Late November

Farrah with bird

A lot going on. Cisco, after his ten month dry spell, caught that rabbit in Amarillo. Since then he has been very efficient with squirrels even if the last two hunts were odd, to understate it. Here's a slightly edited version of the text I sent to some friends:
Today was to be a typical trip to the abandoned park where I hunt squirrels with Cisco. I brought Arnold the dog who helps keep squirrels up in the trees. Today ended up anything but typical. For about ten or fifteen minutes I believed that Cisco was dead, twenty five feet above me in some branches with his third squirrel in as many trips. This morning we hunted for about fifteen minutes when he connected (whack!) and I heard a squirrel squealing a sound vaguely like a squirrel call. Cisco didn't drop straight down right away so I tied up the dog. It was hard to get a clear view of the situation from the ground, but for a few minutes there was the usual tussle with some bell sounds. Then it got really quiet. I looked up and could just make out Cisco's left wing spread out. But it wasn't moving. I shook the vine that lead up there, blew the whistle, hollered at him, waved the tidbit bag. Nothing but dead silence. Ten or fifteen minutes later I decided he was dead. A heart attack or bizarre squirrel bite to the head? I began to try to figure out how to get their bodies down. Climbing irons would have resulted in a third fatality. I shook the vine again. I heard a bell, and Cisco shifted position. A few minutes later he launched from the tree, carrying the squirrel, started to go to ground, but instead made me cross the creek. 

Yesterday, I took Cisco and Arnold out for squirrels. At one point Cisco disappeared so I put Arnold in the car while I tracked Cisco with receiver. Actually not necessary if I had been patient. So we started the hunt over forty minutes later. Cisco quickly caught a squirrel but was holding it in the most awkward looking way that I couldn't figure out. After Cisco got freed up he started to parachute to the ground and dropped the squirrel. A parachute turned into a dive and he caught the squirrel on the ground right in front of me. Wow....

And then there's Farrah. She caught a tiny bunny west of Katy, but has been catching birds like crazy. Eight years ago Cisco set a record for my team. This week, Farrah tied it.


Cisco on Monday


Six perches and they sit next to each other 

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