Sue's first double.

We are hosting a mini fly-in here at the house. John Hauck is here for his fall visit. John is recuperating from a Mountain Bike crash, so he stayed at the house, but a friend from Utah flew in on Monday and he volunteered to go along to help if needed. My normal helper, Tami, took Reuben to the Dentist today, so we were on our own.

The birds were at a good weight, Peg was 875, Sue was at 980. I am still a bit surprised at Sue's success, and I am not really counting on her scoring every time that I take her out. Boyd and I got the birds on the Tee perches and started moving through the field. They chased a Bunny or two around the Lava lumps with no success. Sue started a Bunny that took refuge under some of the Bee hives that are there in the field. It was early and a bit nipply and the Bee's were still sluggish, so I got on the other side of the hives and poked it out. Sue missed and it went under another. There are four hives placed on pallets and the Bunnies were hiding in the spaces for the fork lift trucks to pick them up. I poked it out as well, but she was still surprised by the Bunny and missed.

We crossed the field with a few chases, but no success. As we neared the end we got a Jack up and Sue and Peg gave chase, with both birds crashing into the ground after it. Sue hit the ground, missed, took off on foot and grabbed him in the butt before he could figure out which way to run.

I went in to help, he saw me reaching for him and turned his head. That turned out to be a mistake, as Sue's foot flashed out and the Jack was solidly anchored.

I was able to break his neck and left her with her prey while I tossed Peg a front leg from an earlier Jack that they had caught. After a bit, I gave Sue a front leg as well. She ate that while I gutted the rabbit.

After they both finished their snack, we picked them up and started out again. We crossed into another field, and after a couple of other chases on Bunnies, we jumped another Jack. I ran with Sue at it and she and Peg started after it. Sue again managed to fly and run it down.

It drug her through at least three Sage bushes with me in hot pursuit trying to get hold of it. Peggy just sat there and watched the circus. He finally made a mistake and I got his hind leg. Sue quickly transferred her grip to his head. She allowed me to stretch him out far enough to seperate his neck from his body.

I left her to break into the Jack while I picked up Peggy on a rear leg of the first Jack. I secured her and gave her to Boyd to feed while I took care of Sue and the Jack.

We walked back to the car, feeding the birds on the way. Sue continually surprises me, and gets better every time I take her out. Both of the birds are giving it their all. Both are making several shots at game, crashing into the ground, getting back up into the air and trying again. It is a lot of fun.