Number 12 bunny at Oakdale. An even dozen to end the calendar year - but the season goes on!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Saturday, December 30, 2006
End of the Year Hunt
Today is Saturday, December 30th, 2006. And this was the first day of this season I have gotten together with a group of fellow falconers and we all hunted our birds. It was also the last major hunt for the year, though I may fly my bird one last time on Sunday to see if I can end the year on a solid dozen bunnies.
I'll come back tomorrow to write on this . . . for it is late, and I am tired!
Until Later . . .
I'll come back tomorrow to write on this . . . for it is late, and I am tired!
Until Later . . .
Friday, December 29, 2006
Best Season So Far!
I've had too much activity with my hawking, and have not been keeping up with the blogging. So before I forget the details . . . which I can do very easily, here is the rundown!
Bunny #1 in Necedah (see picture).
Bunny #2 across from the Travel Mart in Camp Douglas (no picture).
Bunny #3 in landfill outside of Marshfield (see picture). Several people from my bird club came along to help.
Bunny #4 and #5 in Lyndon Station, on a very nice hawking day!! (see picture).
Bunny #6 in little patch of woods in Camp Douglas. (no picture). Wow . . . and she caught that one within 3 minutes of entering the field. We continued to hawk, but it got dark, and she almost thought about perching for the night. I had to move under a lamp to get her attention to come back to the lure.
Bunny #7 and #8 were caught in Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point. I had help flushing the bunnies with a fella named Jay. The first was caught, silently I might add, so I didn't even know she had caught anything, in a thick patch outside of Wisconsin Rapids. Industrial Park! I love these places! We then wandered around a bit and checked out several possibilities. I then found what looked to me like a perfect grassy patch out behind the JayMar, where I used to buy big big bags of bird seed. Sure enough, we flushed several rabbits. After a bit of chasing around, we caught #8. I cropped her up. And then went on and cropped myself up with Mexican food. Yum!
I then went to visit my sister and her family for Christmas. The bird came in her box in the front seat. Both dogs in the back. It was a very crowded car trip! We hunted the property of a friend of hers. Around their home we flushed again and again a single bunny but it was lucky and managed to keep avoiding us. I also felt uncomfortable about the setup, for all the trees were some distance around the property, and she kept choosing those to perch on, so was not very near me, and I felt not very well controlled. We then moved to a field that they owned, and it was the perfect setup. A line of trees bordered a shallow creek, with a wide thick grassy field in a triangle before it. I released the bird, who flew to the tree line, and then we all formed a line and pushed the field towards the creek. The first bunny flushed and she chased it, but it got away. A few minutes later, after we had all moved up to the creek, another bunny was flushed, ran along the creek up towards me, diverted from me and ran up the hill, and WHAM, was caught by the hawk who just dropped down on it. The whole family saw it! I traded her off, and ended up giving her prize to the son of my sister's friend, who had come along to watch.
So, Bunny #9 in Illinois. (See picture). That's my sister and niece having fun with it.
Bunny #10 in Sparta. Upon returning home, and the next opportunity, I took Nina out to the patch outside of Sparta. My Little Sister came with me. Again, she caught this bunny, and I heard nothing. Usually the bunny cries out, and that helps me to find her. I traded her off and put her back up. She got a lot more flying, but the patch is really thick so we had no more catches. But she got good exercise.
Tomorrow, hopefully, the first outting with several hawking buds will take place. I did get together with Bill and Tim previously, but both their birds were just not ready, it being a warm day, so not much hawking took place. Tomorrow hopefully I'll get out the first time with Dave and Phil.
(Sidenote added later - Bunny #11 in Mauston with my friends!)
On other hawking notes, in my back yard are the broke down panels of a new mews. This is owned by Bill, but being loaned to me so I can hawk sit his bird this year while he's away on business. Perhaps later I can pay for it and keep it. But as of last week I am now unemployed. So, I'll have plenty of time to hawk as I work to find new employment.
Oh joy!
Bunny #1 in Necedah (see picture).
Bunny #2 across from the Travel Mart in Camp Douglas (no picture).
Bunny #3 in landfill outside of Marshfield (see picture). Several people from my bird club came along to help.
Bunny #4 and #5 in Lyndon Station, on a very nice hawking day!! (see picture).
