't wearing that brace on his knee.

Not counting the driving time, this rabbit took us about 12 hours of hunting and walking to get it done. Its not that Hope wasn't trying. She was, so much that I felt sorry for her. She did every thing that she could think of and other than pulling a bunch of hair out of ones butt, she had nothing to show for it. We were lucky in that the weather wasn't all that bad, the wind did come up after noon on all three days. We hunted in 5 different fields with the same success in four of them. I decided that I needed to change tidbits yesterday, but other than that she had no rewards for all her efforts.

She was desperate at times, hunting on foot, launching off after dicky birds flushing.

Today I tried two other spots, and we were getting flushes, some so ridiculously long that I knew that it was a waste of energy and time. She kept crashing into bush after bush, and coming up empty each time. One of them was in the relative open, and she was just about an inch from his butt when one of her wings snagged a short piece of Sage no bigger than 5 inches off the ground, and flung her off course.

Today she launched her self off the perch flying across a long open area towards a patch of Sage. I watched and as she got there a Coyote flushed out of the Sage. Thankfully she veered off and came back to me.

We were walking around a large upthrusting line of Lava, when she flew to the top for a better perch. Toby called to me that a Bobcat was up there with her. I looked up as she opened her wings and the cat ducked under her no more than a foot away. My blood froze as I was sure that he was going to swipe her off the rock. He appeared to be a 3/4 grown, and apparently he was unsure enough that he didn't grab her.

By that time we had been hunting about three hours, and covered most of the field. I was heading back to the car as the wind was coming up. I was unsure what to do. I was actually ready to shoot one, just to make sure that she wouldn't quit trying. We were walking by the fence and were busting Jacks one after another, with her trying each and every one of them. She had gone after four of them in a short space, and wonder of wonders, she crashed after the fifth and I heard the Jack screaming. I approached the site carefully and could see the Jack stretched out fully with her holding onto his butt on the other side of the bush. I knew that if I got closer he would give that final burst that would most likely break her tenuous hold. Not willing to go through that, I shot him in the head from 15 feet away with my 22 pistol. There was no way that I was going to let that unlucky bastard go. While I appreciated his sacrifice, that was as fair as I was willing to be. We needed him, badly.  

This is his escape hole. It is Jack Rabbit sized. Hope was on this side, and the Jack was on the other.

                                          She was still holding on for all she was worth.

         As usual I gave her the cup full of tidbits, but she was wound pretty tight, and wasn't about to                                                                     give up her rabbit.

We sat down to rest while she ate every thing she could hold. Again it was an old Rabbit with quite a bit of fat inside its stomach cavity.

She is trying to flare up when they stop and hide. She has yet to succeed with it as of yet, but she will. It is the key to catching the Jacks, as when pressed, they all hide and then take off when she is out of position. One thing about it, I am getting plenty of exercise. I just hope that I can hold up long enough that she can figure it out.

Finally- a dumb one!

Hope was hungry this morning and I ignored her calling to me since it was raining. It was supposed to stop after noon, so I settled back with another cup of coffee to wait.

Around 11:30 it lightened up to the West, so I went out to get her. I think she had decided that I wasn't coming today. She weighed 924 grams.

I decided that I was going to try to kidnap Tami this morning. It appeared that the ranch was a little quieter than usual, so I reasoned that I might be able to tear her away. She has not been able to see Hope at all. Of course she had all kinds of thing to do, mostly school work with the kids, Goats to milk, etc. but I was persistent. I knew that she wanted to go, but was feeling that she shouldn't. I finally broke her resistance down, and we went to milking and other stuff. In 20 minutes we were ready to go.

I went to the pasture by the house that I had been hunting off and on all season. I was quite sure that there were plenty of Jacks still there, and if things got tight for Tami, she was only a few hundred yards from the house. I needn't have worried. Hope was like a coiled spring, and after a hundred yard walk, she flashed off after a running Jack. Tami only got the chance to say, "wow she is fast", when there was a crash and a screaming Jack Rabbit. We started towards her, but there was only one scream. I felt pretty sure that it had gotten away. The Sage in that area is pretty sparse, and it seems to me that she keeps a higher percentage when they stuff themselves into a Sage Bush trying to escape the demon on their butt.  We slowed to a walk, trying to figure where she was since there was no noise to guide us. A Jack scuttled away, and I said, yep, got away. I walked on a bit further looking for Hope, and found her in a bush holding a dead Jack by the head and chest.

I am not sure how she killed it, but it was quick. Perhaps the hind talon of the right foot pierced the brain there in the back where it is thin? When I skinned the rabbit, I could see nothing that I would deem a lethal wound on him.

I pulled them out of the bush and put the tin cup by the Jack's head. Hope reached over, picked it up by the rim and put it in a more comfortable spot for her to eat out of. Of course I was standing there with a dumb look on my face and missed the opportunity to record it. When she finished the tidbits, I gave her a front leg and scooted her off the rabbit. I slipped my handy dandy wally world bag over its head and retired to clean it. I brought the liver back with me and put it into her cup. When she finished that I offered her the fist and the Jack's head to chew on. The whole thing took about 20 minutes.

