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Hey Thirteen

Farrah began her thirteenth season with me this morning. First field trip. I got up before five to try to get to the field early to avoid the heat. When I opened the front door to take Arnold the dog walking, a humid blast of air greeted me. An instantly bad mood. I don't like the heat anyway, and combined with hunting?? Grr.

I headed out after weighing Farrah. Her scale weight was 800 grams. With her anklets, jesses, band and tail clip, her net body weight about 785 to 790 grams. A good weight in a lot of ways but I fly her a little higher because she's less interested in killing herons, at least that's what I tell myself. 

I headed out via Whataburger, picking up a sausage biscuit and a free old guy cup of coffee. At the park, it was slightly drizzly. Farrah sat quietly, stepping on my fist. She flew to a tree, and I grabbed the t pole and headed west, perch held above my head. She flew to it like old times.

She flew to a tree, and I decided to cut the rat in half. She flew to the ground nearby. In a minute she flew to another tree ahead of me. Then in classic buzzard style she made a long fast serious dive about a hundred years ahead and disappeared. I started whistling and running. When I approached she was finishing off a hapless ground rodent, likely a juvenile cotton rat. She was well into it, so didn't fly off as is her wont with cotton rats. Maybe her lower weight helped. I fed her a small chunk, released her and walked back to the vehicle. It was still raining a bit. All in all, a nice first morning. Buzzards are fun. 

Pictures are post hunt. 






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