My Deepest Sympathy!!!!

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to my friend, Sharon. This week through a most unfortunate situation she lost her beautiful goshawk, Stains. I know you are mourning deeply this loss, my friend! I'm sending you White Light!

Sometimes, it is easy for us to forget that these exquisite creatures we are so very privileged to work with and fly are terribly fragile. It is hard for us to recognize this sometimes, as we hunt them, and they are murder on wings to so many creatures. Yet, all too simply they can be damaged, and no amount of our care, our concern, our terribly careful housing and husbandry will do one whit of good. I deeply trust Sharon's ability to care for a raptor (among other animals . . . as she is a veterinarian). She is a falconer to her core, bringing her birds to perfect feather through the molt, and seeing them through sickness, and flying them to top form. Unfortunately though she has had her share of misfortunes.

If I could be there my friend, I would be! No words can console! This I know, having lost two of my own birds. Cry the tears. Love her and miss her!

Never forget the opportunity, the time, and the hunts you shared!


(You can visit her page at the following link. There is a picture of Stains there):

http://www.spiritwind.cc/hawke/falconry/stains2.html

Bunny Take Out

It was VERY COLD today!! Nina was still quite a bit high on her weight, but it was just so gosh darn cold that I decided it was safe to fly her. Besides, when I went to go get her this morning, to prepare her for hunting, she flew at me, which means in hawk lingo: "Feed me feed me FEED ME!!!!!!"

Liz and I left early, and had some coffee and a bagel at Paneras. We were waiting for a fella to come join us for the hunt. I'm not shy about what I do, hawking, and I'm more than happy to share the experience with anyone "stupid" enough (said tongue in cheek) to gear up and go out into the sub-freezing temperatures to beat brush with us. Rich was just such a person! He even came complete with a Russian hat, so I know his head stayed warm!

Initially I had planned to return to a field we've worked before, as we have not even come close to covering the entire area. However, driving away from Paneras I changed my mind and decided to work a patch right there behind the Office Max. Inspection on foot satisfied my curiosity that it looked like a good place to hunt. So we geared up.

I released Nina, and she flew some distance and took a perch in a far tree line. Very quickly though as we started to work the brush she flew back to where we were. I hardly had enough time to yell to Rich to keep his ears open for the bells on the bird, when we flushed a bunny. Nina was all over it . . . and thus we had #5 for the year! I confirmed afterwards with Rich that he did see the action!

I traded her off to the lure, put the bunny in the bag, and decided to try for doubles as we had been in the field about 3 minutes. However, the combination of her already high state, the fact that the field we worked very quickly went down into a deep and steep valley, and the incredible cold, not to mention that she wasn't following very good now, caused me to decide to call it quits for now and bring her in for the day. She came to the lure double-quick, and didn't have to be asked twice.

We got back to the cars, which we'd not gotten very far from, got Nina calmed down and hooded, then took some pictures. Below is one of my roomie and I cutting up, acting tough . . . when really were were just freezing! Afterwards, Rich offered to warm us up with another cup of something hot. It was tea for them, and coffee for me!

On a side note to my friend in NM . . . I'm doing OK. I guess I just hadn't realized all the pics so far this year I was not smiling. Nina and I are having a good time finding all the bunny spots in La Crosse!

Lying to your Bird

Today my room-mate and I took Nina out for a hunt. The place I chose was in town, but part of a large marsh area that runs down the middle of La Crosse. We worked a really thick field that had lots of tall, over-the-head grass. I was quite surprised as I thought we should have bumped a whole lot more bunnies than we did. However, we did give Nina several flights, and she got some good flying in. Some of the flights were quite pretty . . . as she would move out over the field we were working, then fold her wings and do a wing-over, and dive into the grass. She furred one bunny, and I'm sure was pretty close on a couple of others, but the grass was so very thick.

