Peggy turns it on.

After chores this morning we loaded up the Harris Hawks for another try. We were going back to a field at Danner that we hadn't been able to hunt while Deer season was going on. There are lots of Bunnies there, probably 3 to 1 compared to Jacks. For some reason, I have thought that Bunnies were easier to catch than Jacks. Apparently not true.

I made Karen a Tee Perch of her own to try to get Peg to stay with her, so that Sylvester would stick around more. Peg knows the advantage of a Tee perch and doesn't require a tidbit to come to it.  So I was hoping that things would go a bit smoother with a good high perch for her.

 

We got into the field and Rabbits were going every where, hawks too. Peg still had not realized the full advantage of having another hawk to set up the rabbits for her, so we were watching miss after miss. The Jacks use the cover to full advantage and will stop, reverse direction, hide then bolt out when the hawk commits to landing in a bush or on the ground. The Bunnies were making both birds look slow and clumsy beating them to holes or hiding first then going to a hole. They were trying and trying hard, but still not closing the deal. Peg was now flying as she should have before. She was putting on the speed and being very respectful of Sylvester, which allowed him to quit worrying about being blind sided by a dumb baby. They even set side by side on a Tee Perch when we took a short rest.

A big improvement. After watching Peg for a while, it was evident to me that she was picking up on the fact that Sly could help her get a better chance at the rabbits, and she was taking advantage of his attempts, to set up a shot at the rabbit for herself. Each flight saw an improvement in her tactics and her efforts to catch one herself. I told Karen that she really wanted to catch something, much more than she had before, and was surely going to succeed soon.

As we moved into another series of Lava lumps, Karen stayed out a bit and I took the inside by the rocks. A Jack flushed right in between us and Peg was off in a flash, making the first shot at him, turning him towards Sylvester. He missed and it turned him towards Peg who grabbed him.

 

When I got there, the Jack was tied up pretty good indeed. With two Harris Hawks there is no need to worry about a Jack breaking free, it isn't going to happen. I added my ham hand in there and even though Peg was the first to grab him, she let go and walked off. I tossed her a chunk of rabbit prepared for just that purpose. While she fed, I killed the rabbit and tossed Sly his chunk the other direction. When he was finally able to let go, I cleaned the Jack and put it in my bag. We hunted our way back to the truck getting several more slips, but they didn't connect. We had been in the field for at least two and half hours, and it was getting hot, so we put the birds in their boxes with the remainder of their meal and went home, happy again. Peg might not be one of the best hawks around, and may not have the full free use of her limbs, but it appears she is improving. That is all I ask.

He's back!

As you might have gathered, I was a bit tired last night and looking forward a good nights rest, so we could do it again today. No rest for the wicked they say, and last night was no exception.

It started with Curly on his last outside run for the night, telling us that all was not right at the Cat house. I went to see what was going on and smelled the results of our little buddy getting enough of a scare to cause him to employ his chemical defense. I made Curly come back in the house, and picked up the shotgun and a "Q Beam" to go look. Sure enough the Skunk had moved back into his bed to spend the night. I had seen Lexie in the window as I went by. She hid when I went into the building. I turned on the inside light, and then went for the nearly depleted Wasp Spray. When I returned I gave him the remaining spray in the can, but it was just not enough.

My "Havahart" skunk trap was suffering from old age, the pan had come off the trigger. I attempted to fix it, but was not as successful as I should have been. It was reset in a natural runway among all the horse tack and an old chest in the hopes that we could catch the critter and put an end to all this irritation once and for all.

I went back into the house fuming, but not mad enough to shoot him inside the building- yet! I went to the hanger and retrieved a jug of Clorox and a spray bottle. My goal of course was to drive him out of the building and blast him with the shotgun at a suitable distance from the house.

