After her last duck, where-in she ate all she could hold. I finally decided that she wanted to hunt and fly badly enough that her weight was not going to be a problem. She did weigh 910 grams, which is about an ounce higher than I really wanted. We had a day that we had to go to town, and I decided to feed her rather than take a chance that she would be too low for the weather. So that added a day or two to her layoff.
It has been pretty cold here, and I am too soft hearted to leave her out in the cold night, not being sure that she would have enough weight to keep herself warm. Yeah I know, the wild ones are sitting on the top of a telephone pole somewhere, and they manage quite well.
I have been helping Tami with Yogi, and have been willing to let Jessie go without hunting to try to get Yogi back on track. Today however there was just no excuse.
The pond that I flew last, was frozen solid, so the Lake was our best bet. After Karen got back from the mail, we loaded up and headed to the Lake.
Once she got into the air, I walked up to where I could see the Lake from the top of the hill. There was a pretty big flock of Ducks on it. She began to build a bit of altitude, and here came the Prairie Falcon. The sky was a bit bluer before I ran out of breath and cuss words. The Prairie crabbed with her once and again tried to crab, but Jessie rolled over and showed the Prairie her talons. The Prairie faltered a bit in her flight, and I decided to flush before the thing deteriorated even more.
A bunch of the Ducks broke from the Lake and Jessie smashed a Duck out of the air, but into the reeds at the end of the Lake. Jessie turned as fast as she could, but left the Duck where it fell, I am sure, because she couldn't see the Duck in the Reeds. She started building up altitude again, and another bunch of Ducks broke from the Lake and over the trees. Jessie followed.
I went looking for her, and found her with a nice Scaup. This is the first time that she has left any of the birds that she has struck, and gone back up to wait for me to flush again. I am not used to her thinking.
I asked Karen to pose with her while she plucked.
Then of course, it was my turn.
Again, I let her eat all she wants. The darn things do not freeze all that well, and it is better that she eat all she can while they are warm and as tasty as they are likely to be. She of course peeled all the fat that she could find off it.
I gave her a leg to chew on while I walked back to the car. By this time she was having a bit of a problem bending over far enough to see what she was eating.
I will have another couple of days before we go out again. If it was all meat then she would be down pretty fast, but most of that is fat that you see sticking out in front of her.
Duck killing can be a very messy business, plus all that dry Duck requires something to wash it down with. Knowing that she likes to bathe after a kill, I started the heat in the shop, and drew her a nice warm bath. She wasted no time at all in jumping in.
She looks a bit better and a lot cleaner now, so I picked her up and took her into the shop so that she didn't freeze into a ice cube.
She deserves a bit of pampering, and I am happy to supply it. She did well!
