I wasn't really planning on hawking yesterday. I had Christmas decorations that I STILL hadn't put up, all the gear was still laying in the garage, I had been feeling like crap all day, and Short-bus was at 950 grams.....Sometimes though, I just can't seem to help myself. We flew high the day before, and he did really well, and being that this was only the second day of being "high," I knew that he wasn't ACTUALLY that heavy. Sooooo, we loaded up the car, and headed over to Rosa east. This is only my second time to fly this part of the field (this year), and I think I'm going to keep avoiding it. This will be my "lazy" field from now on, and I will probably refrain from hawking it, unless I need a super quick, very "easy" session. Sometimes, you just need a field like that....one where you can guarantee a LOT of slips, in a tiny amount of time. There arn't any briars here, and the hawking tends to be more of a strole, than any type of work. Sometimes, it's just nice to get out and watch the bird fly, and not have to beat brush like a mad man!
So we popped the hood off, and Short-Bus headed straight up to the top of a power pole. There is a long stretch of mowed grass that you have to walk through, before you get to where the "field" starts, and as I made my way through it, CJ sleeked down, and started doing his little head bob thing. If you all remember correctly, there is a long stretch of Johnson grass, that runs parallel with the road, and is only about 10 yards wide (It runs for about a quarter mile, but it's just pretty narrow....). As I enter the Johnson grass, a rabbit bails out the back side, and starts hauling through the woods. Like I said, there isn't much cover in this area, and I saw the whole flight as CJ burned it down, and crashed right behind it. He missed, but that's not what made the flight cool......what made it SWEET, was that out of no where, this Harlans comes roaring in from behind, and continued the chase! He crashed, got back up, and crashed again like FOUR TIMES after that rabbit!!!!!!! It was pretty freakin sweet. This is only the second time I have had this happen with one of my birds. Interestingly enough, the first time it happened was last weekend.......that first Jack that CJ bound to (but got kicked off) went down the same way.......another bird came in, and continued that chase as well. Anyways, I waited for Cleveland to fly back up to his power pole, and we continued on.
I went another 10 steps or so, and he folded into a bullet, and smashed the ground right in front of me.......DARN VOLES! Now, Short-Bus catchs a mouse/vole/rat/misc something almost every session we go out.....it's never a big deal, and I just let him eat it, and then we continue on (unless it's a HUGE rat, then I trade him off and keep going.....). Well, being that he was already at 950 grams, I second guessed myself, on what I should do. I knew he would fly well while it was still in his crop, but it was just a matter of if i wanted to hawk the next day or not. 950 grams, plus a big vole, (and assuming we catch a bunny) plus his trade off lure piece, plus his rabbit leg, equates to no flying the next day.......since I still had Christmas duties to perform, I decided that was cool, and let him eat it all, before we continued on. When he finished, I hopped him to the fist, and he then flew over, and landed in a short tree. I started walking through the Johnson again, and a rabbit takes off, running the edge of the grass. Cleveland sprints from his tree, and BARELY misses snagging it on his first crash. He got right back up immediately, and snagged it's rump, as it was going through the fork of a small bush. Of course, that bush stopped Short-bus right in his tracks, and he was left with just a patch of fur in his talons. Took his sweet time about getting back up after that one, and when he did, he took a perch in a tree across the street. I reached a part of the johnson grass section that was a lot shorter than the rest, and as I made my way out of the head high stuff, a rabbit got up at my feet. I could see the rabbit running as plain as day, and I'm yelling HO, but Short-bus just watched it go. Once it disappeared from sight (into the woods), CJ slowly meandered back to my side of the road, and took a perch on the power pole right above me.
I continued kicking through the short grass, and instead of "perching up" like he normally does, he let me get about two poles down from him. Normally, he is right on my head, or else one pole behind me (so that when I walk past the hiding rabbits and they shoot out from behind, he is right there to snatch them up), so I'm thinking that he may have started putting his crop over. Well, I JUST made my way past the second pole, when a rabbit gets up right by my feet, but instead of bailing toward the woods, it headed toward the road, and started cutting back in the direction I had just come from. BIG mistake!!!!!! Cleveland was already on his way, when he left the cover of the grass, and started running through the mowed grass, running along the road. He went about 10 yards, before he noticed the hawk screaming toward him, and cut back into the Johnson grass. CJ whiped to the side though, and snaged him just a few feet into the cover. That's about the time I hear the cars honking :). I look up, and some dude had COMPLETELY stopped his car (in the MIDDLE of the road), had his door open, and yelled out "That was the coolest damn thing I have ever seen, in my whole *ucking life!" Apparently the people behind him didn't feel the same way though, because the chorus of honking just got louder and louder. He finally came to his senses, pulled off to the side of the road, and made his way over to where we were at. I did a little Q&A session with him, while Short-bus ate on his rabbit, and then I let him snap off a couple pictures. We finally made our way back to the car, and he was a FAT 1074 grams, when I stuck him on the scale at home. Christmas decorations will be on the agenda for this evening, and hopefully, I will be able to get a good session in on Friday.
-D-
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