NAFA Field Meet - Monday
I was up early on Monday to meet up with Sharon and her husband, Tony. I joined them in their vehicle . . . which is good . . . as it is a 4-wheel drive truck . . . which came in handy pretty quick. Many of the roads in Kansas are dirt roads. During normal weather, they are probably easy to navigate. However, it had been snowing and raining for many days previous . . . and many of these roads were extremely sloppy, wet, slippery, and very unsafe and difficult to drive on! I would not have been able to make it with my car. It seems to be rather standard falconry equipment to have big, 4-wheel drive type vehicles. Well, I'll just have to wait to add that item to my gear.
So we three were looking for a starting place to hunt. We found several locations that looked promising, and when a flock of pheasant crossed the road in one of them, Sharon was determined to hunt in the area. She wanted her Zephyr to try for a pheasant. She began asking around the houses, and finally located an owner by phone, who would not give us permission. Well . . . pass on that location. Keep looking! Kansas has an agreement with many of the land-owners to use their land for hunting. They publish a guidebook with the marked land, and the plots are also marked. They call them "Walk In Hunting Areas". While looking for one of these, my first adventure was to get very friendly with Kansas soil . . . or should I say mud! Yes, we slid off the road! Fortunately, Sharon appears to have some experience at getting a vehicle free from mud. Tony and I (mostly Tony) gathered up globs of grassy stuff to stuff under the tires, and then push the truck out. So my hands got rather muddy. Welcome to Kansas!! Once free, we went back down the road and worked one of these Walk In Hunting Areas. It was just a wet walk in tall, wet grass. We didn't stir up anything, and Zephyr just followed along wondering what we were doing. We walked back to the truck, and went looking for someplace different.
At the end of the road we had been on was a farmstead, with a pump business next to it. We stopped, and said hello to the people there. They indicated it would be OK for us to hunt their property. There were a lot of pumps and pipes, and good rabbit hiding spots, as well as lots of very overgrown grassy places. We pulled Pente first this time, and popped out our first bunny within minutes. However, this bunny, and all those to follow, knew the area very well, and knew where to run. We spent the next hour to two hours moving bunnies around the place, but not contacting any of them. A few did get furred. Pente crashed several times, but just didn't catch. These crashes were to prove significant later . . . because when I called her to the lure to put her away, I realized she didn't have her telemetry on anymore. OH NO!! So I began a telemetry chase. And on top of everything else, I was getting a low battery messages. So, while I was trying to find my telemetry, Zephyr was being flown by Sharon. Zephyr also was trying for several bunnies . . . but Sharon was able to convince her to make a go at a hen peacock (a Peahen) that was running around the property. The lady of the place said then peahen just showed up one day. If it could be caught, the zoo had already indicated they would take it. Zephyr did make a go of it . . . and the peahen made a lot of noise when she realized the hawk was after her, but she found a hiding spot. Shortly after this, Sharon helped me to find my telemetry. It was eventually found in one of the spots that Pente had crashed, and almost contacted a bunny. The fluff of fur was a clue . . . and there among the fur, was my transmitter. I was quite happy to find it . . . and promised Sharon a drink. I think I'll be putting some blaze orange tape on it . . . just in case for future losses.
We then headed back to town for some lunch, at Applebees. After lunch, we flew PeeWee in an open lot behind one of the malls, but didn't stir up anything for him. So we put him away, and went looking for something else for the redtails. One of the properties we had permission to use was owned by the Beach family. Sharon found the place, but we weren't quite sure we were in the right location. We looked around, and asked some of the hired hands if they knew anything. They did not. Fortunately, as we were driving in the area, we came across the owner. He indicated that yes, it was OK to hunt on the property. This location was a whole lot more like home. Many trees around a homestead, with grown up grass and piles of brush. Pente flew first, and after much pushing of bunnies, she made a final crash, and took her first (and only) cottontail of the week. Strangely . . . Kansas bunnies look a lot like Wisconsin bunnies! I fed her the head, and the lure, and then went back to the car, and did the Falconry 101 for some of the family members who came out to ask questions. While I was doing this, Zephyr was trying her skills out on the local rabbits. And she too caught one. So a very successful end to the day. Both redtails scored a bunny, to win a game pin.