Bunny #6 in little patch of woods in Camp Douglas. (no picture). Wow . . . and she caught that one within 3 minutes of entering the field. We continued to hawk, but it got dark, and she almost thought about perching for the night. I had to move under a lamp to get her attention to come back to the lure.
Bunny #7 and #8 were caught in Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point. I had help flushing the bunnies with a fella named Jay. The first was caught, silently I might add, so I didn't even know she had caught anything, in a thick patch outside of Wisconsin Rapids. Industrial Park! I love these places! We then wandered around a bit and checked out several possibilities. I then found what looked to me like a perfect grassy patch out behind the JayMar, where I used to buy big big bags of bird seed. Sure enough, we flushed several rabbits. After a bit of chasing around, we caught #8. I cropped her up. And then went on and cropped myself up with Mexican food. Yum!
I then went to visit my sister and her family for Christmas. The bird came in her box in the front seat. Both dogs in the back. It was a very crowded car trip! We hunted the property of a friend of hers. Around their home we flushed again and again a single bunny but it was lucky and managed to keep avoiding us. I also felt uncomfortable about the setup, for all the trees were some distance around the property, and she kept choosing those to perch on, so was not very near me, and I felt not very well controlled. We then moved to a field that they owned, and it was the perfect setup. A line of trees bordered a shallow creek, with a wide thick grassy field in a triangle before it. I released the bird, who flew to the tree line, and then we all formed a line and pushed the field towards the creek. The first bunny flushed and she chased it, but it got away. A few minutes later, after we had all moved up to the creek, another bunny was flushed, ran along the creek up towards me, diverted from me and ran up the hill, and WHAM, was caught by the hawk who just dropped down on it. The whole family saw it! I traded her off, and ended up giving her prize to the son of my sister's friend, who had come along to watch.
So, Bunny #9 in Illinois. (See picture). That's my sister and niece having fun with it.
Bunny #10 in Sparta. Upon returning home, and the next opportunity, I took Nina out to the patch outside of Sparta. My Little Sister came with me. Again, she caught this bunny, and I heard nothing. Usually the bunny cries out, and that helps me to find her. I traded her off and put her back up. She got a lot more flying, but the patch is really thick so we had no more catches. But she got good exercise.
Tomorrow, hopefully, the first outting with several hawking buds will take place. I did get together with Bill and Tim previously, but both their birds were just not ready, it being a warm day, so not much hawking took place. Tomorrow hopefully I'll get out the first time with Dave and Phil.
(Sidenote added later - Bunny #11 in Mauston with my friends!)
On other hawking notes, in my back yard are the broke down panels of a new mews. This is owned by Bill, but being loaned to me so I can hawk sit his bird this year while he's away on business. Perhaps later I can pay for it and keep it. But as of last week I am now unemployed. So, I'll have plenty of time to hawk as I work to find new employment.
Oh joy!
Friday, December 08, 2006
Headcount
I'll come back here real quick and write about my successful hunts so far. For now, its not that late, but I'm very tired.
DOUBLES!! I've never tried to double before, but on this day, two rabbits were put into the bag. These two were caught in a briar filled field in Lyndon Station.
Bunny #3, outside Marshfield. Bunny #2 was caught in Camp Douglas, across from the Travel Mart. But I didn't take a picture!
The New Season
I have been absent from this blog for too long.
These past several months, have been some of the toughest in my life. My husband of 20 years has divorced me. And my closest adult girlfriend makes off with the prize, him, declaring me her enemy. And there are too many thoughts going through my mind, and too much sorrow. It has been a year since he moved out, and the anniversary of that event has left me crying just about every day, again. But my suffering is dismissed by her in a very vicious attack she made in a blog which was posted just the weekend after our divorce was final (and one month after her own divorce). I wrote a very lengthy retort. But it serves no purpose to post here, or anywhere. He moved in with her just about 4 months after leaving me, after having moved only about 2 minutes from her house. She talks marriage.
I cope with the most powerful emotions of rejection I have ever experienced. And depression. And unlike him, who when he left said we should learn to "live as individuals", I am truly learning! He is not, having just replaced me with her.
However, something I did write has value to be posted here . . . a defense of falconry.
