First day off the balloon

It snowed yesterday, most of the day. We ended up with a couple of inches on the ground. I am not ready for this shit yet. Poor ole Jessie hasn't even gotten a chance to taste Duck yet, and with the snow and cold, the end is fast approaching.  Next year I guess I am just going to have to set a date to take her up even if she hasn't finished her moult. She always gets started on being broody and wanting to lay eggs. If they are broody they stop moulting, until the hormones move on past that stage. I managed to keep her from laying eggs, but not the broody part.

She still isn't as fit as she should be, but if I don't start now, there will be no hunting at all this year. She also generally doesn't like the snow, but I decided yesterday that I would fly her on the balloon one more time. The storm fronts kept blowing through, so I took out the balloon first. The wind had it about 20 feet off the ground, so I took it off and got the kite. When I hooked up the kite, the wind quit. So I got the balloon out again. Karen at least was enjoying it. I ran the balloon out 400 feet, and turned her loose. She flew it well and I decided that we would go hunting today.

I put her up for the night and got Yogi out of the weathering area and took her for a walk.

She is still convinced that the dogs are really Coyotes in disguise, and wants nothing to do with them.

I weighed her before I took her out and found that she still weighed 1260 grams. quite a horse. I tried offering her some tidbits but she paid no attention at all. Fairly confused I decided that she still wasn't low enough to eat.

This evening at 3:30 PM Karen and I loaded Jessie and the dogs in the truck and started out for our first Duck hunt of the season. I had a couple of ponds in mind that were back in the Palomino hills. It is about 18 miles up the road and then a couple of miles back in the hills. We got to the first one and I carefully snuck up on a empty frozen pond. The same unfortunately for the next one as well. We made the trip back and decided to try the lake at the ranch next door.

I tried a different approach on the Lake in the hopes that the ducks would flush over the ground and have difficulty getting back to the safety of the creek. The dogs and I made the approach and I turned Jessie loose. She sat on the fist for what seemed like an eternity. When she finally flew, she went to a nearby rock and seemed to be perfectly happy sitting there. I finally got tired of it and walked up to her offering my fist to her. That will get her to fly every time. She knows if she does come, she will go to bed hungry. She took her position over the pond and we found nothing but two teal and a pile of Coots. I looked for her and she was back on the rock. I called her to the lure and we went home.

An auspicious start if there was ever one.

After putting her up for the night, I turned my attention to Yogi. I didn't weigh her, but I offered her a tidbit on the fist from her perch. She ignored it totally. I picked her up on the fist, and walked out of the weathering area. I again offered her a tidbit, whistling as I did so. She showed no recognition of what I was doing. I took a tidbit and stuck it in front of her beak. She dodged and avoided it and my finger. That puzzled me more. She is an enigma, she is stone tame, gets on the fist with no attempt to avoid. Does not bate and is interested in her surroundings when she is carried, but seems to not know anything about coming to the fist for food.

I finally decided that she actually did not know anything about being fed by a human. I tried again to get her to take a tidbit with no luck. I put a piece of meat on my glove and she stepped on it as she moved on the fist. I clinched my fist, and she looked down. I put another piece of meat on her toes and squeezed my fist again. She looked down, studying the meat, and finally reached down and picked one of them up. She swallowed that and went for the other. I then fed her the rest of the tidbits that I had, whistling on each one. Once she knew what was happening, she willingly ate each one that I offered. I put her back on her perch and put a bunny leg in my fist. I whistled and put it close enough that she could reach it. She took a few bites and I put my fist close enough that she could step up on the fist. She took a couple of bites and then swallowed the entire leg. She has a big mouth to go with the rest of her big body.

I can only surmise that she has never been trained at all. I cannot visualize what came before she started harassing campers. She is dog tame, yet seems to have never been fed on the fist. To be that tame, she should have been handled by humans, yet she apparently knows nothing at all.