Sometimes, if she is not "moving up" as we say, moving from tree to tree to keep us nearby and underneath her, I have been known to tell a fib. It is interesting to notice that she has learned to associate the game call a falconer gives when they flush game to the action of flushing that game. We yell out "ho ho ho ho", or some such derivation of it when we see a bunny. Most of the time, I am telling the truth. If she is some fair distance though, I will sometimes call out, and act like I have flushed something, just to get her to move up. It almost always works! If I could have a conversation with her, I would say, "Oh, well, I did see a bunny, but you were just soooo far away you were not able to take advantage of it. So sorry for you that YOU did not see it!" :-P

Today I did this, and was rewarded with a very pretty sight. I told Liz I was going to lie to the bird, and I gave out a false game cry. Nina moved herself from where she was and flew out over the field, closer to us. She then began spiraling around, looking, looking, her head turning this way and that. I had said I'd seen a bunny . . . she was looking for it. It was very pretty to see her leisurely soar here at this low level.

I was asked previously why I would want to release such a wonderful game hawk, which I plan to do at the end of this season. She gave today a pretty good example. When we snag them out of the sky, and out of their migration, we remove from them the ability to do that which they are engineered to do . . . soar! I cannot know if they derive pleasure from the activity, and I would not want to be too anthropomorphic. However, soaring is part of their nature, and I want to return Nina to her inheritance. Just as the three other hawks that also flew over the field today, albeit very much higher, screaming their defiance of our intruding upon their territory, I have just been borrowing Nina from the wild, and plan to return her in spring.

We had nothing for the bag today, but we had a nice walk, all three of us getting some pretty good exercise.

Behind the Workplace - Bunny #4

This morning was a nice, sunny, crisp late fall/early winter day. I knew Nina would be recovered from her Thanksgiving day gorge, and ready to fly. My room-mate Liz joined me to check out the woods out behind where I work. There is a nice walking trail, and trees and brushy areas behind it all. I have taken the path previously to confirm there are squirrels. It looked good for bunnies too. So we checked it out today, on a weekend, when the parking lots would be empty.

As soon as I got out of the car I saw squirrel activity. After getting Nina all set up with her transmitter, I launched her that direction. A particularly large black squirrel froze against the branch, and after a few minutes, Nina positioned herself and took a dive at it. She did catch it with a foot, but did not have a really good hold on it. As she came down and struck a branch, she lost her grip, and a chase ensued . . . eventually resulting in the squirrel getting away. We continued on.

During this time, I noticed that we had attracted attention from two young ladies who were working at the Coulee Region Humane Society (Yes . . . the SPCA is right here below where I was hunting). Always, when I attract attention, I try to control the situation so that the random onlooker will come away with a positive impression of falconry. I saw them, I acknowledged them, and walked down into the valley and said hello. They asked some of the usual questions: What are you doing? Is that your bird? Is it injurred? I like to explain that I'm "exercising my bird", that yes, she is in my care, and No, she is not injurred, but completely healthy. I emphasize that I am a LICENSED falconer, pursuing a regulated sport. I'll ask if they would like to meet her, and call her down for a quick tid-bit, and their chance to see a raptor up close. I think the call down is always a very impressive thing for people to see! It was a brief encounter, but they both walked away smiling, and thought that what I was doing was cool!

Too bad they didn't stick around for a couple more minutes!

Almost as soon as I sent her back up a tree, I flushed a bunny which ran up and over the hill. She was hot on its trail. I heard the bunny scream, and knew she had #4. I worked my way up the rather steep hill and found her hanging onto the bunny, at a fence, stradling a pole, one leg on each side, the bunny on the other. It took a couple minutes to get her to let go of one leg so I could remove her and bunny away from the fence. I hope she didn't crash into the fence!

I did the usual rabbit dispatch, secure hawk, lure transfer, and let her eat off the lure while I put her prize into the bag. I then posed for a couple pictures, and headed back to the car. This particular rabbit was cleaned up and tucked into the crock pot. We'll see if I can make some rabbit stew. Liz and I put everything away, cleaned up ourselves, and went and had brunch.

