Third Doubles - and Almost Triples!!

Today I went and hawked in Lyndon Station again . . . a really great field! I had the opportunity to hook up with a friend of mine I've not seen for awhile, and got to show him falconry. And what a show he had!!

Bunny #1 for the day, and #19 for the season, was caught just within about 5 minutes after we started to hunt. My friend, Bryce, flushed the rabbit, as it was sitting under a small pine tree very nearby him as he walked past. The bunny flushed, and Nina was on it in a flash. All the action was evident to be seen!! I traded her off with just a little snack on the lure, and put her up to go again.

We worked a bit harder for bunny #2. We moved around the field probably about a half hour to 40 minutes or so before the second bunny was flushed and caught. Nina dove after this one into some pine trees, and it had almost made it to a hole it was headed for. But instead ended up in the back of my hunting vest. That's #20 for the season! Because she was just so much on her mark today, I decided to push and try for a triple. I've never accomplished this before. So I only gave her a little snack on the lure, and but her up one more time.

Shortly after putting her back up, I did flush a third bunny. But she was just too low on a tree to do much about it. She dove on it, but missed, and lacked the initiative to get up and take chase. The third bunny got away! But very shortly after this miss we flushed a small red squirrel. We did spend about 10 minutes playing with it . . . but eventually it too managed to get down the tree and away.

It was getting dark now, and I really wanted to get back to the car. As we returned, a fourth bunny was flushed . . . and this one was a long distance chase. Nina was just not up close for the catch . . . so she proceeded to chase it, and flew into some very open treed area, with RR tracks and old RR beams stacked beyond. I had to run to find her . . . but evenutally figured out that she had missed this final bunny, and had flown over the log pile. By this time, I decided she had worked very hard, and it was time to call it an evening. I brought her down to the lure and let her crop up all the way.

Pictures were followed by putting bird away and cleaning bunnies. I then went and had dinner with my friend. It was a great day hawking. You are a pretty lucky hunt charm Bryce! Let's do it again sometime!
Nina with her third set of doubles. WOW . . . that Blaze Orange is BRIGHT. And Gosh Bryce . . . you're TALL!!

Job Shadow . . . and Bully Bird!!

Today I met with a person in Human Resources at the Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, and was soon thereafter introduced to several members of their respiratory therapy department. For several hours I followed the therapists around, and observed what they did. I have come away convinced this is definitely something I can do . . . and a future I should pursue. The hospital takes care of acute patients, and this is mostly what I observed. I think I shall also take the opportunity which has been offered to me through Workforce Connections to job shadow at the Mile Bluff hospital. The patients there may not be quite so critical. I am encouraged by this . . . and need to work on my homework tonight. One day at a time . . . I shall rebuild my life.

After my job shadow, I got some lunch, changed clothes, and then flew Nina outside of Onalaska. It was rather a long walk through deep snow, and I saw lots and lots of bunny sign, but only flushed 3 rabbits right at the end of my time in the field, and Nina missed them all. However, as I was out walking around this pretty open field, she was actively flying great distances and covering a lot of territory. I had to call her back to myself several times. However, on one particular incident I saw her fly a great distance across a valley and confronted the resident hawk, who had come out to push her out of the territory. Well, she must feel pretty confident about herself, for she flew like a shot to the other bird and bumped it from its perch. It moved off a short distance and perched again. A few moments later she did it again. By this time I was worried she might chase tail of the other bird, so I pulled the lure to bring her back, as small tidbit calls were just not doing the trick. Well, my bluff worked, for she then gave up the chase of the other bird, and headed back my way. Having gotten her attention, and there being a great distance for her to cover, I tucked the lure back into my vest. She looked a bit disgusted at me when she arrived, getting only a tidbit, but soon took a nearby tree and we continued the hunt. Near the end of the day we worked down into a deep valley, and then I realized we had worked all the way back to the spot I had hunted a week ago, back behind the Gander Mountain. However, from this angle, I could see there was a pretty substantial creek/river, which was still actively flowing. Nina did head off to the other side across this flowing water, of course, and crashed some brush, but thankfully missed whatever it was she was after. I would have been hard pressed to get to her . . . and I still hate the thought of having to swim or wade while out hawking. I have a very great respect for water, especially open water . . . and avoid it at all costs. I moved up the valley and pulled my lure to end the hunt before I did have this unfortunate situation.

It was a nice outting . . . a beautiful cold day with clear blue sky. As she ate, I just watched and listened as the minutes slipped by. A great flock of starlings were bubbling their clatter and calls in a great tree I had passed earlier. A pileated woodpecker flew by. Some days, where my bird takes me, even on the edge of towns, can be very peaceful.

