Every bodys a winner

First, none of us took a camera. So today's post will have to survive on description alone.

All the birds were a bit up in weight. Jessie was in the 870 range, Peg weighed the same, and Sue was almost 1000 grams. I am suffering from the first cold that I have had in almost two years and find that I am a bit spoiled. Living where there are few people and thus there are also fewer illnesses brought on by rubbing shoulders with the masses at Walmart. Oh well, the hawking must go on.

We arrived at the Arock pond discussing whether or not the Prairie Falcon gritch was going to steal another hunt from us. I stopped to ask a big Golden Eagle to relocate, which she was kind enough to do. She is a local and so far has not caused any problems. We decided that as soon as Jessie was in position over the pond we would flush, to cut down on the amount of time that she would be visible in the air and thus inviting attack. Unfortunately migrating Prairies have a tendency to want to drive out all competition, and can be a real pain in the butt. Jessie used to ignore them, but after being grabbed a time or two, now pursues with vigor chupping all the way.

There were lots of ducks on the pond mostly Mallards. I struck her hood and stuck her up in the air to check where she was, and she took a leisurely look around and started to Chup. Crap! the bitch was here already. Jessie took off and made a couple of shots at her, grabbing her at least once, then running her in a big circle around us at the limit of our vision before coming back to sit on the bare hill across from us.

She sat for a while and then after catching her breath was in the air coming for us. I wasn't in the mood to wait and as soon as she was in position, I flushed. A bunch of Mallards came up off the pond. She took a shot at one over the water, then circled up and around. Another bunch got nervous and left, with her not closing with any of them because she was out of position. Then another group got off and tried to make their escape out the side of the pond. Jess was in position for that and stooped down out of sight behind the bank, and then into a throw up and back over and in to the ground. We made our best time to her position, but the blasted Prairie came back in on a low level strafing run. I hurried as fast as my screaming virus infested lungs would allow. I crested the hill and found that a Redtail had decided to join in as well. I yelled at him, causing him to flee. I was looking for Jessie with some trepidation, fearing the worst. Then the duck, a Mallard drake, tried to fly, but could not due to his injuries. Jessie then deciding that it was safe, jumped on him again and held him until I could get there. What a circus! (I felt better when Jess was not on the duck, as such she had a margin of safety that she could use to avoiding something blind siding her while she was fighting the duck. )

We sat and talked while Jess made a big pile of feathers. We let Thayen out of his back pack to walk around, giving him the Mallards head to play with while Jess ate.

It was now the Harris's turn to hunt. The girls had a couple of chases on Bunnies with no results, but some interesting flights. Finally they ran one into some Lava and Peg was standing guard trying to find him. I looked and could see him back in a hole. I put the birds in position and goosed him. I think they run twice as fast when they have been goosed, any way he made it to a more secure location this time.

Both birds were sitting on my T Perch when a big Jack slipped out behind us, and Peg blasted him with Sue coming in for the head shot, and our first rabbit was in the bag. After they finished their front leg rewards, we traveled on for at least one more. Peg has caught the last three rabbits, two of which were monsters. I don't know what has gotten into that girl, but I like it a lot, and Tami, just glows when she does better than Sue. We spent another half an hour or so before Sue caught a Bunny that I poked out of a hole. It doesn't get much better. Of course a camera would help a bit.