Hunting by Moonlight

I decided to give Jessie another chance to see if she is ready to hunt yesterday. So late in the afternoon I took her over to the ranch and stole Tami away from her Chicken cleaning to go with me. Yesterday was butchering day for both of our old Chickens. Some of mine were at least three years old and hadn't laid an egg in months. Tami just got rid of a bunch of her older ones to make room for the new ones coming on. Totally there were 17 Chickens to be cleaned. Reuben came along to help. I was tired enough when we were done that I didn't intend to hunt. After a soak in the hot tub and a serious case of boredom, I changed my mind. Poor Tami still had 6 Chickens left to clean when I got there, but I guess she needed a change of scenery, so she went with me.

I had put Jessie up for a bit and fed her some Pigeons and just let her sit for a week or so, on the off chance that she would want to hunt when and if she got another chance. There were plenty of Ducks at the barn, so we put her in the air, and when she was in position, we flushed them. She goofed around without ever committing while most of them flew. She finally decided that she wanted one of them, but was not able to catch up before he splashed back into the creek. She then flew over to her favorite hay stack and sat down. I had seen this before, so we went back to the shop and watched Dave work on a truck. I was monitoring her whereabouts with the telemetry, and could see where she was sitting, and I knew what she wanted was for me to call her to the lure. We sat there for an hour each determined to get our way, but I had already had my dinner and didn't really care if she came or not. Finally she blinked and flew over to where we were. There had been some Ducks in the creek there, but they had all swam somewhere else, so there was nothing to do but call her down to the lure.

She should have anxious to hunt as her weight was about three ounces lower than what I hunted her last year. Well I guess we will have to step it up a notch. She got some rabbit on the lure and half of a Starling for her dinner.

Today was the Harris' day, and I waited quite late to pick up the girls hoping that the wind would moderate a bit. At 6 PM I decided that I couldn't wait any longer and started picking up the girls. Jessie wanted to go, even trying to fly to me while I was holding Yogi. Sorry Pal, not today, and maybe not tomorrow either.

I decided that we would hunt the field that had the dead rabbits in it, and I would check the ones that we caught to see if I could find anything wrong with the ones that they caught. If there is anything wrong with them the Liver will generally show abnormalities.

Unfortunately by the time we got out in the field the Moon was already coming up over the hills to the East.

  Oh well, Harris' don't sweat the small stuff. They will hunt by flashlight if they have to. We jumped one not far into the field and he sure didn't run like he felt bad. He turned the girls every which way but loose, leaving them sitting on the ground wondering which way he went. We went a bit further and the next one also gave them the slip after several repeated attempts to bring him to bag. Strangely enough I was elated. One of the symptoms of Tularemia is sluggishness. These guy's were not sluggish at all. Finally the next one made an error, and Puddy slammed into him, with Yogi soon making the anchoring shot to his head.

If you look closely at this picture you will see that Puddy has him by only his foot, and that there is a big wad of Jack Rabbit butt fur including the tail off to the left of the bush. His butt was ripped to shreds, but he would have escaped if not for Yogi.

I tossed them each a chunk of the last rabbit that they had caught while Tami went to examine the rabbit.  He was not a youngster by any stretch, and was carrying a substantial amount of fat, and his liver was nice and normal, which pleased me enormously.

 We hunted for a bit more, but it was getting really dark, so after a couple more chases we called them back and tossed the rest of their meal on the ground for them to eat. By the time we got to the car it was fully dark.

Puddy is finally working

If you remember in the last post, I was a bit steamed that Puddy seems to be on welfare, rather than actively working to support the cause. (that would be replacing the food that she ate all last winter and this summer) Its all well and good that she does contribute, by anchoring Yogi's kills, but that just isn't enough. Things seemed to be looking up after the last flight when she actually got tired of waiting for Yogi to catch something for her, and she killed one of her own. Tonight was a repeat. I am smiling.

I have been having trouble with a bunch of deer that seem to be determined to dine on the hay that is stacked in the yard for the horse that Karen insists that we keep. They were here yesterday at 4 PM lined up and doing their best to get on the outside of as much of my hay that they could. I felt that a few loads of bird shot would be sufficient to move them elsewhere, but they are either thick skinned, or I need to get closer. I pelted them with a total of 8 shells, and I had to run them off with the quad. They also came back last night about 11 PM and I repeated the experience. I am going to have to up the ante on my aversion therapy I think.

