A Good Day . . . and a New Hunting Location

Steve getting the opportunity to pet a hawk.

Mike thought she was interesting too!

Days like today reassure me when I'm feeling a bit down.

Today I looked out the window, and saw rain! The last month has been very cold, with the previous couple of weeks being very very cold. The snow has been piling up. Until now! These last few days it has warmed up into the 30s, and even into the low 40s. The snow is melting. The rain is helping some. But hawking in slushy snow is usually no fun.

I putzed around this morning, writing bills, doing laundry, and finally went and checked on Nina to see how she was doing, hoping maybe she was too heavy. She was at weight. Darn . . . and it's so wet outside. Well, I thought maybe the rain would wash away some of the deep hiding spots the bunnies have been tucked away into. Also, I wanted to follow up on a lead for a place to hunt.

I snooped around a few weeks ago the connecting streets to the small field where I took the squirrel, and the same one where Nina crabbed. I discovered it follows along the railroad tracks, and further east, there is a good place to park that gives access to the field. Today I went and tried it. And I am so glad that I did! The access point is a good one, and the field opens up into a marsh area which is absolutely ideal hawking territory.

I got Nina all ready, walked into the field, and released her. As we moved further in I saw a hawk flush from the trees. Nina immediately took off after it. I thought, "Here we go again!!" But after a few minutes, just when I was about to pull my lure, I heard her bells, and she was up a tree overlooking the marsh, as if to say to me, "OK, get busy flushing . . . I'm ready!!"

So I did!

There was rabbit sign EVERYWHERE!! This would be a great field without all the snow. But even with the snow, and some thick cattail whacking, I must have spooked a bunny, for I saw Nina take off, fly over the field, do a beautiful wing over, and crash into the marsh. A second later there was a bunny cry! She did it!

I'm really quite amazed how she's being doing so very well with these marsh catches. I should release her in the spring around here. She'll probably do just fine hunting them. I traded her off, and tucked Bunny #9 into the bag. We were out less than a half hour. Except for the fact that I had to get home and get cleaned up for work, I would have tried for doubles. Not today! On our trip back to the car I stopped, hooded Nina, and dressed out the bunny quickly.

At the car, as I was putting my gear away, we caught the attention of a couple of field operators for Dairyland Power. They stopped for a few minutes and asked me questions about the bird, so I gave them a very quick Falconry 101. One of the gentlemen, Steve, asked me if I knew about the falcon project with Dairyland. I admitted that I am aware that many of the power companies along the Mississippi have helped out the wild populations of falcons by graciously installing nest boxes on their smoke stacks. Both men were very interested in seeing Nina, and were willing to let me take their picture.

Here is a link to that project: Dairyland Falcons. There is also a web cam link at the top of that page.

It started off as a gloomy, wet day. But it was a good hunt, a successful hunt, I got to do a little positive PR for falconry, and I found a really good field with a lot more potential for hunting.