"Hunting" with Cisco in Placitas

Farrah is starting to look good. Her activity level is high and she looks strong. She is still pushing out the two outer retrices, maybe a week from being hard penned. She has a dry socket in her left wing, one of her outer primaries. A couple of years ago I went out to her enclosure in Houston and there was that feather. It looked like it had been pulled out. Odd because it's not her typical behavior at all. I have never seen her pull on feathers other than preening. But there it was, a fairly long primary lying on the ground. Sure enough there's now a dry socket. It's easily visible when you see her fly. But she's fast and powerful, so it's not the end of the world. I flew Farrah in the yard this morning in Placitas, since I was going to fly Cisco out in the hunting area. She looked quite strong. And super responsive.

Cisco is older, not in great shape right now, but coming along pretty well. A week or two ago he was not even in good enough shape where it was worth taking out to my hunting area. So I flew him in the yard virtually every morning and he's quite a bit stronger. 

Today for the second time I took him out to Cibola National Forest. It was not exactly exciting but it was well worth doing. Cisco is not following on, having hunted squirrels so much over the last 5 to 10 years. Taking him out to hunt jackrabbits is a little bit different. He's high in weight and he lags, not following on. Nevertheless, he tracked a jackrabbit this morning. I saw the jack and I made a mistake on my approach. I came in blind, keeping the bush between me and the hare, hoping that the hare would run towards Cisco. Well he did, but he stayed well protected in the brush. There was no pursuit. All in all all, this morning Cisco got plenty of exercise and he's getting better and stronger. He was panting at the end which is a good thing. Below are pictures of the jackrabbit and Cisco and the main view. 


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