Can't catch her butt with either foot!

Apparently the last dumb bunny was indeed the last dumb bunny. I know for a fact that there were none in any of the places that we have hunted the last three days.

A friend, Toby Parker came over from the coast to spend a few days with us. He had wanted to be able to see Hope hunt. Careful what you wish for! Today she did put one in the bag, but it took three days to do it.

                                  The first two days Toby wasn't wearing that brace on his knee.

Not counting the driving time, this rabbit took us about 12 hours of hunting and walking to get it done. Its not that Hope wasn't trying. She was, so much that I felt sorry for her. She did every thing that she could think of and other than pulling a bunch of hair out of ones butt, she had nothing to show for it. We were lucky in that the weather wasn't all that bad, the wind did come up after noon on all three days. We hunted in 5 different fields with the same success in four of them. I decided that I needed to change tidbits yesterday, but other than that she had no rewards for all her efforts.

She was desperate at times, hunting on foot, launching off after dicky birds flushing.

Today I tried two other spots, and we were getting flushes, some so ridiculously long that I knew that it was a waste of energy and time. She kept crashing into bush after bush, and coming up empty each time. One of them was in the relative open, and she was just about an inch from his butt when one of her wings snagged a short piece of Sage no bigger than 5 inches off the ground, and flung her off course.

Today she launched her self off the perch flying across a long open area towards a patch of Sage. I watched and as she got there a Coyote flushed out of the Sage. Thankfully she veered off and came back to me.

We were walking around a large upthrusting line of Lava, when she flew to the top for a better perch. Toby called to me that a Bobcat was up there with her. I looked up as she opened her wings and the cat ducked under her no more than a foot away. My blood froze as I was sure that he was going to swipe her off the rock. He appeared to be a 3/4 grown, and apparently he was unsure enough that he didn't grab her.

By that time we had been hunting about three hours, and covered most of the field. I was heading back to the car as the wind was coming up. I was unsure what to do. I was actually ready to shoot one, just to make sure that she wouldn't quit trying. We were walking by the fence and were busting Jacks one after another, with her trying each and every one of them. She had gone after four of them in a short space, and wonder of wonders, she crashed after the fifth and I heard the Jack screaming. I approached the site carefully and could see the Jack stretched out fully with her holding onto his butt on the other side of the bush. I knew that if I got closer he would give that final burst that would most likely break her tenuous hold. Not willing to go through that, I shot him in the head from 15 feet away with my 22 pistol. There was no way that I was going to let that unlucky bastard go. While I appreciated his sacrifice, that was as fair as I was willing to be. We needed him, badly.  

This is his escape hole. It is Jack Rabbit sized. Hope was on this side, and the Jack was on the other.

                                          She was still holding on for all she was worth.

         As usual I gave her the cup full of tidbits, but she was wound pretty tight, and wasn't about to                                                                     give up her rabbit.

We sat down to rest while she ate every thing she could hold. Again it was an old Rabbit with quite a bit of fat inside its stomach cavity.

She is trying to flare up when they stop and hide. She has yet to succeed with it as of yet, but she will. It is the key to catching the Jacks, as when pressed, they all hide and then take off when she is out of position. One thing about it, I am getting plenty of exercise. I just hope that I can hold up long enough that she can figure it out.

Finally- a dumb one!

Hope was hungry this morning and I ignored her calling to me since it was raining. It was supposed to stop after noon, so I settled back with another cup of coffee to wait.

Around 11:30 it lightened up to the West, so I went out to get her. I think she had decided that I wasn't coming today. She weighed 924 grams.

I decided that I was going to try to kidnap Tami this morning. It appeared that the ranch was a little quieter than usual, so I reasoned that I might be able to tear her away. She has not been able to see Hope at all. Of course she had all kinds of thing to do, mostly school work with the kids, Goats to milk, etc. but I was persistent. I knew that she wanted to go, but was feeling that she shouldn't. I finally broke her resistance down, and we went to milking and other stuff. In 20 minutes we were ready to go.