Well, I could drive him all over the building, but not out. I brow beat him so bad with the spray bottle that he just humped up in the corner and I ended up thumping him with a PVC pipe with a elbow and two foot long piece pointed down. I finally drove him back to his bed, which I had removed the blanket he had been sleeping on, but couldn't get him out the door. By this time my eyes are burning so badly from the fumes that I kept having to go outside to clear them. I went back to the house and asked Karen how bad the skunk smell was on me. I assumed that it was skunk that was making my eyes water and now I believe that it was the Clorox. I didn't want my clothes to smell like skunk, so I stripped down to my "Hanes" and boots, got my BB gun and went back. At this point I am getting close to blasting him in the building and facing the problems later. Not sure I want to be in a rock room with a full load of 20 gauge rattling around, close, but still not over the edge.

I went back in with the BB gun and pumped it up just enough to sting, but not penetrate, and shot him in the butt. Good for a flinch, but nothing more. He was even past the point of threatening me. I shot him four or five more times, and still could not get him to run. So I just took the PVC pipe and started poking him. I finally poked and prodded him out of his corner and out the door. The sucker turned and tried to come back in, but I persisted and slowly herded him out the door and down the fence of the corral, around the corner and past the corner of the rock fence of my property. He was moving quite slow up to that point. I took the light, and my eyes off him long enough to climb over the fence, figuring to run him down the hill towards the creek and then shoot him. Good plan with only one hitch, when I got over the fence, I was alone. Nothing but me and a loaded shotgun. Picture a half crazed, frustrated, shotgun wielding guy in a pair of tidy whiteys and gum boots cussing like a sailor, and you have a good picture of me at the realization that it is still not over, not finished.

I will let you know if the Clorox is able to bleach out a Skunks fur when I next see him. I'm pretty sure that I will.

Busy, busy!

We had Ron Kearny come to visit and hunt with us for a while. He arrived Monday evening bringing with him Tory, an Anatum Peregrine female that he uses for nuisance abatement. In his off time he also hunts her on what ever game is available.

We had already flown the Harris hawks, so we loaded up Jessie, my Tundra Peregrine and Tory and went to one of my ponds. It was to be Jessie's first time out this year, as well as the first time this year that I had tightened the hood and her first time in the truck. It should have brought back memories of last year and as she didn't take it too bad, I assume that it did so. However she did not exhibit her pitch from last year in her flying. She flew around at about 75 feet and then landed on the cliff by the pond making all the ducks nervous. Since it was getting late and I was getting pissed, I called her back to the lure after a 20 minute wait. I put her back in the truck giving her only enough food to get her back on the fist, and we got Tory out to see what she could do.

After she was in the air, we flushed the ducks and she smacked one down in the sage.

 

 

The next day was windy and rainy but we revisited the same pond and she killed another one. I had decided that I was going to put Jessie back on the balloon again, and in spite of the roaring wind we put a kite up 400 feet and she fought her way up to the lure. Wed. was really crappy and the wind was hitting as high 38 MPH. It did die a bit in the evening and we flew Tory again on a different pond, but she was enjoying playing in the wind and the ducks blew out before she even saw them. Ron left to go back home, and Karen and I spent the evening catching up on TV shows on the DVR.

The wind finally blew itself out and today dawned nice and quiet. I had to wait for a Spa repair guy to come from Boise and fix the Hot tub. He showed up at 10:30 and it turns out they had given me the wrong circulation pump for the tub. He replaced that with the correct part and we were back in business. I missed that thing, there has been some hot tub weather here lately.

I gathered up Slyvester and Peg and we headed for the rabbit flats. As we arrived at the field a Rooster Pheasant crossed the road and went into the field. When I let the birds out, Slyvester  landed on one of the Sage, and then took off across a grassy bowl, doing a quick turn and slammed into the ground on the other side of some Bull Thistle. I heard the Rooster's squawk of surprise, but when I got there he had only lost some feathers. Peg insisted in riding on the Tee Perch and Slyvester was having some trouble with that, so he stayed wide and eventually went off on his own rather than stay with us. I left Karen with Peg and went looking for him. We went into a spot that we normally didn't go to and he killed a young Jack there. I fed him some from a previous rabbit he had killed and we eventually worked our way back to Karen. This time he didn't seem to object and stayed around. They both got a chase on a bunny, that managed to elude both of them. It was actually the first time that I have seen Peg put on some speed in her pursuit, but they still weren't working with each other. Peg again insisted on the Tee Perch even though Karen was giving her tidbits to ride the fist. She and I walked the fringe around a large rock where we normally did not go and found the hiding spot for a large Jack. Peg took after him using her best speed with Sly joining in. She actually kept the lead on the flight, but the Jack escaped cleanly. It was hot, 61 degrees, and we were both tired, so we called it a day and began the trek back to the truck. For the first time today they both sat on the perch together. Slyvester has learned that when my hand goes into the right pocket there is generally a tidbit forthcoming, so he decided to get the best position to get it. It was good for a laugh for both of us.

