I checked Hope yesterday and unfortunately she weighed 965. It has come to my attention that someone is feeding her too much. Again, she had to go two days without food.
The storms that are rocking the Oregon Coast are being felt even here, more than 400 miles away. We have had some pretty vigorous winds, but there are reasonably quiet periods in the mornings.
I took Jessie out this morning to the weathering area, and Hope was peeking around the partition, and even managed a hoarse squeak or two at me. I took her in to be weighed and found that she was 936 grams. Low enough to fly, but not as low as I wanted. I wanted to hurry and get it done before the winds could reach their anticipated forecast strength of 25 MPH at 9 AM. The important part was that she was wanting to go hunting.
Karen and the Dogs were going to accompany me again, and Karen was going to try to get some usable video of Hope. Its not all that easy if you are restricted to a vehicle.
I decided to go to Arock again for our hunt. The clouds were stacking up to the South, so East appeared to be our best bet.
We had a bit more wind that I would prefer, but she needs to learn how to handle it, since wind is a regular feature of this area. Our first rabbit was no more than 50 yards from the car, and she flew it as she would a Bunny. She really wanted it and gave it her all. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough and he got away. We made our way up country with a Jack breaking cover about every 50 yards or so. I lost count of how many Jacks were getting up, but it was a lot and all of them were out at least 80 yards. She would still try, but a slip that long rarely works out for a young hawk. The only thing to do is to keep plugging along and hope that she gets a break or figures out how to combat it.
I finally sat down at the top of the hill. Karen could drive up until she was no more than 15 yards away and we could converse in normal voices. I caught my second wind, and began to walk on, but didn't get more than 10 yards along until she took off across the road just about 30 feet away and slammed into a Sage. A Jack ran out, but the other one didn't make it. I got there and was able to reach into the Sage and secure him. She had him around the neck, so I had problems getting a hold that would allow me to put him out of his pain. I finally grabbed him by the ears and broke his neck by stretching him. I then proceed to screw up the transfer much to my disgust. I left it in the video so that you could see how not to do it. I also managed to lose my magnet for turning off her transmitter and left my tin cup as well. Looks like I will be returning there in a couple of days.
You should be aware that I didn't cut the video of the death of the Jack, and due to the way that she had grabbed him, he had to linger longer than I would have preferred. I do the best I can to make it as quick as possible, but for a Hawk to eat, something has to die, and it is only pleasurable for one of them- the Hawk.
https://vimeo.com/187570272 password - owyheeflyer
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