Two Lizards and a Jack!

Unfortunately John and Nell continued on their trip today. Their stay never seems long enough. Its pretty nice to have someone to run around with,  and they are both great company. Of course their absentee ballots arrived today.

Karen took the neighbor to her Doctor today and left me on my own. I had thought to go back to Arock to try our luck over there, but with no fuel efficient car to drive, I decided to stay here and hunt over at the ranch.

Today was hot again, around 95 in the sunshine, so I waited until 5 PM to gather every thing up and go hunting. Hope was chasing pretty good, but still hasn't figured the Sage and Grease Wood out yet. I determined to walk all the way to the highway if I had to to give her the maximum chance to catch one. This time I began using the tee perch to launch her in the direction of a running rabbit and it seemed to work pretty well. She made a lot more chases today than she has so far. She was crashing the brush when we started, but appeared to begin holding off for a good clear shot. Of course the Jacks weren't into cooperation at all.

As we walked further down the creek the Jacks were peeling off and going up the bare hillside. At this point I began trying to wing another one as I really wanted her to have a reward at the end of all this effort on her part. It was hot as could be and she was flying long distances on some of the chases. She would come back to the Tee perch each time, no matter how far she had flown. Sometimes she had to rest a bit and she was breathing hard with her beak agape all the time. The nice part is that she didn't need to be recalled or given a tidbit at all. The only food she had gotten to that point was the two lizards that she caught. Unfortunately I wasn't doing all that well in winging one as they were not giving me any good shots close enough.

At the far end of the field, I followed three or four Jacks up from the creek to the bare hillside, where all the Jacks had been going to get away from us. When we got to the top, one busted back down towards the creek in a steep little drainage. Hope gave chase and tried to cut the corner on him and hit him from the side. He ducked behind a lone Sage and she missed. She got up and gave chase all the way down to the creek and lost him in the cover there. She worked her way back up the hill to me, and I completed the trek up the little hill to where we could see into the drainage higher up.

As I crested the hill she took off in afterburner and soon the lovely sound of a Jack in distress wafted up on the breeze. She had caught him after a short flight of about 30 yards and they were in the open. No Sage to pull her off with. I still approached slowly, but even though they were bouncing up and down quite a bit, I could see that she had one foot on his head. I grabbed him by the hind legs, and stretched him out to break his neck. I though I had heard it pop, but he was still showing signs of life, so I did it again and promptly pulled his head off in the process. A clear case of too much enthusiasm. Now here I am with a excited hawk with a Jack in one foot and a Jacks head in the other trying pretty hard to go some where quiet to eat. Luckily Jacks have long ears. I at least was able to hold on to one of the ears. It would have taken forever for her to completely eat the head. I can almost guarantee that she wouldn't have quit until she had finished it. I tried to give her a front leg to eat, but she was suffering from serious tunnel vision at the time. I finally had to give her a tidbit or two to get her mind on food again. I gave her a front leg and she stepped off the Jack and moved up a couple of feet to eat. I took the opportunity to clean the Jack, and cut off a rear leg. I sat a waited for her to finish the leg, and when she did she walked down to where I was and stepped up on the fist for the rest of her food. I sat and rested while she ate the hind leg. When she finished we walked on back to the truck, which seemed to be over the horizon. I sometimes think I am getting too old for this shit, but then again Nah!

New field

As I mentioned before the field that I had been hunting was played out. That is there were only as many Rabbits in it as there should be, rather than so many that it boggled the mind. The other fields that we tried did not have enough in them for a young hawk carried by a gimpy old man, much of a chance of success. It was time for some new country. The fields that I had been hunting was mostly Grease Wood, which as the name suggests, is nasty. Stickers that poke through your pants, I can't imagine diving head first into one of them.

I called Phidel Larrusea (Basque ) at Arock to see if I could still hunt his ranch. This morning John and I went over there to see what kind of populations they had. The Sage there runs from chest high to knee high. I think we saw about 30 total while we were there, plus about 5 Bunnies. Bunnies wind Hope up like the energizer Bunny Hawk. Of course she still hasn't a clue how to catch a dodging Jack much less one of those hyper bunnies. What turns her on is that they run like hell, while the Jacks just lope along waiting to see what we are going to do. Loping at this time is not one of her big turn on's. I decided that four trips with no real reward was enough justification to wing another one. Or at least try. Not all that easy with a pistol, so nothing is guaranteed.

We had several slips on Bunnies and she made a shot or two at some of the Jacks with no success. I was afraid that she was actually going to catch one of the Bunnies if we kept jumping them, so when we got into a bigger concentration of Jacks, I managed to wing the second one that I tried for. Hope slammed into him when she saw him. I intended to let her have her way with him until I saw that he was a senior citizen carrying all the nasty things that old Jack Rabbits get. He had a fist sized lump just off his back bone, pus pockets in his front leg, and who knows what all else. The back leg appeared to be only Jack Rabbit meat, so I cut one off and between it and the food that I carried, I had enough to fill her to the point that she couldn't take another bite- literally.

A "make hawk" would be ideal, but one does what one can. She will get it. No doubt!

Running out of Rabbits

Today was the third day for Hope on her own, and the first that she didn't at least get some hair in her toes. There was one field at the ranch that was just lousy with Rabbits, but the pressure on it has taken its toll. As near as I can figure about 150 rabbits were taken from that field. It is no stretch to say that all the dumb ones are dead, and I really need a dumb one now. She has caught three now but was kicked off all three.

