Day 89

You ever have those days where you don't catch anything, but you consider it one of the best hawkin days you have ever had????? Well.....I had one of those today! Slept in for a bit, and then headed out to the squirrel spot to look for my new hunting partner. Pulled up, and got Dee Dee out of her GH (still hooded though), and she started doing her little chirping thing...before long, the passage RS that I have been watching came in to investigate. I put Dee up, and go hide in the woods (b/c I had already placed the BC, and sat around watching the bird for a good 20 minutes. He/She head bobbed, leaned, switched branchs for a better view point...everything....and then flew off! GOSH!!!!! Guess it wasn't feeling the mice, so i will try something different next time. Got the kitchen pass from the wife, so I headed down to Bartlesville around noon. Met up with Kent when I got there, and we went and checked out a new field. IT'S AWSOME! We kicked up 4 or 5 rabbits for Kent's bird, and in the brief 15 or 20 minutes that we flew Dee (in a different section of the field), we kicked up another couple of rabbits. There was rabbit poo EVERYWHERE, and once we figure out there habbits and what not, I see us consistantly getting tons of slips. Kent's bird flew well, and got it's first wild kill. It was a rat, but the situation was good, and the bird directly associated the kill with Kent. Pleased with this, we headed over to Ryan's house, and went to find some ducks. A gentleman (gosh! I'm so bad with names!!!!) who is interested in falconry joined us for the session, but all the ponds where frozen over. Found a couple Gadwalls sitting on the ice at one of the ponds, but they busted before we could get the bird in the air. Headed back behind the mall, and it was time to fly Dee. We headed to the back section, and the rabbits where poppin off EVERYWHERE. "New guy" managed the first couple slips, but no connections where made. Looped around along the tree line, and then we decided to head off along the neighbor hood side. Kicked up a rabbit in the wide open, and Dee starts pumping after it HARD. She is going into the wind, but catchs up quickly (strong bird!!!!). The rabbit is running down the two track, so we all had a nice view when she came down and slammed the crap out of the rabbit. They both twist, but somehow, the rabbit gets away (stupid dull tallons!). We get another flush pretty quickly, and that rabbit runs down the two track also....STRAIGHT TOWARDS ME! Dee crashs the ground, but comes up empty footed, and the rabbit is heading straight for me. Now you know I'm always trying to get my own score, and this was the setup if I had ever seen one. I take my stance, pull all the way back, and swing like my life depended on it! Ninja dodges the stick my half an inch, and shoots BETWEEN MY LEGS! It was SOOOOO close! Continue on, and we manage four or five more slips before we call it a day. One of which she got REALLY close, and probably would have gotten it, but we rushed the flush. Pretty much all of her flights where into the wind, and she chased them all down. She is getting so damn strong it's rediculous, and Ryan even commented on this fact. Even though she screwed off and caught two rats during the session, it was still good. Most of the flights where in the open, so they where all easily seen, and she missed b/c she got juked, not b/c they made it to cover. This is really good, b/c IF I do end up keeping her, this is good practice for when we go hunt jacks in January. The day was really exciting, and I headed out of B-ville one happy falconer.