Pushing Bunnies
On Monday evening, I hurried home from work so I could take Abby out to fly. I’ve missed so much of the hawking season, I need to make the best of the time left. And it is really important that Abby catch her first head of game, so she is truly entered into being a game hawk.
I decided to work a small patch of woods across from the Camp Douglas Travel Mart. This runs just alongside the exit ramp to the freeway. It is deceptive to look at, but actually quite a large patch of trees when you walk it, with lots of thick brush, and fallen down trees. Many places for bunnies to hide. Pente took a rabbit in this spot last year in minutes flat . . . but Abby is no Pente! There is also fresh snow, so it makes movement by the falconer a bit harder too. However, I could see lots of fresh sign, so there were definitely bunnies in this patch.
Within a few minutes I did flush the first rabbit. Abby proceeded to fly hither and yon in this small patch, moving around, up and down, all around. She got a lot of flying in. We must have had about 8 slips, but it was possibly some of the same rabbits being pushed back and forth. And I was able to observe that she seems to have pretty bad timing. I don’t know if she might just be naturally this way, or if those three missing primaries in her left wing unbalances her, causing her to miss. But she missed every time.
The very last slip of the evening was one I thought surely she should have caught. I had finally tired of pushing bunnies back and forth, and it was starting to get dark. So I left the patch of woods, and worked the edge along the fence. As I pushed around the fence, I must have pushed forward a single bunny. Abby spotted it and came zipping from the woods and smacked down, just behind bunny . . . who moved off rather slowly I thought. I ran over and picked Abby up, and pushed the rest of the thick grass, hoping the bunny hadn’t gotten too far, but it must have found a hiding spot somewhere, or escaped out of the field all together when I wasn’t looking. Either way, no bunnies today.
I cast Abby off back to the trees, and then called her down to the lure. It was a good session . . . I was tired, and she had a lot of good flying in. No bunnies yet . . . but we’ll keep on trying!
I decided to work a small patch of woods across from the Camp Douglas Travel Mart. This runs just alongside the exit ramp to the freeway. It is deceptive to look at, but actually quite a large patch of trees when you walk it, with lots of thick brush, and fallen down trees. Many places for bunnies to hide. Pente took a rabbit in this spot last year in minutes flat . . . but Abby is no Pente! There is also fresh snow, so it makes movement by the falconer a bit harder too. However, I could see lots of fresh sign, so there were definitely bunnies in this patch.
Within a few minutes I did flush the first rabbit. Abby proceeded to fly hither and yon in this small patch, moving around, up and down, all around. She got a lot of flying in. We must have had about 8 slips, but it was possibly some of the same rabbits being pushed back and forth. And I was able to observe that she seems to have pretty bad timing. I don’t know if she might just be naturally this way, or if those three missing primaries in her left wing unbalances her, causing her to miss. But she missed every time.
The very last slip of the evening was one I thought surely she should have caught. I had finally tired of pushing bunnies back and forth, and it was starting to get dark. So I left the patch of woods, and worked the edge along the fence. As I pushed around the fence, I must have pushed forward a single bunny. Abby spotted it and came zipping from the woods and smacked down, just behind bunny . . . who moved off rather slowly I thought. I ran over and picked Abby up, and pushed the rest of the thick grass, hoping the bunny hadn’t gotten too far, but it must have found a hiding spot somewhere, or escaped out of the field all together when I wasn’t looking. Either way, no bunnies today.
I cast Abby off back to the trees, and then called her down to the lure. It was a good session . . . I was tired, and she had a lot of good flying in. No bunnies yet . . . but we’ll keep on trying!
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