I now have a picture from my visit with Marlene and her family. Here are some of her relatives checking out up close a live hawk!

Hunting in Pittsville

Today I accepted the invitation to come have lunch at one of my small bird friend's home, Marlene. She had some family visiting, and wanted to show them something interesting . . . falconry. I was more than happy to help out!

After a wonderful and tasty lunch, I got Nina out and all geared up. Marlene and her husband Pat live along a creek in Pittsville. They see lots of bunnies! Well, very quickly in the ravine I did flush one, right in front of her audience. They couldn't have gotten a better view! I traded her off, let her eat, then put her away. I had then also brought Mo with me. After bringing up just an absolutely HUGE casting this morning, he was good enough to hunt. He'd had a bunny head the day before. So I got him all geared up, and flew him. Unfortunately, either the SOS went out along the creek, or the bunny wire service, for no other bunnies hopped out . . . other than just one, and it was up out of Mo's view, so he didn't see it. But he did gets some good exercise, and came back to the lure at the end of the hunt.

No pictures for this one today!

This is bunny #18 for Nina!

Tomorrow I may meet someone in Wautoma, and show off my bird to her. We'll see!

Hunting with Tim and River

Today, Saturday January 20th I took Tim Oakes out hawking with me. Tim is learning falconry from his cousin, Bill Oakes, who is away for awhile on business. Tim doesn't get the chance to get away from his home area too much to hunt his bird, so I invited him to go with me today. We hunted in Tomah, starting beside the Wal-Mart, and got several flushes. His bird, River, chased them around, but they all got away. Finally we pushed to the front parking of the store, by the KFC. There is a drainage ditch full of grass and cover, great rabbitat, and full of all kinds of bunny sign. But we never saw one flush. However, River must have had her eye on one. For as we had given up and Tim was calling her to the fist, she ignored his call, continuing to look down. Then finally a bunny made a sprint for safety, and River broke from her tree and stooped to the ground. She had her bunny #2. Tim was quite proud of her!

We moved then to a pretty thick patch in a different location in Tomah to hunt Nina. The patch was absolutely swarming with bunnies . . . but the cover was very thick!! Hard to work!! She then led us across the street to follow a rather large stream. We took one side, and of course she then came down on a bunny on the other. We circled back, but then had a really hard time trying to find her. After a good 5 minute search finally I spotted her under a bush. As I tried to remove her, and straighted and untangle a wing, I got footed again. Yippeeee!! So that was bunny #17 for Nina!

We took pictures, and I laid out #17 to field dress it. However at the car I realized I didn't have my game shears with me. I then did a very stupid thing. I packed everything up . . . and forgot that I had left the bunny laying in the field!! I took Tim home, then returned to Tomah for a few groceries. A quick stop on the way home by Dave's to pick up a hawk box, for tomorrow I have an invite to go to a lady friend's home . . . and will show off both birds. Once home, I started to look for the bunny as I was unpacking all my gear . . . only to realize, silly me . . . I'd left it in Tomah. So . . . waste gas and drive back to retrieve it. I didn't want to waste game! Fortunately nothing had nosed it out when I got there! It is now safely tucked into the freezer.

It was a good day!!

First Snow Hunt

Winter has finally arrived here in Wisconsin in the form of snow. It has been long overdue! I've been keeping myself busy starting classes and getting down to the serious business of looking for a job. I canvassed several possibilities in the La Crosse area on Thursday, January 18. Because she was at weight, and because I knew I would be in a new area, I packed Nina up and took her along for the trip. She probably enjoyed, as best a hawk can, the experience, as she was in her box all day, and it was WARM. She was at weight in the AM, so I didn't need for her to burn any more calories. After completing my errands, I met up with my friend Lisa for a bagel. She then followed me and I went to check out a field behind the Gander Mountain store. I had poked around in this field previously, and it looked GOOD!! It still was! I let Nina go to take a tree. I then pushed the brush along the field. Sure enough, a bunny jumped up. Nina stooped for it, but it got away down a drainage pipe. After a moment when she had collected herself and gotten back up a tree, I started to climb up a little hill into the thick of the brush. As I crested the hill she flew with purpose over my head and into the valley below. I heard a crash and a bunny squeal. Just like that . . . bunny #16! I ran as fast as I could down the hill and pulled her out from inside the bush and took care of bunny, trading her off onto the lure. I then made my way out of the field to show my friend Lisa, who was unable to actually come into the field with me. She took a pic of us.

Hey . . . land for sale! Any falconers interested! I can vouch it has bunnies on it!

