Peg and Sylvester were down to weight, so we loaded up all four birds. Lee has two other Harris Hawks besides Sylvester. Jessie just finally put over the rest of the Duck fat that she consumed the other day. She weighed well over 900 grams, so it will be a while yet for her.
We took Peg and Sylvester out first to hunt. We had some good flights with both of them missing. Finally one tried to make his escape over one of the Lava lumps. Peg hit him first, but he scraped her off on a bush. Sylvester grabbed him by the hind foot, slowing him enough for Peg to stop him for good.
It was good that she was right there, as he would have had a heck of a time holding him much longer.
We gave them both a front leg to eat while I took care of the Jack. This was not a young dumb one, it was a big old stud Jack Rabbit.
After they finished we started back to towards the truck. On the way we got another chase with Peg leading the chase. She made a shot at him, but missed. Sylvester flying by apparently confused the Jack, and while he was distracted Peg ran him down on foot. There was a short struggle with lots of hair flying, but she couldn't hold him.
The little girl impressed me very much today, and it is time for her to be hunting by herself. Whether she can hold them by herself with her foot being like it is will remain to be seen. I am sure that she will eventually learn to compensate. I am not worried about her losing confidence now.
We hunted Lee's other two birds, but they were a bit fat and didn't have a strong enough desire to make enough of an effort to actually catch one. They didn't get much to eat, and they will be better tomorrow.
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