Oct 12th #5

Tami was busy, so Hope would not have a "wing man" to back her up today. I was also trying a new area that I had not hunted so far. The effects of the last winter depends on the country that the rabbits were trying to survive in. Here on the flat ground there was nothing to stop the wind. The ground was covered with at least 18 inches of snow and ice for more than a month. I imagine that most of the rabbits could not get enough calories to keep warm and combat the cold and wind. The Antelope and Deer suffered enough of a winter kill that the F&W restricted the tags for this area by about half. Yet on the other side of the Mountain that I hunted today a rancher there told me that there were lots of Antelope down there. Any way there are pockets of game around, I just have to find them.

A rancher at the base of Blue Mountain was telling me that he still had a lot of Rabbits. Tami and I had intended to try it on our last trip, but the wind was just howling down there and we elected to hunt here. Its about a 27 mile trip down there. It was 25 degrees this morning, so around 10 AM we loaded up and headed down there. Hope weighed 906 grams, or 31& 3/4 ounces.

I decided to start at the same spot that I had hunted last year. The Sage is short and I had found a fair number of Rabbits. Karen and the dogs stayed in the car and was going to pace me on the road while I hunted. I got into the Sage about 25 feet and a Jack jumped right beside us. Hope overtook him in about 15 feet, but he turned under her and started back in front of me. Hope continued her forward flight using her momentum to get some altitude. She turned and slammed into him right in front of me. She had him by the butt, and he was trying hard to get away. I tried to grab him, but he turned and drug her across a short open space and tried to scrape her off on a bush. That didn't work, and I soon broke his neck, putting him out of his misery.

Hope again was really excited, but this time I was able to eventually get her off the Rabbit and onto food. It was so cold that I felt sorry for her having to eat cold meat after a night of freezing temps, and cut off a hind leg that was nice and bloody warm. She liked that a lot.

On our way back home we could see several bunches of feral Horses feeding in the distance.

Hope's first trip with Yogi

As you might remember Jacks are scarce this year, and Hope has caught only two but it is a struggle. I have resisted trying to fly her in a cast, but came to the conclusion that it was going to be necessary if she was going to catch much of anything.I have not seen many Jacks that I could say were young of the year, and an old rabbit doesn't get that way here in the desert by pure luck. The Jacks were simply outsmarting Hope at most every turn, when we could actually find one. If one of them screwed up and let us get close, it was caught, but if they started early and had enough of a start they were able to think of a tactic that would work on a dumb second year Harris.

As you may remember also Sarah Morrison gave Yogi back to me, and I in turn gave her to Tami next door. Good for me as handling two birds is a bit more than I want to do, or can do as well as I would like. Plus Tami, in the middle of the first year with a new kid, being a full time wife that is home schooling her remaining four school age kids, working cows when needed as well as the other chores that come with ranch life, while still desiring to practice falconry, was very limited in the type of raptor that could fit that type of lifestyle. Yogi does fit that niche for her. So far with the limited time available she has still caught four Jacks to my two. I don't have any where near that amount of drains on my time, and she still has more Jacks in the bag than Hope and I. Yogi has been on fire since she came back to the desert.

Now until I transferred Yogi to Tami, I kept Yogi and Hope in adjoining mews with flight pens that they could see each other, so they "knew" each other already. I wasn't expecting any troubles putting them together for the first time. Both are very laid back Hawks, and very sensible.

Today was the first time that Tami could come out to play with Hope and I. When we parked, I took Hope out first and had her on the tee perch. Tami took Yogi out and other than Hope recognizing her indicated by her posture, it was a non event.

 Hope jumped off the perch and into the car where she promptly grabbed one of the white towels that Tami had to cover herself while she was feeding Gabe. I tried to call her out of the car, and she brought the towel with her and I had a hell of a time getting it away from her. In her mind it must be edible.

Elsie (who is 11) carried Gabe and followed along while we hunted. ( Have I mentioned that Tami's kids are the best I have ever seen)

We walked for a total of two hours, and jumped 7 Jacks. The Hawks worked well together, but 5 of the Jacks still outsmarted and avoided both the hawks. They got in a couple of quick shots and a couple of them were pretty close, but it was a long way between slips. Both Hawks were getting impatient, but never lost their desire or try. We went for long periods of time where we jumped nothing. We finally turned to go back to the car, which by that time was so far away that we couldn't see it.

