Sunrises and Clouds

All our company has gone home, leaving us to sit and try to recuperate. Not sure which is harder. As always we all had a great time visiting, exploring and most of all laughing. This group is about as good as it gets. The week always ends too soon.

The weather is getting a bit more interesting, and the sun rises and setting suns are striking to say the least. We did little other than sit on our butts today and it wore both John and I out. I didn't notice Nell and Karen getting all that much done either. The washing machine got a work out, but that is about it. We are all glad that every one made it home without any problems.

Here are a few pictures of the last few days of weather.

Road Trip and Hope's forth Rabbit

I am not sure what the hell happened to the formatting on this blog, but I am too pooped to try to redo it. It will be better next time.
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Things have been a bit hectic, but sadly most of the people have left, so it is getting quieter. I finally finished a second video of a revisit to Mickey Basin.

The group didn't get enough time to explore Mickey Basin, so we took off again to do a bit more exploring. The nice part about the area is that we can land our planes and spend as much time on foot as we can stand. The area was the site of an early ranch, and has the remains of a building on it. It was pretty primitive at best, and I would hope that the conditions were different from what they are today. I know for sure that I wouldn't want to live there full time. The feral horses are attracted to the area because there are quite a few seeps and springs.

The house wasn't all that big, even when it was all standing, and was made of native stone and held together with mud from the lake. The western term for the place would have been a "Rawhide" outfit. Denoting that it was held together with hide and scraps. Apparently baling wire hadn't been invented yet.

https://vimeo.com/183088265  password, owyheeflyer

Today Roger Hankins, John Hauck and I went to see Jordan Craters from the ground. Very interesting stuff. John and I having been over it before sat on the high ground and watched Roger burn calories. Both of us have cranky knees.

On the way out there we saw a Badger duck down into a culvert. Of course we had to look

 Don't growl at a Badger in a culvert, it pisses them off!

 Buckaroos

 Jordan Craters Lava Flow. The lump is the source that it flowed from.

 Different angle

 collapsed tube

 The tube continues in the back.

Caldera

interesting lava forms

Hope's flight

When we got back from our road trip it was Hope's turn. Her weight is holding at 945 grams. She is developing a dislike of the Giant Hood, but other than that every thing is great. As soon as we got into the field, she began peering into and under every bush that she could see. 

I am sure that not many falconers enter their hawks with the aid of a rifle. If I had a "make hawk" I wouldn't have to use one either. Hawks learn from other like hawks how to hunt and what is suitable quarry. I have used tame Rabbits to introduce them to the game, but there doesn't seem to be many tame Rabbits around my part of the country. The Jacks are so plentiful here that the ranchers are begging for someone to shoot them. So access and supply is no problem.

Hope, while progressing, had yet to understand that she could get some of these rabbits. Her first try was a 15 yard pursuit the last time out, but she got sidetracked onto a rock that looked a bit like a rabbit?

This time Roger broke ones rear leg, but Hope still didn't chase. We followed it and got it up several more times, but she was still not giving chase. Finally it stopped where she could see it about 20 yards in front of us. She flashed off the fist and was accelerating when she slammed into the Rabbit. Yes! Much more like it. Even though the rabbit was facing away she ended up with one foot on the head and the other in the front shoulders. Most excellent! The entire trip including driving there and back took less than an hour.

Number 3 bag

I came back early from flying to give Hope her third lesson in making a living. I gave John a rifle and I took my pistol just in case. When I weighed her, she weighed 942 grams. I keep watching her weight climb, and watching her reactions to it, and there is no reaction. She is still willing and totally focused on the job.

The last time the rabbit we wounded took refuge under a Sage Bush, and Hope was eyeing every bush that we walked by. Unfortunately the Rabbits were about 30 yards further out, so she wasn't seeing them. Our first attempt resulted in a stone dead rabbit, that Hope fortunately didn't see.

I was walking through the Sage when she flashed off my fist and down on the ground. I looked and she had a Lizard gathered up in her foot. I was trying to get my camera out as she shifted her grip to eat it. The Lizard which was only wrapped up in her foot got loose and showed her what speed really was.

After walking around being thwarted by Rabbits that wouldn't volunteer to hold still, I finally got a clear shot with my 22 pistol. Hope saw him and took off after him around a bush. I thought I heard her hit him, but when I got there it appeared that she mistook a black rock for the Rabbit, as she was sitting on the ground looking around. The Rabbit was no where to be found, so we kept on in the direction that we had been going. After a bit we found him again, and this time he tried to take refuge in a Grease wood bush, but Hope was not to be denied.

I pulled both of them out of the bush and killed the Jack. This time after the Jack was dead, I offered her a front leg and she stepped to the fist in a short time. I fed her two front legs and part of a back one in the field. When I got her home, I gave her a head to dismantle.