I went to the pasture by the house that I had been hunting off and on all season. I was quite sure that there were plenty of Jacks still there, and if things got tight for Tami, she was only a few hundred yards from the house. I needn't have worried. Hope was like a coiled spring, and after a hundred yard walk, she flashed off after a running Jack. Tami only got the chance to say, "wow she is fast", when there was a crash and a screaming Jack Rabbit. We started towards her, but there was only one scream. I felt pretty sure that it had gotten away. The Sage in that area is pretty sparse, and it seems to me that she keeps a higher percentage when they stuff themselves into a Sage Bush trying to escape the demon on their butt.  We slowed to a walk, trying to figure where she was since there was no noise to guide us. A Jack scuttled away, and I said, yep, got away. I walked on a bit further looking for Hope, and found her in a bush holding a dead Jack by the head and chest.

I am not sure how she killed it, but it was quick. Perhaps the hind talon of the right foot pierced the brain there in the back where it is thin? When I skinned the rabbit, I could see nothing that I would deem a lethal wound on him.

I pulled them out of the bush and put the tin cup by the Jack's head. Hope reached over, picked it up by the rim and put it in a more comfortable spot for her to eat out of. Of course I was standing there with a dumb look on my face and missed the opportunity to record it. When she finished the tidbits, I gave her a front leg and scooted her off the rabbit. I slipped my handy dandy wally world bag over its head and retired to clean it. I brought the liver back with me and put it into her cup. When she finished that I offered her the fist and the Jack's head to chew on. The whole thing took about 20 minutes.

It was a much smaller Rabbit, and he made a mistake. I thanked the Gods for him and his sacrifice. Sometimes it goes that way.

Oct 23rd #10

Even after her gorge on the 20th, when I went out to get her on the 22nd she weighed 923 grams. Great I thought, shouldn't take all that long today. I wanted to try a couple of other spots to see if they were holding enough Rabbits to make the 45 minute drive worth while.

Our first stop was Antelope Reservoir. I had noticed in years past that there seemed to be a few Rabbits there, but had never hunted it. There were indeed a few, but only a few. The ground was miserable to walk on, all uneven from Cow tracks and other stuff. We had a few slips, but there was nothing there that I wanted to spend all that much energy on. After about an hour or so, I put Hope in the box and started to drive down to the camp ground to turn around. I began to see some cover that I did like, and took her out again for another fruitless walk.

The reservoir normally covers all the bare area that you can see, but since it is intended for irrigation, it is drawn down pretty low.

We then decided to try on the other side of Danner at a private airstrip that I had hunted before in the past. It holds both Jacks and Bunnies. The Bunnies are tough because of the Lava and all the Badger holes. I have never seen any other area so covered in Badger diggings and holes any where. It makes for a very good population of the Western Brush Bunny, but darned hard to put one in the bag. You have about 20 feet to get it done or they are gone.

I am not sure why Hope is having so much trouble catching Jacks here lately, but whatever it is, I sure wish that she would get it figured out. I spent at least an hour and half walking all over that area, jumping Jack after Jack and she just couldn't get it done. All of the few short slips that we had were so close that it was painful, but long or short the answer seemed to be the same. The Jacks were just that little bit better.

Karen and the dogs were in the car trying to follow along. I began to feel guilty, along with discouraged, so I told Karen to go back to where we came in and wait for me. I decided to make one last drive up towards that and if she didn't catch something we would quit until tomorrow. Hope had several slips while I was walking up there, but again just couldn't make contact with the Jacks. When I got to the car, Karen told me that Josie, my Brittney had been watching the strip of brush between the runway and the road. She was pretty sure that there was a Jack hiding in that strip. I told Karen to follow along the road and I would walk it. Before we ran out of cover ( it was about 15 feet wide and a 1/4 mile long. ) I jumped 12 Jacks out of it. Hope still jinked when she should have zagged, and it was obvious that we were going home without a Jack in the bag.

  

Hope weighed 894 grams this morning, and was quite anxious to get my attention. I decided to try a new area again today. This one is on the West side of the ranch next door. It is a Sage flat that is a transition area bordering on a cattle pasture with a lot of springs and grass. It is about 1/2 mile from the pasture. I have found Jacks there in years past, but the numbers were not all that high, as well as I had other spots that were better so I never hunted it much.

I have had several years of observation concerning Jack population areas. For instance here, on any given day 30 to 60 Jack Rabbits travel through the field below me to drink water in the evening. Lots of them eat the lawn around the house, but during the day you would be hard pressed to flush more than 6 Rabbits within 1/4 mile of the house. Perhaps there are more, but one thing for sure there are not 30 to 60 Jacks living around the house. I checked the internet for papers and studies of the Black Tailed Jack Rabbit and found that the normal home range of a Jack is about 40 acres, but that they will travel up to 10 miles for forage.

