17 and 11

 I got out early today it's been quiet. The Coulsons wrote in their Harris's Hawk, "Once the leaves fall, and the northern Red-tailed Hawks migrate down, gray squirrels are less likely to be far from their safe havens and more likely to be bedded down in their nests during the day." Who knows? I'll move from woods to woods until my main spot picks up again. The weather was nice, and I got there after dawn, about 0730. Cisco did have a chase in some super heavy cover. This is my west woods. Lot's of cover plus pigs. I heard them today, which is why Arnold stayed home. Cisco was certainly not fired up. He could have followed, usually not a good thing while squirrel hunting, but it would have helped today.  

A little after sunup, I got out to woods with the team. It was already on the border of being too warm. I gave it an hour. Cisco didn't show any intensity, and we saw no squirrels. He followed on loosely. In general, one doesn't want the hawk following on in the woods. You want him looking for squirrels. Cisco was not really looking that I could tell and when he followed on it was tardy. If he's parked sixty yards away in thick trees he won't see anything you kick up. It's all right. He got some exercise.

The most interesting thing about this day was my finding my signal finder, whistle, and lanyard, which I set down in the woods. Isaac, his new Red-tail and his two kids showed up. Good to see them but it was just enough of a distraction so that I didn't put my lanyard on, carrying it instead. I went out to retrieve Cisco, and set it down. I couldn't find it. Though I was pretty sure I left it in woods, I went home and tore my Honda apart. The lanyard was about where I thought I left it, and took twenty minutes to locate after returning to the woods. 

Guess no hunting for Farrah tomorrow..  

 I got up at five this morning, and headed to the woods about 0715, roughly thirty minutes later than target. The east entrance to Patterson Road was blocked because of recent rains, though it looked dry, and I wondered if I would be chasing woods today. The west end was open and a park ranger guy was there removing the barricades for the east. It was slightly warm mostly sunny, but not bad. Cisco was at 930 with Trackpack and  LF-4 transmitter. A body weight of about 918, roughly half ounce higher than I like. Arnold was with us. It was extremely quiet in these woods. It's been a very productive place - last season Cisco took a squirrel most days and we always got chases.   Cisco screamed like a Red-tail and a few minutes later we moved a good sized owl, probably a female Great-horned, but maybe a Barred. The screaming made me believe it was a GHO. We also had Red-shoulders do some minor harassment and a Cooper's flew by. It was a bit boring, taking an hour to drum up a chase.

The LF-4 transmitter from LL Electronics (Luksander) is powerful with a short antenna. It has a magnetic on/off switch that works well, even if slightly differently than Marshall's. The low battery signal is better than Marshall's because it really is a low battery indicator. Luksander's warning starts when battery is 3/4 down. Out of a thirteen day life you'll have a couple of days left of life, double beeping every five beeps. Marshall's low battery warning tends to come on with good batteries installed, which can be annoying. The thing I don't like about the LF-4 is the exposed battery. Though rare, even mounted on a Marshall Trackpack it's possible to get it drenched while bathing - it may short out, and drain. Happened once to me with my Red-tail. The solution is simple. Install a 1/2" soft plastic screw thread protector and discard Luksander's rubber battery sleeve. With RTV silicon gel, fill in the gaps at the end of the battery. Use a tiny s