Puddy gets the hint

Wednesday when we last flew, Puddy was heavy and was not doing her job. Thursday I weighed Yogi and found that she was down enough to go hawking again. I decided that I would see if I could put some weight on her rather than fly her. I knew that we would not be able to hunt again until Sat. morning. So I took Yogi out and fed her a bunch of Rabbit and some of Jessie's Duck. Puddy got nothing at all.

This morning Yogi weighed in at 1039, Puddy at 835, Jessie at 830. After we got our chores done, we went over to Tami's to give Jessie a shot at the Mallards that have been feeding in the flooded field right in front of their house. After that we intended to try a new spot behind the Lake where I generally hunt Jessie.

The Ducks were still there and I turned Jessie loose behind Tami's. There were Ducks on the ditch behind the house, but I had almost every one in front to mark Jessie if I could not get there in time to see the flight. I will save you the suspense. That was a mistake, I hope to never make that one again. I should have flushed the ducks on the ditch. Jessie had taken a really nice pitch, and I decided to ignore a sure thing and flush all those Mallards.

The only problem with that is that the field was flooded, not that deep, but still wet. Now a Mallard is no pushover on the ground. Jessie once broke her leg hitting a Mallard Drake, so when she catches one, she grabs it rather than hitting it. The smaller Ducks she hits, so there is rarely a fight.

I finally realized what Jessie was seeing from the air, when she pulled up from her stoop and began trying to herd them off of the water. They were having none of it, splashing back in time and time again. She could never get one to a point that she could carry it to dry ground, and finally got tired enough to set down. I recalled her to the lure.

We took the girls out of the truck in an area that we had scouted last week. We had seen 9 Jacks along the road, the only problem was that the cover was primarily Greasewood. It was fairly small and there were gaps in it, so I thought to try it to see if it was viable to hunt. We walked for a bit and a Jack jumped in front of us, and Puddy burned it down in her old style, and Yogi helped.

 Puddy had grabbed it right in the butt, and was drug deeply into the Greasewood. It took both Tami and I to get her clear of the nasty stuff, and I was finally able to drag them free.

I gave them both a front leg, and although they went through the motions, neither really put all that much effort to catch another one. Both birds are OK, and we will most likely hunt here at the house tomorrow.

Yogi carries the load

YOGI AND PUDDY

Karen and I picked up Tami and Reuben at their house and headed out to the field that we found the last time the girls flew.

We waded out to the field and began our walk. The first rabbit that flushed Yogi pulled hair, but it managed to get away from her. Puddy is still on welfare and waiting for Yogi to catch one so that she can join in.

 Its rather peculiar that this year Puddy really putS on the weight and Yogi loses when fed the same amount. Puddy is a bit fat, but she does help with the kills. Yogi could get along without her, but Pud will turn on sometime soon. I am just going to have to turn a few of her screws a bit tighter. Last year she caught three times the rabbits that Yogi did. Not so this year. With today's totals Yogi has 7 more kills than Puddy.

The next rabbit that jumped Yogi burned down so fast that she overshot it. Puddy made a shot, and the rabbit ducked behind a bush, and tried to freeze. He didn't take into account that Yogi had turned for another shot and was not fooled at all. Yogi grabbed him where he was hiding, and Puddy grabbed him in the head. When I got there Yogi was pulled up tight to one end of the bush, and Puddy was on the other side. Reuben and I had to break the Sage bush apart to get Yogi free.

This was the view that Karen had.

 The other side of the bush

 I finally got the both on the same side and got things sorted out. I gave each a front leg to eat while I cleaned the rabbit. Reuben helped and used his knife, so that I wouldn't cut myself again. :-) I need all the help that I can get. Between hawk talons and my own klutziness , my hands are a mess. Oh well, I at least haven't started drooling yet.

