She did exactly what I was hoping, and as soon as she felt that wind hitting her chest, she spread her wings, and swung straight up in the air about a hundred feet or so (I LOVE soar hawking!!!!). She set her wings right above me, and followed along perfectly, as I wove my way through the cedars and brush, trying to kick up a rabbit. Flushed out a barn owl from one of the cedars, which was neat to see. I havn't ever kicked one up while out in the field, so she was neat to watch fly away. After about 20 min or so of no bunnies, Dee Dee decided she was done flying, and coasted down to the top of a cedar above my head, which was right next to the road that runs along the south side of the field. We have been kicking up quite a few rabbits in this area, but they where not as plentiful yesterday as they had been (I think it has to do with all the leaves falling off of the bushs, and them just not feeling as secure there anymore). Got a couple flushs in short order though, One of which she put a half-@$$ed attempt on, and the other one she ALMOST nabbed before it made it's hole. Kicked around for a little bit longer, and after a dry spell of five or ten minutes, managed to get one moving. It headed out through a small clearing in the brush, and was hastily heading toward a bush on the other side. Dee Dee had taken a REALLY high perch in a tree a little bit away, so she had a pretty long approach, which had her closing in on the rabbit right as it made the cover. I didn't think she had a chance of nabbing this one, but as she crashed into the bush, I hear a squeel! I rush over there to help out, and find Dee all twisted up in the bush, with only one foot holding onto the back end of the rabbit! The rabbit is screaming, and kicking everywhere, and doing it's best to try and run the other direction, and I start crawling underneither so that I can secure the rabbit. It's just too thick to get into, so I end up reaching through the bush, and pushing the front end of the rabbit back toward Dee. She was pleased with this, and shot her other foot out, and secured the rabbit's head in her grasp. I then go around to the other side, and have to crawl under the bush from behind her. Her tail is facing her head, one wing is shooting out the side, while the other one was pinted straight back....to say she was all tangled up would be a pretty big understatment. After unwinding her for a minute, and still not being able to get her out, I end up having to reach in underneither Dee, grab ahold of the rabbit, and then pull them both out backwards. She DID NOT like this approach, and got pretty pissy for a minute, but calmed down eventually. Unlike the trade off on number nine which was great, this one was pretty bad (though not as bad as Woodward...there will NEVER be a trade as bad as Woodward!!!!).
I can attribute it to two things...one was all the comotion and what not that it took to get them out of the bush, and the other has to do with the amount of food I had on the lure. I keep jumping the gun on things, and I was wanting to leave the option open to try for a double, but being that she had only traded off to this lure three times now, the piece just wasn't big enough (i don't think). In her eyes, the trade was not fair, so she didn't want to go for it. After a bit, I finally got her traded off, and she was out of sorts for a good minute. By this point I was like....well, i already made her mad...what's done is done....may as well try to kick up more rabbits, so that she can maybe score a second, and then she will have a better idea of why she didn't get much on the trade (not that she thinks this way....just my thought process). So I get her back up in a tree, and we start heading back across the field toward "the rose bush." The wind had switched directions AND had picked up intesity, and it was now howling in out of the east. It's starting to get later in the evening, so I was wanting to get there pretty quickly, but there are a lot of briar patchs between the road and "the bush", and I kept kicking up rabbits on the way. She made three or four really nice chases by the time we made it to our destination, but didn't connect on any of them.....I think if she hadn't been flying into the wind on most of those slips, she maybe could have grabbed one. Beat around "the bush" for a minute without any flushs, so I decided to head toward the road that runs along the east side of the field with the hopes of kicking up one more before it got completely dark, and if not, I would fly her a long way directly into the wind for the rabbit lure for a little bit extra exercise. Kicked one up that bailed out into the open field, which I think she could have caught, but she refused it. I think it was just getting too dark, so I ran her on the lure, and she was breathing REALLY hard by the time she caught up to it. Traded her off to a front rabbit leg on the lure, and then jumped her to the fist for a back leg. Had a nice meal with Lindz and the girls afterwards, and then we headed back to T-town. Weighed her around 11:30 PM, and she was at 1150 grams. I have decided that I need to take a step back as far as the trade off goes, so I'm probably not going to fly tonight, and give her a BIG feed on the lure (enough where she won't eat on Friday), which should set us up for a very nice session, and a good trade off on Saturday. We shall see how it goes.
way to go !
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