In this blog she exclaims that I pursue a “bloody-minded, disgusting hobby of falconry”. She makes a comparison to the supposed devastation I delivered to her now Ex husband, because I was the one who finally having enough of the affair and the lies, revealed it to him, trying to make me look like some kind of cold-hearted bitch because I “kill live rabbits with my bare hands”. She then takes out of context something that I did say, trying to further her character assassination, that the “screaming of a dying rabbit is music to my ears”. As far as implying that my being a falconer is somehow an insult I give you a link off the web. This is a very good description of the history of the sport. It has been a noble practice since antiquity. I’m not even going to bother giving any history here myself. If you are interested, go to the link.
http://www.scottishfalconry.co.uk/new_page_1.htm
America Falconry has experienced something of a rebirth. It is very strictly regulated by both the State and the Federal government, and requires a license to practice. To be a falconer is to demonstrate a high degree of responsibility. The bird must receive a very high level of care and attention. To practice falconry requires that you get you dead ass off the couch during the coldest times of the year and go outside and face the weather in order to pursue quarry for your bird. Certainly, it is a blood sport. In the end, small furry animals are killed. However the number of kills is very limited, when compared to hunting with a firearm. And all game taken is either fed to the bird at the time, later in the summer while she molts, or eventually may be donated to a rehab facility to feed birds in recovery.
The normal practice of falconry with a red-tailed hawk, which is the kind of falconry I practice, is to trap a wild bird, train it, then release it to do one of the most normal and natural functions of a predator . . . that of capturing live wild quarry. I do not pursue this sport as a sole aim to kill rabbits. I do so to be with the bird, and observe her flight, and see up close and personal the ancient dance of predator and prey. It is very specialized bird-watching. And it is a dance, both graceful and exciting. For more often than naught, the prey eludes the predator, and gets away. And it is the escapes that are the most dramatic to watch. The nature of the quote I made was that the crying out of a rabbit, which is what it does when the hawk captures it, and a sound that most people probably don’t want to hear, is a good sound to me, because it means my hawk was successful in the pursuit of the prey. Once she has captured the rabbit, it is my responsibility to close in on her, and secure her prize. In the wild, a hawk would stand on its quarry, with talons dug deep, and wait for it to either perish from fright, loss of blood, or the process of being eaten alive. It’s not pretty . . . but it is Nature! My job is to end this process quickly, which is done by “stretching” the rabbit. This entails dislocating the head at the neck. And sometimes the head separates. I do NOT take delight in this. But it is necessary, and ends the rabbit’s suffering.
As far as the person in question taking some kind of stand, and trying to paint me as cruel and evil because I practice this sport, I am here to tell ya now . . . . she can take no such stand. She may not like the idea of killing rabbits, but she never lodged much of a complaint about my falconry while we were friends. And as proof I invite everyone here and now to go to my MySpace page. For there I have posted a video of a training session of my 2005 hawk Sienna. That woman at the end of the field . . . that’s the one I refer to. And here she is laughing and having a good time watching the training session. There is no mystery as to what the bird is eating. And this woman has been out once in the field with me to observe a hunt. She even took pictures. And, for that matter, has received two rabbits from me, happily, and even cooked one of them for all of us. So, don’t go attacking my falconry. It took a lot of dedication on my part to become one. And it is a very exclusive fraternity. In Wisconsin there are about 120 licensed falconers. Of them, only about half are active. And of them, only about 5 are women. It’s a very selective group!
http://www.myspace.com/kestrellunaeye
Click on videos under my picture. It’s the one labeled “Training a Falconry Hawk”.
Anything further that I had written is not appropriate to be placed here. I must be about the task of rebuilding my life. And fortunately, so far, I am having one of the best falconry years ever! It is that I shall now focus on . . . and in that, hope to move on, and some day find happiness again.
These past several months, have been some of the toughest in my life. My husband of 20 years has divorced me. And my closest adult girlfriend makes off with the prize, him, declaring me her enemy. And there are too many thoughts going through my mind, and too much sorrow. It has been a year since he moved out, and the anniversary of that event has left me crying just about every day, again. But my suffering is dismissed by her in a very vicious attack she made in a blog which was posted just the weekend after our divorce was final (and one month after her own divorce). I wrote a very lengthy retort. But it serves no purpose to post here, or anywhere. He moved in with her just about 4 months after leaving me, after having moved only about 2 minutes from her house. She talks marriage.