We stood around a bit waiting for the girls to finish their meals, and get their minds around the idea of chasing some more rabbits. After a bit of time I thought they might be ready to hunt again. We picked  them up and started off again. They watched a couple of rabbits run off without any response, then Yogi remembered that she hadn't had enough rabbit and could hold a bit more. She gave chase and missed one that ran up a bit of a hill. She sat on a bush, and did not seem to want to come back. We had seen a rabbit run out of that area and assumed that it had been the one that she was chasing. She showed no indication that she was going to leave the area at all, even though we had gone quite a ways from her. Finally she was so far back that I either needed to get her to come or go get her. We were watching and trying to get her to come to us, when she started her "There is a damn rabbit hiding here" call, and Puddy immediately started her way. Before she could get there Yogi took off and dove into the ground about 15 feet in front of her. Two rabbits busted out and ran off, but she didn't get up again. Tami thought that she saw some dust where she had gone in to the brush, so I did my best imitation of a sprint where she had gone down. Puddy had gone to the ground but not where Yogi was. When I arrived I found Yogi with both feet on a Jack's head.  

Puddy was standing off, as Yogi obviously had the head and there wasn't any where to grab. They are very good that way. I know I have mentioned it before, but if one has the rabbit in the butt, the other will take the head. However if the catching Hawk has the rabbit by the head, the other will not go in at all.

I was finally able to untangle her and stretch the rabbits neck and put him out of his misery. Yogi got another leg and Puddy got nothing.

I believe that I have told you how big and strong Yogi is before. Here if you will notice that Yogi having grabbed the Jack by the head with both feet has popped one of his eyeballs out. Quite a grip indeed.

After she ate that leg, we went on and made one more circle back to the gate to exit the field. I really wanted Puddy to catch something, and felt that two front legs might slow Yogi down enough that Puddy might be able to catch one on her own. Well that was just wishful thinking, she was still not trying very hard.

We came upon evidence that we were not the only ones using this field for a food source. An Eagle had eaten his dinner in the top of this Sage bush.

We were walking back to the fence to to leave the field, when another Jack jumped and Yogi gave chase.

She pulled hair out of another one. This bird this year has finally come into her own. She caught two Jacks, ate two full front legs and pulled hair out of two more Jack Rabbits. Her understanding and cunning in finding hiding game is unparallelled compared to any other hawk that I have ever flown.

JESSIE

Jess has been surprisingly indifferent about killing anything this year. She did catch a Duck opening day, but since then has not been motivated to duplicate that feat again. I have kept her way down in weight compared to years past, hoping that her behavior would be a bit better. As I have said before, she is a bit cranky and independent in her thinking normally.

I flew her yesterday at the Lake a bit earlier than normal, and unfortunately did not find much more than a bunch of Coots on it. I gave her  some Starling on the lure, and rather than come to the fist for the rest of her meal she elected to fly off and make another circle of the pond before she came back down to the lure and more food. I decided that I would fly her again today and raise her weight a bit to see if that would help. I really couldn't have gone much lower than the weight that she was carrying.

I rolled out the plane this afternood to check on locations of the ducks, and found that the ditch was almost empty and the only place that was holding any ducks at all was the lake.

At 6 PM we picked up Grace and went to the Lake. I put her in the air and we walked up on the Lake. I was surprised to find that a flock of about 40 Wigeon had arrived from points North and were sitting on the Lake. It took some doing, but I finally got them off far enough of the water that she could slam one into the ground. She made a short throw up and grabbed him.

He was not dead, so I clipped her up and tried to give her the head so that she could kill it. She didn't like that, and proceeded to kill my hand. Karen tried to put the telemetry receiver between us and ended up being the recipient of the other foot. I then had to release her, which meant that I got it again. Have I mentioned that Jessie is a bit cranky?  I finally got things straightened out and her back on the duck, but not before we were both leaking quite a bit. Stupidity and masochistic tendencies are a big help in this sport, at least as I practice it.

Catch up

Jasper's house

 John and I got busy and put Jasper's house up in a permanent and better location. He often sits on and I suspect spends the nights, sitting inside the wind sock on the Hack tower. I had thought to put the house on the tower, but with a Barn Owl using it to nest in, I felt that he would do better just a bit further away.

John left this morning for points East. He wanted to get home in time to vote. As is usual it was sad to see him go, he is the perfect guest, or rather part of the family. The dogs, cats and neighbors love him. He just fits in. 

