Dec 11- # 28

I spent yesterday trying to find a way to mount my Virb video camera somewhere that it would produce a better video. On my head is fine except that it jerks all over with every movement of my head. The Virb does not have the same mount that is on the Drift, so I had to invent a way to secure it in a level mode.  I eventually took a Bino strap that fits over the head and arms to hold your bino's tight against your chest. I made a little cup that I could secure the camera in, put a 90 degree brace on it, and then pop riveted it on to the leather part that keeps the straps together. I also put a piece of lexan on the back to keep the camera from wobbling. I wear the bino straps backward. Not the best, but better than what I have been doing. The Virb is a much clearer camera than my Drift.

If you remember on my hunt around the house in the snow, I only jumped perhaps 4 or 5 Jacks.

  However this is my lawn. Those little spots are not M&M's. The Jacks come in here from miles around to feed on my lawn, and leave their fertilizer behind as payment. Perhaps I should consider hunting at night with lights.

Last night was warm, and it was 22 degrees this morning, so I left Hope out in the weathering area to spend the night. She called to me every time she saw me yesterday when I knew full well that she was over 1000 grams.

As you can see the snow went pretty quickly, leaving very soft ground behind. I wanted to explore the last area that I had hunted, and see if there was a good huntable population of Jacks further out the fence. The area to the left of the picture is where I have been hunting. The area at the end of the light brown spot in the distance is where I wanted to hunt first.

 It was still under 30 degrees so I felt that I could make at least one more trip out there in the car before I started tearing up the road. The ground here gets pretty queasy very quick. The last thing I need is to mess up the back roads around here.

I did manage to get where I wanted to go only sinking about an inch or so into the ground, but it was so squirrely that I will not do that again until the ground freezes solid.

I went past the area that she killed the last time so that I could have the sun and wind at my back. The wind had come up to about 10 MPH, which is almost too much to hunt successfully, at least with Hope.

We got a few chases, but all were way off and there really wasn't all that many. I was very disappointed, but the ground was greasy and Jacks don't like mud between their toes any more than we do, so I really wasn't all that surprised. I had expected higher more solid ground, but it was all greasy as could be.

I made a large circle back to the car without getting any slips that she had a reasonable chance at. I decided to go back to the upwind side of where I normally hunted.

She finally got a nice close slip on a Jack. He tried to turn inside of her, but she used the wind and towered up about 20 feet, and let the wind turn her. The Jack reversed direction but it was too late and she crashed into him about 20 feet in front of me. When I got there he was trying to climb up out of the Grease Wood bush. I started to reach into the bush to get him, but stopped when her foot lanced up through the bush to grab him in the face.They then fell out of the bush and I went around to grab his feet. I then killed him by stretching him until his neck broke. I will warn you that I did not mute his cries, so if you have never heard the "death song" of a Jack in the clutches of a Hawk, it may give you pause.

When he stopped twitching, I gave Hope her tidbits, then a front leg to eat. She stepped off with it, and ate while I gathered my stuff up. When I offered my fist she came to me and we walked back to the truck.

While Hope is still trying every rabbit that she can see, rather than hunting smart and only flying at those that she has a chance to catch. She has surprised me by learning very fast that Jacks caught in the butt are very hard to hold. Its always tough for most Hawks to learn that the secret to keeping a bucking and kicking Jack is to grab it as far forward as you can. Hope has only lost 3 or 4 Jacks total this year, and many of the ones that she catches, only have wounds in the forward part of the body. I don't recall any Hawk that I have trained, has learned that lesson so quickly.

The only injury to this Jack is this cut on his side. As you can see it goes all the way into the chest cavity. There was also some discussion with other falconers of the survival rate of rabbits that have been caught by a Hawk. I don't think "catch and release" would work that well with Hope.

While I am sure that some of the trauma to this rabbits neck was due to me, but not all of it and the bulging eye is not because of me.

This is likely the last video that I will do for some time, so enjoy. I did not narrate this one as it was done while we were hunting. The wind was a bit over 10 MPH, and was quite noisy.

https://vimeo.com/195223908  password  owyheeflyer