So no matter how good the food supply is for Jacks, such as Alfalfa fields, all the Jacks using it do not live there, most commute there from the surrounding country side. Timing is very important as to when you hunt, as well as the location.

This area that I hunted this morning was one of the fields that they travel through to get to the food and the water. There were rabbit trails all over this area. Some were about two inches deep, and all were covered with rabbit tracks. It was still prime habitat, as well as an avenue to the food source, so it was a good bet in the middle of the morning, but probably prime just before dark.

It was much the same as the last few days, lots of tries, with no success. We were sometimes jumping them two at a time, and at least twice, the Jack she started after was not the Jack that she made the shot at, but again, it just wasn't happening. Finally after more than an hour she made a shot at one that ended in a cloud of dust and a squeal. I hustled up there and possibly caused her to lose it. It managed to pull away from her just as I got there. Sigh!

We made another wider swing around the area, and it seemed that the closer that I got to the pasture the fewer Jacks I saw. I walked back towards the car, thinking that I had just about had it.  We got up to the fence and had two more slips at Jacks, with her crashing into the Sage as hard as she could. I decided to make one more swing before I quit. We kept jumping Jacks, and she kept trying. Finally we managed to jump one right in front of us and I saw it dodge 90 degrees just as she got there. Her talons raked through the hair, but not deep enough to get the Jack. This was perhaps 20 feet in front of me. She got back on the perch and we continued on. I had decided to go back to the car and decided to go along the skimpy cover next to the hill. A Jack was hiding in a single bush, and he waited just a bit too long to run. Hope nailed him within 10 feet. This one wasn't getting away. He was a big boy, with lots of fat on him, and apparently in his prime. Just goes to prove that every one has a bad day.

After killing the Jack and giving her the tidbits from the cup, I gave her a front leg to chew on while I cleaned the Jack. The cup also made a good place to put the liver for her. She was able to eat it without getting it all full of crap and sticks.

I then gave her the head to eat, tied her to my bag and relaxed while she worked on the head. When I was rested and she had about all of the meat she could get off the head, I offered her a hind leg and we walked to the car. Tired but happy.

Oct 20th, tough sledding!

I didn't feed Hope all that much the last time, so on the 18th when I picked her up she only weighed 932 grams. Great I thought, should be a piece of cake. Quick trip. Not quite!

I had lost my magnet that I turn the transmitter on Hope's tail with and thought that I had lost my cup as well. So I decided to start at the spot of our last kill, with my next hunt, and hunt down the hill. Plus I would be changing up my approach, and perhaps throw the Jacks off. Well to make a long story a bit shorter, I walked my butt off while Hope did every thing she could think of to put a Rabbit in the bag. Nothing! Of course there were some close misses, and hair pulled a time or two, she even had one in her feet for a couple of jumps, but nothing came home with us. That's OK, a little lesson in what happens when you don't catch anything can be as valuable as success.

It had rained in the early morning and resumed when I left, so I was soaked clear through. Not a problem, my pants were covered in lots of nasty stuff anyway. So every thing went into the washer, and I spent the rest of the day sleeping and lazing around.

The 19th Hope weighed 913 grams. She was hungry and began a creaky vocal greeting when I fed Jessie. I had hoped that she would remain silent, but it can't be helped. She has to learn that to eat, she must kill. The only tidbits she gets is being picked up, and coming out of the box. I also toss a tidbit on the ground and give her one on the fist when I put her in the box after we hunt. So she got four tidbits the day before.

I decided to try another spot to see if the populations there were worth the drive to get to them. I have a friend who lives about 20 miles South who has lots of Jacks coming in to his Haystack. I had tried it in earlier years and found nothing in the Sage close to the ranch. This year appeared to be different. I found a small population of resident Jacks, and Hope pulled a hand full of hair out of one of them, but after two hours of trying and walking I decided that the populations that were eating his Haystack were coming from a long distance, not residents. I tried two different areas there, but nothing like what I need to be successful, or merit another trip.

I loaded her up for the third time and went to the ranch next door. She had a lot more Jacks to work with and although she tried, again pulling hair from two of them, just couldn't connect solidly. I spent another couple of hours walking back and forth, trying every thing we both knew, but couldn't make it happen. With three different areas in and out of the car, she got a total of 12 tidbits for 5 and half hours work.