The first time we went out, Hope rode the fist well. I tossed some tidbits down and called her to the fist a couple of times. The second time she was looking for places where she could be called. This time she was peering into every Sage bush just in case there was a Rabbit hiding in them. I am continually amazed at the obvious ability to reason as to what it takes to get food into her belly. I am able to feed her tidbits from my fingers while she is locked into a dead Rabbit with no fear of being grabbed. The total focus on her part to the work at hand is nothing less than amazing at this point. Hopefully she will continue on this path in the months ahead.

Hope's second bag

I finished and uploaded a video that I took on Sunday of a flight to Micky Basin.   https://vimeo.com/182499620  password owyheeflyer

Today was the second day since shooting a Jack for Hope. I of course didn't feed her yesterday. Today she weighed 932 grams. I loaded her and as many of our visitors that the Subaru would hold to further her education.

It didn't take long to find a volunteer

Roger wounded one and I was surprised that Hope wasn't sure she could catch it. I walked up on it at least twice with her leaning forward, but still not starting an attack. It took refuge in a Sage bush, and then she dove in and grabbed it.

Then of course she wanted to drag it away. I eventually tore the skin off a front leg, and she dug in.

She seemed to want to take it away until I began giving her tidbits. I then picked her up with a front leg. Once she was on the fist I also gave her a back leg to eat while we walked to the car.

Fly-in and Hope entered

Busy, busy! We have 13 of our group here now, so things are getting a bit busier. One of our planes went to Boise this morning, and the other three made a trip to Micky Basin and the Alvord.  The prediction was for high winds starting at 11 AM. The winds were about 5 MPH  so as soon as we had our breakfast we took off NW. We landed first at Micky Basin for a bit, then started out for the Alvord. Mike was interested in visiting the Hot Springs, so when I saw a good landing spot that was within walking distance, I landed. We all then hiked back to the hot springs.

 Micky Basin
Mici, Sandy, Mike & me 

 This one we called Soda Lake

 Micky Hot Springs
Boyd, Larry,Sandy and Mici

 Mud vent

 Steam Vent

 boiling spring

Mourning Dove kill

Almost all the pictures are courtesy of Mike Marker.

The wind was beginning to come up, and the forecast was predicting 30 or more MPH by about 11 AM, so we bounced our way back home, had lunch and a nap.

The wind did come up, but begin to moderate a bit by about 5PM, so I picked up Hope and loaded all the volunteers that I could find and we made our way to a Rabbit field to see if we could get a Jack for Hope.

My intention was to wound a Jack with a rifle so that Hope would have a guaranteed chance to get her feet on a live Jack. Jacks are smart enough that the chances of her catching one unaided is pretty unlikely.

We got in the field and Hope's first chase was on a Western Whiptail lizard, and she didn't stand a chance. She came back to the fist, and within another 100 yards John shot a Jack. As soon as Hope saw it she was on it.

I let her eat all she could hold, and as you can see she got into it pretty deep. Anytime you are covered with that much blood, you must have had a good time.

Full of surprises!

Things are beginning to get a bit hectic here now. I went to Winnemucca this morning at 4 AM to get Karen and Mici, her niece off the train from Colorado. A long time friend from Alabama got here last week. Another friend flew in from Brigham City Utah today. A couple form Baton Rouge arrived yesterday afternoon.  another couple from NM tomorrow, three more from Western Oregon will complete our annual fall get together. It is a great time for all of us, good company, lots of food and fun. But busy.

I finally caught up enough to go out to get Hope to see how much I had overfed her. I went out the first time and she flew off the perch when I offered her my fist. I left her for a couple of hours to think about it. I went back again and this time she got on my fist. She weighed 951 grams when I put her on the scales. Then I understood why she had refused the fist the first time. I was pretty sure that I had reached saturation point, but decided to carry her for a bit anyway.

While walking around with her, I noticed that she was trying to jump to different perches to get me to call her. I sat with her a bit, and she kept pulling at my glove, so I tossed a tidbit on the ground. She flew down to it and then back to the fist. I tossed several for her and she was anxious to come to me, so I cut her loose and put her on the hot tub. No problem or hesitation in coming when called. I then started walking away and at about 20 feet she came without me calling. I let her do that three times and then gave her the rest of the food that I had prepared for her. Her keel is pretty well level across.I am actually stalling and repeating lessons unnecessarily because of the demands on my time. Tomorrow will be different. Its time for her to see game.

Payback

I noticed that I forgot to mention that the Cat Food bandit was a pack Rat. I set a live trap in the Cat House in the afternoon, and went back about 7 PM to check. It had been triggered by Mice, so I reset it. Brick was with me and alerted behind the feed barrels. I looked and the Rat was there. I went back to the house to get a BB gun and Josie. The Rat gave me a quick shot and I hit it in the Eye but a glancing blow. It raced up the wall to a hole in the ceiling and out of sight.

This morning he was in the trap, so I took him out for Josie to play with. She just loves Rats and Mice and will play with them as long as they don't bite her. Play time is over when she gets bit.

https://vimeo.com/181973677    password - owyheeflyer

Hope was at 923 grams today, and still did well. I will give her a few more days getting her used to flying to the fist, then will enter her on Rabbits sometime around the first of next week.