Luscian : 602 Grams

10/31/09 : 602 Grams

Activity :
9:35 AM 602 Grams

Luscian and I have not gotten to hunting in a few days due to snow, wind and allot of cold. After weighing him I decided that we would hunt today for sure. He was pretty wound up and that helped with the decision. I thought of the field that I used to take Maynard to and remembered of the honey hole that it was. The college has lost most of the best hunting areas but this one is still there. There are lots of trees and when I got there I noticed that there was allot of heavy cover too. We worked one part of it chasing lots of sparrows. I wasn't seeing any rabbits but I was seeing lots of sign. While luscian was in a tree I flushed a bunny and made the game call. Luscian came in closing the distance quite quickly missing my mere inches. I watched the bunny take off and slow to another area. After luscian came back to the fist we walked to the area. There was some thick willow in front of us and as we came to it luscian left the fist full tilt. He flew just past the willow banking a hard left and out of my sight as he tear dropped to the ground. Sweet sounds to my ears followed with the scream of a bunny! I had to really listen hard for the bell on luscian to find him at the catch site. When I found him I sat down to stretch the bunny. I won't get to hunt tomorrow so I felt a big reward was in order. Luscian ate so much that he acted like he was having trouble breathing. Then he sneezed and blew a bunch of liquid on my glasses. Funny but then not. The walk back to the truck was uneventful and the perch was real welcome for a good feaking. Here is to Luscian!

594 grams

Photo: Luscian watching as I work a Rat nest for a Quail or a Rat.





Todays day was real short till the eating time came up. I picked him up at lunch and put him in the truck so that we would be ready to hunt after my meeting at work. We got out shortly after 4 which gave us right around 2 hours to hunt. We started off in a pretty thick area and I started to hit nests working to see if any quail or rats would come out. The second nest we hit had a rat and we caught that with a bit of work. This rat was real smart and needed a few flushes to get him in the bag. He ended up bailing and running for another nest but just couldnt outspeed Luscian. I traded him off for a DOC. Then we started walking and within maybe 40 steps we got a cotton tail up. The rabbit should have kept in the thick portion of the field but broke for the less thick area. Luscian got to him after a good 50 yard flight. By the time I got there Luscian had the rabbits gut torn open and the rabbit was still alive. I made in quickly to dispatch and traded him off for a Jack Head. He traded off pretty well but wanted to take the cotton tail with him to the jack head. He only needed a few seconds and decided he wanted the trade off more and I got to take care of the cotton tail. Luscians beak is almost back to normal now and having a few heads to work that beak has been a great help.


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Tomorrow and thursday are supposed to be snowy and lots of wind so I dont think we will get to do much hunting. This head should hold him till thursday and The weekend should be much better.

610 Grams

The weather was just perfect at 55 degrees and absolutely No wind. Luscian and I went out despite he was 15 grams up. Somehow he didn't drop weight last night and he had no casting. He even stayed outside for the first time ever. What are ya going to do? We went to a totally new area that was at least 50 acres. The cotton tail where everywhere and we must have chased at least 20. We pulled fur on one cotton tail and would you know it, even a Jack. Luscian still doesn't understand or doesn't have the foot eye coordination to get that bunny in the bag. He is still young though and learning and so am I with this little guy. The weight though seemed to give us energy to really chase hard and far today though. Crashing in the bushes was not a problem today. At one point , the first covey of quail he took off and crashed a cholla at some scaled quail. A good dozen birds busted out and when I heard no bells I thought he might of had one. Nope. Just a fist full of a cholla branch that had basically stapled his foot shut. I got that pulled out with my hemostats and off we went. We ended up chasing 3 coveys of quail today too. Round and Round we are chasing almost everything. Just waiting for a little more experience to help. That and maybe a little cooler weather.

