After Rebel's glutinous start to the weekend, it was tough to get him back in flight shape. I was out of town on Saturday so gave him a duck leg to gnaw on without weighing him. I pulled him out Sunday evening for a flight and he was weighing in at a whopping 43 ounces. I didn't expect much of a flight at that weight but he needed the excercise so off he went. As expected, not so much into the hunting but followed well and came to the lure hard.
On Monday, I went back to Al's to hunt with him and his new bird Jade. Jade flew free for the first time and followed perfectly. She is a big female that closely resembles Big Bird from Sessame St. Well she actually started chasing squirrels on this first morning out and it was impressive. It was clear that she had played the game before, but she started getting tired so we put her up.
I pulled out Rebel hoping that he wouldn't make me look too bad. He was still pretty fat at 41 ounces after a cast but acting hungry and ready to fly. We headed out with him and he starting off following fairly well. That didn't last too long and he quickly took the lead. We ended up following him mostly and he would refuse to come down to the glove when called. On the positive side, he was definitely serious about hunting. He chased several squirrels hard but was a wingbeat too slow.
I began to get frustrated with him not responding to the garnished glove, so I walked on without him, expecting him to follow. He did follow, but it seemed that he was always too far behind and out of position when I would flush a squirrel. I grew frustrated and finally he came down to the fist after a very close chase by the edge of the swamp. We headed back to Al's house, not really hunting anymore, just chatting. I was planning to toss the lure near the car and put him up. Right near Al's back door, Rebel saw a squirrel and dove at it. I ran to the tree just in time to see it try to scamper away, only to be caught about 30 feet up in Rebel's talons.
Rebel performed the most perfect helicopter to the ground that I have seen yet and he had the squirrel by the head and body which was good. They had dropped right at my feet so I bent down to help him with the squirrel when for no good reason, he let go of the squirrel's head! The damned thing reached up and bit him in the right cheek which had me a bit scared. It wasn't half a centimeter away from his eye...
Rebel once again secured the head and I dispatched the squirrel. Rebel looked to be alright and I traded him off with a DOC with the smoothest trasition that we had yet accomplished. I gathered him up and looked him over. Small puncture to the cheek and a small bite to the right talon. I went home and played vet and put a happy full bird back in the mews.
Seveal things are concerning me right now. One is his weight. He is higher than he has ever been since feasting on duck. Feeling his keel, he is not sharp but definitely not fat. I am starting to think that "he" is a "she" and I need to slowly increase the weight (muscle not fat) and see if I can find a balance point. This is made difficult when youlook at the relatively poor fist response. The bird hunts well, follows well, flys hard, and comes to the lure without hesitation. He just has poor fist response. I am going to try to hide his tidbits and spend the next couple of days just working on fist response in the yard with variable rewards to pique his interest.
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