A visit by my friend Pat

 Some 20 - 30?  years ago Karen and I sponsored a gal from Burns, Oregon. She wanted desperately to become a falconer and wasn't getting any help. At that time women seemed to be having problems with male falconers taking them seriously. Karen of course, having faced some of that same stupidity, would have waded through hell and high water to help any woman to enjoy this sport if she wanted to. I had no problem either, I like "spunky" women! Pat did complete her 2 year apprentice ship, getting guidance from two falconers, and has proven her ability and expertise many times over. She, of course, is a Master Falconer now.

Pat came down to visit and to hunt with Hope and myself for a couple of days. She has now retired and has a bit more time on her hands. Harris Hawks are smart and social enough that you can put them into a field and they will hunt together. A bit shy and cautious but soon will work together as a team to capture the willey Jack Rabbit.

Monday Pat hunted in Burns, and I hunted here at the house. Her Hawk- "Chilli" ( not to be confused with Connie's Cat) had dinged a wing feather right at the tip of her wing, and was unable to finish her hunt. Hope killed a Jack here. When Pat got here that evening. We snipped the feather off so that it wouldn't screw up her flight, by sticking out at a weird angle. 

Pat hunted alone Tuesday morning, as I had fed Hope entirely too much to hunt her again so soon.

The next morning as soon as it warmed to 30 degrees, we went out to the Sage just outside my fence. Chilli wasted no time at all in catching one of the Jacks that has successfully eluded Hope every time she has flown it.

Today, (Wed.) both have had time to put their food over so we could hunt again. As we got in the field from the Hack tower we jumped about three Jacks and there were Rabbits and Hawks every where, several big clouds of dust and disappearing Rabbit butts. I think there were at least four Jacks all clustered in an area of 50 yards. We both had a good chuckle at the Hawks getting snookered by the sheer number of Jacks. They however were also primed and ready now.

Hope's first with an assist by Chilli

Hope zipped in and took a Jack that had managed to avoid Chilli's strike., and we had one in the bag. Hope had caught it by the butt and Chilli followed up by grabbing it by the head. This was one that I didn't have to kill as Chilli had killed it before we got there. She either has a better grip or was able to get her talons in the right spot. Suits me I am not all that wild about reaching into that sort of meat grinder with my tender little hands. Chilli did manage to stick one talon into my hand anyway. She was nice about it and didn't do too much damage, and I do heal fast.

Her meager reward for her quick thinking.

Her second Jack.

We walked on, some times getting flights and sometimes not. Chilli took a shot at a Jack that jumped pretty close and missed. Hope finally saw it when it was about 80 yards off and took off in pursuit, trying to catch up. Pat and I were both very surprised when she managed to catch it. It was far enough away that I had trouble finding her. Since Chill had gone to help, She of course grabbed it by the head, closing its mouth so that the best it could do was humm and I couldn't hear the muffled screams. Pat had them located so we were soon able to help them with it.

After we got the birds picked up off the Jack we started back towards home. We jumped a Jack and Hope was hot after it,  a Prairie Falcon came from nowhere and decided that she was jealous. She took a shot at Hope just as she was closing the distance on the running Jack. She showed no signs of leaving our birds alone, so I zipped a 9 mm round by her head. She then decided to retire from the field. All too often Coyotes want to help your bird with that pesky rabbit, so its best to be prepared for all contingencies. 

By that time Hope was a bit confused as to why I wasn't feeding her, since she had caught two Jacks already. We were down at the end of the runway, so I decided to break off and go on home so that I could feed her as we walked back.

Occasionally a Jack will hide, and an experienced Hawk will land on a nearby bush, pinning it. Hope isn't there yet, but Chilli is. Hope normally makes a "hail Mary " shot at it and while she is on the ground the Jack changes zip codes.  Chilli was after one such that was hiding, and she and Pat soon tracked it down and Chilli had her own Jack.

If you read that link that I supplied you with in my last post you might have noticed that Jacks eat up to a pound of food each night. This one seems to be a bit of an overachiever. Look at all the fat he has accumulated this fall.

We put in 4.9 miles, on our trek today. A Jack for Chilli, Two Jacks and one Leopard (lizard ) for Hope. Sorry about the loss of the picture of her Leopard kill, unfortunately she swallowed it before I could get my camera out to archive the capture.