HARRIS HAWKS

After John left, I loaded up the Harris' to meet Tami at the ranch. Since our old places don't seem to have the Rabbits that we like for hunting, we need to find others to fill in the gaps. Rosie has been seeing quite a few on the East side of the barns. It was pretty cold this morning and we were all a bit overdressed. Reuben who went with us really piled on the clothes, and "long johns". I am not sure how he did, but I, just with a coat and vest had a full stink going by the time we finished.

Our beginning was not promising at all. There is so much water all over that we had to walk from the barn. We got a hundred or so yards from the barn and the girls were following along nicely. Rosie had to go wrangle the horses in so that they could ride, and Yogi got spooked at the quad. She flew back to the trees around the barn, and wouldn't come back. There is a juvenile Red Shoulder Hawk living there and she was screaming her head off at her, and Yogi was cussing her back. Puddy finally came to us out in the field, but Yogi wasn't going to move. After Rosie got the horses in and settled I went back to get Yogi. She finally came to me and we walked all the way back again to try to hunt in the grease wood. We jumped a Bunny, but he was able to give them the slip with ease.

The Coyotes are in evidence every where. We saw three while on our hunt. A lot of the area where we were forced to walk because of the irrigation water, was either very rocky or mostly devoid of cover. Puddy as usual was a bit high and Yogi a bit lower than I wanted. We saw a few Jacks but they were flushing way ahead of us. Finally we topped over a hill and started down into a wash with some rim rock on both sides. Yogi took off from the perch heading towards a rock jack and after a Jack that was hiding behind it. Yogi missed her first grab, but Puddy did not and caught it right under the barb wire fence. Yogi went in to help, but didn't get straightened out in time to keep it from breaking away from Puddy. He left a very large patch of hair behind, and a very grumpy Puddy Tat. This was the first Jack that she has actually managed to put enough effort into that she got her feet on it first, and she was damned well not happy about losing him.

We went down into the wash, and soon jumped a Jack, that both girls tried for, but the Greasewood was very think. I don't like to hunt in that stuff as it is dangerous and nasty at best, but we were getting desperate.

  As we got into the deep nasty stuff, we jumped a Jack that both birds missed, but Yogi wasn't ready to give up, and went back to the rim rock where the Jack had last avoided her. I told Tami that I hated to back track, as I was pretty beat and hot at the time. I forced myself to go back, as Yogi is rarely wrong when she does that.

We got close and the Jack bolted. Yogi made a shot at him, but Puddy managed to get her feet on him first. Yogi slammed into him as well, grabbing him by the head and cutting off his screams. I gave them each a front leg to eat, and Reuben and I cleaned the Jack and put him in my bag. I also took off my coat and stuffed it between my vest and the bag.

Puddy decided that she liked the Rim rock and soon took a perch on it so that she could see better. She was also getting a bit independent as the leg that I had given her was pretty big. We ran a few more Bunnies, but the holes were too thick and the cover too dense.

 Yogi doing a bit of prospecting.

 You can just see her tail.

Finally we came out of the Greasewood and into a lot better cover. The Jacks liked it as well as we began to finally jump a few of them. It had been pretty sparse for a much longer time than I liked. Unfortunately the legs that I had given each one had hit bottom, and we had been at it for about 2.5 hours. They were getting tired. They finally began to perk up a bit as we kept jumping rabbits and they were getting up closer to us all the time. Finally one jumped about 20 yards in front of us, and it was too much, Yogi managed to get her talons into his butt and Puddy joined in before the dust had a chance to even start.

 I secured the Jack, and then managed to get enough room to break its neck.

  I offered Yogi another front leg, and she stepped off the rabbit. We had to give Puddy a hind leg to get her off so that Reuben and I could clean this one. Tami secured Puddy and after Yogi finished her leg, I also gave her a hind leg to eat while we made our way back to the ranch and the truck.

In that one field, we found what we had been looking for. There were plenty of rabbits and the cover was such that the birds had a good chance to catch something. Reuben estimated we walked four miles, and from the way I was leaving drag marks in the dirt, he could have been right. It was worth it though.