Change in attitude

 I was so blown away by Connie's Cat following me through 1.7 miles of Sage, that I didn't mention my reason for stopping at that distance. The real reason was that Hope was screwing around and really wasn't trying as hard as she is capable of. My rule with her has always been that if she doesn't kill she doesn't eat. My routine is that I give her enough chances at live game that she could have killed something, if she really wanted to badly enough. The only possible exception would be if she was low enough in weight that she could be physically unable to put forth the energy to effect a kill. This is a little safeguard that will keep her from becoming unable to hunt due to physical weakness. Of course she will only get enough to sustain her for another day, but sooner or later she will have to catch something in order to get a full crop and "belly," that she of course wants.

Once Hope gets into the real swing of things, the only reason that we are in the field for that second Rabbit flush, is that she is not using her head. When she is switched on, nothing can escape her talons. She is that focused and that good. However, it is only natural that she would need a bit of a reminder as to how the game is played each new year.

Hope is maturing and with that maturity comes recognition of how her chosen quarry acts and reacts. Granted she has been slower at this that I liked, although it was my fault for allowing her to think that way. Harris's like to hunt, and will do so almost all day long, or at least longer than I am comfortable with. So I allowed her to keep banging away at the Jacks and there were so many that sooner or later one would make a mistake and she would catch him. Sunday was the first time that I heard Hope making the sound that means- " there is a rabbit close to me". I of course helped her get it running but she still missed it. Its a good start, it tells me that she is thinking.

I have been flying in the mornings due to the heat. She flew on Sunday and screwed around, I didn't feed her. She started the day at 970 grams. Monday we decided to take a quad ride up on top of the Steens at the NE end. I didn't get home till about 4PM. Hope would fly to the wire in hopes that I would take her out, every time I went by. After my dinner, that," I myself had caught",  I picked her up at 6 PM. I also allowed the dogs to go for the first time since Josie had scared her into turning loose of a Rabbit that she had just caught. This time I had a shock collar on them, so it was to be a second chance for the dogs. I had made a pretty big stink on the last incident, and Josie ( the culprit) knew it. She was staying close, where I wanted her and watching me closely.

I decided to hunt here just outside my fence, for one of the 7 or so Jacks that make this area their home. There is a chunk of Sage that covers most of the flat, and a rocky shallow canyon that cuts through it. If the Jack is near the edge of the Sage where the ground really slopes up enough that the Jacks can out climb her, then she stalls out and lands, and all she can do is watch the Jack fade from her reach with ease.

We cut along the upper edge of the Sage, and she quickly took off using her best speed. The Jack started to run up the hill, but she was too close,  when he broke cover she slammed into him raising a huge dust cloud. When I arrived at the scene, Josie was close and watching, I yelled at her and she immediately backed off. I was able to break his neck, and extricate them from the brambles and limbs to the clear ground. She was waiting for her tin cup and tidbits. I offered her a front leg from her last kill, and she took it without hesitation, leaving me with the Jack.

I think the total number of steps recorded on my phone was about 300, and I was done."Now that's what I am talking about"! If she continues on this trend, she is going to be a really, really great hunting hawk.

A first for me!

 My friends John and Kim are here on John's normal fall Western trip. They have been on the road since late Aug. They just got back from a trip to Glacier, Yellowstone and Northern Montana and Idaho. Since today was Sunday and Sourdough pancake breakfast day. Connie is house sitting for a friend of ours just down the road a bit, so we got a bit later start to hawking than is usual. Even though it is October it is still quite warm almost to the uncomfortable stage.

Upon weighing Hope, I find that she is still a bit higher in weight than I would like, but since I intended to hawk here at the house, it shouldn't be a big deal. She will or she won't. No big loss either way. I still need exercise, and this is much more interesting than just a stroll down the runway.

John is in his 80's and more than a little crippled up from a hard life of serious playing. So Connie and I parked a quad at the other end of the runway and the plan was for John and I to walk out around the hill to the North of me and back to the end of the runway where the quad was parked. The thinking was, that would end up to be more than a mile and be just about all the walking he could stand. That way if we hadn't caught anything by then I could still venture further afield if needed.

Connie has three Cats now. Her older cat, Chilli, a yellow long hair, and two 11 week old Kittens. Chilli is a real "Cats, Cat. He doesn't like to be petted, will rarely cuddle, likes to sneak outside at night to hunt, and is over all about as much company and fun as a wet rock. He hisses at the kittens, seems to actually share the same attitude as WC Fields towards kids. He has been staying here at the house while Connie has been making her regular visit to the "Valley". His normal routine is to come back in at 10PM for the nightly feeding of Tiger, (my yellow short haired Cat) and the "kids". Try to sneak back out again before I  go to bed. Spend the night in the open window, occasionally testing the screen for a possible escape. Out the first thing in the morning, back in again about 10AM, then sleep until evening when it all starts again. all the while hiding from the Kittens in the back bedroom. He is actually pretty low maintenance for a Cat. He does however have one little quirk that I have rarely seen in cats. He likes to go on walks.

After getting every thing set up for hawking, John and I start across the field to the tower, and here comes Chilli. 

Hope is sitting on the tower, waiting for me to get in the field. Most raptors that will take Jack Rabbits will also kill Cats if they get a chance. Hope however has apparently seen enough Cats around the weathering area that she knows that they are not Rabbits. It still makes me nervous! I can just see the damage to both Cat and Hawk that is possible and extremely grateful that Hope doesn't try to catch him. I say tentative because I cannot believe that it will not happen at the worst possible time and place.

It was pretty warm, and I thought that he would have sense enough to stop and go back once we got out there a ways, but no! Not him. It was warm enough that the Timber Tigers, (lizards and other undesirable prey items) were out and Hope can really turn and twist for one of them. The first one she swallowed before either of us was close enough to see it all, but the second one she caught was right in front of us. As she swallowed the last of the tail.

 Chilli started up to see what it was. Hope in a flash made a lunge toward him, and Chilli wisely changed his mind. Hope stood back up and tucked her wings back, and jumped up on the tee perch. I breathed a large sigh of relief.

The combination of extra weight, high temps, two lizards, not to mention wiley Jack Rabbits, we didn't catch anything else. I dropped John off at his quad, and Chilli and I began our long walk home. His tongue was hanging out and he was bitching with almost every step. At the end I had to stop and let him rest a bit, but he made the whole 1.7 miles with me. 

I filled his water dish with fresh water and fed him some more goodies when we got in the house. He is passed out on the shady side of the porch.

We will try again tomorrow or tuesday hopefully without the entourage this time.