What a difference a day makes

Over the years my hunting and training methods have of course changed. You can only stand the suffering from doing the same thing and getting the same result for so long. So I have changed the way that I interact with my Hawks, and gone back to the realities of Nature. That is - if you don't catch game, you don't eat. Hope has missed numerous times over the last two days where-in I have walked 8 + miles. I personally am willing to allow my hawk to get as fat as I am, as long as they can produce dead bodies at the end of the day.

Now I recognize the handicap that I have put on Hope by taking the dogs on our hunts. They for the most part do not make any of the slips better, in fact the opposite is true. The further the slip the more likely the Rabbit can make a plan and escape the "talons of death". ( Sorry, I couldn't resist ) Josie and Brick both do their parts extremely well, but the result is longer slips. After our hunt on wed she ended up with a sore shoulder, and it is still causing her some pain. I like having them hunt together, and her going to where Hope is holding a Jack, is a big plus, but it increases the difficulty in Hope catching Jacks because The Jacks tend to flush well ahead with the dogs in the field. Josie is getting up there for a Brittany. She is 9 this year, and most of my earlier Dogs have died at about 11 years. Josie is recently showing signs of advancing age, and has a tendency to limp after the hunts.

As you know the last two days have resulted in going home with nothing in the bag. I don't feed my birds now if they don't kill. Hope has been feeling the pinch, and today she was down to 964 grams.  Last year was this was the maximum weight that I allowed her to attain. We began this particular fast at 1045 grams. This year she thinks her throat is cut at anything other than 1000 grams. I personally am at a loss at her hunting so hard at such a high weight, but I'll take it. Today every time I went outside she was coming to the Weathering yard gate in the hope that I would come for her.

I decided to go back to Arock and this time leave the dogs at home. Connie and I walked quietly through the Sage, pausing every few yards. It took no time at all before a Jack burst from the Sage about 20 yards away. Hope was off after him and slammed into the sage with a mighty crash. That scene occurred two more times just as hard. It was obvious that she wasn't going to go home with an empty crop this time. We were very quiet and slow as we traversed the Sage. Our forth Jack burst from cover about 25 yards ahead of us but this time a Jack's death song was heard after her crash into the ground, then just as fast was cut off.

This time the "bum  foot was used and was holding some Rabbit. She obviously caught it by the butt and changed her grip to the head. She was eagerly looking for her tin cup. I gave her the cup full and then a chunk of the last Jack's back, leaving me the dead Jack. We moved on perhaps 30 yards, and waited for her to finish what she had. When she had eaten most of it, she picked it up in her beak and flew to the fist for the rest of her meal. I gave her the head and neck to eat. and as you can see a head is a substantial meal.

We only walked .83 miles this time and I for one was glad for the respite. If Josie was not having problems with her shoulders, I would stick with taking them along, and suffer the added mileage.