Today dawned clear and quite cold at 30 degrees. I did my chores and weighed her, before putting her in her box. She weighed in at 896.

Karen and the dogs went with us today. I went to Arock and as usual, I changed up my direction of attack. This time I decided to spend more time and go through some of the areas that I usually pass by. It paid off, I was seeing a lot more Rabbits than I usually do. She was again taking the long shots that have little chance of success. We got a few that were closer and after a couple of close misses, she flew to the other side of a little depression about a hundred yards away. I thought that I would walk towards her and perhaps drive some Jacks out towards her. I looked up and she had flown to my left and chased off a Red Tail that was on a post at the corner of the field. First time I had seen that. I stopped and waited for her to return. When she did I decided to check a small area on the right side of the road, that I normally pass by. On the way a Jack jumped and she gave chase, missing him. I picked her up and again started that way. Another Jack jumped and I saw her stick her feet out and blow through a hole in the Sage after him. The hole was no bigger than the Jack, but she went through it feet first, wings out behind her, and her head thrown back. Missed him, but not by much, she got up again and made another strike at him which missed as well. Again I picked her up and within ten steps flushed another Jack that she chased up over the hill and across the dirt road. I walked in her direction and she flew back to the perch.  Karen later told me that she saw two other Jacks that snuck out of that patch. Pretty amazing as it was only about 40 feet around. We walked up to the top of the little hill that rimmed the basin, and within 30 yards flushed another Jack out of very sparse cover. He was only about 15 yards ahead of us and this time I saw her close and grab him right at the top of the shoulders. I guess she got tired of only getting hair and losing them. By the time I got to her she had changed up and now had him by the head.

I was rather amused and very pleased when I was killing the Jack, that she released one hold that she had and reached over my hand to grab him in the face. I will confess that I was surprised that she was deliberately avoiding grabbing me while I was "messing" with her Jack.

After the Jack quit moving, I gave her a front leg, and the rest of the tidbits in my cup. She moved off the Jack to eat while I took the Jack to clean. I gutted it and tossed the cleaned Jack to the ground for her to eat. She was not loath to comply. After what she has been through in the last three days, she needed a good feed. It will make her try all that much harder the next time she goes out.

While I can't say that she has learned all that much new these three days of failure, she has not quit, and there are slight flashes of awareness there. She has several times flared up to watch for the hiding Jack, and only bad luck has  prevented her from being successful at it. I do wish that she would shine some of the long range flights, and she showed some signs of that today, although I don't expect it to last. I am impressed with the fact that she will not give up. She has made somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 flights and misses over the last three days. It should give you some insight into what a feat it is for a young hawk to survive its first year, as well as awe that there are enough rabbits around to supply that many misses.

  

Oct 16th, Hope at Arock #8

I checked Hope yesterday and unfortunately she weighed 965. It has come to my attention that someone is feeding her too much. Again, she had to go two days without food.

The storms that are rocking the Oregon Coast are being felt even here, more than 400 miles away. We have had some pretty vigorous winds, but there are reasonably quiet periods in the mornings.

I took Jessie out this morning to the weathering area, and Hope was peeking around the partition, and even managed a hoarse squeak or two at me. I took her in to be weighed and found that she was 936 grams. Low enough to fly, but not as low as I wanted. I wanted to hurry and get it done before the winds could reach their anticipated forecast strength of 25 MPH at 9 AM. The important part was that she was wanting to go hunting.

Karen and the Dogs were going to accompany me again, and Karen was going to try to get some usable video of Hope. Its not all that easy if you are restricted to a vehicle.

I decided to go to Arock again for our hunt. The clouds were stacking up to the South, so East appeared to be our best bet.

We had a bit more wind that I would prefer, but she needs to learn how to handle it, since wind is a regular feature of this area. Our first rabbit was no more than 50 yards from the car, and she flew it as she would a Bunny. She really wanted it and gave it her all. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough and he got away. We made our way up country with a Jack breaking cover about every 50 yards or so. I lost count of how many Jacks were getting up, but it was a lot and all of them were out at least 80 yards.  She would still try, but a slip that long rarely works out for a young hawk. The only thing to do is to keep plugging along and hope that she gets a break or figures out how to combat it.