Finally a Jack jumped in front of us and ran into the wind of course. Yogi started climbing into the wind after it. When she got high enough that the Jack felt threatened he turned back under her. The only problem was that Hope was right there and slammed into it. Yogi turned back to help. When we got there they were both holding the Jack by the head. I was a bit surprised because Yogi had with the other Harris's that I had hunted her with, would not crowd in if the first Hawk had it by the head. If the first had it by the butt, then she would grab the head. Neither one actually laid a talon on each other. I got a few holes by Hope, because she was really hyped up, more than I have ever witnessed.

Yogi got off with little problem, but Hope was excited, really really excited. she wasn't about to let that Jack go, even for food. We finally got everything straightened out again, and continued our trek to the car. I told Tami that the next Jack that we jumped would be in real trouble because Yogi was going to catch it if it killed her. We hadn't gone all that far and Hope started after a Jack that jumped behind us,  it made a reverse move that threw Hope off, but Yogi was right there and she slammed him hard. We were a lot closer to the action this time, and when we got there Hope was standing to the side because Yogi had control of the head. I was not surprised that she didn't barge in, and very glad as well. Tami volunteered to offer Hope a leg, which she accepted with no problem, while I killed the Jack and gave Yogi a token to eat. I bagged the Rabbit and took Hope from Tami, while she called Yogi to the fist for the rest of her food.

My concern with flying Hope in a cast  was that I didn't want her to adopt a submissive role. I was very pleased to see that she did not. Neither bird showed any jealousy or aggression. Yogi came to my perch and Hope went to Tami several times. All in all it was a very rewarding excursion. Unfortunately we will not be able to do so for at least the next week. Cows to wean, lots still to do, but it will not be the last, things will calm down some time. 

Tough times on the Jack Rabbit front!

I have decided that I need to sharpen Hope's desire to eat. She is still trying what she thinks is her best. She is a perfect example of how a Hawk should interact with her handler, ( with the exception of looking over my shoulder ) but she needs a bit of desperation that so far seems to be missing.

Not quick enough with the perch

 At least I am assuming that is the reason for all her misses. Today was supposed to be the day that I could prove or disprove that reasoning, but of course the day dawned with a wind in the high teens, which pretty well spell "screwed".

The Jacks don't like the wind either, since it screws with their ability to hear, so they tend to be harder to find on windy days. I was stuck however, Hope's weight was 870, since she hunted at 960 last year,  her current weight should give her lots of incentive. Being a "pessimistic realist" I was pretty sure that I was wasting gas, but perhaps Hope could spring eternal, like the saying goes.

The clouds were awe inspiring in their configuration and especially their mass. Anvil, lenticular, and   Cumulonimbus  all towering over the entire desert. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad in Arock. It was!

Hope and I walked the Sage, and managed to see perhaps three Jacks, but they were far ahead and she didn't stand a chance. She was fidgety and investigated every crevice, and kept flying to forward bushes as though she was impatient. I was trying every ploy that I could think of to get us some slips, but nothing I was doing was working at all. Finally she flew to a little Lava ridge, and I turned to go across the road. Karen was driving the car so I stopped to talk to her. I kept wondering what was holding Hope up, she normally is quick to get back to the perch and me. I whistled, and put a piece of meat on the perch. I whistled again, and here she came, but was carrying something in her beak. She landed on a bush close to us, so I whistled again and she flew past us to sit on a rock. She was carrying a rabbit skin in her beak. It was quite supple and fresh, which surprised me. The last time we had been there was at least four days ago, and the rabbit that I skinned was a long way from the spot that she had found it.

It was obvious that she was going to eat it, and equally obvious that even if I took it from her our chances of catching something in this wind was remote at best. So I let her pluck it. It was time for a casting any way. When she got down to the dregs of it, she flew to the fist to finish. I gave her a front leg and called it good. Sometimes you have to make the best of a situation.