Finally

The weather has been pretty cold and crappy. It is obvious by now that the ponds are not going to thaw before the end of the Duck season.

We had some Falconer friends arrive, so the house and place was hopping. Ron (a former apprentice from Klamath Falls) and Joyce arrived just after Christmas, Pat (also former apprentice from Burns) and Ray, a friend of hers and ours, came down as well. The first full day after Ron and Joyce arrived, we took them to Leslie Gulch on a sight seeing tour. On the way back we stopped at the Skinner Ranch to do a bit of hunting with his Harris Hawk female. It had snowed while we were down in the Gulch and there was a  bit of wind blowing. Harris Hawks are a desert bird and do not handle snow and cold wind very well at all. There were Jacks and Bunnies going all over the place and at this time of the year all the dumb ones are long dead. A couple of chases and landing in the snow soon had her holding one leg up under her feathers to try vainly to keep warm. It didn't work, and she soon convinced us that it was a losing proposition.

Pat was due to arrive the next morning, so the plan was to wait for her to arrive before going out hunting. She finally arrived about 1:30 PM just in time to go with us to hunt Jessie. I had decided to take Jess to the Lake and try our luck. We had taken her out to the ditches again, but though she had knocked ducks down out of the sky, they all landed in the water, and we were both getting discouraged. So I decided to take a chance on the Lake again since I had not hit it for quite a while. Pat decided to stay at the house, so Ron, Joyce and Ray and I loaded in the truck to try our luck. I had to leave the dogs at home, which broke Curly and Betsy's heart. Nobody wanted to share the truck seat with two wet dogs.

The outside temp was 18 degrees, and the fog ceiling was about 400 feet. I turned Jessie loose and she didn't take too long to disappear into the fog. I considered it a good sign when she kept flying rather than coming back to me. As we got closer to the Lake we could see her just under the fog ceiling circling over the Lake. When she was in position I flushed the ducks which flew up and over the trees. Jessie came slashing down on the other side of the trees and did not reappear. Like an idiot I didn't bring my telemetry receiver, so Joyce kindly agreed to return to the truck to get it while I looked for Jess on foot. I did finally find her with Ray's help. She had knocked a Ringneck Duck down into a little depression surrounding a spring that popped up out of the ground. She was standing on the duck in the water at the edge of the spring. She was soaked and her feathers were freezing, but she was a happy camper with a steaming duck in her talons. I pulled her and the duck out of the water to allow her to eat for a bit. After she had fed for a bit, I picked her up to finish her meal while we made out way to the truck. The whole outing including the drive covered one hour.

After I put her in the shop and turned the heat on so she could thaw out, we picked up Peg and Chili, Ron's Harris, to chase a few rabbits.

As we were driving to the field I showed them one of the ponds that I sometimes hunt with Jess and there was a cow standing on the frozen pond. Have I told you that it has been a bit cool?

When we arrived at the field in Arock, there were Pheasants in one corner of the field, so we turned Chili out to try her luck. She chased a rooster out of the field and into the Sage. The Pheasant was playing hide and seek with Chili in the tall Sage. As we walked up to help her, Pheasants were flying every where. The one that Chili was after finally busted and flew up hill finally losing her. We chased Bunnies and Jacks until she froze up again, forcing us to return to the truck. Peg had no better luck, with the cold and snow, so we all trouped back home to a dinner of smoked Turkey with all the fixings.