When it works, it looks easy.

Photo by Reuben Stoddart.

When I posted last, I explained that I needed to encourage Peg to jump start her enthusiam this year. Tami and I took them both out Wed. and Peg was a lot better. She was actively joining in the chase and trying much harder. Neither was able to make any contact, but it wasn't due to lack of trying. Both were crawling into holes in their efforts. Peg and Sue ran a bunny into a hole and it looked as though it might be reachable. Peg was standing at one entrance, and I took the other poking in the hole with the end of my Perch. The Bunny was running around trying to get past me, and Peg making grabs at him when he got close to her. He finally made a mad rush and squirted out past her and on to freedom. We had a good laugh while he made his escape.

After a while I was presented with a clear shot at a Jack, and I decided to go ahead and ensure that she knew what we were about. I managed to wound the Jack and Peg grabbed him and finished him off. I secured her and left her to eat. She had eaten most of a hind leg and opened the stomach cavity. In the shot above she was drinking the blood. Reuben being a young boy liked that.

I gave Sue a chunk of Jack to eat while Peg finished her meal. I gave her a bit too much and although she tried on our way back to the car, her weight and balance was off and she just couldn't make the turns necessary to catch anything. I decided that it was worth the sacrifice to make sure that Peg got turned around.

Today was a bit cool after last nights rain. Both birds were anxious to start. Peg is getting her muscles in shape and proved it by flying up on top of one of the telephone poles in the field. I had hopes that she would get a shot at a Jack while up there as the advantage would be hers. Unfortunately it was one of those sneaky Bunnies and it ducked into a hole before she got there. We had a few chases at Bunnies that neither could capitalize on. Grace directed us to an area that the bunnies were going all over the place and we started that way. We jumped a Jack and Peg beat Sue off the perch after it. She took a shot at it and missed, and clawed her way back into the air. Sue came in and turned it and Peg dived into the bush and grabbed it in the butt. Sue also turned and came in to help and with both hanging on to the Jack, he had no chance to escape. They both had the rear end of the rabbit, but not each other. I broke his neck, and Sue let go of the rear and grabbed the head. They were both pulling opposite directions and I was trying to take a picture for "posterity", but the darn camera kept insisting that there was a card error.

I finally gave up. I robbed Tami's camera of these pictures taken either by Reuben or Grace. I pulled off a front leg and tossed it to Peg, who had decided to walk off, and gave the other to Sue. We were all pretty stoked as this was Peg's first rabbit kill of the year. Her behavior today was as it was before I quit with her last year. Tami has been really rooting for Peg to get her act together, and it was sweet to see her turn on like that.

Peg finished her leg first and we got her back on the perch. Sue was determined to eat every thing on that leg, even the foot. I finally got her picked up, but she had swallowed almost all of the shoulder blade bones and was intending to swallow the rest. I finally got her on the perch, but she was eating the foot now. There was a Jack milling around Tami, but Peg wasn't showing much interest in chasing him. Sue finally choked down the rest of the foot, and I made a rush at the Jack, and Sue took off after him. Peg joined in and turned it. Sue pounded down through the bush and grabbed him. I eased up and broke his neck too. Sue grabbed him by the head, and I cut off a hind leg to pick up Peg with. She has been more than a bit reluctant to let me leash her, but today she walked to the fist and climbed on to eat. I gave her to Tami to feed.

I then picked Sue up on the fist with the other hind leg and we made our way back to the car. We had caught two Jacks by two different birds in about 100 feet.

All the training and encouragement is beginning to show results. Sue has scored 4 out of the last 5 times that I have taken her out. Peg, who was making no effort at all has come back to the point that she was last year. They are working together with no fuss or nasty behavior at all. They, especially Sue is learning every day. I noticed the last trip that Sue was beginning to cut the rabbits off from their intended escape routes, and pitching up high to try to find the ones that hide. Soon that will pay dividends when she figures out where to look. What I like about the way that they are flying is that although they are not as well suited to repeated shots at game as a Goshawk, they are both not making one shot and sitting on the ground for me to come pick them up again. Both are getting up more than once and continuing the chase. I can't tell you how much I like that.

The whole process today took about 30 minutes to complete with the exception of feeding the birds their well deserved rewards. They were both stuffed to the "gills".