We turned Jasper loose and he followed us towards the gate this time rather than go to the top of the hanger. This is the first time that he has done so. Tami called to him to come with us and he cranked up into a hover right over us. I could not resist and I tossed him a Black bird that was hampered a lot less than those that he has been catching. He flew it hard, but wasn't able to keep up with it. He took it at least two hundred feet in the air, and went into another hover. The only problem was that he was over the yard rather than us. I yelled and waved my hat at him. He came towards us without losing any of his height. I tossed a bird that was only slightly more handicapped than the first, but with his height, he drove it to the ground under the Motor home. We were all just a bit agog at his flight, and we made our way to him in a leisurely fashion, thinking that he had caught it. When we got there Jasper was running around under one of my small trailers. While we watched, he turned and looked up in the spring and wheel area of the trailer. He jumped up in there trying to catch the bird. It however crawled out over the tire and made his escape.
The way that I handicap these birds is to pull primary feathers out of one wing. The bird can still fly, some quite well, but it slows them just enough that if Jasper does it right he can catch them. If they get away then the feathers regrow in a couple of weeks or so, and they are no worse for wear. The idea is to help him develop a style that will enable him to catch birds rather than mice and Grasshoppers. Of course his confidence has to be developed in such a way that he will try to catch them. If he believes, he has plenty of ability to make it happen. As I have said before, Falconry is expanding on the things that the bird does naturally, and convincing them to allow you to help and watch.
When the bird escaped we were left with the decision of what to do next. I suggested that Tami might take the opportunity to refresh his lure awareness. While Tami was walking off far enough to call him, he took off and climbed up to about 150 feet. It took me about 2 seconds to hot foot ( yeah right) as fast as I could for another Black Bird. He stayed over Tami for quite a while, and had just moved to another spot still higher than I had seen him. I chucked the bird and yelled. He started his stoop, but since it was a head on flight, he wisely turned in behind the bird and drove it into the ground under John's 5th wheel.
As we were feeding him another friend, Boyd Young, flew in from Brigham City Utah.
Wed. Sept 21
Puddy was down to 800 or so grams this morning, so we all loaded up for the trek to the rabbit field. I am not sure whether or not 7 people in the field bothered her or not, but her performance was not what I had expected. She put in a hard chase on a Bunny, but when I shot a Jack that was slowed but still able to run a bit, she didn't seem to show any interest at all. We followed it for several hundred yards, but she only made one half hearted attempt at it. I had to finally shoot it in the foot to get her to grab it. It took her no time at all to kill it, so I am not sure what was in her mind.
After we got back home, John, Boyd and I loaded up the quads on the trailer and went fishing. This is the third time that I have been fishing all year because the water was so high. It is still high and the trail that we have to use to get to the hole, had suffered a fair amount of water erosion. The road goes down a natural gully and it was apparent that a large amount of water ran down it this year.
We managed to catch some Small Mouth Bass, and of course some Channel Cats.
Tami and the kids came over for a fish fry and Reubon and Grace swam in the pool. It was a bit cool, but it didn't stop them from getting in at least one more swim for the year.
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