I finally got the two Harris Hawks out of the mews, and back onto their perches. I began to despair of Puddy getting down enough to come to the fist, but after 6 days of no food, she began to see the light. Once she was out, and jessed up, it all came back to her, and she has done much better than I expected. The first evening I fed her enough of a meal to bring her back up a bit, and when I took her into the shop to put her on her night perch, she attempted to fly to it as if she had always been sleeping there. I put her on the creance (restraining line) to see if she would come to the fist, and she never hesitated. The lure, when presented, was greeted with vigour, and she even came to me after she finished the food on it. All in all, I could have flown her free yesterday.
Yogi, after a slow start, decided yesterday that she remembered what Rabbits were, and wanted one. John Hauck and I took her for a walk late last evening and she made her first real attempt at catching a Rabbit. She almost pulled it off on two of them, slamming into the ground and the bushes trying hard. I didn't feed her very much, planning on teaming her with Puddy today.
I also turned Jessie loose for the first time yesterday. I am unable to obtain helium due to the shortage of said product, so I am left with nothing but a kite for an exercise aid. The wind does not blow here in Sept and most of October, so my only recourse is to just turn her loose and hope that she doesn't wander. She flew around at about 50 feet and put in about four circles before going to a rock ledge to rest. After she regained her strength, she came well enough to the lure and was really quite well mannered, coming to me after she finished her lure food.
Today when I turned Jessie loose, all of the weakness that I had seen yesterday was gone, and she started cranking up into the sky. When she went through 400 feet, I decided that I needed a pigeon for her, so I ran to the loft and grabbed the first one that hesitated long enough for me to catch it. By the time that I got back she had taken it up to about 600 feet, so I yelled and tossed. She folded up and put in a sizzling stoop, She would have killed herself if she had hit it at the speed she was going. Pigeons are not easy for a falcon to hit on the first stoop. She put in a couple of half hearted passes at the lure and then went to rest on her rock again. After a while she recovered enough to fly again and capture the lure. Again she did well, so I fed her a bit more this time. I will probably not feed her tomorrow, but she is ready to catch ducks. This is the first time in years that I have been ready before the duck season has opened.
Then it was time for the HH to make their presence known to the local Jack populations. Karen and John Hauck went with me today. Karen was handling Yogi, while I had Puddy. We went to the fence by the hack tower and found that there were two Jacks just on the other side of the fence. We finally crossed the fence, and one of them busted and the girls were after it. It eluded their efforts, and they sat on the bushes after their miss. Yogi was staring at a bush between her and us, when all of a sudden she took off and slammed into a bush just 20 feet in front of us. We were all surprised and gratified to hear the sound of a Jack Rabbit in pain. Yogi had taken her first Jack of the year. She had it by the head with one foot on one side of the main stem, and the other on the head on the other side. Puddy stayed back, which surprised me a bit. I killed the Jack and gave Yogi a front leg. Karen walked Puddy on down the field in an attempt to find another Jack.
When Yogi finished her leg, we joined them and continued on our hunt. After a bit we jumped a couple more Jacks, but they both missed. We began walking down towards the fence at the lower end of our field. Both birds took off, but we saw nothing. They landed on the fence posts. I walked to the area that Puddy had dipped a wing at as she flew by, and jumped a hiding Jack. Puddy was off and in hot pursuit, slamming into the ground and skittering on her butt when she missed her grab. Yogi had been in flight as Puddy missed and she put on a burst of speed and rolled the Jack. Puddy this time came in and slammed into the Jacks head. When I got there Yogi was lying on her back, stretched out by the Jacks hind legs. I was finally able to kill the Jack and distribute front legs to both of them. When they finished their appetisers, we gave them hind legs to finish their meal, from a Jack that I had shot earlier for food.
Quite a day. I flew for an hour and forty five minutes this morning, Jessie flew well, and Yogi put two Rabbit tails on her 2012 game string. The only glitch was that I forgot my camera. Oh well pobody's nefrect!
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