Well when Tami and Reuben came over to hunt with us, they were back in creek bottom again. When we picked up the hawks we walked that way both to see if the Jacks were down there and to move the Deer off again. The Deer at least appeared to pay attention, but I don't think they went too far. My drive way alarm just went off, ( 11 PM ) and I went out to see if they were in the hay again, and one of them tore down the garden fence. He could have gone out of the gate, but no that would be too easy. %^*&#@^

We didn't see any rabbits at all in the bottom, so we moved back up on top. The rabbits were scarce, and while the girls got a few slips, all of them were from long range. (time to change fields) We finally got a decent slip and Puddy plowed into the jack after Yogi missed. Atta boy, girl!

 There are actually two hawks in that scrum, although there is only one head showing.

You can see from the photo that Puddy tore a hole in his guts on the first strike. Apparently the girl was serious for a change.

We actually didn't jump that many rabbits on this trip, and I was happy enough that Puddy seems to be on track, that I didn't mind. We wandered on back to the house in the fading light.

Winter is here

This picture was not "Photo shopped", I only sharpened the image a bit. 

 This is the sunrise that we were blessed? with this morning. I checked and I didn't see any sailors  on the creek, but if there had been, they should have taken warning. I am sure your parents repeated this old saying when you were young. "Red sky in the morning, Sailors take warning'.

Well, it snowed a bit later in the day. While I didn't have to shovel the driveway, it was a reminder that the comforts of fall are fast slipping away.

 We had decided to not fly yesterday as the wind was much too brisk for the Harris' Hawks. Karen and I were on our own today, and at 6 PM we picked up the girls and started around the house to hunt some of the rabbits that hang around the house. Yogi decided to try to see if we would help her catch another Chicken, but we had our sights set on Jacks and were not any help at all. When we began chasing Jacks with Puddy, she decided to join us. It was just as well as she grabbed the first rabbit that we jumped.

We were walking into the Sun, and I stepped around these two thinking that they were just a boulder. This Jack was the first one that I have not had to kill. Apparently Yogi grabbed him in the chest and punched a hole in his heart, as he was dead by the time that I found them.

I guess I am going to have to cut Puddy's weight and take her out on her own for a while. She seems quite content to let Yogi make the catches and then just join in to get her chunk when one is caught. Some of her pursuits were plain pitiful.

We had gone through the field that borders the property to the West, and then started on the West side of the runway. There was a good group of rabbits in there, and just as I was about to take Puddy back home, she saw one sitting in a bush and slammed into the ground hard enough to cut her foot. I noticed blood dripping down the T perch, but when I checked her, it was nothing that required any attention.

It was getting a bit darker, so we turned back to the house. I was just about to go through the gate when Yogi flew off, and back behind us. A Jack had stayed hidden and let us walk past, but Yogi had seen him, and made a shot at him, but missed. Puddy saw where he was hiding and slammed into him hard. Yogi was the back up this time. We gave them their meal instead of a front leg, and while they were busy, I cleaned rabbits.

If you look close at the jacks in the sink, you will get some idea of the wounds inflicted by the girls. The Jack on the right was actually at least a year old, and the one that was killed out right. He had a substantial amount of fat on his body.

These are the wrapped packages ready for the freezer and destined to feed the girls through the molt. The two Jacks supplied 11 meals, plus chunks  and tidbits for the next hunt. Nothing is wasted, and all appreciated.

Change in hunting times

I decided that I would change to evenings for our hunts. The temps in the mornings are down right discouraging, and the rabbits are on the move from their feeding spots to their day time territories. Here at the house I will have any where up to about 30 Jacks in the evenings, but they come from all around to come here to feed and get water. If I go out in the Sage flats around the house I may only see 3 or 4 Jacks. Besides it interferes with my exercises. At my age, I can't be missing my exercise, and I sure don't feel like exercising after an hour or two of hawking.

