Well, another season comes to an end and the time for moulting and renewal is apon us once again. a mixed season for me having lost my trusted harris Rico. A 4 year old male, Rico died suddenly and its a mystery as to why. Post mortem results have so far found nothing and its a guessing game. he was flying and feeding on the monday night, tuesday afternoon he was found dead. This was a total shock and devestating find. Rico will be sadly missed and if i get a bird with some of his ability then i will be on a winner. Rico died in early january and had 48 rabbits, 2 moorhen and 1 stoat to his name for the season having started hunting in October. Rico' best day came on a cold still november day when he took 7 rabbits, 5 of which were fantastic flights over distance, the other 2 were typical opportunistic catches where they were taken within 20 - 30ft. All this and we had a 2 hour wait on ferrets. Rico gave me and many others so much delight with his ability and style, and he made catching rabbits look so easy. his last 2 flights will stay with me forever. it was the sunday before he died and we were bolting rabbits with ferrets, a coney exited and hit cover pretty quickly with Rico throwing up high and holding for a time searching for his quarry, before dropping like a stone into some gorse and nailing the rabbit fare and square. nothing wonderfull and something i have seen dozens of times with him but Rico was as brave as they come and i lost count the number of times i had to pull back dense cover of gorse, bramble etc, to recover this kamokazi. nothing stood in the way of Rico and his quarry. The second catch that day was spectacular to say the least. Rico was waiting on, high in a tree a wee bit behind us. we were ferreting this woodland strip which was situated on a hill and running downhill. a rabbit bolted and rico was after it. what a flight. winding and weaving through the mature pine, under logs over logs, zig zagging and at great speed. 200m and struggling for sight we heard the scream which told us he had done his job once again. i am a bit of a cheat as i love to watch the whole flight and let my brother do all the running. not fare i know but he has youth on his side. anyway, watching my brother going at full tilt and struggle to stop was a delight in itself, but he got there and secured both quickly. fantastic flight and fantastic display from a fantastic bird. Rico will never be forgotten. another male with an attitude by the name of Jac' has taken up most of my time since Rico died. Jac is my brothers male harris, a juvenile, with great promise. he is taking rabbits regular and has flown and hit hare on a few occasions, and will fly at just about anything, from rooks to robins, . (youthfull inexperience). I have high hopes for Jac, he is doing everything right and is showing great promise. i believe he will become a great hunting bird as he ages. Jac has recently been put down to moult in preperation for an early start next season. i will hopefully be flying a small female next year to compliment Jac and help built a great hunting partnership.