I finally sat down at the top of the hill. Karen could drive up until she was no more than 15 yards away and we could converse in normal voices. I caught my second wind, and began to walk on, but didn't get more than 10 yards along until she took off across the road just about 30 feet away and slammed into a Sage. A Jack ran out, but the other one didn't make it. I got there and was able to reach into the Sage and secure him. She had him around the neck, so I had problems getting a hold that would allow me to put him out of his pain. I finally grabbed him by the ears and broke his neck by stretching him. I then proceed to screw up the transfer much to my disgust. I left it in the video so that you could see how not to do it. I also managed to lose my magnet for turning off her transmitter and left my tin cup as well. Looks like I will be returning there in a couple of days.

You should be aware that I didn't cut the video of the death of the Jack, and due to the way that she had grabbed him, he had to linger longer than I would have preferred. I do the best I can to make it as quick as possible, but for a Hawk to eat, something has to die, and it is only pleasurable for one of them- the Hawk.

https://vimeo.com/187570272  password  -   owyheeflyer

Oct 13th - Hope

Tuesday would have been the day that I would have hunted again after her last success. However we had an appointment in town for a recall for the Subaru, so that day was shot. Wed I picked her up to go hunting and was surprised to find that in spite of not eating for two days she was still at 945 grams. I didn't think I had fed her that much, but apparently I didn't think at all. Oh well it's all good, and she has come through at that weight time and time again.

I went back to the field that I have been hunting in most of the time. It was a most interesting day! Hope performed at her usual level of competence minus the fact that she could not catch anything. She got so frustrated that she actually began hunting on foot after  missing rabbit after rabbit. In total she had 20 slips at Jacks with two of them being Bunnies. The level of pursuit at the Bunnies was really amazing, yet she came up with empty talons again and again. We had slips in heavy cover, and after I exhausted that area I went up the hill in the open and she had slips there that were nail biters, and oh so close, but failure after failure to get a talon on any of them. She had slips that she got up from a miss to strike again, miss and try again. She took slips that were in the two hundred yard range. She tried every thing she had learned and still wasn't able to make it happen.  After covering the field twice, an area of over a mile, I called it quits. She had gotten perhaps three tidbits the whole hunt.

This morning I went out to put Jessie on her day perch, and for the first time Hope was on the ground looking around the partition at me wondering when we were going hunting. A good sign. She rarely ever makes any sign that she wants any thing. She doesn't call, She doesn't bate. Its almost eerie that she doesn't act like any other Harris that I have had. Yet I have only to offer my fist and she is there.

This morning she weighed 925 grams. If you remember that is the weight that I consider to be her optimum flying weight. My only problem is that it is drizzling rain. The weather radar shows rain all the way to the coast, so I know that it is the best that is going to be right then. Hope, as with all Harris Hawks, is about as water proof as a pre-soaked drowned Rat, so I needed to choose well. The weather is also predicted to become much worse over the next 4 days, so its now or never.

I decided to hit the same field as yesterday as it was currently not raining here. 15 miles away it was raining, so I hoped that we could get it done before the rain came our way. Yeah, I know, but after all this is desert not the Willamette Valley. This is a big thing for us.

As always I try to keep the Rabbits off their game by attacking from different directions, so this morning I started in an area that I have never hit first. Karen dropped me off and drove to a vantage point that she would probably be able to see most of our efforts.

We had not walked more than 30 yards, when we jumped a Jack that ran down the hill into an area of very dense Grease Wood. She flashed up and over a big bush and slammed down behind it. The sounds of a Jack in distress followed. I hustled as fast as I could down there and around the big bushes into a little drainage that the Jack had obviously used many times before. The sounds were coming from inside a very large Grease Wood Bush. I carefully peered over the bush and could see a Jack straining for all he was worth trying to pull Hope off his hind leg. She wasn't about to give up, so I jammed my hand into the bush and grabbed the rabbit by the head, and killed him.

She had him by one hind leg and foot only. I was surprised that she had not lost him. I would say that normally she should have lost him, as she had quite a few times before. The Jack could not go further as she had a rear talon around a limb lying on the ground, that had stopped his escape. I think normally what scrapes them off is being pulled through a bush. I am often quite amazed that she doesn't hurt herself . These bushes are lethal, according to my bloody arms.  I broke enough limbs off that I could pull them on through and into the open.

