Jessie's Fifth

Karen and I loaded all the critters in the car for an afternoon Jessie hunt. It is time for a gorge for her and I wanted it to be on a duck that she catches. Last year I let her eat every thing she wanted and flew her again when she came down to weight. This will convince a falcon that hunting is good, and satisfying as well. I have never decided whether the pleasure of eating all she would want is greater than catching something and eating a reasonable meal. I wanted her to know that I can supply both. This year I have been allowing her to pluck and eat some of the neck before I traded her either half of a Pigeon breast and wing. She likes duck fat, but does not care all that much for the meat, so she will step off the duck quite readily for Pigeon and especially Coturnix quail. We are way ahead of our head count compared to last year, and so far she seems quite happy. It has always been considered good practice to gorge a hawk once a week, and it is a practice that I have always followed.

The day has been quite a nice fall day with the temps in the low 60's. I turned Jessie loose below the dam at Appendix point, ( named so by the Grandfather of the family next door, because of all the belly scars of the ladies that swam in the pond.) I think the map is different. Jessie flew to the cliff and admired all the little duckies swimming in the pond. I was not surprised, she still had lots of time before it got dark, and she was apparently going to enjoy the afternoon. Karen and I picked out soft rocks to wait her out. She scratched, roused and flapped her wings for about 15 minutes before deciding to get to work.She took a fair pitch and I walked up to the pond and before I could flush, the ducks took off and she foolishly allowed them to sucker her into a stoop at them. Of course as soon as she started down, they all turned back to the pond. I had thought that we had gone through this last year. Some of the others decided to make a try at escape, so she switched gears and grabbed one by the wing, but it managed to tear loose. She then decided she was tired and landed on the cliff again. By this time I was in an area that was fairly wet, so sitting was out of the question. I squatted painfully in the Rabbit brush for another 15 minutes while she rested. Another couple of ducks flew in while we were waiting for her to get going again.This time when she took off, she wasn't about to lose her pitch and she stayed up there while the dogs and I ran to the other end of the pond to where some ducks were hiding in the cattails. She shadowed the ones that I flushed towards the other end of the pond. When they cleared the end of the dam she began her stoop. A drake Gadwall tried to turn back, but she cut him off and grabbed him coming to a crashing halt right in front of Karen. It is unfortunate that the spy camera isn't good enough to capture the flight, because it was quite spectacular as it all happened within yards of where Karen was standing.

I tied her to a Sage and let her pluck to her hearts content. She ate about a half crop on the duck before I gave her a quail to finish her meal.

Hopefully she will remember this little episode the next time she is tempted by a flying duck, and wait until it is over the ground before even starting.