Visitors

The weather has continued to improve. It will be warmer, but we are supposed to get a lot more snow over the weekend. Oh well, at least is isn't that bone chilling near zero stuff. Hopefully the wind will stay down as well.

I got a call from Bruce Haak this morning. He was freshly back from the NAFA meet in Kansas. He had flown in yesterday on a commercial flight and was anxious to get his Falcon over something to hunt. I told him to hurry on down and we would be able to get his bird a slip at the Lake. With all the cold weather everything is frozen over. Actually the weather in Boise was worse than ours had been as they had snow cover. We at least had no snow. I had planned to take the girls out to catch rabbits at Arock, but plans were changed to accommodate Bruce. We could always hunt the girls on the ranch, even though there are few rabbits living here. We were only required to show them some rabbits, it was up to them to catch them. I felt that we should be able to turn up a couple at least.  The only real fly in the ointment was that the ducks only use the lake to rest during the middle of the day, then leave in the early afternoon to feed in the creek that flows out of the Lake through the ranch. Bruce didn't arrive until 2:30 PM.

We hurried to the Lake and finally put his bird in the air. She is a sister to Jessie from a different year, the only other difference is that Jessie flies at a heavier weight, and is cranky. Having her lighter would not improve her attitude at all, probably only make her meaner. Bruce had the parents of both of these birds in his breeding project and was nice enough to give me an opportunity to fly Jessie.

After Jinx was in position, we moved up to the Lake, unfortunately we were a bit late and the only thing that it held was one duck and two Coots. The Duck snuck out while Jinx was checking other portions of the Creek, leaving only the Coots. Bruce went to the far side and started kicking around in the reeds where the Coots were hiding, finally kicking them out and towards the end of the pond where I was standing. I waved and yelled and they decided to leave the pond and go down the ditch that held water. Jinx swooped down and scooped one of them out of the air.

That has to be the first time that I have ever seen a Coot in a position where a Falcon could even have a chance at catching it.

After we got back to the cars, Tami and I hustled to the area where I wanted to hunt. We Got the girls out and began walking the Sage. In total we jumped four Jacks. Peg got her feet on one, but it strained her through the Sage breaking her grip. Finally as we started back to the car a Jack jumped near Bruce and I and started up the hill away from us. Sue gave chase and grabbed him in the butt as she over flew him, flipping both of them in a full circle in the air. The Jack tried to pull her through a small bush, but it was too small. I circled around in front of him causing him to turn to the right. She reached around the bush and grabbed him in the head, and it was all over.

We fed them up as soon as I got the Jack killed. I didn't want to catch any more Jacks at the ranch. They are scarce enough as it is, and I really need the populations to improve so I won't have to drive so far next year.