Lady Hawkers 2008

I got on the road on Saturday morning at about 5:30 AM. I took a quick stop at the store to pick up a few items, and the ATM in Tomah for cash. I then drove the approximate four hours to arrive in Earlville for the Lady Hawker's meet. I was surprised to find I was the only one who brought a bird to fly. Most of the others had either flown their bird the day before, or for different reasons, did not bring their birds. Well . . . . more to help fly mine!

We got off around 11:00 or so for a hunt. Bernie took us to a new field. Within the first five minutes Nina was on bunny #14. We then spent about the next 45 minutes or so trying to convince her to re-engage. Several more bunnies were flushed, but I think Nina was just a little put off by the large group that was in the field. She had at least one slip that she tried for, but missed. There were several others, but she started moving too far away from me. I decided to call her down rather than risk her flying too far away. After getting her back on the fist, some of the ladies noticed a bunny had stopped ahead of them in some very short grass. They asked me if I'd like to try flying her again, but I declined. They then playfully begged if they could still flush the bunny. I turned Nina away from seeing the action, and indicated for them to do so. We are just as bad at wanting to flush bunnies, as our birds are at chasing. When they had done that, they couldn't restrain themselves either, and gave the game cry. Nina just ignored them!

We went back to the facility, SOAR, hosted by Bernie and George Richter. It was an afternoon of socializing and food. I truly enjoy the friendships of fellow falconers!