Alamosa Field Meet

Photo Credit: Jenni
Edited by Chuck

This past weekend Luscian was awesome with his weight management and his talkativeness. He didn't necessarily fly like he meant it and it could be attributed to a few things. We are not used to flying as many hours as we did and he did manage to get some pretty good casting. There where mice, chipmunks, Sparrows, Pigeon, Cotton tail and Jacks. The First day out we chased lots of cotton tail. The scrub was just way too thick for him. He still hasn't figured out that he can get in the same place the bunny went into when it comes to the bushes. He pitches up and stays up there till I can come in for the re flush or he ends up going somewhere else. Sometimes I think that once he cant see the bunny, It has disappeared and he will not get it so he will stop the chase. I'm sure that with a little more experience he will get that under control and will show the world what a Harris is supposed to do. He did manage to take a sparrow in great form with his dive into the bush. I could hear the tell tale sound of the bells that he was plucking. I let him have that and we went on. He then caught a Pigeon that was trying to get out of a railroad car that is on a property for storage. I had to climb on top of the car to get him and trade him off to a DOC. The second day he chased a few times good but for the most part with all the casting he didn't show that real zeal to get the bunnies. He did manage to catch a Mouse though so then he had more casting material. Man when the meet was on I couldn't keep Casting out of my bird. I wish that it would have been more productive with bunnies but I have to remember that he is a youngster and will chase anything and unfortunately the little things will get caught easier. The third day I just couldn't get enough game under him and it really was not productive.
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I did have tons of fun though as I had some of the best company to share the weekend full of hawking. Roger with his Goshawk, Dan and Deanna with their Red Tails and Jenni with her GYR/PERIGRINE. What a time and now I cant wait for our second meet this year in Burlington.

Luscian : 593 Grams

10/14/09 : 593 Grams

Activity :
4:47 PM 593 Grams

I waited a little too long to get out today. When I decided to get out the wind had picked up at 1pm. According to the weather at 1pm the wind started a down slope. At that point the temp was at 64 degrees and with the 20-30 mph winds by 2pm it was 82 Degrees! WOW! We still flew through it as I was not finding any rabbits. I figured the exercise would be well worth the day out. It was not all in vein though, we did chase a good 4 coveys of quail. A couple of the flights went down wind and Luscian had a decent chance but just couldn't connect. He follows well to the bush they went to but when they bust out he stays put on the second flush as though to think that one is still there. That may be the down fall of hunting rats as that is almost always the case so we will stop hunting rats for now. I have a few quail left alive so I may just bag him a couple times to get his confidence up to catch and eat.

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Good Lord I hate the strong wind for its deterrent to bunnies.

Luscian : 604 Grams

10/13/09 : 604 Grams

Activity :
11:08 AM 604 Grams

Finally after days of the cold and wind We got a chance to get out. Back to the Honey Hole we went and found lots to chase. The first chase was yet again another Young Jack rabbit that managed to use the obstacles of the cholla to its advantage seemingly like it knows that Luscian hasn't figured out how to do a 180 out in the field yet. Luscian got back up after that juke but lost it to the speed of the rabbit running into a 10 mph wind. We chased a few Cotton tail after that with lots of zeal but some of them just disappear and I cant even find the hole they went into. Its as if they are ghosts.
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On to the catch of the day. As we where walking down a hill I was humming and making a little noise to assist in the flushing. At the bottom of the hill a cotton tail flushed out with Luscian in tow. The rabbit ran for 40 yards out in the open to another hill. It was running to another hole but it over shot the hole. Luscian reached out to grab it as it did a 180 to get back to safety. With that happening Luscian lost his grip and the rabbit tore off for the 10 yard sprint back to the hole. That wasn't enough though as Luscian really wanted this bunny and made it to the rabbit just as it made it to the hole. When I got there the rabbit was mostly down the hole with Luscian attached to its rear. I pulled them both out and layed them on the ground for a little one on one time after the dispatch. I traded off with a DOC shortly after Luscian ate a little off the bottom Jaw so we could hunt tomorrow. Luscian is starting to figure things out pretty well and his response was awesome! 5 days of not hunting really got him super hyped up, more than Id like to see. Seems doing jump ups on the off days doesn't do what is needed for the soul with this little bird so we will have to figure out what we will do when the temps really drop this season.

597 Grams

The weather has been terrible the past few days with freezing rain leaving ice all over everything and snowing this morning. After I got out of work I met up with a friend who was down in Pueblo Hunting with his Red Tail. He caught a Jack and a cotton tail and gave me the Jack. Thanks Dan.

So after I butchered the Jack I set aside 30 grams of jack cut up in tiny half bean sizes. My ceiling is only 8 foot in the house so the jump ups weren't that high but they where many and they managed to work Luscian enough to get him to quiet down. We ha vent been able to hunt in 3 days and he is getting noisier and noisier. Tomorrow morning we will get out for sure after the sun comes up. It is supposed to be sunny most of the day and I am hoping for a little warmer day and more rabbits for Luscian to chase.

Luscian : 596 Grams

10/7/09 : 596 Grams

Activity :
5:36 PM 596 Grams
8:19 PM 650 grams

Sorry for the late post on the hunt. My computer is weirding out on me and I have to do this in safe mode till I can get it looked at.

