Hawking in New Lisbon

On Thursday, February 1 I got to do something that is now rather unfortunately possible for me to do on a regular basis . . . that is . . . hawk in the morning. I don't mind the hawking early . . . just that I have free time to be able to do so, due to my unemployed status. But the morning was beautiful. COLD . . . but beautiful! It's nice to have time to be leisurely with my bird, and not rushing because the sun is setting.

I flew her in one of the several locations I have hunted in New Lisbon. I've been pretty much staying away from that town. But, there are still a couple places to hunt rabbits that I had not hit yet this year. This morning was a good opportunity. Bright blue sky. And I warmed up as I got walking.

Nina was very much on her game this morning! I had several flushes that she checked off of because the field is full of many downed trees, and there was no chance she would catch the rabbit as it ducked under cover. But after about an hour in the field, I worked a particularly thick area, and popped a bunny that she caught in very thick cover. That's #21 for the year. She is just at the top of her form. And she's starting to show it!! She did not molt out her 3 main primaries on the wings, and they are starting to look really tattered. And now she is beginning to tip her tail feathers. But otherwise, she seems to be doing just great.

I traded her off the bunny to the lure, and then checked it over. I'm going to now start seeing if I can do some "catch and release". Nina pretty much will give up what she is holding if I give her the garnished lure. But sometimes she's already damaged the bunny to the point I think it would just be cruel to let them go. I made that judgement with this one, as she slammed it pretty hard. So I made it a part of our game bag. And then, simply because it was such a hard catch, and we are going into a weekend that will be bitterly cold, I did something I don't normally do. I opened up bunny in the field, and let her have the fresh contents of the chest. These were full of moisture that she needs, as I never see her drink water. At least not in the winter I don't.

It was a pretty morning! And what we caught now really wasn't fit for pictures! So, I just took a closeup of my bird, after her morning feast. The scale later revealed she had over 7 ounces of food, which is a lot for a 3 lb bird. That's about 1/6th her weight. She's doing well!

And despite so many other things . . . . so am I.