Sue, on fire!

I forgot to mention that I got the hot tub running again. I took the pump in to Nampa, Id. and got it rebuilt for $25.00 What a deal. If I had tried to buy a new pump it would have cost me $400. Its nice to have the hot tub again, but my butt is still sore as can be. I had to have torn some muscle.

I had another visit by, I hope, the last Raccoon in the area. Of course since these are all young, ( yearlings or two year olds at best.) there has to be an old "he Coon" somewhere. Its nice to have a creek nearby, but it means that sooner or later something is going to come calling. 

Much to Jessie's disgust, I left her at home this morning. It has been sprinkling rain most of the morning, but the weather radar only showed it centered around the house. I set up the movie camera on my hat hoping to record enough of the flights so that I would be able to make a short clip of the girls hunting, but didn't clear the card in the camera, so I got nothing. That is too bad as today was a kick in the pants to say the least. Next time.

The rain quit before we got to our hunting field, and we picked a spot that we had not hunted much before. We were not more than 30 yards from the truck when Peg took off like she had seen something, but was mistaken, and landed on a Sage. As I looked, Sue took off Tami's perch and cranked up a bit, then slammed into the ground behind Peg, grabbing a sneaking Jack by the head. That was a bit surprising. I killed the Jack, and tossed each a chunk of Bunny from the last kill. I cleaned the Jack and stowed it away in my vest. Since we had just barely gotten out of the truck, we pushed on. The rabbits were hiding really well in the cool rainy weather. We traveled quite a long way without seeing any more rabbits, and were beginning to turn back towards the truck. We jumped a Bunny and both birds were after it. Peg turned it back towards Sue. Sue slammed into the bush, and I saw her throw one of her long legs out. It came back full of Bunny. I killed that one, pulled off a front leg each for them. I cleaned the Bunny while they were eating. Peg finished hers, leaving the foot and the bones behind to fly to Tami. Sue stayed and swallowed her bones and foot as well as what Peg left behind. We jumped three Jacks that were hiding in the sage in the same little gully before the birds were ready. Eventually Sue returned to the perch and we began our trek back to the truck. Sue had quite a sizable crop, so I didn't expect much out of her for the rest of the trip.

We were within a hundred yards of the truck when a Jack jumped. Both birds gave chase. Sue again made a slashing attack that ended with a screaming Jack. She had again managed to grab it by the head. This was a BIG Jack, and Sue was lying on her side with the Jacks legs stretching her out. Every time the Jack kicked she was grunting with the effort to hold onto him. I got a grip on his legs and she wasted no time in getting out from under him, but she didn't relax her grip. I killed him and gave Tami a front leg from the earlier Jack to feed Peg, while I picked up Sue with the other one. We fed the girls up and put them in their boxes while I cleaned the rabbits. I get enough food from a Jack to feed both girls and still have six meals to put into the freezer for this winter. Today was good for two weeks of food for them.

I did a count when I got back home, and find that they have harvested 65 rabbits so far this year. Not bad for flying every other day. This is the first time that Sue has taken three head in one trip. She is something else. Peg is setting these up for her. Sue would not be doing that well without Peg's help, but Sue really is a remarkable hawk. Peg is a sweetheart, gentle as can be to every one, but a lot of these chases are initiated by her. I can't say why she isn't catching more than she does, but its not from lack of trying. I guess it is just as well or we would hardly get any hunting time.