Peg and Jessie

 

When I weighed Peg this morning she still weighed 742 grams. Much too heavy, but I had a new area that I wanted to look at for future hunting when she finally gets her act together and actually becomes a serious threat. This way I could check the area without screwing up her chance of catching something and still reinforce the lesson of " you don't hunt, you don't eat". If you look closely at her right foot you can see that it isn't on the leg right.

 

Karen was going to drive the truck around, meeting me on the other side of the field saving me a lot of walking. I was right that Peg was too heavy, as she watched all the Jacks that we jumped stroll off into the sage with not a sign that she had seen anything. We did see a fair number of Jacks and I think it will be a good addition to our hunting areas. There are good Alfalfa fields there and the sage surrounding them should hold enough Jacks to make it worth while. It is a lot closer to home as well.

Jessie!

I have been curtailing Jessie's food consumption for about a week with the thought that I would pick her up out of the mews so that we could get a good start on her conditioning before Duck season opens the first week of October.  

 

I was able to get her on the fist two days ago and feed her half of a quail ( her favorite) before she decided that she was scared again. Today I went out and she came to the fist and allowed me to put her jesses in her bracelets and hook up the leash. I brought her in the house and she finished her meal with the dogs attending just in case there were any left overs. I had intended to sit with her on the fist for a while, but she really didn't want to do that, so I took her out to the weathering area, got a block and stuck it into the ground. She jumped for it before I could get my knee off the top. I then filled her a bath and left her with Peg trying to get loose so that she could get her. Peg just doesn't have any idea how mean that girl is.

When it was time to put them up for the night, she chupped at me and stepped on the fist as though it was just yesterday. She tried to fly to her perch from halfway across the room. She remembers well the routine, and I am very pleased and anxious to get started with her. Her feathers are a long way from being finished, but with my short season, (ending when the ponds freeze) I cannot wait for her to finish her moult. I am hoping that I will be able to keep her fat enough that it will not impair her feather growth.