Catch Up!!
Again, how time flies
It has been a very busy couple of weeks, and I have not had too much opportunity to post to my blog. So, let me hit the high points.
Last week, October 2 through 6 I drove to Marshfield every evening to attend a Hunter Safety Course. Saturday the 6th was in the morning. I found out that it is required that anyone born after 1957 has to have this course in order to get a hunting license in Kansas. Fortunately, I was able to locate a class and take it, so there will be no problem with me going to Kansas, and hunting my birds.
The main thing they want you to learn from the class is the 4 main hunting safety rules. Because I'm not hunting with a gun . . . I've made a few changes to the rules, just for fun.
#1 Muzzle control . . . always be aware of where your firearm is pointing.
For falconry, that would be beak control. Always know where that pecker is facing. Or maybe that could be referring to the nether regions of the hawk. Standing in the wrong direction when the hawk slices can be a very bad thing!
#2 Treat every firearm as though it is loaded.
For falconry . . . well, treat every hawk as though it is loaded . . . because it is! Talons, beak, the aforementioned nether regions!
#3 Always be aware of your target, and the surrounding area.
For falconry . . . be aware of your hawks target. Keep away from chickens, poodles, small children!
#4 Keep your finger outside of the trigger guard only until you are ready to fire.
For falconry . . . hmmmm . . . there is no trigger to guard, other than the jesses. OK, hang onto those jesses, until you are ready to cast off your bird at game.
So there . . . just a little fun! I passed the course, no problem, and fired a .22. Did just fine there too.
On Friday evening I brought Rigel to class, and he was a hit, especially with all the boys in the class. Most of my fellow class mates were about 12 years old! But some of the dads were interested too! I brought Pente on Saturday . . . and she was even more impressive.
After the final class on Saturday AM, I drove around Marshfield a bit, looking for hunting spots. I then visited Wal-Mart (aka 'the Evil Empire') and purchased goodies for the bird club meeting. It was my turn to host . . . but I was unable to have it in my home, as I had to be in Marshfield at 8:00 that morning. So we had it at the library . . . which is fine with me, because then I didn't have to clean my house. YEAH!! So, after the meeting, I showed off my two birds to the bird club members, and flew Rigel in the parking lot of the library. We attracted attention from other library-goers.
Once the meeting was done, I took Pente to one of the woody locations I had found. At first I thought it might have bunnies, but I never spotted even one. Quite a lot of the area had very thick, tall marsh grass. But I had seen a squirrel when I first arrived, so that held out some promise. After working what brushy areas there were, and swimming through some of the thick grass, I began to move through the trees, thinking to work my way back to the car. But a fortunate glance up, and I saw a squirrel. I moved over to the tree where it was at and began hitting the tree with my stick and 'ho-ho-ing'. Pente quickly flew over and took a perch somewhere between where I was on the ground and the squirrel above. She was looking at me as if to say, "Hey, where do you see a rabbit?" I kept hitting the tree, and looking up, and finally she did too, and oh, then she saw the target. She quickly took a higher perch, above the squirrel and then began to pressure it down the tree. The rodent was in a bit of a hard spot, as he couldn't come down to the ground, because I was there, but couldn't go back up because of the hawk. Pente then pressured it very hard, and it dodged as she dove down the tree. She hit the ground, as squirrel made its way back up the tree. At this point I noticed another tree with 3 squirrels in it. So, I called Pente up to my fist, and cast her off in that direction, and followed her. This time she picked a squirrel that was high up in the tree, and she pressured it out to the small branches. It was then just a matter of diving in on it, and catching it. What she did then was really quite impressive. She just folded her wings up over her body, and parachuted down to the ground. I was so excited when I arrived to where she was. Our first head of game, and it was a squirrel. She's never taken a squirrel before with me. What a wonderful way to start the year. I dispatched her prize, secured her on a leash, then traded her off on the food I had on the lure. I hoped to take a picture later with her and her first squirrel, but was unable to.
The hunting season begins . . . and is off to a very good start!!
