One last time, with gusto!

Well here we are on the next to last day of the year. It has been interesting to say the least. However since  I live "just East of Hell" as one prospective lady friend told me, ( Hey Carole) the impact on me has been a lot less traumatic than it has the rest of the "civilized" world. Social distancing is just another "shitty day in Paradise", for the residents of my corner of Oregon. Still even at my age, with my days numbering less and less, it is good to see it gone. Hopefully the impact on all of you has been bearable, and that it will get better- soon!

Hope is getting used to her new living quarters and is slowly becoming more willing to come to me to go hawking. I had to get her down to 1020 grams before she came to me with the intention to stay on the fist. Today I have to do a bit of mucking out of the house, as Connie is coming to spend a bit of time with me, so I wanted to get our hunting out of the way.  It is also my intention to go to my neighbor's house to get a live trap so that I can possibly catch the Bobcat that has been killing Jack Rabbits in the yard at night. Its a 50 mile round trip. Of course I could have avoided the last minute clean up if I had been keeping up with things but I, as with most men, find logic to be optional. 

This is the longest that I have hawked since coming here. While most all of you have been told how terrible "climate change" is to the world, I have reveled in the fact that this is the warmest December that I can remember in this country. There is nothing to stop the wind with the exception of the poor souls that have to go outside for a living here, and it can get downright nasty with out any problem. Now its not really what I would call climate change, I still have to wear some of the advanced type of "long johns" that have come on the market, but at least I can avoid frost bite and still go hawking with a tropical type of raptor. If any of you have any say in what is going on, I could really use a couple more degrees in the mornings.

It was quite balmy this morning at 22 degrees, so I went out to see if Hope wanted to play one last time this year. She came to me with only one attempt to fake me out, but I pretended indifference, so she decided that she better take me up on my offer to take her hunting,  while I was still willing to let her. I know that sounded pretty glib, but you have to remember these creatures read body language like nothing else in the world. They are better than my dear ole Mother could ever be about reading weakness and guilt.

I put her on the scales and she was up to 1054 grams. That is the highest she has ever willingly came to me since I moved her. 

When I got up this morning at just before daybreak I saw a Jack and a Bunny in the front yard. After the Bobcat comes through and sends terror through the entire rabbit population there is not sign that Rabbits even live in this part of the country. It takes them about a week to forget what happened the last time they ate off my lawn. So I knew that I needed to get that live trap, because the night stalker will be back soon.

I decided to hunt here rather than taking the time and gas to go somewhere else. We walked about a mile before we started the first Jack. He was far enough away that I had a hard time in keeping Hope in sight. Thankfully Josie runs with her, so if the dumb assed Coyote who  thinks this is his territory tried something, she would at least distract him from his quest. She of course missed the Jack, for which I was thankful, so I didn't have to run my guts out to get there to protect her. We got a closer shot at a Jack, but she telegraphed her move and he avoided the strike. I walked on up to the top of the little hump, intending to stay at the edge of the heavier cover around the sides. 

A Jack stayed too long in his "form", ( a dug out area under the Sage) and she burned him down in a burst of hair flying in the air like a halo around them. I have seen clumps of fur pulled out of their butts when they pull away from her, but the light was just right I guess, and it looked like an explosion.

Its been funny to watch Hope on her kills. Jessie, My best falcon ever, would almost attack me if she thought that I might want her Duck, but Hope, as soon as I break the Jack's neck and it quits struggling, immediately starts looking to me for her cup of tidbits. If I am a bit slow she starts dragging the Jack off to a bush knowing that will cause me to produce her cup of pleasure. She will let go of the rabbit to get it and then today, step up on the fist for the front leg that I had intended her to eat somewhere else so that I could gut the Jack. This one only took 1.3 miles to complete our year.

One can only hope that this year is better, but being who I am, I will bet otherwise. I do wish all of you that wades through this blog, all of the happiness that you each deserve. 

Happy New year!