As it got dark, we headed back to our hotels to clean up for the evening activities. Again, bedtime came late . . . and I had no problem sleeping!
So we three were looking for a starting place to hunt. We found several locations that looked promising, and when a flock of pheasant crossed the road in one of them, Sharon was determined to hunt in the area. She wanted her Zephyr to try for a pheasant. She began asking around the houses, and finally located an owner by phone, who would not give us permission. Well . . . pass on that location. Keep looking! Kansas has an agreement with many of the land-owners to use their land for hunting. They publish a guidebook with the marked land, and the plots are also marked. They call them "Walk In Hunting Areas". While looking for one of these, my first adventure was to get very friendly with Kansas soil . . . or should I say mud! Yes, we slid off the road! Fortunately, Sharon appears to have some experience at getting a vehicle free from mud. Tony and I (mostly Tony) gathered up globs of grassy stuff to stuff under the tires, and then push the truck out. So my hands got rather muddy. Welcome to Kansas!! Once free, we went back down the road and worked one of these Walk In Hunting Areas. It was just a wet walk in tall, wet grass. We didn't stir up anything, and Zephyr just followed along wondering what we were doing. We walked back to the truck, and went looking for someplace different.
At the end of the road we had been on was a farmstead, with a pump business next to it. We stopped, and said hello to the people there. They indicated it would be OK for us to hunt their property. There were a lot of pumps and pipes, and good rabbit hiding spots, as well as lots of very overgrown grassy places. We pulled Pente first this time, and popped out our first bunny within minutes. However, this bunny, and all those to follow, knew the area very well, and knew where to run. We spent the next hour to two hours moving bunnies around the place, but not contacting any of them. A few did get furred. Pente crashed several times, but just didn't catch. These crashes were to prove significant later . . . because when I called her to the lure to put her away, I realized she didn't have her telemetry on anymore. OH NO!! So I began a telemetry chase. And on top of everything else, I was getting a low battery messages. So, while I was trying to find my telemetry, Zephyr was being flown by Sharon. Zephyr also was trying for several bunnies . . . but Sharon was able to convince her to make a go at a hen peacock (a Peahen) that was running around the property. The lady of the place said then peahen just showed up one day. If it could be caught, the zoo had already indicated they would take it. Zephyr did make a go of it . . . and the peahen made a lot of noise when she realized the hawk was after her, but she found a hiding spot. Shortly after this, Sharon helped me to find my telemetry. It was eventually found in one of the spots that Pente had crashed, and almost contacted a bunny. The fluff of fur was a clue . . . and there among the fur, was my transmitter. I was quite happy to find it . . . and promised Sharon a drink. I think I'll be putting some blaze orange tape on it . . . just in case for future losses.
We then headed back to town for some lunch, at Applebees. After lunch, we flew PeeWee in an open lot behind one of the malls, but didn't stir up anything for him. So we put him away, and went looking for something else for the redtails. One of the properties we had permission to use was owned by the Beach family. Sharon found the place, but we weren't quite sure we were in the right location. We looked around, and asked some of the hired hands if they knew anything. They did not. Fortunately, as we were driving in the area, we came across the owner. He indicated that yes, it was OK to hunt on the property. This location was a whole lot more like home. Many trees around a homestead, with grown up grass and piles of brush. Pente flew first, and after much pushing of bunnies, she made a final crash, and took her first (and only) cottontail of the week. Strangely . . . Kansas bunnies look a lot like Wisconsin bunnies! I fed her the head, and the lure, and then went back to the car, and did the Falconry 101 for some of the family members who came out to ask questions. While I was doing this, Zephyr was trying her skills out on the local rabbits. And she too caught one. So a very successful end to the day. Both redtails scored a bunny, to win a game pin.
As it got dark, we headed back to our hotels to clean up for the evening activities. Again, bedtime came late . . . and I had no problem sleeping!
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