A Compilation of Hunts

Rich wears a GoPro out in the field with me.  Honestly, he does so voluntarily . . . I don't make him do it!  But sometimes he catches the action simply because he is looking at it, and so is the camera.  He has pieced together several recent clips, editing out some of the long boring parts where people are just walking and whacking brush.

The first two clips are from our hunt with Janelle on the very, very cold day.  You can hear the wind.  He did see the quick bunny catch.  I had him cut it off as bunny was crying for quite awhile until I could get there.  Right after I was calling Sassy down.  It was terribly cold, so she was more than happy to come to me and go back in the box.

The next two clips are from our hunt on Thanksgiving Day.  The first clip Sassy caught the squirrel, but while 'parachuting' down, she tangled up on some branches, and it was just the right kind of leverage that the squirrel broke free and got away.  We kept going, and a short time later she caught a different squirrel, which this time did not get away.  Special note, the call of the red tailed hawk.  When out hawking it is not uncommon to encounter resident birds, who will come and defend their turf, especially if you are flying a smaller hawk.  This one was only heard, never seen.

The last clip was from our last hunt, where I finally flew Wasp with Sassy.  There were several bunny chases, but this was the best one.  Bunny just got too much of a head start on Sassy, and at the end it made a quick turn, a 'juke', and she missed it.  If Wasp had joined her, this bunny may have made it into the bag, but he stayed firmly perched on an overhead wire.  However, this was a first hunt, so they need practice to get comfortable chasing the same bunny.  Since that time, another arctic blast has descended upon our area, so I won't be able to fly them until it warms up a little . . . if it does at all.  Special note on this last clip . . . my great disdain for burdock.  This particular location has quite a thicket of them.  Even though it spreads the seeds, I try to knock them down while walking past them, or I end up with them stuck all over me.  I wear my special burdock-proof hat in places like this.  I hate getting burdock in my hair!