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Our first Day out Since the Bite went quite well. Luscian and I went out to our normal area. The other day I took another Falconer out to this area as he brought a magazine writer and wanted to see how this little Harris would do. Well we didn't get anything that day but then we also didn't go check out this new part of the field. I went there today with Luscian. We only had an hour of light to hunt and the walk was a good mile off. When we got there we instantly flushed up a Jack. Interestingly enough the rabbit took off with Luscian stuck in a cholla that he got stuck in after chasing a sparrow. Luscian watched the jack as it ran but it didn't have any urgency and seemed to be changing direction allot. Luscian took off after it and the darned think took to a bush. Luscian instantly pitched up as if to tell me to hurry and get there. We got the jack out but it hauled butt to the next county and Luscian just didn't want to chase it that far. Not 5 minutes later with Luscian on the fist, We where walking through some tall grass when 20 feet ahead of us we saw the grass start to sway and move. Sure enough it was a cotton tail and with luscian in tow. Luscian climbed up to about 20 feet as he followed the disturbed grass and just at the right moment he instantly swung and teardropped to the ground with an instant scream of a bunny! I made in pretty quickly and cleared the grass so we could have a pleasureable feast. I let him crop up good on this bunny, Gutting the rabbit as he ate.

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The weather the past few days hasn't given us much to work with and tomorrow (10-10-09) isn't supposed to get over 40, so here is hopes that maybe at least it will be dry and we will give it a go again. For now it is wet and cold so I'm going out with another friend and our guns to see if we can get a couple ducks.

611 Grams

I have decided to give Luscian one more day to rest the foot. He looks almost 100% better. The swelling is gone and the puncture wounds look great. He was pretty vocal today. I know he wants to be out flying. Tomorrow I promised him.

Luscian : 627 Grams

10/5/09 : 627 Grams

Activity :
4:32 PM 627 Grams

Luscians toe looks alot better today and most of the swelling has gone away. The bite wounds look clean and uninflamed. He doesn't seem too offended by it and is squawking a bit now expecting to go hunting. Not in this 30+ winds though, it just wouldn't be fun. That and after yesterdays meal he is at 627 grams though I doubt id loose him anyhow.

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I was pretty worried for a bit there.

Lucsian : 586 Grams

10/4/09 : 586 Grams

Activity :
4:13 PM 586 Grams
8:08 PM 714 Grams

Personally I think I brought Luscian down a little too low today. He flew pretty much half power, though not kicking up any cotton tails didn't help that much. We did kick up a few covies of quail but without doing a baggie lately giving him something to catch a little easier he seems to not want to chase. The weight thing may be an issue there too. We did end up getting a rat out of a nest and catching it as the only catch of the day but there was a down side to that too. The rat had a pretty good hold of luscians first toe so I jumped in right away and smashed the rats head but the damage was already done. While I did that Luscian grabbed my middle finger and put the clamps down so we both got a jacked didgit now. I cleaned his toe when we got home but it is a little swollen. Fresh blood came out of it when I cleaned it and applied neosporin. I'm sure it will be OK as the bite was not that bad and he doesn't seem to care about it even when I was cleaning it. Pending on how it looks tomorrow he might just get a day off tomorrow. He did get a little extra cottontail today along with a day old chick so getting a good dinner hopefully will help too. These stinking rats can be as bad as a fox squirrel at times as far as their bite. Their fight though is like a cotton tail, usually giving up fast. Here is to tomorrow looking better and healing good to hit the fields for more game.

Lucsian : 607 Grams

10/2/09 : 607 Grams

Activity :
8:24 AM 617 Grams
10:18 AM 607 grams

Luscain and I went out to the stomping fields for a mix of jack and cottontails. Things went well and we chased a good dozen cottontail but they where just too good for this little Harris this early in the season. Not to say that he didn't try, he just got skunked on cotton tail. As far as jacks go we did manage to have a fun show. We got up 4 jacks all of which Luscian chased. The last one though was pretty interesting how it worked out. Luscian came in pretty fast and as the rack was running straight my Hawk latched onto that jacks Butt! The jacked hunkered down but kept trying to run with this little Harris In-Tow. Luscian wanted to get up to the head though and reached up just grabbing the shoulders. That's when the Jack spun and lost Luscians grip but not His determination to get back up and try for round 2. Well now Luscian only went another 30 yards and decided that it really wasn't worth it but it was a good experience and I know that if I get a few more young Jacks up then we might just seal the deal with the bigger ones later. Its not that I want to hunt jacks like crazy with my little Hawk here but if he will be successful at it then I have no problem helping him with his cause.