It has been a very busy couple of weeks, and I have not had too much opportunity to post to my blog. So, let me hit the high points.
Last week, October 2 through 6 I drove to Marshfield every evening to attend a Hunter Safety Course. Saturday the 6th was in the morning. I found out that it is required that anyone born after 1957 has to have this course in order to get a hunting license in Kansas. Fortunately, I was able to locate a class and take it, so there will be no problem with me going to Kansas, and hunting my birds.
The main thing they want you to learn from the class is the 4 main hunting safety rules. Because I'm not hunting with a gun . . . I've made a few changes to the rules, just for fun.
#1 Muzzle control . . . always be aware of where your firearm is pointing.
For falconry, that would be beak control. Always know where that pecker is facing. Or maybe that could be referring to the nether regions of the hawk. Standing in the wrong direction when the hawk slices can be a very bad thing!
#2 Treat every firearm as though it is loaded.
For falconry . . . well, treat every hawk as though it is loaded . . . because it is! Talons, beak, the aforementioned nether regions!
#3 Always be aware of your target, and the surrounding area.
For falconry . . . be aware of your hawks target. Keep away from chickens, poodles, small children!
#4 Keep your finger outside of the trigger guard only until you are ready to fire.
For falconry . . . hmmmm . . . there is no trigger to guard, other than the jesses. OK, hang onto those jesses, until you are ready to cast off your bird at game.
So there . . . just a little fun! I passed the course, no problem, and fired a .22. Did just fine there too.
On Friday evening I brought Rigel to class, and he was a hit, especially with all the boys in the class. Most of my fellow class mates were about 12 years old! But some of the dads were interested too! I brought Pente on Saturday . . . and she was even more impressive.
After the final class on Saturday AM, I drove around Marshfield a bit, looking for hunting spots. I then visited Wal-Mart (aka 'the Evil Empire') and purchased goodies for the bird club meeting. It was my turn to host . . . but I was unable to have it in my home, as I had to be in Marshfield at 8:00 that morning. So we had it at the library . . . which is fine with me, because then I didn't have to clean my house. YEAH!! So, after the meeting, I showed off my two birds to the bird club members, and flew Rigel in the parking lot of the library. We attracted attention from other library-goers.
Once the meeting was done, I took Pente to one of the woody locations I had found. At first I thought it might have bunnies, but I never spotted even one. Quite a lot of the area had very thick, tall marsh grass. But I had seen a squirrel when I first arrived, so that held out some promise. After working what brushy areas there were, and swimming through some of the thick grass, I began to move through the trees, thinking to work my way back to the car. But a fortunate glance up, and I saw a squirrel. I moved over to the tree where it was at and began hitting the tree with my stick and 'ho-ho-ing'. Pente quickly flew over and took a perch somewhere between where I was on the ground and the squirrel above. She was looking at me as if to say, "Hey, where do you see a rabbit?" I kept hitting the tree, and looking up, and finally she did too, and oh, then she saw the target. She quickly took a higher perch, above the squirrel and then began to pressure it down the tree. The rodent was in a bit of a hard spot, as he couldn't come down to the ground, because I was there, but couldn't go back up because of the hawk. Pente then pressured it very hard, and it dodged as she dove down the tree. She hit the ground, as squirrel made its way back up the tree. At this point I noticed another tree with 3 squirrels in it. So, I called Pente up to my fist, and cast her off in that direction, and followed her. This time she picked a squirrel that was high up in the tree, and she pressured it out to the small branches. It was then just a matter of diving in on it, and catching it. What she did then was really quite impressive. She just folded her wings up over her body, and parachuted down to the ground. I was so excited when I arrived to where she was. Our first head of game, and it was a squirrel. She's never taken a squirrel before with me. What a wonderful way to start the year. I dispatched her prize, secured her on a leash, then traded her off on the food I had on the lure. I hoped to take a picture later with her and her first squirrel, but was unable to.
The hunting season begins . . . and is off to a very good start!!
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