Overall . . . a perfect winter day . . . except I had to go to work later! SIGH!!

Thanksgiving Day Hunt

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today, after getting the turkey bird into the oven, I took my hawk and a couple friends out for a quick hunt. And indeed . . . it was a QUICK hunt! I tried the little patch back behind Hillview Nursing Home, which is just up the street from where I live. I've been here twice before, but Nina did not catch the multiple bunnies flushed there . . . not yet anyway. Today I think she had her glasses on! Actually, I think her first few hunts she didn't have her aim quite on. It seems to have focused in now though. The first bunny flushed, she nailed it quick and efficient. We were only in the field less than 5 minutes. I could have tried for doubles, but there was more meal preparation that needed to be attended to at home, so I called it quits at just the first bunny. I did trade her off onto her lure, and then quickly field dressed the bunny, and offered Nina the warm chest contents, topped off with the head. She got her feast! Unfortunately, this means what was left over was not suitable for picture taking. We are at bunny #3 now for the season. I hope to break my record from last year of a dozen by the end of the year. I took her home to hang out on her perch, and put her crop over in peace while we went inside and had turkey with all the trimmings.

Thanks to Liz, my room-mate, for help on the hunt, and to Jay from Wisconsin Rapids, who I invited with a few others to come and share our holiday meal. Too many people live alone. It's nice to share a special meal, and make a day special for friends.

Bunny #2

Today Nina and I, and our house-mate Liz explored some of the La Crosse marsh. I was aware of a field that the other falconer here in the area uses. He had shown it to me a year and a half ago. There are walking trails around here, so I used what I know about the area so far and found the field again.

I flew Nina over the weekend, but she was too high. She chased a few squirrels, but not with much enthusiasm. I dropped her weight a bit, and got much better results today. Liz and I didn't go too very far from the car. I must have flushed about 3 or 4 bunnies. This last one she came crashing down through the brush and made the mark. While working to extract her from the tangle (there was a barb-wired fence in the way) she grabbed onto my glove, and managed to pinch my finger. You can have a leather glove on . . . it doesn't matter when a hawk gets a good grip on your hand. The area is bruised and sensitive.

So we have bunny #2! I had Liz take a pic of us two after the hunt. I needed a shower . . . BAD!!

So Begins the New Season

Today Nina finally caught her first head of game for the 2007/2008 season. It's a cottontail, and it was hard earned!

Yesterday after leaving class I stopped in at a grocery store near the college that I've never visited before. When leaving, and trying to navigate traffic, I turned down a back road. It looked good, so I followed the road. It ended in an industrial park that had an absolutely PERFECT hunting area out back. Nina was at weight today, so I took her there.

My goodness . . . my girl is a SLUG this year!! We must have had about 10 flushes, or more, and many she came crashing down on only to miss by a slim margin. One of the bunnies she stripped off its tail. I'm not sure if she's just not in as good shape as she could be, due to taking the summer off, or if the longer jesses I have on her are holding her up, or if she is slower due to the tips of her primaries being gone. She tipped most of them in her new facilities. I'm not sure if that contributes to speed, or what. Either way, this was our 5th time out, and up until now, nothing has been caught. But today, we have the first bunny for the bag.

The place we hunted was pretty good! It would be perfect for inviting friends, for there are quite a few bunnies. However, I'll only return on a weekend. I got challenged by some factory manager or something. He was afraid I might trip on the pipes out back. I trip a lot in the field! I'm not worried about his company's pipes! But I'll come back on a weekend when no-one is around.

Nina probably could even be dropped a bit further, as I flew her at 47.6 oz. That's almost 3 lbs. She's a big bird, but if I drop her a bit more, I'll probably get even better field control, and maybe a bit more speed. More practice too!

So, thus starts the new season! I hope to get my girl into really good condition. My plans are to release her in the spring! She should have no problems finding a territory. She's a pushy thing. and today, she was successful!