Not sure if you have ever given it much consideration, but rabbits have territories just like any other wild animal. There are only so many on a given amount of ground. The biggest and best get the best territories, and the rest have to commute. I do not know for sure how far away some of these rabbits are traveling to get to my lawn and hay stack, but I do know for sure that the only place that I can find them in such numbers is on the lawn. Our last hunt in the morning required about three hours to get about 10 slips at Jacks, and probably covered about 3 miles. This evening we had lots of chances and only covered perhaps a 1/16th of the ground that we did in the morning hunt.

Yogi as seems to be her norm, caught the first rabbit that we jumped. There was a bit of a variation this time, in that they both had their feet on the Jacks head. Puddy was apparently more excited and aggressive this time. They still were not grabbing each other, which is a wonder all on its own. In the past I was giving them an entire front leg as a reward for catching a rabbit. I have since been cutting a front leg in two pieces. This time I had to give Yogi a second piece of leg, so that Puddy could finish the one that I gave her. I figured it would possibly slow Yogi down enough that Puddy would have a chance to catch a rabbit on her own. Yogi has been on fire this year, which is great, but I would like Puddy to get back in the groove as well. Last year Puddy caught twice as many rabbits as did Yogi. Not this year.

I stuck my video camera on my head and made a short movie of the hunt. It can be viewed at this URL.
https://vimeo.com/51893350
The password is -   owyheeflyer

An unintended mile post

 

Every one came over to the house this morning for our Rabbit hunt. We went into the field behind the hack tower and began our drive. Yogi took a perch on the fence line while Puddy rode with Tami. We had not gone very far, and a Jack broke cover in the fence and choose to run across the open field towards the house. Yogi had landed almost on a post almost right on top of him, so when he made his run for it, she was right there. I thought well that one is a waste! I didn't take in to account Yogi's state of mind. She hasn't caught anything for at least a week. She has helped, but has not been the initial aggressor. I was yelling and rooting her on for all I was worth, but even so I could not believe that she was right on the Jacks butt and closing. (I have paced a Jack at 45 MPH) The Jack tried to turn inside her, but she was too close and too determined. She reached out a long leg and had him. They were jumping and flopping. Puddy by that time had caught up and slammed into his head.

I took the opportunity to take a picture, that was not in a bush.

I gave each a chunk of Jack front leg as a reward for their catch. Each went off a bit to eat their food, and I bagged the rabbit.

As you can see, there was nothing for the rabbit to hide in, but the open field chases are the hardest of all pursuits.

We went back into the field and continued on our way. We had not covered much ground when Yogi again took off after a Rabbit. Puddy was a bit slow on the uptake. Yogi made a feint at the rabbit, but it dodged her. She turned around as Puddy also made a feint at the rabbit. Yogi had gotten up a bit and did a wingover from about 10 feet and the scream of the rabbit told us that she had scored again.

 When we got there I was surprised to see that Puddy was off to the side watching. The reason became quite clear, as Yogi had grabbed the rabbit by the head.

I gave Yogi a chunk of front leg, and and number two was in the bag, and we were still withing 200 yards of the fence around the house.

I decided that I wanted for Puddy to catch one, so we decided to continue. We really had just started,  and George was really getting into it.

We continued on for a bit and Yogi decided to go off hunting on her own. I tried to get her to come to the perch, but she wanted me to follow her, and it just doesn't work that way. We left her  and soon Puddy took off after a close Jack and grabbed him in the butt. Unfortunately her pardner was goofing off a hundred yards back and she got kicked off. She was a bit grumpy about that. We continued on, and Yogi decided to shadow us. I was just explaining to George that Harris' were the only Hawk that I was aware of that could see a sitting rabbit, when Puddy flashed off my perch and slammed into the ground not more than 15 feet in front of us. I was quite surprised to see a Jack come bolting out of the dust cloud and beat feet out of the area. Yogi tried, but had been too much out of position. Yogi was still trying to be independent, and we jumped another Jack, and again Puddy grabbed one in the butt after a heroic effort, but her hold was too tenuous to keep him. Yogi had had enough, and rejoined us as we began our circle back towards the house.