It was a much smaller Rabbit, and he made a mistake. I thanked the Gods for him and his sacrifice. Sometimes it goes that way.

Oct 23rd #10

Even after her gorge on the 20th, when I went out to get her on the 22nd she weighed 923 grams. Great I thought, shouldn't take all that long today. I wanted to try a couple of other spots to see if they were holding enough Rabbits to make the 45 minute drive worth while.

Our first stop was Antelope Reservoir. I had noticed in years past that there seemed to be a few Rabbits there, but had never hunted it. There were indeed a few, but only a few. The ground was miserable to walk on, all uneven from Cow tracks and other stuff. We had a few slips, but there was nothing there that I wanted to spend all that much energy on. After about an hour or so, I put Hope in the box and started to drive down to the camp ground to turn around. I began to see some cover that I did like, and took her out again for another fruitless walk.

The reservoir normally covers all the bare area that you can see, but since it is intended for irrigation, it is drawn down pretty low.

We then decided to try on the other side of Danner at a private airstrip that I had hunted before in the past. It holds both Jacks and Bunnies. The Bunnies are tough because of the Lava and all the Badger holes. I have never seen any other area so covered in Badger diggings and holes any where. It makes for a very good population of the Western Brush Bunny, but darned hard to put one in the bag. You have about 20 feet to get it done or they are gone.

I am not sure why Hope is having so much trouble catching Jacks here lately, but whatever it is, I sure wish that she would get it figured out. I spent at least an hour and half walking all over that area, jumping Jack after Jack and she just couldn't get it done. All of the few short slips that we had were so close that it was painful, but long or short the answer seemed to be the same. The Jacks were just that little bit better.

Karen and the dogs were in the car trying to follow along. I began to feel guilty, along with discouraged, so I told Karen to go back to where we came in and wait for me. I decided to make one last drive up towards that and if she didn't catch something we would quit until tomorrow. Hope had several slips while I was walking up there, but again just couldn't make contact with the Jacks. When I got to the car, Karen told me that Josie, my Brittney had been watching the strip of brush between the runway and the road. She was pretty sure that there was a Jack hiding in that strip. I told Karen to follow along the road and I would walk it. Before we ran out of cover ( it was about 15 feet wide and a 1/4 mile long. ) I jumped 12 Jacks out of it. Hope still jinked when she should have zagged, and it was obvious that we were going home without a Jack in the bag.

  

Hope weighed 894 grams this morning, and was quite anxious to get my attention. I decided to try a new area again today. This one is on the West side of the ranch next door. It is a Sage flat that is a transition area bordering on a cattle pasture with a lot of springs and grass. It is about 1/2 mile from the pasture. I have found Jacks there in years past, but the numbers were not all that high, as well as I had other spots that were better so I never hunted it much.

I have had several years of observation concerning Jack population areas. For instance here, on any given day 30 to 60 Jack Rabbits travel through the field below me to drink water in the evening. Lots of them eat the lawn around the house, but during the day you would be hard pressed to flush more than 6 Rabbits within 1/4 mile of the house. Perhaps there are more, but one thing for sure there are not 30 to 60 Jacks living around the house. I checked the internet for papers and studies of the Black Tailed Jack Rabbit and found that the normal home range of a Jack is about 40 acres, but that they will travel up to 10 miles for forage.

So no matter how good the food supply is for Jacks, such as Alfalfa fields, all the Jacks using it do not live there, most commute there from the surrounding country side. Timing is very important as to when you hunt, as well as the location.

This area that I hunted this morning was one of the fields that they travel through to get to the food and the water. There were rabbit trails all over this area. Some were about two inches deep, and all were covered with rabbit tracks. It was still prime habitat, as well as an avenue to the food source, so it was a good bet in the middle of the morning, but probably prime just before dark.

It was much the same as the last few days, lots of tries, with no success. We were sometimes jumping them two at a time, and at least twice, the Jack she started after was not the Jack that she made the shot at, but again, it just wasn't happening. Finally after more than an hour she made a shot at one that ended in a cloud of dust and a squeal. I hustled up there and possibly caused her to lose it. It managed to pull away from her just as I got there. Sigh!

We made another wider swing around the area, and it seemed that the closer that I got to the pasture the fewer Jacks I saw. I walked back towards the car, thinking that I had just about had it.  We got up to the fence and had two more slips at Jacks, with her crashing into the Sage as hard as she could. I decided to make one more swing before I quit. We kept jumping Jacks, and she kept trying. Finally we managed to jump one right in front of us and I saw it dodge 90 degrees just as she got there. Her talons raked through the hair, but not deep enough to get the Jack. This was perhaps 20 feet in front of me. She got back on the perch and we continued on. I had decided to go back to the car and decided to go along the skimpy cover next to the hill. A Jack was hiding in a single bush, and he waited just a bit too long to run. Hope nailed him within 10 feet. This one wasn't getting away. He was a big boy, with lots of fat on him, and apparently in his prime. Just goes to prove that every one has a bad day.

After killing the Jack and giving her the tidbits from the cup, I gave her a front leg to chew on while I cleaned the Jack. The cup also made a good place to put the liver for her. She was able to eat it without getting it all full of crap and sticks.

