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!
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