A tense moment as Cisco nabs his second squirrel. After some unsuccessful treetop chases, he attacked a dray and scored. This was a tough rascal that he killed up in the tree. Cisco had him and was hanging upside down panting, wings pointed at the ground. All I could do was holler up at him. After a good ten minutes we had a dead squirrel and he coasted down, where Cisco happily took a commercial rat in exchange. I cut the head off the squirrel which he munched on as we headed to the Element. Not a nick on Cisco's feet. Flying "naked" as always.
This hunt typifies the difference between Farrah and Cisco. In these same woods a couple of weeks ago, Farrah attacked a dray, grabbing a squirrel. After a few minutes, the squirrel escaped and I believe that was the hunt where the Harris's hawk was bitten severely on the pad of her rear toe. I don't know for sure because she caught a good sized cat squirrel a few days later. As I have written repeatedly, Farrah can catch squirrels better than any red-tail I have seen, but putting them in the bag is another issue. She is bitten far too much and I generally make the effort to avoid squirrels with her. Farrah has a powerful grip and great maneuverability in the trees. Her footing must be sloppy. She loses a lot of squirrels and is almost always bitten.
Sorry, out of focus
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