We topped over the hill leaving Tara, Karen, Grace and Isabel pestering a hapless Bull Snake. Yogi could not resist a 200 yard slip at a fleeing rabbit. It of course was unsuccessful. We finally caught up with her, and she regained her perch. As we started up a small rise, a Jack busted in front of us, and Puddy gave chase. She made a shot at the rabbit and missed, Yogi did not. This one didn't have a hawk on its head for a short period of time, so Puddy filled the position.

  I managed to kill the Jack, and Yogi accepted her chunk of meat and retired to the nearest bush to eat it.

I have to admit, I was quite surprised that Yogi had caught three Jacks in one outing and was doing it with a fairly substantial chunk of meat in her crop. I had never had a hawk that I caught three head of game with in the same day, so when I held up the trophy tail for the picture, I was pretty much in awe of this hawk.

Puddy however was getting frustrated and did not want to give the Jack up. She was doing her best to ignore the chunk of rabbit that I was offering, so I picked her up with the whole thing and again gave her the meat. She couldn't hold both, so I was able to  put her on the ground and go clean the rabbit.

Karen needed to go get the mail, so she headed off for the house, and the rest of the field was anxious to visit an old turn of the century homestead down by the creek. We were close so we headed that way.

Somehow I forgot to take any pictures, but the shack was a "Soddy". I was more interested in seeing if I could find some of the Bunnies that had to live there. We soon found one and Puddy really slammed into the Greasewood after him, but missed. We were a bit behind time, since we had been in the field for about three hours at that time, so we headed home.

I didn't want to carry the birds on the fist, so we were still technically hunting, and they were riding on their perches. The road curved around a small rise with a bit of rubble on the top, and without warning, Yogi again took off the perch after a close flushing Jack, and slammed into his head before he had covered more than 20 feet. Puddy again honored the kill, and stayed back. We didn't take a picture of the forth one for what ever reason. I gave Yogi another chunk of meat and gave the Jack to George for his own consumption later.

I decided that enough was enough and we fed the girls the rest of their meal, and made our way home.

Every one went home, and I started chunking up Jacks for the girls winter molt food. Even with giving an entire rabbit away, taking two meals worth off of one of the rabbits, I ended up with 14 meals off the remainder, and enough parts and pieces for tidbits and rewards for the next hunting day.

After Karen came back and I finished my food chores, we drove over to the ranch to fly Tara's bird Sheila.

There are a lot of Sparrows around the house so we began our quest. Sheila has not yet caught her first head of wild game, and after her last outing were quite hopeful.

The wind was whipping by this time, and while it posed no problem for her, it did make her want to fly into the wind and stay high either in the trees on the barn. The resident tiercel Kestrel seems to be a bit cranky about sharing hunting areas with her and has been a problem for us. He slammed her into the barn, bruising her leg the last time, and was doing his best to do so again.

At first she wasn't showing much in the way of interest in hunting, but soon decided to get into the game. We went to the Greasewood patch below the barn and managed to pin some of the numerous Sparrows in there. She took a stand on the Hay stack out of the wind, and Tami, George and I began pushing some Sparrows at her. She gave chase to one and just barely missed catching him before he took refuge in a bush. She returned to the fence line, and Tami pushed it out, and again she was hot on his tail, putting him into another bush. This time she gave chase on foot. He managed to elude her and since she had tried so hard, and we were out of Sparrows in the Greasewood, I decided that a bag would be in order.

Tara put her on one of the fence posts and I rustled in the bushes and somehow a bagged Sparrow made a break for it. She was after it with a passion. The Sparrow was doing its best out across the open pasture and she was right on its butt. She made a grab for it, but missed. She recovered and grabbed it after another 10 yards. All the time that little rascal of a wild tiercel was doing his best to interfere. Tara and George went to run interference. Before they could get there the scamp tagged her on the ground, and she picked up the Sparrow and made a break for the fence. She landed on one of the fence posts, while the wild one was making repeated shots at her. She flew again and closer to me and the Greasewood patch. She landed on a post just at the edge of the field, and the little bastard flew down and knocked her off the post. She got up and flew past me to the middle of the Greasewood and ran into the bush with her prise.

 Tara picked her up from the bush and gave her a safe spot to eat her catch.

 We of course felt compelled to celebrate our adventures with a small libation.

I am quite pleased with the way that Tara has brought this little bird along. She handles well, and it is only a matter of time before she is catching wild game. The zeal with which both she and George pursue falconry is very satisfying. Both are going to be good falconers.