I cope with the most powerful emotions of rejection I have ever experienced. And depression. And unlike him, who when he left said we should learn to "live as individuals", I am truly learning! He is not, having just replaced me with her.
However, something I did write has value to be posted here . . . a defense of falconry.
In this blog she exclaims that I pursue a “bloody-minded, disgusting hobby of falconry”. She makes a comparison to the supposed devastation I delivered to her now Ex husband, because I was the one who finally having enough of the affair and the lies, revealed it to him, trying to make me look like some kind of cold-hearted bitch because I “kill live rabbits with my bare hands”. She then takes out of context something that I did say, trying to further her character assassination, that the “screaming of a dying rabbit is music to my ears”. As far as implying that my being a falconer is somehow an insult I give you a link off the web. This is a very good description of the history of the sport. It has been a noble practice since antiquity. I’m not even going to bother giving any history here myself. If you are interested, go to the link.
http://www.scottishfalconry.co.uk/new_page_1.htm
America Falconry has experienced something of a rebirth. It is very strictly regulated by both the State and the Federal government, and requires a license to practice. To be a falconer is to demonstrate a high degree of responsibility. The bird must receive a very high level of care and attention. To practice falconry requires that you get you dead ass off the couch during the coldest times of the year and go outside and face the weather in order to pursue quarry for your bird. Certainly, it is a blood sport. In the end, small furry animals are killed. However the number of kills is very limited, when compared to hunting with a firearm. And all game taken is either fed to the bird at the time, later in the summer while she molts, or eventually may be donated to a rehab facility to feed birds in recovery.
The normal practice of falconry with a red-tailed hawk, which is the kind of falconry I practice, is to trap a wild bird, train it, then release it to do one of the most normal and natural functions of a predator . . . that of capturing live wild quarry. I do not pursue this sport as a sole aim to kill rabbits. I do so to be with the bird, and observe her flight, and see up close and personal the ancient dance of predator and prey. It is very specialized bird-watching. And it is a dance, both graceful and exciting. For more often than naught, the prey eludes the predator, and gets away. And it is the escapes that are the most dramatic to watch. The nature of the quote I made was that the crying out of a rabbit, which is what it does when the hawk captures it, and a sound that most people probably don’t want to hear, is a good sound to me, because it means my hawk was successful in the pursuit of the prey. Once she has captured the rabbit, it is my responsibility to close in on her, and secure her prize. In the wild, a hawk would stand on its quarry, with talons dug deep, and wait for it to either perish from fright, loss of blood, or the process of being eaten alive. It’s not pretty . . . but it is Nature! My job is to end this process quickly, which is done by “stretching” the rabbit. This entails dislocating the head at the neck. And sometimes the head separates. I do NOT take delight in this. But it is necessary, and ends the rabbit’s suffering.
As far as the person in question taking some kind of stand, and trying to paint me as cruel and evil because I practice this sport, I am here to tell ya now . . . . she can take no such stand. She may not like the idea of killing rabbits, but she never lodged much of a complaint about my falconry while we were friends. And as proof I invite everyone here and now to go to my MySpace page. For there I have posted a video of a training session of my 2005 hawk Sienna. That woman at the end of the field . . . that’s the one I refer to. And here she is laughing and having a good time watching the training session. There is no mystery as to what the bird is eating. And this woman has been out once in the field with me to observe a hunt. She even took pictures. And, for that matter, has received two rabbits from me, happily, and even cooked one of them for all of us. So, don’t go attacking my falconry. It took a lot of dedication on my part to become one. And it is a very exclusive fraternity. In Wisconsin there are about 120 licensed falconers. Of them, only about half are active. And of them, only about 5 are women. It’s a very selective group!
http://www.myspace.com/kestrellunaeye
Click on videos under my picture. It’s the one labeled “Training a Falconry Hawk”.
Anything further that I had written is not appropriate to be placed here. I must be about the task of rebuilding my life. And fortunately, so far, I am having one of the best falconry years ever! It is that I shall now focus on . . . and in that, hope to move on, and some day find happiness again.
