Day 86

It got COLD! Since I have been out hawkin so much, I havn't really noticed the temperature this year as much as usual...today was different! Winds where blasting out of the North, all the little creeks and puddles where frozen over, and the sunny skies from earlier on, had turned to a gloomy grey. I had pulled up to "bum central" at around 3:45 PM, and the bums where out in full force. The cold snap had them scurrying around through the forest, and they all where looking for things to add to their homes, and I quickly headed off through the woods in the other direction. I was weaving along the edge of the tree line, heading toward the open spot in the front, and I came upon the first big "bush" that I like to hit. I hadn't kicked up a rabbit from this one before, but I made my circle around it....Dee was up in the cedar right above the bush, and I see a rabbit shoot out the back. Dee was already stooping toward the ground before I could say HO, and she crashed into the ground like a ton of bricks! It was one of the loudest hits I have heard so far...it was nuts! She was a little bit sharp today considering the drop in temp, and she was READY to catch a rabbit. We made our way to the open section, and I hit the first clump of trees, but didn't get any slips. She is sitting on the edge of the woods, and she purposefully flew past me into the field, and landed in a dead tree by the third clump. She immediately looks at the ground, and stays focused while I make my way over to here. This is a big clump of trees, and I usually have to crawl inside to flush the rabbits out, but I did my usual once around with my fingers crossed, and a rabbit flushed out the side (heading toward the big hill)! She has the wind at her back, and you could tell she over shot it hard....she tried to twist in the air, and nab it as she passed, but she was coming in WAY too hot. Hopped her up to the fist, and since all the creeks where frozen, I headed all the way to where the hill starts, and I found a HUGE rose bush! Dee was still out of sorts from that last slip, so she was a little bit behind me. I flushed a rabbit as I was nearing the bush, and I start yellin my head off.....she ignores me (little hoe!). There wasn't really anywhere for the rabbit to have gone, so I called her over, and stuck her up in a tree directly over head. I kicked around in it for a good minute, but the darn thing had just disappeared. we leave the bush, and she takes a perch in a tree right on the fence line of the high way. There is a little two track that runs through the field along this fence line, but there is a decent sized gap between the road and the fence (on the other side of the fence, it's mowed grass and then the highway....). I start walking through there, and I get a slip in seconds. It's a race toward the fence, and the rabbit squeezes through just as she slams into the the chain link. We continue on, but we dont find anymore slips. We get to the end of the big field, and we duck across to the other side (ya know...covered in briars...i hacked my way through it for like an hour the other day...)anyways...start headind down the line, and we don't kick up a single darn rabbit...we get all the way to the spot where the bush juts out into the center, and i'm gettin worried...it will be dark in ten minutes or so, and I really want her to score...anyways I start following it out, and she takes a perch on the tree she scored out of last time....I get about half way down, when she starts lookin straight down at the briars below her. I guess one had been holding tight and it decided this was a good time to sneak off into the woods. She drops off the perch, does a wing beat, maybe two, and then folds her wings and stoops hard into the ground...SQUEEL!!!!!! Hell ya! Dispatch, victory pics, and perfect trade to the lure (#22!!!!). Since she was sharp, fed her both back legs (cut generously) and all the goodies on the fist, and she had a nice crop when she had finished. Going to get even colder tonight, so she should be good to go tommorow.