08 Tiercel Gos

[laj]

So our season starts today, and what better way than to kick start it with a kill! Picked Sky up from his screen perch, he weighed in at 775 grams and surprisingly he never made a sound, he does make a couple of calls when he is free lofted and sees me coming. We flew my friend's male Harris first behind an elementary school over his dogs and my pup rat terrier. After 20 mins it caught something small and ate it on the tree...hunt over. We had about 40 mins left before Scott had to go to his daughters dance practice and I really needed his help if we are going to jump anything for Sky in the kind of cover we have early in the season. We headed to a small field behind the cemetery a few mins from home. The cover are just too thick to hunt from the fist so I had Sky on the T-Perch, which he rode around for about 25 mins and never once left it. We came down to the last patch of thicket and a mound of branches when Scott jumped a bunny and Sky left the perch like a rocket and made contact with the bunny just before it enter back into the cover, somehow the bunny manage to free itself and hop back out. Everything now seems like slow motion, I am making eye contact with the bunny coming straight at me with a determine Gos picking himself up almost instantly after the miss (one of the reason I like about a Gos) and was able to catch up quickly, the bunny was able to avoid collision with me and made a big mistake by going right around an abandon building and into the open instead back into cover where I was guarding. After another 20 or so feet after the turn the Gos finally met its target and either the Gos picked him up or the bunny jumped at the right time because now they were both airborne, only to return themselves to the ground tumbling. When they both come to a halt, the Gos changed his footing and firmly plant 8 talons on the bunny's neck and head. Game over. Sky did scream a little when he had his prize under control but did not make one peep from the moment I picked him up from the mews all the way to the end of the chase. I think I accomplish a quiet imprint. What I was mostly proud of wasn't the kill, but he did not leave his prize to attack me and let me stretch the bunny without any incident. After about min Sky slick down and starts to break in I clip him up and slid a loaded lure underneath him to trade him off after he took a few bite. Got home and found my daughter, son and wife doing the yard so I took the opportunity to feed Sky up in front of everyone. Shot this video at home and cropped him up to 930 grams...don't think we'll be hunting tomorrow.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...t=M2U00045.flv