I then gave her the head to eat, tied her to my bag and relaxed while she worked on the head. When I was rested and she had about all of the meat she could get off the head, I offered her a hind leg and we walked to the car. Tired but happy.

Oct 20th, tough sledding!

I didn't feed Hope all that much the last time, so on the 18th when I picked her up she only weighed 932 grams. Great I thought, should be a piece of cake. Quick trip. Not quite!

I had lost my magnet that I turn the transmitter on Hope's tail with and thought that I had lost my cup as well. So I decided to start at the spot of our last kill, with my next hunt, and hunt down the hill. Plus I would be changing up my approach, and perhaps throw the Jacks off. Well to make a long story a bit shorter, I walked my butt off while Hope did every thing she could think of to put a Rabbit in the bag. Nothing! Of course there were some close misses, and hair pulled a time or two, she even had one in her feet for a couple of jumps, but nothing came home with us. That's OK, a little lesson in what happens when you don't catch anything can be as valuable as success.

It had rained in the early morning and resumed when I left, so I was soaked clear through. Not a problem, my pants were covered in lots of nasty stuff anyway. So every thing went into the washer, and I spent the rest of the day sleeping and lazing around.

The 19th Hope weighed 913 grams. She was hungry and began a creaky vocal greeting when I fed Jessie. I had hoped that she would remain silent, but it can't be helped. She has to learn that to eat, she must kill. The only tidbits she gets is being picked up, and coming out of the box. I also toss a tidbit on the ground and give her one on the fist when I put her in the box after we hunt. So she got four tidbits the day before.

I decided to try another spot to see if the populations there were worth the drive to get to them. I have a friend who lives about 20 miles South who has lots of Jacks coming in to his Haystack. I had tried it in earlier years and found nothing in the Sage close to the ranch. This year appeared to be different. I found a small population of resident Jacks, and Hope pulled a hand full of hair out of one of them, but after two hours of trying and walking I decided that the populations that were eating his Haystack were coming from a long distance, not residents. I tried two different areas there, but nothing like what I need to be successful, or merit another trip.

I loaded her up for the third time and went to the ranch next door. She had a lot more Jacks to work with and although she tried, again pulling hair from two of them, just couldn't connect solidly. I spent another couple of hours walking back and forth, trying every thing we both knew, but couldn't make it happen. With three different areas in and out of the car, she got a total of 12 tidbits for 5 and half hours work.

Today dawned clear and quite cold at 30 degrees. I did my chores and weighed her, before putting her in her box. She weighed in at 896.

Karen and the dogs went with us today. I went to Arock and as usual, I changed up my direction of attack. This time I decided to spend more time and go through some of the areas that I usually pass by. It paid off, I was seeing a lot more Rabbits than I usually do. She was again taking the long shots that have little chance of success. We got a few that were closer and after a couple of close misses, she flew to the other side of a little depression about a hundred yards away. I thought that I would walk towards her and perhaps drive some Jacks out towards her. I looked up and she had flown to my left and chased off a Red Tail that was on a post at the corner of the field. First time I had seen that. I stopped and waited for her to return. When she did I decided to check a small area on the right side of the road, that I normally pass by. On the way a Jack jumped and she gave chase, missing him. I picked her up and again started that way. Another Jack jumped and I saw her stick her feet out and blow through a hole in the Sage after him. The hole was no bigger than the Jack, but she went through it feet first, wings out behind her, and her head thrown back. Missed him, but not by much, she got up again and made another strike at him which missed as well. Again I picked her up and within ten steps flushed another Jack that she chased up over the hill and across the dirt road. I walked in her direction and she flew back to the perch.  Karen later told me that she saw two other Jacks that snuck out of that patch. Pretty amazing as it was only about 40 feet around. We walked up to the top of the little hill that rimmed the basin, and within 30 yards flushed another Jack out of very sparse cover. He was only about 15 yards ahead of us and this time I saw her close and grab him right at the top of the shoulders. I guess she got tired of only getting hair and losing them. By the time I got to her she had changed up and now had him by the head.

I was rather amused and very pleased when I was killing the Jack, that she released one hold that she had and reached over my hand to grab him in the face. I will confess that I was surprised that she was deliberately avoiding grabbing me while I was "messing" with her Jack.

After the Jack quit moving, I gave her a front leg, and the rest of the tidbits in my cup. She moved off the Jack to eat while I took the Jack to clean. I gutted it and tossed the cleaned Jack to the ground for her to eat. She was not loath to comply. After what she has been through in the last three days, she needed a good feed. It will make her try all that much harder the next time she goes out.

While I can't say that she has learned all that much new these three days of failure, she has not quit, and there are slight flashes of awareness there. She has several times flared up to watch for the hiding Jack, and only bad luck has  prevented her from being successful at it. I do wish that she would shine some of the long range flights, and she showed some signs of that today, although I don't expect it to last. I am impressed with the fact that she will not give up. She has made somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 flights and misses over the last three days. It should give you some insight into what a feat it is for a young hawk to survive its first year, as well as awe that there are enough rabbits around to supply that many misses.