Post by Joby on Feb 25, 2008 11:46:51 GMT -5
Well, I just got back from my annual trip up to N. Indiana and boy did we have a good time. If you remember last year, I took my FRT and my two doxies up north and she ended up getting 11 bunnies in three days. Well, I took my two HH's up, and one of my doxies, Cobie, as my little girl Bayli is "with child".
Anyway, I got up to my friends place on Friday and we were joined by another Doxie falconer with his birds and dogs. We put out 5 dogs on the ground and flew 4 FHHs together. We caught 5 in a little over 3 hours (my girl got one) before calling it a day.
On Saturday, we were joined by K9Jay from this forum and spent a fun morning out where we caught two crows before getting the HH's and dogs together for an afternoon hunt. We went to a big Industrial Area that they hadn't hunted yet this year. There were a total of 7 of us with 3 birds in the air and 11 dogs on the ground. The short of it is that we ended up taking 11 bunnies (my girl took 3) in a little over 3 hours of hunting. Jay got to see his first Doxie/HH cast hunting and got a real treat when he saw the hit of a life time where a rabbit was flushed out from under a pile of machinery and ran straight towards an oncoming FHH. They had a head on collision, which resulted in the bunny being thrown backwards over two feet while doing a somersault, and landing stone cold dead. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see it since I had to go back and retrieve my bird.
On Sunday, we started out around 11 a.m. and went to a field where my buddies hadn't been before. My FHH was still acting a bit odd, so we left her in the box and just flew my buddies bird. We also had 5 dogs on the ground, including my little Cobie, who was the primary hole dog all weekend. Anyway, we ended up catching three bunnies and I got to see one of the neatest sights yet. Right along this road there was a high chain link fence which had some tall evergreen shrubs/trees which ran for about 75 yards. We all stood at the end where the fence opens up into the field and waited while one of the guys went back and worked the shrub line down towards us. We counted more than 33 rabbits that flushed past us as he worked down the fence row. Pretty amazing!!! Plus, the flusher finally admitted that he hadn't even gone all the way down the row, but had only gone half way and had noticed that he had flushed about 15-20 more rabbits in the opposite direction. AMAZING!!!
Anyway, the season tally for the 3 day weekend was:
18 rabbits, and
2 crows
Can't wait till next year. And I get the feeling we'll be seeing Jay up there next year as well!!!
Anyway, I got up to my friends place on Friday and we were joined by another Doxie falconer with his birds and dogs. We put out 5 dogs on the ground and flew 4 FHHs together. We caught 5 in a little over 3 hours (my girl got one) before calling it a day.
On Saturday, we were joined by K9Jay from this forum and spent a fun morning out where we caught two crows before getting the HH's and dogs together for an afternoon hunt. We went to a big Industrial Area that they hadn't hunted yet this year. There were a total of 7 of us with 3 birds in the air and 11 dogs on the ground. The short of it is that we ended up taking 11 bunnies (my girl took 3) in a little over 3 hours of hunting. Jay got to see his first Doxie/HH cast hunting and got a real treat when he saw the hit of a life time where a rabbit was flushed out from under a pile of machinery and ran straight towards an oncoming FHH. They had a head on collision, which resulted in the bunny being thrown backwards over two feet while doing a somersault, and landing stone cold dead. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see it since I had to go back and retrieve my bird.
On Sunday, we started out around 11 a.m. and went to a field where my buddies hadn't been before. My FHH was still acting a bit odd, so we left her in the box and just flew my buddies bird. We also had 5 dogs on the ground, including my little Cobie, who was the primary hole dog all weekend. Anyway, we ended up catching three bunnies and I got to see one of the neatest sights yet. Right along this road there was a high chain link fence which had some tall evergreen shrubs/trees which ran for about 75 yards. We all stood at the end where the fence opens up into the field and waited while one of the guys went back and worked the shrub line down towards us. We counted more than 33 rabbits that flushed past us as he worked down the fence row. Pretty amazing!!! Plus, the flusher finally admitted that he hadn't even gone all the way down the row, but had only gone half way and had noticed that he had flushed about 15-20 more rabbits in the opposite direction. AMAZING!!!
Anyway, the season tally for the 3 day weekend was:
18 rabbits, and
2 crows
Can't wait till next year. And I get the feeling we'll be seeing Jay up there next year as well!!!