Christmas Vacation Hunting Adventures

Christmas Vacation Hunting Adventures

Christmas vacation is always a good time to spend with family
and friends to visit over the holidays. I also enjoyed getting
in a few extra hunts during the break. I was able to get out
to a favorite hunting area of mine, close to home and always had
rabbit sign present. It just took a long time for Tahoe
to nail one. I started out walking to the fence row across
the meadow, and held on to Tahoe so she could take just the right
perch. It seems that her first perch was too low, and she
found a high perch atop a dead-wood trunk. Excellent
placement. It turns out that the second brush pile, right
under the tall snag held a cottontail and he skittered out as soon
as I started crashing through. Tahoe stooped from her perch and
caught the rabbit in the brush. I quickly made in and the bunny was
in the bag! Here’s a quick snap of the rabbit under
Tahoe.

On a second
adventure, we went hunting through a patch of Christmas Trees.
It was a beautiful day with the temperatures climbing and the
sunshine making for a very enjoyable day. The rabbit tracks
were plentiful in the trees, but they just weren’t out frolicking.
It wasn’t until we walked through a section of really
big pine trees that the hawks were able to score. My fellow
falconer’s Harris Hawk nailed the target and we didn’t leave empty
handed. A few days later I walked through another old favorite
hunting area that always holds rabbits. Lots of sign and lots of
brush piles to hold the critters. Turns out that the warm weather
just wasn’t conducive to frolicking rabbits again. Tahoe was
able to score a few voles during the course of the hunt and after
the second one, we headed back to the truck for the conclusion to a
fine afternoon of hunting. It was just a great day to be out and
walk around the park watching my hunting hawk fly. It’s not
the amount of game, but just the experience of hunting with a bird
that makes for a satisfying afternoon.

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