WooHoo! First double today! What a great way to start the New Year! Rebel was revved up and ready weighing in at 44.6 oz. I had the privilege of taking my wife and her father with me this time, and Rebel made me look good. Well, as good as you can look to your father-in-law I suppose…
We went to our Georgetown spot in hopes again of ducks. It has been so long, I am worried that Rebel has forgotten them as prey. We pulled in and got everyone ready. We were talking a lot on the way in and I didn’t have much hope of getting to the first slip without flushing the ducks early. Rebel sensed this as well, taking off way ahead of us to scout the lake. Rebel actually flushed several ducks off of the water, but he drove at least one back down into the water and he flared off up into a tree! Perfect! I have been hoping to teach him to scout ahead and keep the ducks on the water until Addie and I can get there to flush, and this was text book.
I made in and flushed the duck up pretty quickly. Actually maybe too quickly, as Rebel elected not to chase. Bummer. We moved on around the lake, but there were no other ducks on the water. Rebel got a squirrel moving near the edge of the lake in an area where she has been successful before. She chased this squirrel through a dozen or so trees staying with it the whole time. She is really impressing me with the way she matures in her hunting techniques. She cornered it in a tall scrub oak and we saw a second squirrel up there with the first. Rebel did not pay it any mind. She swooped in and snatched her squirrel right off the trunk. She did carry a bit, which now I am somewhat expecting, but the trade off was easy and there was no snatching or footing.
I was pretty excited. It was a thrilling chess match and my bird was successful. It was still early and I didn’t have to be at work until one, so I put Rebel up again. She followed very closely at first, wondering where her prey had gone. I gave her a few extra tidbits and she cornered another squirrel high in a dead snag. This squirrel stayed tucked in for a long time. I thought maybe she was seeing things after we sat there for fifteen minutes with no action. Finally, Rebel took a dive flushing the squirrel to make a run for it. The squirrel fled across several trees getting closer to the ground. I was running to try to catch up and keep the squirrel up in the tree, when Rebel swooped low and peeled her second squirrel off of the side of the tree almost making it look easy! She carried a little way but not far.
She was still breathing pretty heavily when I got to her. I put the squeeze on and noticed a small bite. Nothing a little scarlet oil couldn’t handle. Rebel had caught a very nice buck squirrel weighing just shy of 20 oz. Sweet! The trade off was pretty easy. I elected to give her a DOC for her second reward and she accepted it greedily. We headed back to the truck, me sporting a heavy bag and a mile wide grin. My wife was sporting a fresh set of chigger bites. Dang. I can’t catch a break. Every time I think I am making some headway and getting her interested in falconry, something crops up. Pass the clear nail polish… Sigh.
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