Cat and Mouse

[pikestabber]

Just thought I would share a neat experience my 9 year old nephew and I had this weekend. A half hour into our afternoon hunt on Saturday we heard a large crash off to our right. Initially all I saw was a flash of white but my nephew said he saw what looked to be a grouse... Confused, we both watched as a snowshoe hare, half white or so, zipped out of the brush, zigzagging along, and stopped under a tree. A hawk (with very grouse-like colors) blasted through about 10 feet off the ground and dive-bombed the bunny, but missed. The hawk then lit up in a tree above the hare which stopped in some brush near the base of a tree. The hare then zigged right, zagged left, and repeated this for several seconds, never really going anywhere, just trying to juke the hawk out; meanwhile, the alert hawk was perched 5 or so feet above it turning its head with each move the bunny made. When the hare shot in a straight line and ran 10 feet away, the hawk dove at it, missed, and landed in the tree above it while the hare started its zigzagging in place again. This went on for several minutes while we watched in astonishment…the hare would dart this way and that, and the hawk just watched, but whenever the hare made a linear move, the hawk took a swipe and then landed in the nearest tree to where the hare stopped again. Finally, the hare took off back in the direction it originally came from after making a large circle in front of us with its evasive maneuvers. The tandem disappeared, and I never heard the bunny scream, so perhaps it got away, or perhaps it didn’t fare so well somewhere out of earshot. In either case, it was absolutely awesome to see! It was like watching National Geographic on a really good 3-D TV

[reinhard1]

wow, that must have been great. sounds like the hare won this round. good luck.

[DonBo]

Pretty cool. That's why we keep heading out the door, it's about SO much more than just the deer.