Nov 23rd

My cousin, Lowell Davis and his lady, Nancy, were on their way back home after a few weeks in Death Valley. They stopped here for the evening. Due to the approaching storms and colder weather he wanted to winterize his travel trailer before he got into the snow zone at McCall.  It didn't take long before the chore was finished.  Since it was Hope's day to go hunting,  he and Nancy wanted to go Hawking again with Hope. So all four of us, (Connie was here as well) loaded up for the trip to Arock.

I went this time to the same field that she killed the last Jack in the first 5 minutes of the hunt. My theory being that we really didn't stir the field up all that much, so it followed that I could hunt it again.

The Sage is quite a bit higher than I like and we only managed 4 slips at Jacks, all of which managed to out maneuver her. After walking for quite a while, I decided to change fields.  We crossed the fence and walked about 100 yards when a Jack jumped about 20 yards away. She missed him on the first strike, but got back in the air and nailed him about 10 yards from the first attempt. She had him by the right front shoulder and he was taking her for a ride around the Sage with him trying to find something to scrape her off, but I got there first and grabbed him as he tried to get by me.

I was a bit close to the action, so Connie took a picture of me trying to take a picture.

As you can see he suffered some damage in the fight.

Nancy took a few pictures with her phone, and gave a bit more perspective.

This Hawk continues to amaze and please me every time I take her out. She is all business.

How tough can it get?

I've been busy with appointments and commitments and had to pass up one or two days before I could get the time to go Hawking. I still have a lot to do, but I decided that I could take a short break to take Hope out to try to contribute to her winter food supply, via her prowess as a huntress.

Things are changing a bit due to the approaching winter. The rabbits change their habits as well, and the last time Connie and I went to Arock it appeared that the Jack's were a bit more plentiful. I can't say for sure, but we found four down in what I would call the grassy part of the area that I like to hunt. To find four of them close to the beginning of the field was a bonus for us and it didn't take all that long for Hope to pick one of them off to add to our bag. I was gratified that we didn't have to spend all day trying to catch one. I decided to go back to Arock as I had not been there for at least a week.

I am leaving the dogs at home now. Josie on her last trip out, came up with a sore shoulder and was limping quite a bit. I ordered her some glucosamine and she is now doing better, but their foray's in to the wilds are over. She is getting up there in age, and I am on a bit more limited time. I really think that the only ones who benefit from going with me is them. The Jacks jump further out when they are there. That of course adds to Hope's challenges and difficulties. It was fun to see them work together, but she is more efficient without them. I actually prefer the more "stealthy" approach.

Upon arriving at Arock, I decided to try a field that I haven't hunted for several weeks. I parked and let her out of the box, and she flew to a Sage Bush at the base of a Lava mound just inside the fence. I walked over, climbed the fence and took two steps towards her when she jumped into the air and crashed into the grass about 10 feet from her. Immediately a Jack began screaming, and my hunt was over. She had apparent'y landed just a few feet from the Jack, who had squatted when I drove up. He never realized that her species is one of the few that can see prey that is sitting still.

At the beginning of August I added an app that is supposed to measure how much I walk. I actually wanted to check the distances of the Hikes that Connie and I were taking at Glacier Park. I decided to leave it on my phone when I began hunting Hope after I returned home. Some, perhaps too many were in the 4 mile range on some of those hunts. So I was actually putting in a lot more walking than I had originally thought. For instance since Aug 1st I have walked 211 miles taking 84 hours to do it. Today's hunt was 40 steps- round trip.

Nov 17

This afternoon I weighed Hope, wondering just how much she had gained with all the Jack she had had to eat 2 days ago, and found, to my pleasure, that she had only gained an ounce or so. She was even calling to me in the dark when I had gone outside last night, so I was pretty sure that she wanted a repeat of her last meal. A greedy Hawk is God's gift to the falconry inclined. Anyway she only weighed 988 this time, and seemed to be convinced she was going to starve to death. So the hunt was on! Connie decided to go Hawking with me on my friend Richard's property. We left around 2 pm.  As a side note, Richard lives 23 miles from me and he is my second closest neighbor.  The other being 3 miles from me.

After a cup of coffee with Richard and the latest information on where the Jack's might be, we drove up the back road to an area that I had not hunted before. Since Rabbits are so scarce ( to me) I am always on the lookout for another spot that would support a Rabbit population. The first spot didn't pan out, so I drove back towards the ranch to a spot where I knew, some Jack's, called home.

I got out and asked Connie to drive the car along side as I went out in the Sage up against the hill. At our prior spot Hope had shown her eager and restless behavior at the first spot,by flying in a circle out and back to the perch. She rode with me for a while, but again flew to a Sage just in front of us, then busted off turning a complete circle and took off after a Jack that had been just behind the bush, she had sat on. He really had little choice in his direction of escape. Connie and I had restricted his movements to less than 90 degrees. He was a young one, and his next mistake was fated to be his last. He ran towards the hill just in front of him. When he got there the cover was really scarce. He chose to hide in the last Sage on the side of the hill. Hope flared straight up for about 15 feet, did a quick wing over and crashed through the thin Sage to land on his head.  

I have been hoping that She would perfect this technique for a long time. My first Harris rarely made one of these maneuvers without a rabbit in her feet. Hope's performance at this 

maneuver, so far, has been dismal. Not today!

Notice that the foot in the face is the bum one. Perhaps she will regain her full mobility.

Today was a pretty light day, primarily because Hope caught the first Jack that jumped. What ever, I'll take it. Only one mile and 6 10 ths, of walking.  Sounds good to me.

I fed her another head, and she chowed down pretty well. It may take her two days to return to normal this time.