We made it back home about 3:00 PM and had dinner followed by a nap for both of us and the dogs as well. At 5:00 we loaded up Jessie for another try. This time there would be no pressure for her to fly right away. We bumped our way out to the duck pond and turned her loose.

She took a perch on the cliff again and we sat down to let her decide what she wanted to do. After about 15 minutes she took off and climbed up over the pond and the nervous ducks. The pond is very full this year, and she started her stoop too soon for the ducks to clear the water, so she drove them back into the water. The whole bunch milled around for a bit and she picked out a nice Widgeon hen and took her down in the Sage on the other side of the dam. She was hidden well enough that I had to get the receiver to find her.

 

Curly insisted on coming over to watch the proceedings.

 

She doesn't seen to care about the dogs at all, but a different dog even with the same coloring is recognized immediately. After she had broken in to the duck, I offered her a Pigeon breast and wing and she stepped right up on the fist.

The sun set behind the Steen's as we were going through our last gate.

Tomorrow we will do most of it again since the weather is supposed to get bad by Saturday.

Peg and Sylvester, together at last!

I have to admit that I have been concerned with trying to get these two to hunt together. I can see all kinds of terrible things happening even though I know that Harris's have been hunting together since their beginning. I still worry. We took Peg out yesterday to an area that I had seen lots and lots of Jacks on my early morning trip to pick up Sylvester, but they were apparently bussed in as we saw only one Jack and very little sign.

After the morning warmed a bit we loaded up and made our pilgrimage to the Rabbit field. I took Sylvester out first and he flew up on the top of the truck. I then took Peg out and called her to the Tee perch. Sylvester then flew off to a Sage close by, and we started walking. He kept well in front of us, and finally gave chase to a Jack further out. I started his direction and flushed another Jack which Peg gave chase to, and about three other Rabbits and a bunny busted out under my feet. Sylvester chased another one over a Lava lump, and as I came near in an attempt to flush it again, he decided that he wanted more distance, flying across a grass field to some Lava there. He would not return, so Karen took Peg on the fist and went off on her own, while I went after Sylvester. As soon as that pesky, untrustworthy kid was not with me he came to the Tee Perch and we hunted our side of the fields. There are few rabbits there however. The fields eventually taper off and my plan was to hunt for a while and rejoin Karen later. It was pretty obvious that he did not trust the kid and was not going to put himself into a situation where she could hurt him. Even though it wasn't working out the way that I wanted, I could not help but sympathize with him and admire his intelligence. A bunny does live at the end of the fields in a clump of Lava. Peg has chased him several time and he has eluded her every time. Sly got antsy and flew to the clump that he generally takes refuge in, so I started looking for him in the Sage between us. I did find him and he ran to his alternate hole behind me with Sly in hot pursuit. He crashed into the ground behind a Sage and I was sure that he got him. When I arrived there was Sly looking down a hole with a Cotton Tail tail lying on the ground. He got away, but his butt is going to be very cold.

Sly led me on down into the large Lava humps that shelter a lot of Cotton Tails and Jacks by chasing several in the tall Sage. Some of it over my head, so you have some idea how tough it is for a Hawk to get a clean shot at one of them in that cover. He had several chances at both species with no success. He had landed on one of the large lumps (30 to 40 feet high) after a chase at a Jack. As I started to work around the Jack to try to drive it towards him, he disappeared over the lump out of sight. I walked over there and could see that he was trying to find a rabbit that had hidden in some of the Lava cracks on top. I went up to look and finally saw a bunny butt in one of the cracks. I reached in a goosed him, and apparently gave him enough incentive that he out ran Sly to the next cover where in he made sure no one could goose him again. 

