Well, the weather guys didn't lie this time, and Tulsa got hit with (what we call) a really big snow/ice storm. Unless you are from an area that has ice storms, most people don't really understand what I'm talking about. Thursday it started raining pretty good, and that turned into freezing rain and sleet pretty darn quickly. By Friday morning, EVERYTHING was coated in a good inch or two of ice, and that's when the snow started. I'm not really that sure how many inchs we got, but it had to be at least 6 or more. Oklahomans are natoriously bad drivers in snow as it is, but throw in a nice base layer of ice to boot, and getting out for a drive is suicide! Lucky for me though, I have a subi that just loves getting out in the snow, and I can manage to weave my way in between all the idiots.
Sayda was still too high to go fly (I planned it that way), so I spent the day just hanging out with friends, and playing in the snow. Saturday morning she was at 577 grams, so I stuck her out to weather in the snow. She has only been around snow on one other occasion, so I made the decision to give her a starling wing to work on at the beginning, It didn't have hardly any meat on it, but the bone and feathers put her around 582 grams or so. Got online to update the old blog and to get caught up on e-mails, when I discovered a message from Kent....it basically had to do with snow, hawking, good times, and I should come. I had quite a few chores to take care of around the house, and even though I said it sounded like good times, didn't intend to actually make it down to Bartlesville for a session. Well....Jonathan gave me a ring about fifteen minutes later, and after SOMEHOW getting the nod from my beautiful wife, swung over to Jonathan's to pick him up. Shaung was bouncing around in the GH the entire way down to B-ville, so I was expecting a pretty darn exceptional session out of her.
I suggested he think about trying for a double while we where on the way down there (being that we where getting down there pretty early, and had tons of daylight), and we also talked about how Kent's young bird is turning it on like crazy now, and just needs that one connect to get the ball roling. Like I said in a previous post...his bird chased harder the other day than I have EVER seen him fly, and it is just a matter of time before we get that squeel. Anyways...made it down to Bartlesville, and we met Kent, Ryan, and Scott out at the usual rabbit field. After saying our hellos, talkin a little $hit, and gettin the birds all beeped up, we headed into the back section of the field to fly Kent's bird. This is my first "real" snow hawkin session, and I was pretty darn psyched.
The problem was, we wheren't kicking up any rabbits. They where no where to be found in the "usual" spots (which makes sense), and we walked for a good fifteen or twenty minutes before getting a single slip. We had worked our way through the two big rose bush sections in the middle, and where in the process of crossing the two track toward the lower one (with the rock pile) when Ryan spied one running ahead of us. He yelled ho ho ho as we watched it make it to the cover we where heading toward, but I can't remember if his bird went for it or not. Lucky for his bird though, we had a crew out today, and we where not about to let this little guy get away. Ryan took one side (and could actually see the rabbit sitting there), while I flushed through the center, and the rabbit bolted out of the side into a smaller bush.
We waited a moment to get the bird back into position, and then Scott and I flushed the rabbit back toward the original bush. I had a huge cedar blocking my view, but apparently he dropped off the cedar like a rock, and grabbed the bunny by the rump. Ryan said he walked up to the head like a pro, and bunny number one was in the bag. He let him eat on it for a minute, and then finished him off with a back leg. Everyone was psyched for Kent, and the day had started off with a bang. Let's just say it continued on like that!!!!!
Got his bird put up, and it was time for Shaung to fly. Jonathan pulled her out, and she immediately shot up to a nice, high perch. We decided to follow the tree line that runs along the north edge of the field (front section), and is boardered by the wide open section to the south, and we took off in that direction. We hadn't walked more than five minute, when I spied the first bunny. He made a little movement, but then just froze in place...sorta scooting it's body down into the snow. From my angle, it looked like a little guy, and I said we should pass him up (joking of course). Well, Shaung had different plans, and comes powering out of the tree, and slams into the brush right on top of the bunny. SQUEEL!!!!! Number one is in the bag.
Being that we had only been hawkin for five minutes, and that was the only flight that had happened, we continued on. Traded her off, and she took a nice perch above us. Walked MAYBE 10 yards (tops!), and Kent kicks up a rabbit that tries to head for the briars where the first rabbit was caught. Shaung drops like a rock and nails it before it could make it half way there. Number 2 in the bag! Everyone is laughin, good times are being had, and it had STILL only been about ten minutes into the session.....so we continue on. Walk another fifty yards or so, and Shaung is sorta holding back. We are thinking she has to get her "reset" after that last rabbit, so Jonathan calls her over to us. Well...since we had stopped moving, our presence must have been too much for the rabbit that was hiding in the grass right next to us. When Shaung was about half way to the fist, the rabbit bolts, and she tucks into a dive and slams it on the ground! Rabbit number 3 in the bag!
Still....Shaung has only had three flights, and didn't get near enough excersie, so we continue on. We decided to head on out through the open section since there arn't any perchs, and that will motivate her to get some actual flying in. We meander through the field, and eventually make it to the otherside in the group of bushs that run along the road. Everyone makes their way through them pretty darn quickly, but I KNOW there is a rabbit in there...there is no way there isn't. It looks JUST like the stuff we had been kicking them out of, and as the morning showed...they where holding so tight that you darn near had to stab them with your stick to get them moving. I continued working the section, and next thing I know, a rabbit bolts out of the side! Shaung comes powering off of a telephone pole, but pulls up at the last minute and land on another pole. I go in for the reflush, and she starts pumping hard off of the perch, and tuck into the perfect tear drop, spinning as she drove toward the ground, giving me the perfect view of her brilliant white under side! She smashs into the ground and SQUEEEEEELLLLLL!!!!
Rabbit number 4 is in the bag!!!! I may be a little off on my tally, but I'm pretty sure that made rabbit number 31 for the season, and I'm pretty psyched for them both. Headed back to the car tired from tromping through the snow, but pretty darn psyched from having experienced such a stellar day of hawkin. Clicked off some victory photos, and then it was back to Tulsa for Jonathan and I. Dropped him off at his place, and there where starlings and pigeons on the ground. It was 4 o'clock by the time I made it home and got Sayda loaded up, and I guess it was just too late by the time we started hawkin. Most of the birds moved on too their roosts, and I only got a couple slips for her....neither of them where ones I should have taken. The birds where jumpy enough as it was, and neither of the slips where true dump shots. She ended up getting burned on both, and pulled up on both slips.
The only thing I accomplished yesterday was lowering her confidence...that's all. Fed her enough to get her through the night, and she was at 578 grams when I weighed her at 7:30 this morning. I'm going to swing by Gary's house to grab one of my baggies, and if she doesn't score during our session this moring, then I will bag her to keep her confidence up.
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