On Saturday, February 11, 2006 the membership of the Wisconsin Falconer’s Association came together in Sun Prairie for the Winter Meet. This has been held at the McGovern’s Hotel for many years. Falconer’s the state over converged for several days of hawking, falconry demos, guest speaker, raffle, and general tall-tale telling and camaraderie. I drove down on Saturday morning with my friend, Mike, who had yet to see Nina take a bunny. Or for any hawk to take any game for that matter. He was willing to be my “dog” for the event. And was looking forward to seeing different kinds of birds flown.
We joined up with Dave Noble, my former sponsor, and a whole host of other people. Our special guest speaker for the event, Steve Layman, was coming along with the group and would be flying his little black goshawk, SolDuc. After much standing around and trying to figure out who was doing what, we headed out. Our hunt location was in the heart of Madison. Industrial Parks offer some of the best hawking. Patches of grassy cover between buildings, and away from open country, is bunny paradise! However, I was quite surprised when we arrived at our location. For there truly was a whole HOST of people there! I don’t think I have ever attempted to hawk with 50+ people! Many just stood around and watched. But quite a few jumped right in and started beating grass.
A new apprentice and his bird went first. The bird has not been entered yet. And the apprentice was new too. I admire the poor fellow for being willing to try to fly his bird in front of sooooo many people. The bird did make one really good attempt at a bunny that flushed, and furred it. But then wanted to go soaring. He eventually did get it to come down, and it was tucked away. Dave then flew Giddy . . . . who after a short while, and moving off to a pond that was surrounded by thick cattails, did catch a bunny. All those people standing around came in handy for the cattail thicket . . . . for it was very THICK . . . . and over my head. But beating in there did flush quite a few rabbits. Phil and Grace went next, and Grace too caught her rabbit. But . . . due to a miscalculation of her falconer, who thought the bunny was dead, when he traded her off . . . bunny resurrected and ran into the cattails. But, several of us got pictures for proof. And it wasn’t Grace’s fault! After this, SolDuc was flown for a bit. He chased a little sparrow, and then did go after a bunny that was flushed. He took it for a very merry chase, as Goshawks are fast and maneuverable. It was pretty to watch. But bunny got to a hole, and little SolDuc wasn’t going down after it.
By this time, we needed to head to the flight demo, or risk missing it all together. We all packed into the vehicles and headed to the location. Here several birds were flown. A Peregrine / Gyrfalcon hybrid owned and flown by Dr. Dean Rasmussen, one of our falconry vets. And several goshawks, to include Mina, owned and trained by Steve Kaufer. It was very cold, and nothing too very exciting this flight demo. But still nice to see the longwings stoop!
Afterwards we joined up in a much smaller group, and flew SolDuc again. And he did get a chance at another bunny, but his falconer decided he wasn’t trying real hard, so put him away.
Then I got to fly Nina. We were out and up the hill . . . and she had bunny #6 within about 5 minutes. Hawking in Madison is great . . . . sometimes!! And Mike was there the whole time and got to see the action. So . . . he now knows that those rabbits in the freezer . . . . well, most of them anyway, were caught by Nina. OK, some are roadkill!! Well, the squirrels are anyway!
Because of time constraints, Laurie (Phil’s wife) and the kids and Mike and I headed back to the meet hotel so we could get changed and ready to go to dinner. Dave and Phil caught up with us later, as there was one more falconer who wanted to fly his bird. We all did meet up later, and then headed back into Madison for dinner. However, because we were short on time, and the place we had picked was packed, we ended up eating fast food. OK, not exactly great dining . . . but it was quick!
Then back to the meet hall for the guest speaker.
What can I say about Steve Layman! Words will not fully describe the level of communication and training he has accomplished with his bird. Operant Conditioning is a modern way of training any animal. It requires that you initially establish communication with the animal, teaching them that a given signal means “yes, I like what you just did”. This is usually accomplished by clicking or whistling and giving a treat. Soon, the animal begins to understand that the click or whistle is the reward, and you can lessen the food rewards. Then, the animal begins to understand that it can elicit a reward by offering behavior up to you. It also requires the training to become very observant to what the animal is doing and why it is behaving the way it is.
I was greatly impressed!! You try to take away gems from what a person like this has accomplished to utilize in your own training. Yet, I recognize that it would take more than just one evening to do this. I did see some exercises that might be practiced. However, later on when I tried them with Nina, she is a whole lot larger than a little goshawk. So, some creativity may be needed to try some of them out.
To finish up the evening, my $20 worth of raffle tickets, on the last drawing, won me a $120 transmitter. And exactly like the one I have already. So . . . . Way To Go!! I now have a spare!
The party, what there was of it, then moved over to the bar. But dissipated fairly soon. Mike and I stayed until closing. And the guest was there with a little crowd of people around him. But the music was so loud, I had a very hard time hearing, so couldn’t really follow much of what was going on. Then . . . . off to bed!
Because the evening had been such a late one, I decided there was no way I was going out hawking again that next morning. So by the time of checkout I was ready to head back home. Back at my home I corrected an oversight that I hadn’t noticed that I had made. I had Mike help me out taking a picture of Nina. But, more importantly, I let Mike hold Nina. Always a treat for a person who has never been exposed to a falconry bird to get to hold one. I remember how excited I was the first time I got to do it! I’m sorry I hadn’t offered sooner . . . . Mike!! Next, I’ll have to let you offer her some tidbits. I’m sure she would fly to you!
Maybe I’ll spark the bug in you yet!! Could get you to join me in my obsession . . . . that is called Falconry!
A Great Meet . . . . and a good time with friends!
