Hawking the Hanson Farm

Today I accepted an invitation that has been extended since the beginning of the hawking season, to come and hunt the Hanson farm. I met Rich, to my left above, online, and he was very interested about falconry. Finally this weekend I arranged to come check out the game status on their family property. It was a good bet, as he's been telling me!

I "doubled" today, with a bunny and a squirrel combination. Like most farms, they have an area where they keep a lot of their equipment out in the yard when not in use. Over the summer burdock and weeds have grown up, and lots of grass. There was also a huge brush pile. I had quite a few "dogs" today, to include Liz, my room-mate, Rich, his brother, his sister, and his sister's husband. We fanned out into the yard and tapped the equipment and whacked the brush. It did not take long for the bunnies to start hopping. I myself saw a really pretty slip. A rabbit broke from cover and headed towards the huge pile. Nina was just a second behind it. I saw the stoop and the wing flare, as she landed just right behind it, literally catching the dust off the bunny's fast escape. The misses sometimes are more dramatic.

A few minutes later, someone else spooked the bunny above, which she caught. We had been out less than 10 minutes, and I had Bunny #10 in the bag. I did our usual routine, then got her back up, having just rewarded her only a small amount of food. There was still plenty more to hunt.

No one saw the above catch. We started to work along the edge of the field, where there were trees. I heard her come down, and was quite surprised to see she had a squirrel. I thought with how quick it was, she would have another bunny. Squirrels usually are much harder to catch. Rich was able to film the trade off for the squirrel, which was #2 for the year.

I decided because this had all happened so very quick, that we'd try for a triple. However once she got back up, we chased another squirrel right underneath her, and she didn't pay it too much attention. She then flew over the field to the far tree that you can see me call her back from in the video above. We were done! She'd had two quick catches, and had shown herself to be a competent game hawk to the Hanson family.

We were then invited inside for hot dish with the family. It was a very nice morning/early afternoon.

Thanks Rich! Your a pretty lucky hawking charm. Everytime you've come along, we've caught game. Oh, and you have a nice camera too!