Apparently she had either hit him as he entered the bush, or she had seen where he went in, and dove in after him, surprising him long enough to grab him by the butt. Half of his tail was missing, but when I saw her she had him by the back foot.

I pulled a front leg off after much effort, ( he was an old Rabbit and tough ) and gave it to her. She stepped off to eat it. I cleaned the Jack and pulled off a hind leg for later. Karen was still looking for me, and since I was down over a bit of a hill she could not see me at all. I eventually walked back up the hill to meet her. She was a bit disappointed at how fast it had all gone down, but I was all smiles.

I have attempted to explain the difference between flying weight and response weight. This was the perfect example of the two. Hope being an excellent representative of her species, demonstrates it perfectly. To all outward appearances  she was hunting hard yesterday and could catch nothing. She did hunt hard, and tried every thing that she could think of yesterday, yet in three hours of hard hunting, could not get her talons in any of the many rabbits that she chased. She has not yet learned how to fake it. As I have attempted to convey before, the effort that it takes for a Raptor to actually kill something requires a single minded willingness to go as fast and as hard as it possibly can. They may try and if the prey is not willing to make the same single minded effort to escape, occasionally catch prey when they are heavy. The main prey base for all raptors ( mostly) relies on the fact that some may not be in their top form. This of course is the "survival of the fittest" in its true form. To sum it up in its simplest form, a fat hawk is an exercise in futility. At 945 Grams, she would have broke off the chase when it ran under the bush. At 925 she went in after him. That is the difference.

Today would have been the perfect time to double her on Jacks. She killed on the first chase, 50 yards into the field. If it had been a Bunny I might have been tempted. You see lots of people with Harris Hawks that do that, some to extreme numbers of prey. They for the most part live in areas that do not have Jacks available to them right next door, or have large numbers of breeding hawks to feed. I have a freezer that is already full of Jacks for the winter, and I have rabbits in my yard, so I can concentrate on developing the best game hawk that I can. There will come a time in her life that hunting will be her primary drive. Right now it is eating, I can wait.

The winds by this evening are supposed to be in the 35 MPH range. Hope will be just fine until it clears up.

Number Six

It would appear that I have a "Made Hawk" on my hands. It also appears that she is one of the exceptional Harris Hawks as well. While the training that she has received plays a big part of my satisfaction with her, the raw material is there in abundance as well. Many of the things that contribute to her ease of handling can be contributed to me, but the desire to hunt and the gentle demeanor are the result of intelligent breeding. Its difficult to give up a good Harris to a breeding project. Much easier to part with one who is a pain in the butt to handle. Not all behavior is learned, some is inherited. Sure there are exception, but then again how often does an exception occur. Not often enough to make it worth the effort.

Hope this morning weighed 943 grams. Thirty three ounces to those who do not do grams. That's big. I know for sure that her keel bone is an "inny". She should not be catching Jack Rabbits at that weight. Perhaps an older bird that has been intermewed would, but not with the enthusiasm that she shows. I should have to walk to where she lands after a miss to pick her up. I don't. She does not require a tidbit to return to the perch. I don't have to call her. She gives it her best shot each and every time.

I got up this morning when there was just enough light to be able to see a bit. There were six Jacks feeding on the lawn right in front of Hope. Its been 48 hours since she has been fed. You have to know that her thoughts were of the tortured variety. Yet she stood there on her perch, totally quiet, waiting.

I gave Karen the option of going along this morning and she jumped on it with eagerness. Unfortunately Karen isn't able to walk well enough to participate in the hunts, but some of them can be arranged to where she can follow along in the car or truck. Its long distance hawking, but it is still Hawking.

I have been hunting this field for at least a month, and in spite of more than a hundred Jacks being shot out of it, it still has enough Jacks there to warrant a hunt. The upper edge is bare ground that one can drive along a two track parallel to the area that I hunt.

Jacks are smart! They see patterns just as well as we do. The last three hunts I have been successful by hunting the top half that has a lot thinner cover. However on the last hunt, I had to go down in the bottom to get her one to catch. The bottom part by the creek is bigger. Grease Wood bushes in a very soft fluffy Alkali dust. There are paths and tunnels where the Rabbits run and take cover. The way that it usually goes is the Jacks are hiding in "Forms," ( Little depressions dug under some of the Sage and Grease Wood. )  and if their cover is good enough they will wait until you are by, and then possibly slip out behind you.

