Hunting with Tim and River

Today, Saturday January 20th I took Tim Oakes out hawking with me. Tim is learning falconry from his cousin, Bill Oakes, who is away for awhile on business. Tim doesn't get the chance to get away from his home area too much to hunt his bird, so I invited him to go with me today. We hunted in Tomah, starting beside the Wal-Mart, and got several flushes. His bird, River, chased them around, but they all got away. Finally we pushed to the front parking of the store, by the KFC. There is a drainage ditch full of grass and cover, great rabbitat, and full of all kinds of bunny sign. But we never saw one flush. However, River must have had her eye on one. For as we had given up and Tim was calling her to the fist, she ignored his call, continuing to look down. Then finally a bunny made a sprint for safety, and River broke from her tree and stooped to the ground. She had her bunny #2. Tim was quite proud of her!

We moved then to a pretty thick patch in a different location in Tomah to hunt Nina. The patch was absolutely swarming with bunnies . . . but the cover was very thick!! Hard to work!! She then led us across the street to follow a rather large stream. We took one side, and of course she then came down on a bunny on the other. We circled back, but then had a really hard time trying to find her. After a good 5 minute search finally I spotted her under a bush. As I tried to remove her, and straighted and untangle a wing, I got footed again. Yippeeee!! So that was bunny #17 for Nina!

We took pictures, and I laid out #17 to field dress it. However at the car I realized I didn't have my game shears with me. I then did a very stupid thing. I packed everything up . . . and forgot that I had left the bunny laying in the field!! I took Tim home, then returned to Tomah for a few groceries. A quick stop on the way home by Dave's to pick up a hawk box, for tomorrow I have an invite to go to a lady friend's home . . . and will show off both birds. Once home, I started to look for the bunny as I was unpacking all my gear . . . only to realize, silly me . . . I'd left it in Tomah. So . . . waste gas and drive back to retrieve it. I didn't want to waste game! Fortunately nothing had nosed it out when I got there! It is now safely tucked into the freezer.

It was a good day!!