Just thought I would post a few pics from last week.
My good friend and hawking buddy, Rob trained a young female Harris (named Yaris) last year and I have spent much of the season joining him on hunts. I used my English springer spaniel and ferrets to provide her with slips, and we would often take turns slipping her off the fist. One item of prey that she had not caught all season was hare. Rob really wanted to put one in the bag before ending the season so we made it our mission for the very last day.
Here is rob looking for brown hare in the morning mist, accompanied by my spaniel...
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ainhare001.jpg
We found Yaris a huge brown hare, and she was straight off my fist. The flight was long but she soon caught up to him. Yaris boud but was knocked off with a big kick. Like a true warrior she picked herself up and kept going. Three times she grabbed the big old hare but failed to hang on. When I caught up with her, she had bust a talon...
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ainhare002.jpg
We thought about going home but this was the last day of the season, and we really wanted that hare. We applied some potassium permangenate which stopped the bleeding, and then we headed off to some different land which holds blue hare.
Rob and Yaris looking for blue hare...
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ainhare006.jpg
The hare were flushing well and Yaris was not detered by her previous talon busting experience. She connected with three or four hares but again was struggling to hold them. Yaris is only a small female Haris.
Eventually we got one, and Rob was over the moon!
What a way to end the season...
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ainhare015.jpg