Dec 28, 2020

Apparently I fed Hope entirely too much Jack the last time, and it took me a few extra days for her to lose enough weight that she wanted to come to me. That's OK, its a bit tough to find as many Rabbits as I would like, and since I am doing this for her, who am I to complain when she doesn't want to thrash around in the Brush chasing uncooperative Jack Rabbits. She weighed 1034 grams yesterday, and she reluctantly came to me after a bit of coaxing. She has found that she gets one chance to stay on the fist, or its another day without fun or food, so she decided to stay.

I had decided to see what was happening with the Jacks that lived at Arock. I hadn't hunted there for quite a while, and it seemed to me that the later the winter, they would begin to sift into that area, so it was time to check.

There seemed to be a good population there, but they were all flushing a long ways out. We put in 3.5 miles chasing quite a few Jacks and getting made fools of by the local Bunnie population which seemed to be doing well. The little varmints are quick and very tricky and seemed to be able to pull a rock crevice out of nothing, just as Hope closed. I decided that she could be suffering from an an enlarged waist line, so we went home with no dinner, for her at least.

Today however was another day and she weighed in at 1020. Bruce came over from Boise, so we went over to the ranch to see if we could do a bit better at a lighter weight. In all honesty the Sage at Arock is quite tall and very thick. I am amazed that she catches any thing there at all.

The area that I hunted today was small greasewood with scattered Sage. We made a rather large circle without seeing any thing at all. As we approached the road through a rather small and sparse cover, a Jack jumped about 15 yards in front of us and she burned him down with no problem.

   As you can see the scant cover did not do the Jack any favors. One flight, one kill!

I wish all of you a Happy New Year, and hope that you are well. 

A Christmas Card

 Since losing Karen three years ago, there are many changes in my life. One of those is that other that the kids next door, I don't send out Christmas cards. Instead this is my card to you. The gratitude and affection that I feel for each of you is still there, just too lazy to buy cards.

Merry Christmas

It's been a pretty good year for me. Other than the loss of my hot tub (16 years old) it's mostly ran pretty smooth. Of course I am tempting fate by even mentioned that, but what the heck. The covid mess that so many of you have been suffering from, has been pretty quiet, so far, in this area where "social distancing" is a way of life. Hopefully the rest of the world will be able to go back to "normal" soon with the advent of the vaccine.

I went out to get some more firewood yesterday, and Brick as is usual was busy sniffing all around the wood pile for the Bunny that uses it for shelter. Its funny that I have only seen him point one or two Jacks in the field, yet he is after this poor ole Bunny all the time. I have a few Bunnies that use the place here, but there really isn't enough cover for any kind of population to be present. I do not consider them to be other than an accidental prey item, and steer away from them if I can. Of course Hope and apparently Brick, does not share my generous attitude. These little guy's are pretty resourceful and have no compunction against climbing to get out of harms way.

Apparently it's warmer at the top of the stack.

I've been able to hunt for most of the fall without incident, and the minus weather that seems to normally plague us has not so far shown up. My freezer is full of Jack Rabbits to the point that I have been giving the Jacks that Hope catches, to Tami, for Yogi's consumption. I noticed this morning that Hope had broken a secondary feather while in the mews.

Bruce Haak has been coming over from Idaho to hunt his falcons, and has been doing quite well. I, at least, have some open water that holds enough Ducks for his falcons to fly.

My friend Sue, that lives close to Rome, observed quite a lot of rabbit tracks the last time that there was snow on the ground, so I agreed to go over there to hunt today. I was a bit sceptical as I had looked in the general area for huntable Jacks and really had never found the population high enough to hunt. Of course I had never been in the area that she was talking about, so I decided to go give it a try.

That ranch has some pretty big Alfalfa fields, and it was conceivable that some Jacks could be hanging around. Hope weighed 1004 grams this morning so I knew that she was going to be pretty hot if she only had the chance. It was 8 degrees this morning.

I picked up Sue and we drove out to the field that she had seen all the tracks.The Sage was pretty small and not all that close, so I knew that we were going to have a hard time of it. This is Eagle country, and a Jack would be a sitting "Jack" if a soaring Eagle was overhead. There was very little sign, hardly any rabbit poop or Sage cuttings to indicate that there was much of a resident population. Jacks tend to travel great distances to get food, such as the Alfalfa fields that this land bordered. So I was sure that they traveled through this area, but probably at night to get to the alfalfa nearby.

