2008 Annual THA Meet

I hunted Katana on Tues and Wed prior to heading up to Abilene for the THA meet. On Wed I had her weight up to 965, and all I can say is WOW. Her flights are even stronger and harder. I will continue to raise her weight slowly as long as I still have good response in the field. At the meet, we had trouble finding game which was a shame. Katana flew harder and followed better than I have ever seen her on Friday, and the only rabbits we were able to flush were in deep briars where she could not crash hard enough to take them. On Saturday we flushed a few, but she ended up going down on a rat on the other side of a huge fence. I could not easily get to her with out risking injury, so I let her eat up and then called her to the lure. Although her huge crop made her a little more hesitant, getting her back was still pretty easy. That took her out of the game on Sunday - her weight was too high. I had every intention of flying her today when I returned home, but alas - it is raining. I guess I will have to wait for better weather, and I look forward to seeing her hunt more at this higher weight.
11 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 2 rats

Some much needed rest....

Well, I gave Katana 2 weeks off mid-season as I like to do and brought her weight up. We took a trip to Virginia over Christmas, and other than a couple of walks she stayed fat and happy on her perch. When we returned, the winds were howling for days and it took me a while to find decent weather to fly her in. Finally on Thursday, even though it was still pretty windy, we went out. Five minutes into the field Katana nailed the first rabbit we kicked up. I proceeded to hunt her for about an hour with many great flights, but the day only yielded the one rabbit. This is of course taking in to exception the half a rabbit she nailed halfway through the hunt :)
Friday we went back out and she is flying strong. Still fighting the wind (I don't think that it will ever stop!) she managed to score another rabbit which unfortunately got away before I made it there.
Today, STILL WINDY :(, she flew stronger than ever in the second field that we hunted. Although she did not take any game, her flights in to the wind we hard, and downwind were incredible. I just love to watch her fly, it is AMAZING! We will go back out tomorrow for another full day of hunting, and I look forward to every second of it!

11 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 1 rat