For the first 10 or 20 times that I hunted over there, beginning with the time that I was wounding Jacks for her, I hunted down through the bottom. Yes, each time I still had slips, they were just further and further away, and of course fewer. I would see the Jacks in the lighter cover, and then when I would turn to go where they were, they could run up the bare hills to hide up there. That way most of the available Jacks were taking them selves out of the danger zone before I got any where close.

So I switched to the middle part, and was quite successful all three times that I hunted it. I was seeing lots of Jacks, and Hope was getting a chance at them. Today it was obvious that the Jacks had adjusted their game plan. I was seeing nothing in the middle area. There were Jacks still busting out of cover and running up the hill far in front of me. Hope made a couple of attempts, but flying up hill for a couple of hundred yards doesn't leave all that much in the tank for a serious chase.

After a bit we came to a little drainage that had some cover in it. I had seen several Jacks running up it from a distance, so I began climbing to get above it. One busted out about 75 yards away, and Hope gave chase. It was basically level, so she still had enough steam left to give him a run for his life. She was lined up when he made a sudden stop and turn that threw up a cloud of dust about knee high. She was making a grab for him at the same time, and just barely missed. She went to the ground, but came back up trying to close, but by this time he had way too much of a head start.

I kept climbing, and she came back to the Tee perch. When I got to the point that it petered out, I turned down hill. I could see all of the cover and didn't think we had any thing left in it. I was wrong however and one busted about 15 yards ahead of us. She burned him down in another 15 yards and rolled him in a cloud of dust. When I got there she had him with both feet to the head.

I dispatched him, and when he quit quivering I laid a front leg in between her feet. I then offered her the cup full of tidbits, and she ate all of the tidbits in the cup. She picked up her leg and, stepped off the Jack, and I retired to clean it. Once it was cleaned and bagged, I ripped off a rear leg for her when she finished what she had. Once she had most of the leg put away, we began our short walk to the truck where she finished her leg and was put up for the return home.

There are several points in a hawks training that are of importance. One of the most critical is the point where they are picked up off of game that they rightfully earned. There are more ways to do it badly than right. If you do it wrong badly enough it can result in the bird either carrying it off or at least dragging it away with her back to you and wings covering it.

A hawk when it has caught game, has put forth the ultimate effort to do so, and its natural instinct tells it that every other living thing wants it and will take it away if they get the chance. Now the falconer has just witnessed the very thing that he strives for, and he naturally wants to see it again and soon. He knows that if the bird eats too much it will not hunt again until the Hawk lose's that weight. How he takes it off game will determine how the bird reacts. Most Harris's will continue to do their best regardless of how clumsy he is. That doesn't mean that it is justified, at least not to me.

That is the main reason that I hunt every other day. It releases me from having to restrict the Hawks intake. As a side effect I don't burn out my hunting grounds, and I am old enough that the rest is welcome. Here in SE Oregon, the nearest fuel is about 50 miles away. My alternate hunting area is a 40 mile round trip.

Today was the easiest that I have gotten Hope off a Rabbit. There was a point that I needed her to have free access to a complete Jack so that she could realize where the food comes from. It doesn't take all that much of that, to get a Hawk to the point that she expects to have all of it and begins to drag it off to eat it.

A Hawk catching something as large as a Jack is really excited. Most will understand that if you help it goes much easier for them. Hope will concentrate on keeping her hold on a Jack's head. I grab the rear legs and stretch the Jack to break its neck if I can do so without endangering the Hawk. Once the Jack quits moving and the Hawk realizes its dead, they will recover, stand up and start looking for a place to eat in peace. I prevented that thought from forming by giving her a front leg from an earlier Jack. While she was thinking about that,  I stuck the cup with tidbits in front of her. She knows that it contains food, and she automatically began picking pieces of food out of it. It holds about an ounce of tidbits, so she transitions from escaping to eating without the nasty parts occurring to her. Since the rabbits head that she was standing on was a bit unsteady she moved off to the area in front of the rabbits nose to eat her front leg. I slid a Walmart bag over the Jacks head, and moved off to gut the rabbit. I pulled off a rear leg, put the rest in my bag. I then went to where she was eating and when she looked up, there was this great bloody gob of meat in my fist, and every one is happy.