Karen and I dragged our tired butts home and put them in the hot tub where we could sooth some of the aches and pains away.

Karen and I loaded Jessie in the car and drove over to Tami's to see if Jessie was going to be interested in Ducks this morning. She has steadfastly refused to catch a duck for some days and is getting thinner, but losing none of her resolve to not catch one. She seems to go through a two week period of this kind of behavior every year, but it is generally later in the season when she does. :-/

Tami's sister, Tara, and her fiance George are down from the Portland area. Both are interested in falconry, and Tara is in her first full year of a falconry apprenticeship.

We all loaded up and went to the barn with the idea of hunting some of the Ducks that hang around that are. They were there, so we put Jessie in the air, and she almost forgot her self and caught one, but it did a kamikaze dive into a really nasty bit of barn yard drainage, and she wisely declined.
She flew for quite a long time ignoring every Duck that we flushed, finally taking her rest on a far hay stack. I swung the lure for her, but she ignored that as well. Finally it became clear to me that she had no intention of coming, so I walked back behind the barn and out of her sight. That was entirely too much for her and she had to come see where I had gone. I walked back out and swung the lure for her, and she waited an appropriate amount of time before she deigned to land on the lure. She however did her best to carry it as far away as she could, but a board fence foiled her plans. She is such a Diva! spelled with a B of course.

We went back to Tami's and George saw a Coyote cross the field below the house. He got his rifle, and killed his first ever Coyote at about 220 yards. Since he was using his 300 Weatherby there was nothing left to skin.

Karen and I took her home, and the rest followed. We picked up Yogi and Pud and since Karen decided to do some house work, all loaded in the car to find a Rabbit field. Grace, Reuben, and Spike (Tara's son) came with us. I wanted to try another location, and after one dry patch of Sage, I bumped a Jack just feet off the road at the Pillars of Rome. I decided that we could do worse, so we all piled out and began our hunt. Yogi, who has been getting a lot more independent, took off up the hill on the other side of the road. At first we thought she had seen something, but it soon became obvious that the group of people might be a little large for her. She would not come to us and as soon as we caught up, she would fly on. I finally decided that I was going to put a transmitter on her so that I could eventually find her if she chose to not hunt with us. Once done we headed down the hill and left her to her own devices. She soon tired of that and began hunting with us.

We hadn't got very far into the field when a Jack jumped close and Puddy grabbed it in the butt. Yogi flared high and arrowed down through the bush and onto his head.

 I broke the brush apart enough to drag them into the open so that I could kill the Jack and get them off so that I could clean the Jack.

 I apparently managed to lose the light colored line that you can see hanging out of my bag, which was the leash and swivel needed to secure the birds when we were finished. I am not sure if I can find the right bush again, but I may try. I am getting very short on swivels.

After they finished their rewards, we went on through the field. We did get a few more chases, and Puddy did manage to pull a patch of fur out of another ones butt, but a low hanging branch knocked her off. There were a couple of close calls with the local Pheasant population, but nothing stuck.

After covering the entire field, ( about an hour) we gave it up and went on home. I found another leash and put the girls in the weathering area to put over their crop.

Tami, and Tara went on home to see if Tara's Kestrel was ready to fly. Karen and I went over to help out with that.

I am sorry to say that I didn't take a camera along, so I have no pictures yet. She is a nice little bird and is well trained and cared for. Tara is in the process of trying to get her entered on game. We started out of the house and she gave chase to some Sparrows by the barn. The resident male Kestrel is still hanging around the ranch, and of course he had to but in and make things as difficult as he could. Sheila ignored him for the most part. At first she was a bit hesitant to get really down into the brush with the Sparrows, but after finding and pinning a bunch in some Greasewood, ( The wild male actually helped with that as he was circling around overhead) She began really putting some effort into her attempts at them. At that point I decided that it was time to make sure that she caught one, so I attempted to plant a Sparrow in one of the bushes, but he busted out and she missed her chance at him. I had another and planted it at the edge of the field so that it would be forced out over the open and out of the Greasewood. She gave chase and lost it in a bunch of Willows by the barn. We got her up there and I kicked it out of the bush. It made a dash for the barn with her right behind. The tiercel made a shot at both of them, perhaps hitting her. The Sparrow was running around the wall of the barn on foot. Tara got her on the fist, and managed to get her to see the Sparrow. She took off after it again and it beat it for the Willow again. The Kestrel was in the bush and the Sparrow was trying to keep as much bush between them as possible. They did about 5 or 6 circles around and through the bush, finally Sheila cut him off and managed to catch him on the ground.

