February 10

I have been hawking her every day, but no luck; however, she keeps trying :-)

February 2

Tomorrow I start my part-time job at OU, which will be in the afternoon, so I had to switch over to morning hawkng. I had to wait for her to caste yesterday, so I couldn't feed her any earlier than noonish, which meant that when I got her up to go hawking this morning, she was heavier than she has ever been, and she was a bit lethargic in the field as a result, but, not lethargic enough to pass up a chance to catch as CT :-) In heavy cover like I hawk in, the snow really helps her to see the rascals.

January 30

Okie caught a rabbit in the snow. It took me awhile to find her.

January 23

Okie caught another CT amongst the cedars in a new field I found. I was unable to see her catch it. Weight: 42 1/2

January 22

I had to wait a few days for Okie’s weight to come down, but, since the 18th, I have been hawking her every day. She has had a number of catchable slips and missed, and if given the opportunity, she has made a couple of tries on the same rabbit without success. I have been flying her around 43 ounces, which is almost three ounces over her trapped weight, so it could be weight related, but, her behavior in the field doesn’t suggest a lack of interest. She appears very attentive, follows nicely, and flies on every rabbit we can get up for her. It’s not easy hawking in this terrain, but, I really think she could/should have had most of these rabbits. I am wondering if the rabbits out there now are the “survivors,” and Okie might not up to the challenge.

I had been waiting for her to fly on a rabbit close enough for me to get a nice action shot, which was the case today—she caught the rabbit about ten yards away, while I stood and watched without taking a photograph until all was said and done.

January 15

Since Okie has missed on a number of attempts yesterday, I decided to take her to the "killing field" where she would have a better shot at catching one. We had just started hawking and she caught a rabbit without me seeing where she went, which, normally would have been no problems, except I could only get a weak signal and it kept going in and out. I searched the field until it got dark and the batteries on my receiver got really low, and went home.

The next day, bright and early, with new batteries, I went back to the field. I picked up a signal right away, but, again, it kept fading in and out, causing me to do a lot of footwork and driving around. I was driving down one side of the field and saw a RT in a tree, so I parked as soon as I could and started walking calling it to the fist; it flew off. So, I turned the receiver back on and got a signal; it seemed to be close by, but, the way my signals had been acting I wasn’t sure. I got out a rabbit leg and began whistling. Low and behold, out of a tree nearby, here shame came. She landed on the fist, and started eating the leg. She still had a sizeable crop from the day before—Greed is good!

I’m not sure what happened. Perhaps my batteries were weak, or I cut the new antenna too short (7 ½ inches). Whatever the reason, I’m, of course, pleased that she is back in the mews. Whew!

January 14

Okie missed a half dozen slips. She even had a hold of one, and lost it. I'm not sure what this is about, unless it is the weight--42 ounces