"Falconry is not a hobby or an amusement: it is a rage. You eat it and drink it, sleep it and think it. You tremble to write of it, even in recollection. It is, as King James the First remarked, an extreme stirrer of passions." T.H. White

The Godstone and Blackymor, 1959 (First American Edition) Van Rees Press, New York, page 18.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Jan 19 – Bunker Buster


Today Rebel showed me something new that I haven’t seen much of before with her.  She has crashed nests in the past but this time she was bouncing around from nest to nest shaking things up.  It was pretty cool to watch.

Rebel was keen to fly after work today weighing in at 42.4 ounces.  She didn’t get to fly yesterday due to work stuff so I had to race home this afternoon to get her out before dark.  We went to our newly found horse stables area and hit the ground running. 

Right off the bat, Rebel got up a squirrel in a tall live oak and chased it through several trees before it got away.  I was actually surprised that she missed it as hard as she was chasing.  Lately, it seems that her experience has been making it almost too easy for her on squirrels.  Not these squirrels though.  They were fast and experienced and knew where to hide.

We decided to explore a bit and we set of in a wide arc around the property.  As I mentioned, there are plenty of trails and a ton of small slews and lake areas.  Rebel was a bit frustrated after her first miss so in her usual fashion, she decided to lead for a bit.  It is kind of funny because the takes of ahead and then waits for me to catch up.  If I go a different direction, she just stares and eventually follows.  Sort of a constant test of wills as to who will lead I suppose.

Well as we came around full circle, we got up another pair of squirrels and Rebel was all over them.  She chased them through several trees until they both ducked into the same nest.  She was on them in a New York second crashing into the nest like a Kamikaze.  Both squirrels bailed out of the bottom so she quickly resumed the chase.  She selected her target when they split up and when he ran into a nest, crashed after him as well.  Once again the slippery devil got away.  This repeated two more times!  Every time, Rebel was holding on to the nest a little longer giving the squirrel a better chance of escape.  This one did get away, but it wasn’t long until we had another running, this one out over the swamp.

I had waterproof bots on but wasn’t sure how deep the water was in some spots, so I was having a slow time of it navigating through the swamp.  Not so much Addie.  She bounded through the water like an otter following the action.  I honestly can’t explain how Rebel failed to catch this squirrel.  He was trying to hide in the tallest branches of small Ceder and Cyprus trees with very poor cover.  Rebel had several beautiful chances at him, including twice when he tried to hide in a nest only to find her tearing it down with him inside.  Both times, the squirrel made it out the bottom but Rebel was clearly dialing in to the nest thing.  That was six nests she had dive bombed in just one hour!

The squirrel finally made it to ground where Rebel did a nice wingover to grab him.  She had him but he twisted out of her talons and she gave chase over ground.  Now most times, once Rebel has them on the ground, it is game over her favor.  Not this time as this quick varmint scuttled under a root and up the other side of the tree.  Rebel gave up and just stared at me like it was all my fault.  Women…

On the way out of the woods, she hit another nest just for kicks but there was nothing in it.  I do love to see her figuring out tools and skills that make her a more successful hunter.  It is going to make me feel much more comfortable when I do finally turn her back to the wild, knowing that she has these skills to help her make it though the winters.

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