It was a great training exercise for the little bird. Hopefully she will have learned that she has to get in and get down and dirty while at it, and she has to push.

A strange and disquieting day

We loaded up and made the trip to Tami's to hunt both sets of hawks. I have been carrying my rifle with me for the numerous Coyotes that are running all over. This morning one ran across the drive into the ranch and into the Sage across the road. I stopped the truck and got out and waited. He stopped about 200 yards out. I took the shot, but it was far enough out that I of course lost the picture in the scope, so I didn't know for sure whether I got him or not. Karen didn't see him when I shot. I was sure that I could not have missed, so we drove down there and looked. We couldn't find him, but jumped a couple of Jacks while looking.

We went on, picking up Tami, and drove to the barn to try for some Ducks with Jessie. There was a pile of mixed Ducks on the pond below the barn, so I put Jessie in the air. She took a good pitch over us, but seemed more interested in flying than catching. We gave her several chances at Ducks, and she ignored them all. I finally called her down to the lure and she went into the box to wait for the Harris' to hunt.

I had managed to leave the Tee perches at home, so we all drove back over to the house to get them. When we were coming back I decided to see if the Jacks were in numbers enough to warrant hunting them where the Coyote had been. I thought that we could hunt and I could renew my search for the Coyote. We managed to jump two or three Jacks, but not enough to interest me, so we headed back to the truck. Yogi and Pud took off after a Jack that ran up the hill. Puddy came with us, but Yogi stayed. On the way back our path dissected where the Coyote was lying. We went on to the truck, but Yogi had not joined us. We could see her on the ground and she was hopping around, but refused to even come to the proffered lure. I drove down there and could see her hopping around with her wings out. As I closed the distance I could see that on her flight back, she had seen the Coyote and she was now attacking the thankfully deceased Coyote. She would feint, strike, then fly off and turn to do it again. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that she had apparently had some personal encounters with Coyotes when she was in the wild. She is the strangest bird.

We then loaded up and went back to the barn to hunt in the field that we had found so many Jacks before. We carried the hawks across to the field beginning to eliminate interference from a Red Shouldered Hawk that seems to think he owns all of that area.

 Yogi did not want to be carried and was bateing continuously. We finally got close to the gate to the field, and I told Tami to turn her loose. There was the remains of a little overflow pond that was drying up by the road, and Yogi crashed into the water. Tami didn't know what to do about it and was as surprised as I was. I said that maybe she was thirsty, and walked back to see what was going on. She was running around and footing at something in the pond. I asked if there were minnows in the pond, and Tami replied that there was. I walked to the side that she was on, and tried to get her to get on the fist before she decided to bathe. I flushed the minnow and she quickly caught it and ate it, before I could get a picture. That's a new one for me.

 
We found a few Jacks and they gave chase, sometimes hard and sometimes not. We were not seeing the numbers that I would have liked and so we were trying different areas and seemed to find that the rabbits were choosing the more open areas to hide in. Puddy flashed off my perch and slammed into something on the ground in front of us. When I got there it was a Jack and she was on its head. It wasn't fighting, because it was already dead. I gave her a prepared chunk of meat and took the Jack to check it out. The eyes were clear and not clouded over at all, but the Jack was dead before she got it. No visible evidence of anything wrong, nose and coat were fine. I buried it and we went on.

After a couple more chases that were infuriatingly close, they flew after a Jack that slipped them both, and they took perches on some of the Sage. They both declined to come, and then I saw Puddy again take off and looked like she was chasing something on the ground. We went over there and she had found another dead one. Same appearance as the other. The fur was warm from the sun, but very tough to peel, and the flesh underneath was cool. I gave the birds some chunks of meat, and we left. I am puzzled and a bit spooked. I guess I will have to find somewhere else to hunt.