Third Jack for Puddy

Due to the colder than I am willing to tolerate weather, we are now hunting in the afternoon. Pud was not happy when I tied her to her perch this morning. She screamed her displeasure as I walked off and left her.

At 1:30 PM I picked her up and found that she weighed 830 grams. Should be just right for her. Still hungry but strong. I decided to change fields to see if we could catch some of them off guard. We wrapped Karen's knee to see if some support would help her ability to walk. She does just fine on even ground, but rabbits don't live on even ground.

There were not as many rabbits in the first part of the field, and she only got three flights for the first 1/4 mile. The ones that she did get however were a very close thing for each of the Jacks that she chased. She was hitting the brush and I swear her talons were leaving scratch marks on their backs.

We had just got into the area that we normally hunt in that tract, when she took off after a Jack that was quite a ways out. She didn't get a chance at him, and had just returned to the perch. I took a few steps and a Jack busted close by. She burned him down, grabbing him in the butt as he was going around a bush. I was concerned that it might pull away from her, when I saw another flurry and his screams were choked off by a big foot across the face. He was well under control by the time that I got there. We had been in the field about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately neither of us brought a camera. Pud was pretty excited about this Jack. I am not sure if the loss of her last one had anything to do with it or not, but she was very reluctant to take a front leg in exchange. She finally took the bunny leg that I offered her. I gave Karen another one to call her to if she finished before I managed to clean the Jack. She ate her front leg and went to Karen for another one. I finally finished cleaning the Jack and cut off a hind leg to finish her meal with, and was none too soon. She was looking for me by the time I got half way there.

I let her eat the rear leg while I walked back to the car. She was unable to eat all of it, but only left the tough part.

While we were walking back to the car, we noticed a lot of black smoke coming from the area around the guy's house that owned the property we were hunting on. Unfortunately somehow a fire started in one of his sheds, burning it all down. Two tractors, a Quad and who knows what all else was lost. One of his neighbors had arrived just before we did, and he and I did what we could to keep it from spreading.

When it was under control, we left and came on home to fly Jessie. Her weight was just were I wanted it to be, ( 850 ) so I ran the lure up to 220 feet on the balloon. This is twice as high as she has had, but still within her capabilities at this stage. I turned her loose and she flew down by the creek looking for lift and made 4 pretty big circles, pumping all the time. When she began to tire, she came up to where we were and grabbed the lure, drifting down the line to the ground. It took her about 10 minutes to get her wind back enough to eat. When she finished the pigeon leg that I had tied on the lure, she came to the fist for the rest of her meal. She should be ready for Ducks by the end of next week.