I tried to fly her last night as her weight was at 820, which is what I think she flies best at. Alas some one told the rabbits, and they stayed away in droves. This morning was supposed to be very windy, and while it wasn't that so much, it was pretty nipply at 39 degrees. John stayed under the covers out in his 5th wheel home, and I had to do some yelling at Josie to get him to stir enough to turn on his furnace, so that he could get up. We finally straggled out of here around 10:15 or so. Puddy was now down to 800 or a bit less.
As in the last few times at this weight, she was a bit slow to come to the fist. I would have thought that at a low weight I would have to scrape her off the fist, but she is just not as responsive at 800 grams. I had decided to go to the fields by the Alfalfa fields in the hopes that there were more Bunnies that she could chase. So far she is excited about Bunnies, but not Jacks. I just want her to catch something, I am not particular at this stage. The rabbit numbers are way down, bunnies more so. All the Jacks there, are really gun shy, and jump way out in front and do not stop at all. The lighting today with the rain, and cloud overcast made visibility really bad.
We did jump a few Bunnies and Pud put in some shots that had all of us cheering for her. The sad part is that the Bunnies are about twice as hard to catch as the Jacks. by the end of the day she even put in some tries on Jacks. We had walked all of the fields on that side pretty thoroughly with no chance for me to help her. It was obvious that she wasn't going to be able to do anything on her own. Karen was getting pretty tired, so I asked her to take the truck and meet us on the other side of the fields. A distance of about a mile. I just didn't want to walk back after we either got something or gave up. I was pretty sure that neither John or Karen was interested in that walk either.
Once we got away from the fields that had been shot, we started seeing some Jacks. Pud made a few more chases after Jacks, and after one of them, took a perch on one of the Lava outcroppings. While walking towards her in the hopes of flushing a Bunny in her direction, I finally got a chance at a Jack and hit him. She of course chose this time to be reluctant to come to me. When she did, the Jack had disappeared. I started working in circles, she went back to the rocks. Finally I saw what I took to be another young Jack. This one was close enough that I could get a good shot at his butt. I hit him where I wanted to, but Pud again did not want to come to me. I finally got her to come to me with the promise of large tidbits. The Jack was still able to move quite well, and she finally saw him. She wasted no time in grabbing him. At least this one wasn't "road Kill". She was pretty excited, and after I got them sorted out, I finished the Jack by breaking his neck. I gave her all my tidbits, and opened the fur on the Jack. She wanted to drag him to a bush, so I gave her a front leg off a previous kill. She was finally able to disengage her feet from the Jacks head, and she went into a bush to eat her prize. I took advantage of the time to clean the Jack and get another front leg. By the time I got back she was looking for some more food, and came to the fist for the other leg. When I cleaned the Rabbit here at the house, I discovered that it was the one that I had shot earlier. I had hit it in the abdomen just in front of the rear legs. They are tough little critters.
We then had a relatively short walk to the truck and Karen. Pud ate while we walked. When we got to the truck, Karen retrieved the liver and heart for her to eat. When she finished that, she had no more room for any more food.
I will be extremely glad when this phase of the training is over. It is by no means sporting, but it is very necessary. In the wild she would be able to watch her family group chase and capture game. She would be able to perfect her skill in flying in cover and the strikes necessary to be able to make her own kills. They learn a lot by watching. That is where Peg would have been invaluable. The process is called a "Make Hawk". Peg would have shown her the intensity required to actually catch rabbits. She would have helped Peg with the securing of the Jacks, and thus developed the skills necessary to survive. With Peg gone, I am left with the onerous chore of trying in my limited way to teach her these skills. The only thing that I can do is to provide her with as many opportunities to get her feet on Rabbits as I can, and hope that she will figure out how to do it on her own. She seems to me to be extraordinarily slow developing. Perhaps it is the distaste of this phase that makes it seem that way. We put in about three hours today.
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