Not all days are successful :-/

It is a given, if you have an easy day- the next one is going to kick your butt. It serves to keep us humble.

We are due a "reported" serious storm here in the West. Most likely it is over hyped, but the first one of the year is always the worst. Because we as a species tend to get cocky, the hwy's are littered with "angels in the snow" every time we get that first couple of inches of snow on the roads.

I wanted to go Hawking today, while we still could, before the storm caught up to us. Even if it doesn't snow the winds are supposed to be pretty serious. The falling barometric pressure really is felt by the animal kingdom and all the critters are trying to stock up so that they can weather the storm.

 Hope was feeling it pretty strongly, and it showed in her restlessness. It didn't however help any with her ability to duck and dodge with the Jacks. She caught the forth one that we jumped, but he managed to twist out of her grip, never to be seen again.

We really didn't see all that many Jacks and our slips at them were all pretty far away. The wind began to come up, as we spent more and more time in the field. Hope kept pushing ahead, which is rare for her, but nothing we did got us any closer to killing a Jack. To me, another indication of a falling barometer.  She normally rides the perch until something jumps.

I have always wondered about a Hawks memory, and today I found out just how good it is. I have been hunting this huge pasture for several years and I see spots where I remember hawks of the past killed a Jack, and I have always wondered if the Hawks remembered as well. Now I can tell you that they do.

There is a four foot wall of Lava along the road going in, that a Badger dug our for what ever reason.  when Hope was in her first year she caught a Jack that went down that hole. She went in after him and caught him inside the hole. I was able to reach in at a different spot and grab one of his legs, and thus pull them out. I have seen her on more than one occasion land on the rocks and check it out, but today she flew to it as we were walking by. The vegetation is high enough that I could not see the hole, but she flew to it and went down the hole to see if there was anything in it, proving to me that she did remember.

https://vimeo.com/375770901

We gave it our best shot walking 9255 steps or 4.25 miles in over an hour and 50 minutes. I think even Hope was tired since she flew to the car when it finally came into view and thus relieved me of the chore of carrying her the last 1/4 mile.

Our time to hunt is limited and of course depends on the weather. So far she has shown no desire to catch anything with snow on the ground. I have to admit that I am not all that wild about hunting when it is that cold and snowy. There just isn't that many Rabbits around and I would just as soon throw another log on the fire and nap till the weather gets better. As they say, "with age, comes wisdom", or is it laziness, I can't seem to remember.