17 and 11

Cisco was on the disabled list for a few weeks, after a squirrel chewed on his toe a while back. The day before yesterday I took him hunting. My reference to the hunt in my log book was "Boh-ring!" He was an ounce heavy and it was warm. Today was different. Cisco was at 900 grams after two day fast; the weather was cool, also extremely windy. Cisco is very dependable in the wind, and though sometimes it affects the squirrels, I am not overly concerned about it. Cisco was spot-on. He made a perfunctory swoop at a fox squirrel, then quickly found a cat squirrel. A steady pursuit followed, including one interesting flight. The squirrel was at the top of a tall tree. Cisco flew upwind and used the wind as an elevator to put him very high in the same tree. He took a huge arc out, swung back and landed perfectly. A few minutes later he was on the ground with a squirrel. Arnold was there, worked well, and had fun. This is the last squirrel of the season. I clipped Farrah's talon

Cisco caught his toughest squirrel ever this evening. It took at least twenty minutes to catch it, then he had it in the tree for a long time. Still alive. He switched his grip and dropped it. He grabbed again on the ground and lost it. It went into a hole right under the tree. If I were sure it was healthy I would have let it go. A tired Cisco parked in front of that hole. I probed the soft ground with my stick, after digging a little by hand. Out popped the squirrel and Cisco grabbed it again. I piled in at that point.

I let Farrah chase squirrels but allow her only one contact each week. This can be a grab, catch, or a bite. This week it was a catch on a squirrel she spotted as we were heading home. We  saw no squirrels for an hour and a half. Suddenly Farrah looked down and she was on the ground.  Wednesday Cisco Thursday after a stressful hunt On Friday

We barely left the parking lot and had a spectacular chase.  The denouement of the best single squirrel chase ever. About twenty or thirty minutes. A consistent and unyielding effort on Cisco's part, and a squirrel that was super. I would not have minded its getting away... Cisco was a solid ounce overweight. He found a dead opossum a couple of days ago and apparently ate some... He also got his field ration.  Farrah yesterday 

 Happy New Year's Eve My apprentice Isaac reported that he caught his fourth squirrel with his passage Red-tail. My foster apprentice, Stephanie, caught her fourth. And today, Cisco caught his fourth lifetime fox squirrel. This is out of about 240 squirrels.  It was really stressful, at the same time interesting. Here's a text that I sent: Cisco's fourth lifetime fox squirrel taken. Stressful. Up in tree for a long time, hanging upside down. Then he dropped it, and grabbed, hanging onto its tail. He was covered in blood after it escaped and I called him. Cisco was super tired. 20 minutes later he pulled the wounded squirrel from nest and killed it. Jeez.  Everything started routinely. I had Arnold with me and released Cisco. He has not flown for more than a week, the season interrupted with a trip to Denver. Cisco took off and started working a squirrel, which he grabbed in some high leaves. The squirrel was squealing some and I could see Cisco hanging below. It went on for