Peg turns it on!- Oct 13

Perhaps Peg read the last post, since she seemed determined to make me eat my words. Her weight was not really any different than it has been for the last month or more, but she had fire in her eyes today.

John, Tami, and Thayen were my hunting pardners today. Peg had her feet on two Jacks today but wasn't able to hold either one, however she picked up enough fur to make a pair of gloves. She grabs with her right foot, which is the one that is deformed. She doesn't have as much grip or use with that one, but it is her dominate one, and a quick trip through a Sage bush will kick her off. She was on these rabbits so fast that Sue was never in quite a good enough position to give her any assistance. It was really quite amazing to see Peg crashing into and through the brush after the Jacks.

The Jacks again are really quite amazing creatures. I have always known that they were smart, and even have a sense of humor, but the ability to survive attacks of predators is amazing. Twists, turns, stops and starts to throw off their pursuers. I even saw the hawks crash into each other today in an attempt to catch  one Jack. Sue got back up off the ground and chased him some more. I picked Sue up and we jumped him again, this time Sue made a slashing dive into the ground, with the Jack squirting out of the bush, and Peg was right behind. When he ran by me, I thought that he looked weird. Tami went over to where all this had taken place and found that Sue had ripped his ear off along with another "glove".

 I have seen them with their tails ripped off, but this is the first ear. Sue is a head hunter anyway, but I thought she grabbed them in the butt first.

We moved on from there and both birds got after a Bunny, taking it up and over several clumps of Lava. Sue caught up with him at the end of the lump. 

All in all it was quite a hunt. I just hope that Peg will continue with this increased enthusiasm. Both birds are getting a lot of flying and are really strong. There are lots of things to chase, and they are at it from the time we get into the field until we leave several hours later.
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Jessie! 14th Oct

Yesterday afternoon at 3:30 PM I rolled out the plane and took a recon flight over the Lake on the ranch next door to check for ducks. There was in fact some flyable ducks on the Lake, so at 5 PM John, Karen and I picked up Tami and the kids for the effort. Tami and the family has been working on her Mews in an effort to get ready for an inspection by the ODFW. She needs that done before she can get a bird of her own. I pried her away with the promise that it would only take 15 minutes either way, whether Jessie caught a duck or missed.

Well to make a long story short, I turned Jessie loose, she took a look at the pond, and went to find some ducks. We all sat around on the hilltop and waited for her to come back.

Curly, who likes to sit on things, found that Isabel's lap was just perfect. Having a little kid to nose wasn't bad either.

I finally pulled out a pigeon and waved it. Jessie came back, but only for the pigeon. We walked up to the Lake and found it to be totally empty. They had left to feed, leaving me feeling foolish. I fed Jessie up, and we went on home.

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Rabbits again!

This morning after a beautiful sunrise, I loaded up the Harris Hawks for their hunt. John and I picked up Tami,

 and Thayen and headed to Arock. I decided to try a field adjacent to the one that we always hunt since I had been told that there were lots of Jacks there. I had not flown it because it is on the side of the hill, and Jacks always run uphill to stall the hawks out. I thought that the birds would have a hard time in that kind of terrain. It is really less than a sixth of the size of the area that we have been hunting.

We saw three Jacks while I getting the birds out of the truck. I let Sue out, and she sat on a post while I was getting Peg out of the truck. Sue flew down to their regular telephone pole. A Harrier and a Raven both flew down there to harass her. Sue got pissed and took off after the Raven, who soon convinced Sue that she was out matched. The Raven drove her down into the Sage, but declined to duke it out on the ground. Sue was screaming defiance, but the Raven wasn't impressed. Sue soon decided to rejoin us and dodged Ravens and Harriers on her way back.

The fence row is overgrown with Sage that is as tall as the fence and as such is a natural refuge for rabbits and Pheasants. We had a couple of futile chases for Jacks that stayed in the cover. One of the Jacks was running from Peg, saw me, did an abrupt right turn and ran head on into the base of a Sage that was as thick as my wrist. He knocked himself on his butt, but got back up and found a hole that he could get through. Then Peg started after a Fox Sparrow that it looked like she was going to catch. I climbed the fence to see if she did in fact catch it. After I got over the fence with only one cut, she hopped up on Tami's perch.

I decided that I was going to stay on that side to try to turn the Jacks out of the fence row for a good flight. It didn't take long and we flushed one that chose to run in the Alfalfa field next to the fence. Both birds were really stroking after him hard and gaining. He tried to duck into some Bull Thistles, but there was no hiding there and Sue slammed into him. I wheezed my way over the uneven ground and up the hill to help.

 I Killed the Jack, and tossed Peg a Bunny leg, and gave one to Sue. I then cleaned the Jack while they were eating their rewards. I climbed back over the fence leaving the birds to finish. They soon rejoined us, and we started on again. Normally they refuse several slips before they start chasing again. We walked up the hill intending to side hill to give the birds a chance of getting slips at Jacks that they could catch. As we started our turn a Jack busted out in between us and took off uphill, with Sue in hot pursuit. She had just about reached her stall speed but slammed into the ground in an attempt to grab him. Peg who was higher took a shot at him but though she missed, she turned him level to the hill. Sue got up off the ground and grabbed him in the butt. He was screaming and dragging her through the short Sage trying to scrape him off. Peg joined in and grabbed him in the face. I wanted to take a picture, but the Jack was still slamming Sue into the brush, so I tossed the camera to Tami while I controlled the Jack. By this time Peg had decided that she needed to drag him down the hill.

 Peg decided that I had him under control, so she let go and stepped back. Sue seeing an ungrabbed face reached around the bush and made sure she had control of him.

I tossed Peg a front leg from the first Jack, and picked up Sue with the other one. Two full grown Jacks are enough to carry.

Peg has been reluctant to come to the fist for food, and I have been working on her. Our last trip she finally came to Tami for the first time. She flew short distances to get closer, and then decided that it wasn't a trick and came all the way. Today, after she finished the leg, flew right up to Tami's fist for the rest of her meal.

Today was the best that it has ever been. It was amazing in that in five flights we had two adult Jacks in the bag. The smaller Sage and open terrain were big factors, but the cooperation  was the biggest factor. These birds are hard and in really good condition. They are carrying extra weight, but not fat. They are used to spending two to three hours chasing hard after Jacks and Bunnies, and they are slowly learning the game and the games that the rabbits play. We were done, even with gorging the birds, in less than an hour.