When I picked him up again, we started back towards Karen and soon saw her on a little ridge in front of us. Sly seemed to be feeling better about Peg so I walked closer and intended to walk parallel back through the rest of the field. I hadn't taken too many steps when Sly took off after a Jack between the two of us. Peg joined in the pursuit, but Sly grabbed him in the butt, well before she even got close. The rabbit squealed and I was doing my best broken field running to get there. ( genuine broken field, large lava rocks all over the ground make you want to be sure where you are putting your feet) He didn't have a good grip on him and the Jack was making good time even with the Hawk holding him by the front shoulder. Peg landed on a rock nearby, (which pleased me greatly) and was watching. The Jack had hung up by the simple fact that Sly was wrapped around a Sage bush and the Jack didn't have the strength to pull him free, although he was doing his best to do so. Peg looked the situation over and flew over and grabbed him in the butt, which anchored the situation very nicely. I then grabbed the Jack by the middle,   ( he was an old one and I couldn't wrap my hand all the way around him.) When I got hold of the Rabbit, Peg let go and backed up, again pleasing me to no end.

Sylvester held on while I broke the Jacks neck. I tossed a Jack front leg from one of Sylvester's earlier kills to Peg, who had been waiting and watching, then tossed another to Sylvester in the other direction, leaving me the Jack all to myself, so that I could refresh my supply of front legs.

After they both finished their snacks, Karen picked up Peg and I Sylvester, and we started back to the truck. While I was trying to cross a barb wire fence, I attempted to set Sylvester on a post. He flew off to a Sage about 50 yards away. Peg also took off and landed in the same bush, lower than him. I hurried over there to find that she was lying on her side in the bush, holding onto his foot. She didn't grab him with her talons, but was just holding on and giving the begging call. Sylvester was just looking at her, not doing anything. I brushed her off the bush with the tee perch and called her to the fist. Sylvester got on the Tee perch. I had Karen call her and hold her tight by her jesses until we got back to the truck. We managed to get back there without any more incidences and they both got another front leg to eat in their boxes while we traveled home.

On the whole, it could not have worked out better. Sly caught one right in front of her, and she demonstrated more manners than I thought she would have done. Peg is not a super aggressive bird, if she were we wouldn't have to go through all this. I am very pleased and gratified that things worked out the way that they did, I couldn't have planned it any better. We said our thanks to the Rabbit that gave its all, and the falconry Gods as well.

Sylvester!

First let me bring you up to date on my Unwelcome visitor. Apparently they can dish it out, but not take it. He has not returned to the Cat House, since I gave him a good shot of "Wasp Shooter". The label says that it is dangerous to pets, whether he has chosen to not return or cannot is not clear, either scenario is just fine with me. It does counter act the skunk smell however. I will be stocking up!

When I put the birds out this morning, I weighed Sylvester and found that he was actually a bit below his recommended flying weight, so as soon as Karen and I got our  chores done, we loaded up and headed to the rabbit flats. Since this was to be our first time hunting together I, of course, was a bit nervous, and I wanted to hunt him by himself first. Peg can come later.

Sylvester, owned by Lee Mann, is a 2001 hatch, and a breeding bird as well. He is like most Harris Hawks, really smart and a very perceptive bird. Lee assured me that he would hunt with anybody, but I was nervous anyway. Lee has promised this bird and his mate to another breeder at the end of the year. I seriously dislike delivering bad news to anyone, so I was trying to cover all bases and be as careful as I could be.

He is used to hunting from a Tee perch, and did not hesitate to come to it when I called him.

The migration is in full swing and Geese were flying over us on their way to feeding grounds. They will soon join the rest heading south.

There are Bunnies in this field as well as Jacks. Not knowing what to expect, I thought that he would prefer Bunnies rather than Jacks, so we were going in areas that I knew the Bunnies lived.

