July 25th

This was last nights sunset. There are Night Hawks flying all over catching bugs and Mosquito's in the fading light. Swallows were also plentiful, doing their fair share of Mosquito control. Even though the creek is just below the house, we have very few Mosquito's up at the house. What does come up here
are handled by the birds.

Today was Sue's hunting day, so made our way to the hunting field as soon as I finished the morning chores. Her weight was up a bit more than usual because I have been tidbitting her heavily when I pick her up to go in the shop or the weathering area. Still trying to figure out what triggers the aggressive behavior, but it is something to do with those areas. I suspect that I have been a little too abrupt and expecting too much from her in these areas. She is such a quick study, that I suspect that I have missed a step that was obviously important to her. I normally do not tidbit a bird that I am picking up to go hunting, but that also comes later in the training cycle, and I should have been doing so with her. No two birds react the same, and the falconer needs to be smart enough to remember that.

When we started down the road to where I expected to hunt, Sue flew off the fist in pursuit of a half grown Bunny running in the Sage. It hid before she could get that close to it, and she landed in the Sage. I called her to the fist, and we began bumping Bunnies right and left. There must have been about 4 of them ducking and dodging through the Sage. She kept trying, but obviously not hard enough as she kept coming up empty footed. I crossed from a rocky ridge through a large patch of Med. Thistle, and there must have been at least five Jacks hiding in that. She gave chase to two of them with no luck. I was a bit surprised that she was also considering Jacks as prey, but very pleased. The rabbits were every where this morning and we suffered no shortage of running targets, just cooperating ones.

We got over into the Hoodoo's and she was upping her game a bit with each miss, and again made a pretty good try at a Jack. I really wanted her to get her feet into another Jack, as they are easier to catch, since they don't escape down the little cracks and holes in the Lava. Besides they are the end quarry that we will be going after. As we were skirting one of the Lava Hoodoo's I looked up to see a Jack sitting on the rocks watching us at about 25 yards. Knowing that she would not have a clue or a chance at catching this guy, I decided to try to wing him with the pistol that I carry with me. It is a Ruger Auto with a Red Dot scope, just the thing for old codgers with failing eyesight. I got the pistol out, held it between my knees to turn on the sight, (There is a battery that lights up the dot.) then had to flip up the scope covers.  I failed to take the safety off, and the Jack decided to go somewhere else. I'm not sure if you have ever tried to do all that, with a hawk on the fist, and without shooting yourself in the foot, or worse, but the resemblance to a Bear Cub with mittens came to mind. I holstered the pistol and started that way hoping that I would get another chance. I guess the Jack was curious as he jumped back up on the rock again. I popped him with the pistol.  Sue was off, slamming into his head. He was still jumping, so as far as she is concerned, she caught and killed him.

I gave her a front leg after she calmed down, and we made our way back to the car. She finished the front leg and one from the small Jack that she killed her last trip. She hopped into her box for the trip home when she finished.

This will be the last time I can fly her until late next week as I have a friend coming over and we are going camping and fishing for the first part of the week. I really wanted and needed her to be successful today. Nothing succeeds like positive reinforcement, and kicking screaming rabbits supply that like nothing else can. Karen will be handling and feeding her while I am gone. It will give her a chance to show Sue that she is part of the team as well.

I describe some of the things that are necessary for a falconer to do rather reluctantly, for in this day and age of such extreme political correctness, most people never have to get their hands bloody to survive. While we as a race can leave our dirty work to others, nature and the creatures of nature do not have that luxury. Falconry by its very definition is a blood sport, any thing less is nothing more than a pet keeper. This period of training and discovery for Sue is thankfully a short one, but necessary for her to reach her potential as a hunting hawk. Soon my role as a teacher will evolve to nothing more than transportation and a flushing tool to give her an opportunity at them. She will not need my help to catch her food. I eagerly await that day and the contest for survival between two evenly matched opponent's, that is what falconry is about.