We made a large loop and were heading back to the fence at the edge of the road, when a Jack broke out of a small Sage bush that neither I or the Dogs saw or smelled when we passed by. Unfortunately for him we were much too close for him to have much of a chance to escape.

Fortunately she caught this guy, saving me from having to drive to another spot in Arock to hunt. I was very gratified that she was successful on the only flight that she made.

My wish is that all of you have a happy and safe Christmas and New Year!

Malfunction Jct- Dec 22nd

It's been a bit stormy lately and that makes for some Sun Rise and Sets that are worth seeing.

 

 I think that I have found Hopes current bottom line as far as weight is concerned. It only took seven days. :-/ Of course there were one or two malfunctions on my part.

What was happening is that she would come to the fist for a tidbit, but if I made any move to pick up her jesses so that we could go out of the doors on the mews, she would fly back off the fist. This behavior has been occurring since I put her in the enclosed mews. Rather than walk away, as I should have, I was worried about how cold it was and wanted to keep her weight up so that she could fight the cold.  I managed to catch her jesses at least twice. Once I got her out of the mews she hunted just as she always had. Our last trip out she was tipping the scales at 1072 grams. She flew as hard as she always had. 

After killing the Coyote on the 15th, I skinned and fleshed the hide as usual. For whatever reason I threw the chunks of fat that I cleaned off the hide on the ground outside the garage door. Connie and I were going to go hunting with Hope, so I picked up all the pieces that I could find prior to going out to get her. After some games on her part I managed to grab her jesses. When I weighed her she was tipping the scales at 1070. We had crossed over the fence and immediately jumped a Jack within the first 30 yards. He made a break right across the open field going to the hangar. Hope was doing her best , but he outdistanced her, and they disappeared  by the fuel tank. Hope was convinced that he was hiding there and was not interested in coming back to me, so we walked over there but could not find the Jack. Hope was on the roof of the Hangar watching intently. She flew down to the ground and found a 18 inch long string of fat that I had missed. Of course the hunt was over for that day. That was the "malfunction".

After that she began to get cagy about me trying to catch her jesses. Of course that made me a little cranky, and I began to get more than a bit tired of the insurrection. I decided that I was done playing games, and if she could catch enough mice to feed herself, I would wait until she ran out of them. Of course it helped that we were having an unusual warm spell, and she didn't need to have as much food to keep as warm as usual. 

I would go out each day and offer her a tidbit, and she would grab it and fly back to her outside perch. I would give her three chances and then leave her to think about it. She was still flighty yesterday, and I walked away. Today she seemed to have a change of mind and was calling to me when I walked out. She weighed 1004 grams, she did not try to fly off.

The wind has been howling all day and up to 30 MPH at times. I thought that it might slack off by about 4, so I waited and got lucky. It dropped to about 5 MPH so off we went. The last two times I have hunted here, the rabbits have been a bit scarce. Today was no exception, and we walked about a mile before one jumped, fortunately right in front of us. He tried to cut across from right to left, and Hope had him before he had covered 15 yards.

 He was a big one and those are generally last years rabbits. I gave her a front leg from a previous kill and walked back towards the house. When she finished the leg, she flew back to the perch and we hunted on our way back home. We only saw one other Jack on the trip back and he managed to escape.

I needed some packages of meat for future flights so I cleaned this one rather than freezing it whole. As I skinned him I began seeing tape worm clusters. I was amazed that he was carrying so many but was still in good shape with quite a lot of fat. I have never seen so many on one rabbit before.

I have never seen them on the organs before. I can't imagine how that felt. we may well have done him a favor.

Hopefully The weather will remain warm and I can bring Hope back to her normal space in the weathering pen.

 

   

Dec 15

 Today was supposed to be my normal hunting day with Hope. The weather has been pretty ?warm? figuratively speaking. It was 19 this morning, so I haven't been worried about Hope freezing to death.

We had a really nice Sunrise this morning, and with the snow supposed to start after noon, there was plenty of clouds to color the canvas of the clouds.