She still impresses me by her willingness to come to me without thought of reward. Most often when she flies at a Jack, even if it takes her a hundred yards or more, she will turn and fly back to the Tee perch. We had several flights at the field that I have been hunting and the only excitement was an incident with a shotgun shell.

She flew off the perch and down under a bush. I first thought that she had gotten a lizard. Then I could see the purple shotgun shell. She was footing and biting it, but there just didn't seem to be much nourishment there at all. Perhaps she was trying to tell me that I needed something that was more effective than my 22.

After we had covered the entire field, I decided that I needed to keep going, and check some of the other fields in the hope that there would be more rabbits than I was finding. I walked another one only finding one rabbit that she chased, but it soon outpaced her. I managed to avoid a dead Calf that had been pulled up there for the Coyotes. Thankfully she was far enough away that she didn't realize that there was at least four hundred pounds of available meat that she could crawl up into. After I finished the field, I looked back and saw a Coyote sitting on the hillside waiting for us to leave.

 
I tried one more field, and we got a couple of pretty good slips, just not enough of them. I again packed the Virb camera on my shoulder, and didn't get any usable footage at all. Not to mention that I dropped it four times, so I think I will give that one up.

She did make a kill however, but lizards are so small that they don't do all that much to satisfy the appetite.

Road Trip and steep learning curve.

John and I have been planning a trip to the top of the Oregon Canyon Mountains for at least two years. One thing or another always seems to get in the way. We had originally planned to make the trip on Tuesday when the weather was a lot better, but Karen had an appointment available at the last minute to see about her new friend - the Shingles. It appears to be a mild case, but that term is relative. We decided to go Wed even though it promised to rain.

The lighting was miserable so the pictures left a bit to be desired. It was also a "draw" Deer tag area, and the hunt was still on. The road to the top was pretty nasty and the Deer hunters had polished the tops of a lot of the rocks in the road.

The wind was a bit raw at the top so it didn't take us all that long to enjoy the view and start back down.

You can faintly see Coyote Lake

When we got back home, I picked up Hope for her hunt. The day before she had managed to grab two Jacks at Tami's field, but couldn't hold on. They both pulled her off in the Grease wood bushes. She had weighed 940 or so. She had flown well and had no hesitation at all. I had introduced her to the Tee perch, and she had become fairly used to it. She was a bit confused as to who had the food, trying to land on John several times. We eventually ran all the Jacks up the bare hillside, so we quit with her only getting tidbits as food.

This morning I weighed her and she had dropped to the 920 weight range. The weather is due to deteriorate, so I decided to fly her here at the house. She barely missed a Bunny that "squirted" through a Sage Bush leaving her with twigs in her feet. She had several flights on Jacks out in the Sage by the house, but was unable to connect. I crossed over the runway to the field North of the house and she finally managed to catch a Jack about 70 yards away from me. I was concerned as to whether or not she would be able to keep it, and was disappointed to see it pull away from her as I arrived. That is always a critical point with the young hawks. They generally manage the catch as the Jack plows into a Sage bush. The Jack is almost always caught by the butt. The rabbit then tries to pull loose by dragging the Hawk through the Bush. All it takes is a "wild eyed, heavy breather" coming up on the other side to spur the Jack to make one final effort to get away. I may have to try to stay far enough back to see if she can consolidate her hold. I fed her a bit of back bone that I had cut most of the meat off of for tidbits. I will take her out again in the morning and see if we can do better.

Her speed still impresses me. She is fast, and pretty darn good for a young hawk just trying to catch stuff.  In the first half of a introduction to a Tee perch, she rides it well, and better still comes back to it from where ever she ends up after a chase to continue hunting. She will take a tidbit if offered, but that isn't what she is looking for. Today it wasn't necessary for me to call her after a chase. When I begin walking away, she comes and lands on the tee without me calling.

Getting better!

There are no pictures today because I didn't take a camera. I attempted to get a video with my camera on my shoulder. There were mixed results. The first is the gait that our eyes and brain compensates for is quite remarkable. Unfortunately my brain when viewing the results back here on my computer just tells me that I walk a bit like a Duck. I could have rationalized that, but I left the camera on the same setting that works so well for the plane. That is when the plane is moving it records. When I stop to watch the Hawk chase or come back to me, I am standing still and the camera isn't recording and we go back to the Duck walk after the hawk returns. I will do better next time.

Hope was down to 924 and she was hungry! She tried several times before we got into the rabbit field to go somewhere that I could call her. Once we got into the field however, she was all business. I was pretty sure that she would be doing some chasing this time, and she didn't disappoint me. She made two chases on Jacks before I winged another Jack. She has yet to fly off so that I can recall her. She is working over every bush that she can, to see if one is hiding there.

The wind was blowing pretty hard, and I wanted to give her at least one more. I saw a Jack lying in its form about 30 yards away, so I popped it with my pistol. A bit harder than I really wanted to. I turned away as soon as I hit it, but she had seen it jump and took off looking for it. She landed where she thought it was and then took off again, slamming into the Jack. I had thought that it was dead, but it was still kicking when I got there. I of course waited until it was dead, and then gave her a front leg, picking her up off of it.

The next time I will give her all the opportunity she wants to catch her own food. If she appears to be loosing confidence, I will pop another one.

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.