RABBIT # TWO

On my lunch Wednesday Donald met me at the house and we hunted for an hour. We jumped two rabbits, the one ran from the cover down the path. Lily was high in a tree and came down fast. She was right on its' tail when I lost sight of them. I thought for sure I was going to hear the squeal but back in the tree she went.It wasn't long when she dove down in the field again but still no squeal. I found her on the ground - no rabbit.She got back up in a tree. We hunted a while longer, then I tried calling her down with the lure. She wasn't interested in coming to the lure.I didn't want to be late for work so I had Donald get me a live quail from my pen. When she saw it - down she came. We didn't hunt Thursday. Today's hunt went much better. We hunted the hedge row behind the cabin. Janey treed a squirrel and Lily went for it but it got to a hole. The dogs and I hunted down the hedge row, Lily moved along with us from tree to tree.I jumped a rabbit and Lily dove for it but there was a lot of cover and it got away.Lily got back up in a tree and we hunted on. I came to a small bush pile and gave it a hit. The rabbit ran out, saw Lily was watching she did a spin on limp and dove.I heard the squeak and new we had #two.

LILY GOT HER FIRST RABBIT

Sunday morning I called Garry and asked him to hunt with me.I wanted another set of eyes to watch Lily in case she wanted to do some long distance hunting.He came right over and we headed for the Cemetery down the back lane.I thought it would be a good place to start with only two big trees,it would be easy to keep her in sight. I parked just past the Cemetery, let the dogs out and put Lily on her perch on top of the truck. Within a few seconds Janey had a rabbit running down lane but Lily didn't see it. I carried her closer to the trees where she got in the closest tree and started watching.I started in to the Cemetery, Janey and Dakota were hunting the field.I could see that Lily saw something and down she dove.I heard the rabbit squeal and knew we had our first.She did a great job busting though the brush and grabbing it by the head.I quickly dispatched the bunny and let Lily eat some.After Lilye ate she hopped back on my glove leaving me with 3/4 of the rabbit.

LYDIA LITVYAK [LILY]

Lily has been so easy to train, she is so tame.She never bites or tries to foot anybody. She's more like a puppy then a hawk it's really crazy.Monday on my lunch hour I turned her loose for the first time. I took her down the lane and let her go.She went to this tree first.The dogs and I went to work hunting for a rabbit.Lily moved with us choosing higher trees.The dogs put a covey of quail up and Lily made a dive and missed.I called them back and headed for the field - Lily followed.She flew over the field and got really high then came back to a big pine tree.The wind was getting stronger and I was running out of time so I headed toward the house.Lily followed and landed in the top of this big tree by my new corn crib.I got my lure out and called her but she did not come down.I couldn't see her and don't really think she ever landed in the tree. I had one of my live quail with me and put it out there but no Lily. Last year after Keavy got lost for the day I bought a tracking system. Lily had the transmitter I bought on her.It took a while for me to find her even with it. It was four o'clock when I found her along Kibler Road about a mile from the house.She was in a high tree but came down to the lure. I'm going to wait till the weekend for the next hunt. I will have more time to find that rabbit or look for the hawk.

GOT MY HUNTING PARTNER

The wind was just right for the Red-Tails to sail over our traps Wednesday. I went to Western Maryland with Dave and Bill and had a great day trapping hawks. We caught 18 hawks. I got first pick and took the biggest one.I named her Lilya Litvak, after a Soviet air ace from WW11, LILY, for short.She's the one on the left, all taped up for the ride home. We turned the rest of the hawks loose.Here she is home with new ankets and jesses.She ate from my glove the first night and has gotten very tame.She weights 54 oz. Last weekend I caught a little male with my little BC trap. I taped him and weighted him. He was just over two pounds.I took some pictures and turned the little guy loose.Mark came over and we started work on my corn crib. I got most of the siding done on Sunday. Hope to finish this weekend. Lily at work.

QUAIL HATCH

The Quail started hatching Friday right on time.I haven't counted the unhatched eggs yet but should have about 800 bobwhitesI had 50 Coturnix Quail eggs in with the bobwhites and 40 of them hatched. They are a Japanese Quail that grow fast and get bigger then the bobwhites.I got them for Falconry I'll use some to catch my new Hawk this fall.I turned Keavy loose the end of March. I hope she doing ok on her own.