After a leisurely breakfast, Josie got my attention with her quiet "burf's" that she uses when she is warning me that there was an intruder down by the creek. I looked and looked where her nose was pointing, but could not see anything. I got the bino's and began scanning the brush and Cattails by the creek. The first thing that I saw was a Magpie. They usually follow Coyotes in the hopes of getting a few scraps if they kill something. It took a lot longer for me to actually see the Coyote, even with the Bino's. I told Connie and she eventually saw it too. I got my rifle and stood in the doorway intending to use it for a brace if I could ever find it again. Its 300 yards to the creek and the Coyote was in and out of the brush, never giving me a clear shot. As soon as my hand got numb it decided to go somewhere else. I managed to stop her, with a quiet yell, long enough to get a shot off. I was by that time surprised that I actually didn't wobble off the target too far to do more than scare her. 

Connie and I retrieved her with the quad and I hung her up in the Hangar,  then I tried to get Hope on the fist to go hunting. I really wanted to see if being out in actual snow in her new housing situation would convince her that snow was normal. I was hoping that she would go ahead and hunt as she normally did. Nope! she wanted some tidbits , but really still didn't want to come to the fist. I eventually managed to lure her close enough to get one of her jesses so that I could at least weigh her. I won't be able to hunt until Thursday so I wanted to know what she weighed.

 The last time I flew Hope, I didn't feed her as much as I normally would, so I expected to see her a bit lower in weight this time. Surprise, Surprise! she weighed more than when I put her in there - again!  1080 to be exact. Apparently the Mice are still in good supply. Until she cleans out the supply, its going to be a bit hard to go hunting again.

We were both dressed for the cold, so we decided to at least go for a walk so that we and the dogs would get a little exercise. 

While there is no one here to pass Covid to Connie found that the mask kept her nose warm at least, while we sat on the bench at the end of the runway.

The tracks in the snow seemed to indicate that there was loads of Jack Rabbits using the runway, but I think its just one really tired ole Jack that keeps running up and down and across the runway giggling while he contemplates the cussing I will do when I can't find any thing to hunt.  

Dec 12th

 I have been "exclaiming" about the rarity of Hope's attitude and willingness to hunt at any weight for some time. Apparently I neglected to explained why that is so "amazing". I was asked recently why Hope was reluctant to get on the fist in the new mews. I hope the answer below will clear some of that up. Unfortunately by using "copy and Paste" the formatting has changed, so this one will not be the normal appearance that you are used to. Too tired to figure it out.

Hawks get used to a routine. If you change it up, they become cautious. Jessie would not stop screaming at me if I changed hats.- Cowboy hat-- ball cap. With Hope - an open enclosure- to a dark room with a little window to fly through.

Most raptors do not hunt when they are above a certain body weight- which is different for each Hawk. Most generally that weight would not be more than 10 percent above a zero fat condition. Hope's zero fat condition weight is 870 grams. Thus her ideal hunting weight should be somewhere between 870 and with a top response weight of about 950. Generally when a Raptor gets close to their top weight, they began to get independent and start screwing off.- not taking the hard shots- getting very selective about what they chase, and just generally showing a reluctance to put out any real effort to actually catch something. I look at it as a "checks and balance system". By not hunting when they are not actually hungry, the prey supply is only used to satisfy their hunger and nothing is wasted. Weasels kill for fun, Hawks for necessity. Great Horned owls will often get into a pigeon coop and kill everything in there, Hawks generally do not. Of interest to me is that Great Horned Owls are reputed to be one of the only raptors to have to relocate due to having wiped out their prey base.

Harris hawks are different from all other raptors in that they are a "social" raptor that will form social bonds with others of their own kind. The young of last year will often help raise the next year's clutch. They will cooperatively assist other Harris's catch food that they have little to no interest in eating themselves. The last time that Hope killed she weighed 1042 grams. That is an unbelievably heavy weight for a bird of her size to want to hunt. She could go for probably five or more days without eating before she would be getting to the point that it would be absolutely necessary to eat something. Harris Hawks like to hunt, and therefore under the right conditions will continue to hunt long after their hunger is satisfied.

So when I stuck her in a strange place, and then try to call her to me, it is perfectly natural for her to be very cautious and indicate to me that she isn't hungry enough to go hunting. Yet when I eventually do get her on the fist, by "hook or crook", nothing changes about her hunting style or result. She still wants to hunt. She just doesn't need to! If she was actually hungry, she would be hanging on the wire and on the fist as soon as it was presented.

