A bit more explanation

I was a bit surprised to get an email from someone wondering why I would no longer be hunting this fall. I tend to forget that almost all of the rest of the worlds population knows very little about raptors. A subject that I have lived for most of 50 years. So I will see if I can find the words to make my decision to stop hunting this fall a bit clearer.

Raptors have evolved to suit their environment, and to the prey species available to them in that environment. Harris Hawks are residents of the deserts of the South West. Having evolved over time to live there, the most important factor for their survival would be the ability to withstand heat. There is very little rain, so the feathers did not develop the "bloom" that makes a Peregrine Falcons wings glow and water to roll off without soaking in to the skin. They are designed to shed heat rather than preserve it.

This is my world now and for most of the next three months. That is not snow that you see in the two bottom pictures. It is frost. Lots of humidity, lots of liquid, colder than a well diggers butt, even without the wind.

To get a raptor in hunting condition requires the obvious - exercise, stamina in flight, regulation of calorie intake. That means she is hungry most of the time. The only time she isn't hungry is when she kills something and is allowed to eat her fill. Her body fat is down to the single digits levels, and muscle burns more calories than she can eat, so she is single minded in her desire to kill and thus eat.

So for me to take her out in snow covered fields, which for all intents and purposes she is not suited for, and want her to slam into snowy Sage brush after an animal in its element, is a bit unfair.

Of course it would be very difficult for her to accomplish the task that I have set for her. I have rarely    ( perhaps twice ) fed her when she didn't kill. To do so would tell her that she didn't have to kill to eat. Not a message that I want her to learn. To set her a task that she would not be able to complete would teach a lesson that I would like her to learn either.

The appeal of falconry to me is the contest of two natural opponents on an even "playing field". If I wanted to just kill stuff, I would take my rifle. When the odds are stacked against the prey species, we call it a "Rat hunt." Indicating that the prey didn't stand a chance. While that gives me no pleasure unless it is indeed a Rat, It is not fair to the raptor to stack the odds against them either. For a raptor to achieve its best, it must succeed. Too easy and it is lazy.  Too hard and she can give up, and stop trying.

For me to stop hunting for three or four weeks to wait for milder weather, I would have a choice of either feeding her enough that she would stop straining at the leash to get my attention and hopefully divert my path to pick her up to hunt, or leave her so high in condition that she could develop enough fat to ease her hunger pangs. Then we would have to begin again the conditioning that would allow her to compete with a foe that is not handicapped as she would be at such time. Conditioning a raptor is a balancing act. You don't want them so lean that they are desperate to eat, or so heavy that they are not motivated.

There is also conservation to be considered. Jack Rabbits especially, are subject to cycles that normally run on a 7 year time frame. They get so plentiful that disease runs through them like the plague and they die off to the point that there is little left to rebuild the populations. Right now they are very low. However it was due to weather conditions rather than disease, but the result is the same. They say that a Jacks home territory is one to two acres. It seems to me more, since there are more places that do not have a rabbit to jump than there is. Under normal circumstances the best territory for a Jack would have a smaller less aggressive rabbit ready to move in to fill a deceased Jacks place once the bigger Jack was killed. That does not always happen out here. Too many choices.

The Jacks in this area will begin courtship in mid January. Gestation is not very long, so a lot of the rabbits that we would be catching would be pregnant females. The Jacks will have a tough time going through this winter. The Coyotes Eagles and Bob Cats will need to eat as well. The rabbits can hide from the Eagles, they can outrun the Bob Cats and Coyotes if they are healthy and smart. They cannot escape being chased and thus caught by Hope with my help,  if she is on her game. Don't tell the ranchers, that hope my presence will mean that there are less Jacks to eat their hay stacks.  The last thing I would do is affect the rabbit population adversely. Conservation actually means to leave enough to maintain their populations at their peak.

There is a time and season for every thing. It is good that the ending of this one seems too soon. That means that I am still having fun, and quitting while I am ahead. My first Harris Hawk lived for 34 years . There is time yet. Next year she will be three, smarter, and with some decent weather a Happy warrior once again.

Dec 5th 6th and 7th- fini

The weather has dropped into its December "normal". Upon spending our first year here, I was surprised that December is the worst month for cold here. Every other place that I have lived it was January. Most if not all our below zero weather last year was in Dec. It has been in mostly single digits for the last week, with temps climbing to 32 degrees or so during the day.

I have had 8 Harris Hawks in my career and none of them has hunted in the snow and cold. They just aren't suited for it. Hope has done the best. All the others just refused to chase with snow on the ground. Hope gives the impression that she would like to catch one, if she only had the chance. I am making light of the fact that Hope has not caught anything in the last three days of opportunities. Today she had perhaps 20 slips on Jacks. I don't mind the gas required to drive 90 miles, I don't mind the effort of slogging through the Sage for two or three hours. However I expect some blood on the ground and my hands at the end of it. I can't blame her, but it is obvious to me that these weather conditions are more of an obstacle to her than she is capable of overcoming.

Its too bad because I stumbled on an area that is loaded with Jacks just in the last two days. Unfortunately the area has about 1 1/2 inches of snow on it.

The area is close to what I had available last year as far as Jacks are concerned. The area is totally tracked up. I haven't seen anything to compare to it this year.

The areas that are bare of snow seem to cause the same problem, just because of the cold. I guess that I really wouldn't care to crash head first in to a prickly Sage bush either when it is this cold. On the fifth we tried over at the ranch. I walked two different areas and moved five rabbits in about 2.5 hours. That is what the places without snow can produce, most times, less. I expressed to Karen my reluctance to kill any more rabbits in my spots because I feared reducing the breeders to minus optimum numbers.

I had decided after this hunt that it was time to quit whether I wanted to or not. Then on a trip to town I stopped to see an acquaintance and he told me of a spot with all the Jacks. We hunted there with no success and plenty of slips. At this time I had not fed Hope since the fifth. I went again today with the same result, except when I got home, I fed her and removed her transmitter.

She will finish the season with 20 head of game. Nothing to "write home about",  but nothing to be ashamed of either. She is still the most fun and pleasant to fly Hawk I have had. 

For those who have followed Hopes daily progress, I thank you.  I have enjoyed relating her hunts, since it is a bit of a diary for me. I guess its time to dust off the elliptical again, and refresh my library card.