Third Doubles - and Almost Triples!!

Today I went and hawked in Lyndon Station again . . . a really great field! I had the opportunity to hook up with a friend of mine I've not seen for awhile, and got to show him falconry. And what a show he had!!

Bunny #1 for the day, and #19 for the season, was caught just within about 5 minutes after we started to hunt. My friend, Bryce, flushed the rabbit, as it was sitting under a small pine tree very nearby him as he walked past. The bunny flushed, and Nina was on it in a flash. All the action was evident to be seen!! I traded her off with just a little snack on the lure, and put her up to go again.

We worked a bit harder for bunny #2. We moved around the field probably about a half hour to 40 minutes or so before the second bunny was flushed and caught. Nina dove after this one into some pine trees, and it had almost made it to a hole it was headed for. But instead ended up in the back of my hunting vest. That's #20 for the season! Because she was just so much on her mark today, I decided to push and try for a triple. I've never accomplished this before. So I only gave her a little snack on the lure, and but her up one more time.

Shortly after putting her back up, I did flush a third bunny. But she was just too low on a tree to do much about it. She dove on it, but missed, and lacked the initiative to get up and take chase. The third bunny got away! But very shortly after this miss we flushed a small red squirrel. We did spend about 10 minutes playing with it . . . but eventually it too managed to get down the tree and away.

It was getting dark now, and I really wanted to get back to the car. As we returned, a fourth bunny was flushed . . . and this one was a long distance chase. Nina was just not up close for the catch . . . so she proceeded to chase it, and flew into some very open treed area, with RR tracks and old RR beams stacked beyond. I had to run to find her . . . but evenutally figured out that she had missed this final bunny, and had flown over the log pile. By this time, I decided she had worked very hard, and it was time to call it an evening. I brought her down to the lure and let her crop up all the way.

Pictures were followed by putting bird away and cleaning bunnies. I then went and had dinner with my friend. It was a great day hawking. You are a pretty lucky hunt charm Bryce! Let's do it again sometime!
Nina with her third set of doubles. WOW . . . that Blaze Orange is BRIGHT. And Gosh Bryce . . . you're TALL!!