I am able to report that Percy caught a rabbit today. Alas, I get ahead of myself... On Friday I took Percy out to an old abandoned rail yard and decided to tempt fate (See this post) and fly him free. He weighed in at 918 so I wasn't looking forward to miracles. So I put on the field jesses and took my chances. I was able to bump a rabbit out rather quickly with him on the glove, but he didn't see it. He repositioned to a tree and was immediately harassed by four crows. I worked hard to put a rabbit in front of him, but the only other one went off in the opposite direction. He didn't even raise a wing at him. I attempted to call him to the fist but at where he was he didn't want any of that action. After beating the brush around him I decided to break out the lure and call it a day. Lure response was immediate which, if I may qoute Marth Stewart, "Is a good thing."
So on today (Sunday) I decided to go out again. He had dropped to 908 and I went to an area where I took a lot of rabbits in the past. I put him up and started beating the brush. I called him to the glove occassionally he did take a dive on something. He started flying to be and landing on the ground. Knowing that he wasn't too low I would call him up (no reward) and put him up again. Finally, we went back to a bamboo patch that looked promising. While we were making our way there he took a couple of dives at a rabbit without any connection. In the bamboo patch he tried again, but missed. We ended up going about 1/2 mile from my truck. It seemed like we both had trained each other because he would get higher and higher perches as I would work towards him. After 3+ hours, a sore knee and a sweat soaked stocking hat I decide to walk a creek bottom that he had been sitting on for 15 minutes. I beat brush all around the creek bottom but finally decide to go down. As I was climbing up a small drop off where a feeder empties into the larger creek I hear ringing of the tell-tale bells and look to see him in a dedicated plunge and then I hear it. Rabbit number 1 in the bag only 16 days after trapping. I give him carte blanche and allow him to eat to his hearts' content knowing that I would not be able to hunt tomorrow. "We" both still need a little work. Primarily on calming down (he screams when I am helping him out) and staying focused. Today he has a very full belly and some good vibrations going on. Hopefully he will continue to catch on and understand the name of the game.