Today is her normal hunting day. I hunt every other day, and when she kills she gets almost all she can eat. I could hunt her every day, most people do. If I did I would have to regulate how much she gets to eat. That would change her whole attitude about me and hunting. The important part is that her crop is empty, so a snack is not out of the question. This way, the hunts are the best thing that ever happens to her. It eliminates one aspect for her and that is the need to regulate her weight. Now, the only element that regulates her success rate is if she is trim enough to make the twists and turns necessary to bring a healthy Jack rabbit to bag. If she doesn't kill, she doesn't eat, and we would hunt the next day until she did kill. This to me is what Falconry is intended to be, a contest between two species at the top of their game. Its not fun if its too easy. Right now the Jacks that are still out there have been winnowed down to the point that there are little to none left that are dumb, slow, or just plain unlucky. Every thing is trying to eat them, Eagles, Hawks, Coyotes and Bobcats. They are athletes that are exceedingly smart and tricky. I noticed today that all the Jacks that I jumped did so after the Dogs had gone by, and I was past them before they jumped out to make a run for it. They are masters of "body language", and they can tell if they have been spotted. If I pause every 20 yards or so, they don't know if I saw them or not, and they will break cover. They always run into the wind and uphill if there is any chance to do so. Twists and turns that would make you dizzy. Their intelligence and ability to survive are pretty impressive. She doesn't catch them all, but today she managed to catch the 5th one that jumped.

She was a little better today when I went out to get her. I suspect that she is a bit lighter in weight. I didn't weigh her when I did get her on the fist. We just went hunting. The Cows are now all over the place here, and a brief "stampede" gave us our first opportunity. The Jack dazzled Hope with his foot work and disappeared through the Sage.

My driveway goes along the top of a hill and meanders down to about 150- 200 feet below the ridge line. There is an Alkali flat on the other side of the hill with a couple of acres of Sage down by the creek. I had never hunted it, but I could see Rabbit trails headed that way. Today I determined that I would see if there was a little group over there that I had not molested as of yet. The answer is " not so much". I jumped two Jacks on a hike that was pretty darn steep with little to show for it.

I decided to cross back over and go on the other side of the runway. As we topped over the hill, Hope thought she had seen something and flew in a long circle down over the hill and made a circle down about 300 yards by some Cattle. As she started back, a Jack lost his nerve and broke cover. Both of the dogs had gone by him, but my stopping near him, spooked him and he lost his nerve. He ran down the hill as Hope started back up. I think he hadn't seen her at first, but he soon did, and took evasive action. He made about four laps in a 10 foot circle with the talons just fractions behind his butt, eventually stalling her out long enough for him to beat feet to the bottom of the hill. I laughed out loud at poor Hope, standing there watching him go. She was too tired to chase him any more.

I crossed another fence and started for the second when a Jack jumped again after the dogs had gone by, but this time she was rested and pissed as well. He didn't make it.

I hope that I have cleared this subject up finally, if not ask and I will try again.

The weather is about to take a turn towards winter. I am going to try to keep hunting her as long as I can, at least until the Rabbits begin working on next years supply of new Rabbits. We will see what happens.

 

Dec. 10th

 Hope has been slowly breaking in to her new digs. She is a bit difficult to get out of the mews for what ever reason. She wants to get her tidbit, and then go on back to her outside perch. While I had her in the "weathering area" flying loose she was keeping her weight down. I can only guess that the mews is a lot warmer than the open weathering enclosure, because she isn't losing as much weight over night. The Hangar blocked the prevailing wind, but there was still some coming around ends of the building. I am also sure that a 20 foot heating cord wrapped around half of her 2x4 perch, puts out more heat than just a foot warmer. We have had night of 11 degrees and she is still not sitting on the heat side of her perch.

Tuesday I was going up to Burns to help Connie with her fireplace, so I decided to do a quick hunt here at the house, or rather backyard. The plan was to give her a turn of the back field and then feed her whether she killed or not. I had a hard time getting her out of the mews, and then found that she weighed 1071- 2 ounces more than when I put her in there. I was due to go to Boise the next day and I didn't want to leave her four days without eating, so I perversevered. 

