Jessie's feet are better!

We started an hour earlier yesterday because Tami had an appointment with visiting F&W guys to inspect her facilities. This was something that she has been working towards for quite some time, and I for one was not going to make her late and miss her chance. It is the final step before she can apply for her capture permit for a bird of her own.

An inspection of all new facilities is required of apprentices and all falconers when they have moved. I complied with the rules when I moved here five years ago, and called for an inspection. I have yet to see anyone show up. I invited these guys to look at mine, (better late than never?) but they declined to drive the mile out of their way to do so. You see the office that governs our area is in Vale, 135 miles away and has to drive through Idaho to get here.

Tami's mother, Barbara, went with us yesterday.  I have enjoyed meeting Tami's family, not only are all the ladies good looking, they are fun to be around as well. There doesn't seem to be a squeamish one in the bunch, and all seem to like the outdoors.

Jessie was down a bit in weight, although still about 3/4 of an ounce heavier than optimal. I had managed to forget to turn off the telemetry receiver and the batteries were dead, so I was hoping that Jessie would continue to play the game. I am not sure where the nearest supply of 9 volt batteries were located. She behaved perfectly however and was soon waiting on over the pond for me to flush. There were a lot of ducks on the pond, and it was hard to keep track of Jessie, but she slashed through a Gadwall on the far side of the pond. She threw up in a tight circle and was back on it before it could even move. This is the first time that she has done anything other than bind to her quarry since the Mallard Drake that she killed before the meet. It would indicate that her feet are now feeling better.

 We then went to see what we could catch with the girls in the short time we had left. We tried the hill along the field on the other side of Arock. They had cows in the flat and I didn't want to disturb them with our presence. The Jacks all ran up the hill as is usual, and even though Sue ripped ones back open, they weren't able to catch a Jack. Bunnies however are not familiar with the up hill trick, and Sue set one up for Peg.

 We still had twenty minutes left to hunt and Peg soon had another catch. The caption for this one should read- " Mine, all mine! Peg is not one to turn anything down, even the lowly Vole is a prize for her.

We had just retrieved Tami's car from the house and gone through the gate when the ODFW rig followed us in. They were very pleased with the facilities inspection saying that hers was a model for how facilities should be.