Catch up time

Karen and I left home about 8 AM Friday morning bound for Wallowa Lake. Karen had agreed to give a talk for the Park Service about Falconry. Of course I was invited to come along if I wanted?
Since I couldn’t see any way out of it without looking like a complete crab, I consented. Nothing like a 6 and half hour drive in the morning to make you happy you live in the desert.

We finally arrived safe and cranky, to find that the park was full to overflowing, and that there was a Motorcycle rally in Joseph this weekend. How much better does it get, Fat guys on noisy crotch rockets everywhere you look.  Actually as usual I am exaggerating, I probably couldn’t get any sympathy even if you believed me.

We insisted on sitting our tent in the hiker area, which has a table, but none of the other conveniences that we didn’t need. The important part is that we are as by ourselves as one can get in this city in the woods.  I was a bit worried about Jessie, concerned that it might interrupt her molt. The two Harris Hawks I could stick in their Giant Hoods, But Jess would have to ride unhooded in the truck. I apparently had worried for nothing as she hopped to her normal perch in the back with no problem, riding all the way with little concern.

I was more than a bit concerned as to whether this was a wasted trip or not. Every one seemed to have a lot of other things going on, and I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested enough to come. Karen said that she had seen posters advertising it in one of the bathrooms, but I was still skeptical. I went to check the area and found a presentation about Teepee’s that had two people attending. Of course when I mentioned it to Karen, I got yelled at for being my usual guy self.

When we arrived and brought the birds out, people started coming from all over, and at one time we had seventy people gathered around. We of course had ( Well Karen had anyway, I could bullshit about falconry for a week straight without hitting the same subject twice.) given a lot of thought to our presentation. It soon deteriorated to answering questions. Oh well, they seemed to be happy. I do not talk very loud and my voice does not carry. I have also had a sore throat for two weeks. The Harleys were nonstop going by.

Since our routine was interrupted, I didn’t feed Puddy this morning. After we got camp set up, I just tossed the lure with a good chunk of Jack Rabbit on it to her on the perch, and ignored her. Soon she was back on her perch without the lure. Perhaps at last she will find that the lure has food, but once it is gone, there is no reason to hang on to it.

Saturday:

People had been coming by and stopping and gawking at the birds. We would wave them over and answer any questions that they might have. Things were actually going quite well, but Peg was getting agitated by all the attention, and bated across in front of me and to my horror the button popped off her leash and up into one of the 100 foot Ponderosa pines she went. She had not eaten either Friday or Saturday morning. I hoped that she would come down to the lure. It was not to be. She chased some of the Stellar Jays up the tree, ignoring me completely. Finally she flew to the other side of the camp by the hillside. A camper later saw her thermal up and head off into the direction of the Eagle Cap wilderness area.

The Park people were horrified at our loss, and did every thing that they could think of to try to help. They made up posters and plastered them all over the campground. Every one was looking, and I can't remember how many Jay's I investigated that sounded like a hawk. A group of Bikers returning home reported that they saw her in Wallowa, 44 miles south of the park. We of course checked every "sighting" but I don't think that there was a plausable sighting anywhere. We were both gratified beyond words at the number of people who went out of their way to try to help us recover her. We stayed an extra day in the hopes that she would return to the area looking for us. She made her choice to leave the area, and I hope that she makes it.

We drove the area and looked all over, but with all the trees, there is no way that I could find her if she didn't want to be found. So we finally just sat and listened for any call from her or a disturbance from the Jay's. There are quite a few Deer in the park, seeming to run heavy to Bucks. There was some really nice Deer there, and they just walk through the park with total disregard for people or dogs. One of them was a real PIG. Not sure how old he is, but he looks elderly.

The trip for Puddy was a real plus. She got exposed to more things than she ever would at home. I took advantage of the down time to work on her lure training. I just tossed her the lure, and left her with it. She would eat the meat and then hop back on to the perch. The only time she held onto it was when I would call her to the fist for a finisher to her meal, but it was nowhere like it had been.