After I weighed her I let her fly to the roof of the house while I went for her Tee perch. When I came back, I couldn't find her. Then I saw her :mantling" over something on the ground that looked a lot like a Rabbit. 

A couple of days ago I found a big pile of hair in the back yard. Not sure if you know it or not, but a cat will sometimes pluck the hair off their victim, prior to starting to eat. I was sure then that I had a Bobcat working the yard.

I believe that the " assumed Cat " had caught and killed this Jack and was interrupted by me letting the dogs out for their morning whiz. The Jack was still limber and not frozen in the 8 degree weather. It was missing the entire head,ears and all, and down to the shoulders. I admitted defeat and gave Hope a token amount, and put her back in the mews.

Yesterday Brick found a young Badger that apparently had designs on my hive of Bees out in front of the Cat house. In case you are wondering, there is no way for a Badger to catch a Jack Rabbit other than trapping it in a hole.  Prior to finding the Rabbit killed in the yard I had put out a trail cam to see if a Bobcat really was working the yard.  In the morning I discovered that there was 184 pictures of Jack Rabbits on it. After the Rabbit dead in the yard, I only got four pictures on the cam and they were all of me.

So today it was the third day after her last meal, and again she was evasive. I did snag one of her jesses and when weighed found that she was still 1041 grams. She isn't having as difficult time keeping warm in the Mews as I was worried about. I was happy that I had made the right choice in putting her out. Hopefully we won't have any minus temps this year. 

We went over to the other side of the ranch and seemed to be having a bit of a problem finding any rabbits. She did get two chases and though she tried hard, wasn't able to catch either one. She began hanging around where she last saw them and was able to wait them out and get another try at them.

I decided to try another area just over the hill that had been covered with Coyote traps. We met the trapper and he told me that he had pulled his traps, so we were clear to hunt since I had the dogs with me. 

We hunted an area that had previously held quite a few rabbits, finding almost nothing. I noticed a ribbon that he had used to mark the trap location with and I was curious as to how Brick would check it out. Without warning Hope bailed off the tee perch and down on the Jack that the guy had been using as bait. CRAP! I had to give her a much bigger chunk of meat than I wanted, to get her to leave the Jack. I stuffed him in my bag just to get him out of sight.

The attraction for this area is what is called the "Pothole field". It is an area of artesian pools that bubble up all over this field. The ground is either alkali, or dust, and the vegetation in the rough is Greasewood.

Finally one jumped up from just a few yards away and Hope caught him in 30 yards. 5.2 miles today. Man I need that Hot tub! 

Dec 6th

 The temps have been steadily dropping and I am a bit concerned as to how much cold weather she can handle. Of course she is much heavier than a normal flying weight and that helps, fat converts to heat, but I still worry about her. I have been putting her in the shop at night, and she appears to my ever active imagination to suffer from a bit of a shock to her system when she goes outside in the morning. The Shop almost always stays very close to 32 degrees no matter how cold it gets. Wind and wind chill is the real problem with a Harris Hawk, and the "weathering area" gets a bit of it, but not a direct wind. I decided that I needed to change things a bit.

I intend to hunt much later in the season this year so I decided to use my Hawk mews as her winter house. She really hates to come to the fist to be put inside the shop, so it's better to keep her where she can be protected without all the extra handling.

 I blocked the West facing window, from whence the winds almost always come from. I got a long heating cord and wrapped half of her perch with it, leaving half with no heat, in case it was too hot for her. That way she can get as much or as little heat as she needs. So far I have never seen her on the heated half, but it is there if she needs it.

Her suite is the one in the middle.

After our last hunt on the 3rd, I put her in the shop for the night. The nights were getting down to 7 or 8 degrees. I weighed her when I transferred her to the mews and she weighed 1071. So I deducted that by putting her in the shop where she didn't need to burn that many calories to keep warm was going to change our weight regime. When I was leaving her outside at night, she was holding pretty steady at 1021 grams, no matter what I fed her.

