SNOW DAY!

I had planned on taking Katana on one more hunt before heading up to Dave's this weekend, but the weather decided not to cooperate. When I got out of school it was in the 20's and sleeting like crazy. The sleet eventually gave way to snow and we accumulated several inches by 3pm. Katana has never done well in the snow (she won't commit to the chase) so I just gave her a day of rest. The snow in Fort Worth was incredible, and is still coming. It is supposed to snow through most of the night which should give us a pretty eventful drive tomorrow. The weather forecast for the weekend looks great though, so I am looking forward to some great hunting! Here are a couple of pics from the snow today.

Interesting Kill

I took Katana to 2 fields today. In the first field, she did not follow very well, but was in position for the first few flushes. All of the rabbits came out of a brush pile, but did not stay out for more than several feet prior to going back in. Katana just could not get there quick enough. At the end of the hunt when we were working back to the car, she went down looking like she was after a rat. She did not come back up so Krys made in as he was closest. Turned out that she was picking at a crawfish that she caught. She started eating it but decided that she didn't like it much so she jumped up for a tidbit. The second field she followed great, I just could not produce much game. She did chase one rabbit several times, but it kept going back and forth under a fence and it finally got away. Overall, it was a great day and she flew well.
26 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 2 rats, 1 crawfish

Quick Hunt

Went to a local field today to fly Katana and ran into Ryan on the way there. He has been trying to enter his Prairie Falcon on rabbits. I decided to beat the brush for him and the bird did very well, but did not catch a bunny. I went to a nearby field to hunt, one that I have not hit in months. It was close and time was short so I figured it best to at least get Katana some flight time. I left Ryan at 2:00. Pulled into the field and tossed Katana up. I was crossing the tracks when the first rabbit broke and Katana was on it from her very high perch. She nailed the rabbit by the head and had it completely under control when I got there a few seconds later. I transferred her off, which went beautifully, and fed her up. I gathered everything up and went back to the car. The hunt was over by 2:20. it was a short day, but she flew hard on her one chase and received a nice reward for her efforts. Tomorrow I will fly her longer as time won't be as much of an issue.
26 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 2 rats

Another Double!

Today was another great day of hawking. We started out flying Katana in a fied that we have not hunted before. Her first fight was beautiful: a climb upward from a light pole followed by a tear-drop straight down. We had quite a few people in the field (including my sponsor) and they were all very impressed. unfortunately, she missed that one. On the third flight, she took off from a tree tail chasing a rabbit across the field. She did not take off when it flushed, I do not think that she saw it, so there was a few second delay before she left the tree. I thought there was no way that she could catch it, but she did. I found her on top of the rabbit under a tree, a nice head shot and she had it under control. I put her up to fly Michael and Sheldon's Harris hawks, but this field did not yield any more rabbits taken. We then flew Boo and after several spectacular flights she grabbed a female grackle. Chasing the sunlight we hit one of our newer (and better fields) and tossed Michael's birds back up. The first rabbit up Padme nailed. He then put her up and flew his male Neo solo. The second rabbit up, he nailed. Working back to the car we flushed one more that he grabbed through a chain link fence by the head. Miraculously, he help on tight until Michael made it in. I tossed Katana up one more time, and we immediately flushed a rabbit for her. She took off out of the tree and just narrowly mossed it when it made into a brush pile. Diligently working the pile, Michael and Krys were able to reflush the rabbit, and Katana was ready. From he vantage point high in the tree, she came down with another clean head shot. Her aim is definitely getting better, and she is getting most of her rabbits by the head now. I hope this keeps up when we go hunt jack rabbits next weekend!! This is her second double for the season, and she has now surpassed last season's rabbit total. With a month or so left in the season, I just hope she continues to get better and better!!
25 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 2 rats

Where have all the rabbits gone??

I guess that it is that time of the year...the weather is getting hotter and the grass is getting browner. All of this leads to a shortage of rabbits as the hide in the deep cool of the soil during the hot muggy days.
I gave Katana Tuesday off and we resumed hunting on Wednesday. Michael Beran came into town so we hit some of our better fields. We still managed to kick up a few slips, but Katana was unsuccessful. The field that I flew her in has a lot of brush piles and the rabbits would just run between them yielding a lot of close misses.
Thursday was a lot of the same, some great flights but no connections.
Friday I took her to a field that I have not hunted in a while but was close to the house. She had some trouble deciding where to perch, and her selection was not great. Because of this, she had some nice long chases but the rabbits would get away. Working back towards her, though, we kicked up a rabbit that she stooped out of a tree to grab. A beautiful flight, straight down and another bunny in the bag.
Today we went to several fields that are usually great, but the rabbits were no when to be found. I flew Katana in 3 fields, the first one yielded no slips. The second only gave us two chases in heavy reeds. She was perched atop a building giving her a great advantage but just could not crash hard enough. At one point she had a rabbit deep in the reeds that got away and she obviously gave up a great fight as it was screaming and she was covered in mud. If I had to speculate, she was probably sitting precariously on top of the reeds and barely had the rabbit by the butt when it got away. We hit one more field, in desperate search of a few more flights. She was perched high in a tree when the first rabbit broke. She headed out for a nice long tail chase that ended in a crash and tumble. As we made in she had the rabbit completely under control and it was a nice clean head shot. Yea! I transferred her off as she had now flown almost 2 hours today and the heat was obviously making the rabbits scarce.
I am also trying to get her used to the mews. Last year she would bounce around like crazy, but she seems to be doing better this year. I hope that she will settle down so I can molt her there. When we got home, I hosed her off and into the mews she went. So far so good. I am only putting in there when I am home and can keep a good eye on her until she gets used to the mews.

23 rabbits, 3 snakes, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog, 1 mouse, 2 rats