Sylvester has been flown some this season on Jacks, but sporadically at best. His owner is building a house in an area that is woefully devoid of rabbits and he has not had a chance to get into hunting shape yet, so I did not expect too much from him. I certainly did not expect to be impressed with his willingness to try any and almost all chances to connect.

 The Bunnies gave him a reeducation on how elusive they could be. They are rarely very far from a hidey hole, the Jacks were pretty elusive on their own. Perhaps Peg has shown them how to escape. The weather was a bit nipply at 37 degrees, but I elected to not take a coat, It was just as well. We were covering ground and Sly was getting slip after slip at the Jacks and Bunnies. He was trying hard with a wing beat that Peg has not yet used, but they were all giving him the slip. He made a long 150 yard slip at a Jack and took a perch on a tall Sage. I wanted him to come back, but he soon got another slip at a Jack further out, so I told Karen to stay and I would go get him. Every time I got close to him another Jack would jump, and off we would go again. It finally slowed down enough that he decided that he would like a bit more elevation to see over the high sage. We picked up three other beaters that were not sure what we were doing.

 

If you enlarge this picture you will see that the first horse has some really short ears. Most of the time that horses ears are like this is when they get frozen off, but his look naturally short. He has joined the hunt before and he and his companions are some really nice specimens of their race.

I rejoined Karen after getting about 15 slips in this area and wanted to make a wide swing to the right, so told Karen to wait and I would be back. Well, a first year Jack jumped out in the open and Sly took off burning up his butt. The Jack turned around in front of an old water truck parked there, but Sly turned tighter and there was a short squeal, then silence. I thought that the Jack had kicked him off, but found that Sly had him effectively muzzled and had tied him in a knot that he was not about to get out of. Karen had the camera and was off where I left her, so there wasn't time to get a picture. I grabbed the Jack in the middle with my bare hand and stopped his heart. I then threw a front leg of a rabbit that I had prepared for that purpose. Sly left the newly dead Jack with me and started eating on the leg that I had thrown him. Karen by then had arrived and got what pictures she could.

After he finished that, I called him to the fist to a tidbit, and tossed him a couple of tidbits on the ground. He finally decided that it was a small Jack and we might as well go on and hunt. I decided to hunt on the way back to the car, and quit when we got there. There is an area that we normally do not cover, so I wanted to go that way, while Karen went the other side of a large grassy area to perhaps drive any rabbits there into the open.

I was just about to make the shift to the car, when he bolted off the fist after one of the sneaky ones that had been able to hide there safely before. This time he wasn't that lucky. Sly caught him in about 25 yards. Another short squeal, then silence. I hurried over because I knew this was one of the old boys that had the potiental to hurt him if he didn't get some help.

 

I didn't need to worry. He had the old boy tied in a knot, so tight that he couldn't even kick. He didn't flinch when I grabbed the Jack to stop his heart.

I got tired of this and decided to break its neck. When I changed grips, Sly stepped off to give me more room. an action that I had been told that he would do, but a novelty for me.

 

When the Jack was dead, I released my grip on him and Sly claimed him and tried to take him to a less congested place.

I then offered him a rib cage from a Jack that Peg had killed earlier and we did the obligatory "Hero" shot.

 

Not bad for a male Harris Hawk. If I can get him and Peg working together, they should kick bunny butt seriously.

Unwelcome Visitor

Things have been a bit quiet lately since I have been concentrating on getting Peg and Jessie in shape. I decided to wait to hunt Peg again until I could pick up a "made" hunting hawk to perhaps demonstrate to her how a real hawk does it. She has been flying like a Butterfly rather than a serious Harris Hawk. Peg really has me worried, after all this time she still is barely able to fly up 56 feet to grab her food off the lure. Jessie in the mean time is up to 350 feet in two and a half circles. In the mean time I have raised her weight as high as 922 grams in an effort to try to figure out where she is the strongest. Perhaps she was at an abnormally low weight when I got her. She weighed 800 grams on arrival.