Saturday was supposed to be her regular flying day, but when I went to pick her up, she wouldn't stay on the fist long enough for me to get one of her jesses. She was obviously too fat to hunt. I tried her several times during the day, but she refused to hang around long enough for me to take her outside. The change in her housing had her a bit confused, but the fact remained that she just wasn't hungry enough to hang around long enough to go hunting. I checked on her a couple of times during the day to make sure she was OK, and on one of my trips out there, I couldn't see her, so I started in to see where she was. She flew up to the perch from the ground by the door. Then I remembered that there was a Mouse or a Rat hole gnawed in the corner that went into the other mews. I think the mouse population is in trouble. It was obvious from some debris on one of the perches that she had been scrounging around on the floor. Perhaps that was the source of her recent weight problem.

We had a warm front coming in and the temperature last night was only 22 degrees. I got everything ready around noon to go hunting. She was much more willing to stay with me this time. Three days without food does much for her ability to focus. Her weight today was back to 1021.

Today I went to an area that I had only hunted once this year. Its not very big at all and it varies from Sage to Greasewood, then to pasture. We had one pretty intense flight in the Sage, where she took four shots at him barely missing by inches before she quit trying. I really wasn't seeing that many Jacks in the Sage, so I went to the area that the greasewood was the prevailing cover, not finding much there either.  I then decided to hunt the edge of the pasture. To all appearances there was nothing there for a Jack to hide, but quite often they choose such spots when the heavy cover is hunted too often. The advantage of that type of cover is that they tend to wait until they have no choice but to flush because of your proximity to them. I had guessed right this time and one flushed about 15 yards to our right and she burned him down in 20 feet. Its actually pretty rare to be able to see the entire flight, it mostly takes place far enough away that the only indication is the Jacks death scream when she finally grabs them.  

I won't be hunting tuesday as I normally would and it is time for her to have a casting, so I gave her the head to eat when I put her back in the mews. That should hold her over for a few days.

"Castings" consists of hair, bones, and other nondigestible stuff that cleans the crop, and is regurgitated the next day. Raptors store the meat from their prey in their crop until the stomach is empty, they will then force it into their stomach to digest. The things that are not digestible serve to clean their crop when it is "cast " up the next day. In the normal course of events in the wild, they will cast every morning before they hunt for another meal. In captivity their food consists of raw meat with little to no wastage. Therefore it is necessary to make sure that they have enough "castings" on a regular basis to maintain their health. Since she does not feed on the actual kill, the food that she gets rarely has hair in it. Therefore I have to give her something that does have casting material in it. I prefer to "gorge" her once a week and the casting can be incorporated in that meal. I have found that the Jack's head is quite nutritious and serves that purpose. All the bones also serve to keep her beak from growing too long as well.

Dec 2nd Still gaining weight!

 We have been getting colder and colder with each night that passes. Harris Hawks in their home territory rarely have freezing temperatures to worry about, and thus they are really not suited for this country. It dropped to 10 degrees last night, and will be getting colder. Hope has survived 15 degrees so far, and of course the higher body weight gives her fuel enough to combat the cold. I decided the last time I flew her that it was time to go inside at night. I do not need a hyperthermic Hawk. She of course does not understand why she cannot have the full run of the weathering area. I need to tie her to a perch, so that I can bring her in at night. She has been holding 1020 grams while spending the nights out. I started bringing her in the shop for the last two nights. The shop maintains 35 to 40 degrees.

It warmed up to 20 degrees by 11:00 AM, so I picked her up and put her on the scales. I had given her no more food than I always give her, but today she weighed 1041 grams. I guess she was burning a bit more to keep warm. I keep wondering what is her top weight? When will she just sit on the fist and watch the Jacks disappear into the sunset? Well apparently we haven't found it yet.  

Sue, ( my fishing buddy ) texted me, wondering when I was going hawking. I wanted to check another area to see if it was worth hunting, so after Sue arrived we drove out another dirt road at the ranch next door to see if anything lived there. After walking three different spots on that road, it became obvious that it wasn't worth the effort, so I drove closer to the ranch's hay fields, where I knew the Jack's frequented. I do not like to hunt the same field more than once a week if I can possibly keep from it.