Also . . . if anyone comes here and is interested, a video has been posted of part of an educational talk I did with the OLA. Go to my MySpace page. It is there on the front page. Click it and watch. It's kindof long, but perhaps interesting. This way you can see a live video of me and my bird.

http://www.myspace.com/kestrellunaeye

Beware Those Feet!!

As promised, one of the ladies who went out on the hunt with us sent me some pictures. Below is Nina on her prize, #15 bunny for the year. Above is my expression after Nina had grabbed my hand, or "footed" me as we say. She is very clingy with her feet, and I've half thought of changing her name to Velcro, for she never releases anything, but instead rips away. She gave me a good puncture on my hand. I then put my hand back into the glove to gain control of her jesses. It hurt to be footed. It hurt to put the glove on! It also hurt much later in the day, as these wounds can, as her feet are not exactly clean. Thank goodness for epsom salt and hydrogen peroxide! They are a good soak for such wounds. I'm healing!

OLA Demonstration - 2007 Version

Today, Thursday January 11, 2007 I was invited to return to talk with the Outdoor Living class at their Wonewoc forested area, called the OLA (Outdoor Living Area). However, unlike last year, we were successful in finding a bunny for Nina . . . and she made it #15 for the year. I gave a description of falconry as practiced in America with a red-tailed hawk, the legalities of the sport, spoke about the conservation of wild places to maintain hunting lands both for falconry, but more importantly, for the wild animals and birds to have a place to live. The students and their instructor, Kelly Rueckheim, asked good and pointed questions. All in all . . . it was a wonderful morning!

Sometime soon, I also hope to get a picture sent to me from one of the ladies at the demonstration. Nina gave a very good example of how you can be footed by your hawk if you are not careful. I've a good wound on my hand because of it. I was informed my particular expression was caught on camera. If the pic makes it to me, I'll be sure to post it.

Always . . . we must have respect for the bird! If not . . . she will teach you otherwise!

Thanks to all the student and their instructor for the invite!

Success where there has been none before!

On Monday I had several errands to run, to do with my efforts to go back to school, and also as regards my job hunt. But once I was done with them all, I wanted to hunt Nina, for she was ready.

I went to a field just outside of Camp Douglas that I have hit time and again. There are bunnies there . . . for I have seen them . . . but never caught one. Well, this year, with Nina being as hot as she is, finally we scored in this field too!

There are great brush piles in a spot, and I worked them, but nothing was pushed out. There could be a whole convention of rabbits, but the piles are so large, they figure they are best safe to just stay put. So I began to work the field. At one point, I flushed a bunny, but Nina was just too far off to have much of an effect. But after that miss, she repositioned herself up over where I was at. I worked the same spot, and flushed a second bunny. This one she nailed. It turned out to be just a little bunny . . . probably a youngster from this past summer. But, it was a successful hunt where I have never had success before.

This makes bunny #14 for the season!

Lucky Thirteen

On Saturday, January 6th I participated in a CPR course at the Western Technical College in Mauston. This is a requirement for my participation in the respiratory therapy program. It also gave me the chance to learn how to use the AED (Automated External Defibrillator), which I had never been trained on.

The side benefit of taking this class was it allowed me the opportunity to hunt Nina in the patch of woods on the campus. Last year there was a very large brushy place covered in briar and piled up branches. However someone cleared it away. It was full of bunnies last year, and I knew they had to go somewhere. I arrived an hour early for my class, and flew my bird. Sure enough, we flushed several bunnies in the woods next to where the patch had been. There is not much cover here, so the rabbits are mostly just hunkering down. We had about three flushes before Nina finally got a good position. So lucky #13 was put into the bag . . . and quickly! I let her eat her fill off the lure, got back to the car, put everything away, and had plenty of time to change my clothes and get to class in amble time.

Reverse Sexual Dimorphism

I have the ability to demonstrate here an interesting fact among raptors. Unique among most animals, the females are bigger than the males. In falconry, we refer to the male as a 'tiercel', meaning 'third' . . . as in the male being one-third the size of the female. The term 'tiercel' originally was applied only to the male falcon, but has been bastardized somewhat, and now refers generally to any male bird.

At this time, I have the unique ability to demonstrate here the size differences. A falconer friend of mine is away on a business trip for several weeks. However, he wants his bird to remain manned, wed to the lure, and hood trained. I have agreed to assist him in this task, and actually feel quite honored that he trusts me to care for his bird. As a side bonus, he built a new mews on my property to house his bird. It is quite nice, airy and light!

Here is a picture of my own bird, Nina. She is a female Eastern Red-Tail in adult plummage.

And this is my friend's bird. He is a male Eastern Red-Tail, in juvenile plummage.

This is known as Reverse Sexual Dimorphism!