Encouraged

Today was our best day yet! Only thing that could've made it better was actually catching something!

I suppose you could count that first kill as our "best day yet" but it was a fairly short, one slip one catch day whereas today we had lots of great flights and just couldn't seal the deal.

One of best things about today was that Hayduke chased (and just barely missed) a starling. So far he's been reluctant to take them on so to watch him go after one with gusto was an encouraging sign. It was the first slip of the day too! A large-ish group of 20-30 birds picking at the leftover goodies in front of a closed restaurant. He shot off the fist and headed straight for a bird with its back turned. The rest of the birds got up as soon as he left the fist but his target was oblivious. It jinked right at the last second but it was so close I think he may have hit it or at least grazed it's back with a foot!

The remainder of the 4 or 5 slips were at sparrows and all of them were awfully close. Not sure why he wasn't able to nab at least one of them. He may have been a tad high. After his last slip he dinked around buzzing the glove a few times and was buzzed by a wild female before I tossed out the lure with a starling wing attached. He even buzzed the lure once before binding to it and trying to drag it away. So he was definitely high at that point and it wasn't the best ending to the morning but before that the flights were great and he returned promptly after each slip. Definitely an encouraging morning and I'm looking forward to getting out again asap.