Hope had been getting more than a little restless and tending to go off to see she could find some Jack's on her own. So when we got close to the ranch, we began to see a Jack or two. She had three slips in a couple of hundred yards, but wasn't able to connect due to the thickness of the greasewood. She kept getting knocked off course by her wings hitting the bushes. Then we found one that was in a bit more open area. He didn't make it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

A paltry four miles today to get her dinner, and he was a fat one too. I may have to either compress the "Trophy tails" or get a longer piece of string.

  The string on the left is last years "trophies".

Nov 30

 Although I have done so before, it was quite a long time ago, so I will explain the difference in hunting styles of Falcons and Hawks.

Falcons generally hunt from  altitude in an interception style of flight. Peregrines "generally" ( quotes because there are no hard and fast rules.) hunt from high above. Their vision is such that they can be out of our human sight, or the prey's sight, and still be able to see easily any prey flying below. By flying high the element of surprise can be used successfully. The link below should give you some idea of how a falcon is hunted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlJH0_tKQE

A Hawk however is hunted from the fist, a tree or a tee perch in Hope's case. 

https://vimeo.com/295275937                password-  owyheeflyer

I generally am too busy to take any pictures, so I have been depending on Bruce to take pictures for me. That is great, except for the fact that I didn't get the ones from Friday until today. So you will get two bunches of pictures today.

I had walked off and left her with her leg, and she came looking for me.

It was pretty cold today with a Cold Front was right over us when Bruce and I went out to hunt his falcons and I, to hunt Hope. The wind was honking right along.

We flew his old Falcon first on an artesian lake. The Ducks tend to go there in the middle of the day to rest, and while there are almost always Ducks there. There is not a good way to check for birds on the water and You never know what you are going to get until you show yourself. We have been trying different approaches to setting up the hunt, and have yet to settle on a good one as of yet. The problem is that we are so far away from where the falcon will come down with a Duck. The first time we flew her there, she attracted the unwelcome attention of a Golden Eagle. Both the falcon and Bruce are pretty nervous when we are there.

So we tried something different today in that Bruce went wide, while I stayed on top so that I could flush. The falcon had gotten to a good pitch and was circling the pond, when apparently some of the Ducks got nervous and decided to depart the area. Bruce had not even had the chance to get in position, and didn't know that his falcon had already knocked a Mallard down on the far side of the pond. The wind was howling and he couldn't hear me yelling, so I did my best, 76 year old run, (stumbling- bumbling ) around the long way to make sure that she had some protection. I found her in a small ditch wrestling with a Drake Mallard. 

After we got her fed and put up, we got Hope out and began working the Sage just down from the pond. I wasn't able to bring the dogs this time as a trapper is working the area, and there are traps all over the place.

The wind actually slacked off a bit as the front was mostly gone to the East. There didn't seem to be as many Jacks as I would have preferred, but we did find a couple. They were flushing pretty wild in front of us. We crossed the road going into an area that I really had not hunted very much. A  Short Eared Owl flushed about 20 yards in front of us, and for a while I thought that Hope was going to catch him. I am not sure if he just out flew her, but I suspect that she slacked off when it wasn't running on the ground. I was just as pleased that she didn't get her feet into him, because she would have been grabbed right back.

I have not taught her to fly birds by design. There are not enough opportunities, no Pheasant any more,      ( Not recovered from West Nile) and only this year am I seeing any game birds at all. So there didn't seem to be any point.

After a short mile and half walk, we got a fairly close slip at a Jack, and though she chased him a long way she did catch him, and I was off again doing my "Leap over tall Sage brush" routine again. (yeah right!) Hope was so deep into the Greasewood that I only found them by the Jacks screams. I broke his neck and started the process of getting her out without breaking something. I tried pushing the Jack back through the hole in the Greasewood. ( Jack Rabbits will dig out a tunnel under these thick bushes to hide in and to use as an escape route. Squirt through one of these bushes and the pursuer is stuck on the other side) Only this time he just wasn't fast enough. Hope got her hooks in him before he could get deep enough.

I went back to the other side and pulled him out, gave her the cup of tidbits, and collected the Jack to clean. I kept the liver and heart for her as well as another leg.