 

Sylvester

Duck season starts this coming weekend, but Jessie isn't strong enough  as yet, so we will wait a week and see if I can get some more muscle on her before we try wild quarry. She could catch a duck, but I want her pitch higher and she cannot do that without the muscle.

I decided that since Sylvester's (the new bird) owner was not going to be able to make the trip over, that I would just go get him, and was getting ready for the trip when Karen  told me that there was something getting into the "cat house" ( outside cats living in the tack room) and eating all the cat food, and crapping in the corner. She also told me that Curly indicated that there was something there now, so he and I went to look. There was a tarp lying over some stuff in the corner, and Curly indicated that he was there. I had already asked Karen if she thought it could be a Skunk, since there were only two choices, Skunk and Raccoon. She said that she hadn't smelled anything, but not being the trusting sort, I made Curly get down and back just in case. I started pulling the tarp off and there he was, a nice and big fluffy Skunk. We backed off and he got nervous enough to squirt a little bit, but we were both out of range and we got away unscathed. Unlike some people Skunk scent doesn't really bother me, but it does piss me off.

I put Curly up, and got a shotgun and a can of "Wasp Spray". When I got back out there the Skunk was back in its bed that it had made. I stepped in and gave him a shot of Wasp Spray. You know those guys can dish it out, but don't seem to be able to take it. I kept hoping I could run him out and blast him with the shotgun. He didn't want to leave, so back in I go, ran him out of his bed, and hit him in the face with the wasp spray again as he ducked behind one of the feed barrels. I left the door open and set a live trap and went to bed, as I wanted to get an early start for the 460 mile trip the next day. I checked the trap before I left and found that it had been sprung, but nothing in it.

I managed the trip in 12 hours, and we find that the Skunk has moved out. I will set a live trap outside the door tonight to see if he comes back.

Deer Season- Karen

Karen drew a Deer tag for the Whitehorse zone, which is south of Hwy 95 from the border of Neveda to the border of Idaho. I tried, but was not able to draw one, so I had to Bow hunt, and was lucky enough to get a small Buck here at the house. When I was working, deer season was a big deal and we used to go all out to get a deer to eat. Large antlered Deer have never been as important to us as it is to most people. Meat has always been the objective rather than bragging rights. Karen drew a tag for this area last year, but somehow Bucks were very hard to come by, as well as getting sick the second day of the hunt, so last year was a bust.

A good friend of ours, Paul Arritola, grew up with one of the larger land owners around Jordan Valley, and he graciously agreed to take us hunting there. Since we were not particular about horn size, the arrangement was perfect. He could take the big ones, we could have the tasty ones.

We managed to get everything done and fed by 5:40 AM and made the drive to Jordan Valley arriving well before daylight to meet Paul. Since we are on Mountain time and he is on Pacific we were there an hour before he expected us. Since we are on the rear edge of Mountain time, it takes a long time to get light enough to see here, about 7:45 AM at this time of the year. In almost no time at all we saw three deer at one of the hay stacks on the ranch and one of them was a nice little spike Deer. His horns were longer than his ears and he was a bit bigger than the doe he was running with. So he made the perfect candidate. He was about 150 yards off, so Karen took careful aim, and at the sound of the shot he fell over backwards and never twitched. Karen had hit him right at the base of the neck, taking out the juglar vein. No meat wasted, and he was blead out as well. It just doesn't get any better than that. Paul and the two boys with us were astounded and I was pleased as I could be.

Paul and the boys went on looking for a big buck while we stayed and took care of the deer. Karen had prepared a back pack with every thing that we would need except for one thing- The Camera. :-/ The field was nice and dry with a good clean cushion of clover and grass hay, so we cleaned and skinned him there while we were waiting for them to finish hunting.

He isn't a real big deer, but he will be nice and tender and tasty, and Karen is as almost as pleased as I am. The best part however, is that we can stay inside the next few days as there is supposed to be some storms heading our way with some moisture. I also get to continue with my conditioning of Peg and Jessie. Duck season will be here before you know it, and Jessie is getting anxious.