Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Day 15

At noon, she was at 1039 grams. She lost 21 grams in 4 hours @ a ROL of 5.25 GPH. Flew 15 or 20 times with instant response, and ended the session on the lure, which she is continually improving at....still not instant by any means, but at least she is flying further for it each time. Total, she ate 101 grams of quail, and I put her back weighing in at 1140 grams. On another note, my sponsor said that I need to be keeping track of behaviors, body language, focus, speed to glove, etc., more so than exact weights at this time (since I have her flying, and we are focusing now on strenght, etc....he refers to all of this as my "number jibber jabber" HA!). He says that, as her weight goes up, I should be seeing quicker response times and more focus, which he was exaclty right about (in only a day!). Last night, I thought she had good response (which she did, but apparently it wasn't great), but I would occasionally have to wait a second or two, for her to look my direction, before I would hold up the glove and whistle. Today was completely different. She was completely focused on me pretty much the entire time, and I only had to wait once (out of the fifteen to twenty flights) for her to look at me, before I would call her (and that was only about a 2 or 3 second wait), other than that, she was completely focused on the game at hand. She didn't really seem like she was flying faster as far as speed goes, but she was def faster in her responses (these "instant" responses where even more quick than her previous "instant" responses...)....if that makes sense...it does to me.....anyways, session in the morning at the school, and then I will probably have a session flying from Trees to me at Chandler Park Friday morning (just to make sure she likes coming to me out of trees)....then it's all about the rabbit field Saturday morning (where HOPEFULLY Kent's harris hawk decides to tear it up, and snatchs a baggie bunny for me...FINGERS CROSSED!)

Log 14/15 60ft consitantly

Yesterday at 12:00 AM, she was at 1009 grams (naked....I'm no longer going to be weighing her with her leash setup...too many variables such as leash being wet, she mutes on it, etc, that would throw off the weight). That was a loss of 17 grams in 5 hours, at a ROL of 4.25 GPH. I fed her 5 grams, which put her up to 1014 grams when I headed back to work. 5:00 PM, she was at 1001 grams, and after makin some food and taking care of some things around the house, I drove up to Ryan's house, so that he could watch her fly, and asses her condition. Got there at 7:00, he felt her keel, and immediately said she was too low (Bummin pretty good about that right now.....). Got 10+ good flights out of her...most of them where about 60 feet or so (maxed out the creance, so I couldn't go any further). Fed her a starling, a sparrow, and half of a pigeon breast. Her lure response is def improving each time I present it (this was time number 3), but she still has a ways to go before she is "wed" to it. Had I not gotten to her reponsive weight, and then blew past it, we would be flying her free today my sponsor informed me. Unfortunately, I will now be spending the next few days bringing her back up, and we post poned the first free flights until Saturday. I'm irritated with myself, b/c I know better than this....I should have done better...period. I was so focused on getting her from the trap to flying free quickly, so that she wouldn't loose much muscle mass, that I ignored the obvious signs, and ended up burning up more muscle than I would have if I had just taken my time. I put her on the scale before I crashed out last night around 11:00 PM, and she was at 1086 grams. I left her in the "garage mew" last night, and I think it got down into the upper 40's. DAY 15 at 7:50 AM, she was at 1060 grams. She lost 26 grams in 9 hours, at a ROL of 2.89 GPH. I'm going to try and work her at lunch today, and then hopefully, work her in the morning Thur and Fri, so that she will be ready to go in the morning on Saturday...we shall see what happens.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Log 13/14 1st respectable flights!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Flew her about 25 feet last night in the back yard. Pretty darn psyched! This is how it all went down. Got off work at five o'clock, and swung over to a friends house, to FINALLY pay for my receiver, and a new transmitter (pretty psyched about that btw...got one heck of a deal for sure....THANKS CHRIS!), and then I swung by Gary's house to show off my new lil girl. Talked birds and hawkin for a little bit, but then he had to head out, so I went on home. Stuck her on the scale at 7:00 PM, and she weighed in at 999 grams (986 naked), which was a loss of 67 grams over 25 hours, @ a ROL of 2.68 GPH. So far, that is a total loss of 257 grams, or 20.68%. Gary had felt her keel, and said that she felt a little bit sharp, so I was a little bit worried about her being so low.....I was hoping for a good session, more so for the fact that I would be able to see her fly, and would be able to tell if she was "weak" or not. Took her out back, put her up on her perch, and walked back about 5 feet.....gave her cue, and she was on her way. Stepped back to around ten feet....instant response.....fifteen....instant response....25 feet...PRETTY good response (had to flash it a few times, before she decided to make the journy....I wonder if my tid bits are too large....). Total, I got about seven or 8 flights in there, and she "seemed" like she was flying normal (other than her "weakness" from not flying for two weaks....). Put her back up on her perch, and then I jumped her off to the lure, to end the session. She got a total of 63 grams of quail, and went back on the block at 1062 grams. DAY 14 (9-29) at 7:50 AM, she weighed in at 1039 grams (1026 grams naked), which is a loss of 23 grams in 12 hours, @ a ROL of 1.92 GPH. Going to have to see if her metabolism jumps back up to a 2.3/2.5 GPH since its not night time, and if so, I may just make it back to a responsive weight tonight. I plan on taking her to the school this evening, and try to get some serious distance on her flights. I'm hoping to have her around 995 grams for this session (since it will be a new environment and all), but I have a feeling she is going to be higher than she was yesterday (dang it! Fed her too much!). Can't wait till she gets everything down, and I can start bringing her back up! My goal for the winter....have her spot on at a higher weight than I trapped her...big plans, big goals, we shall see what happens. If I can get a friend to come out with me, hopefully I can get some new pictures of her....right now, I think we have had enough of just perched images....we need some flights!!!!!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Weekend update Days 10/11/12/13

Had a GOOD weekend! Went over to Jeff B's hosue after work on Friday, and we made a spacer for the #7 hood, and talked birds for a minute. Jeff sure is a good guy, and I'm lookin forward to some good times hawkin in the near future. Headed up to Edmund after that, and stayed with my brother and his wife for the evening. Didn't end up messing with the bird till 10:30 PM, and she was at 1067 grams (1054 grams naked). I'm not sure what her deal was, but she was not very responsive at all, and I only got one hop out of her, before I put her up for the night. DAY 11 at 9:00 AM, she was at 1054 grams (1041 grams naked), which means she lost 13 grams in 10.5 hours, at a ROL of 1.3 GPH. Again, she wasn't responsive, so I put her back in the GH for an hour....got her back out at 10:00 AM, and got 5 or 6 good hops to the fist. I put her back into the GH, and headed to the wildlife expo with her at 1076 grams (1063 naked). She did really well at the expo, with tons of people around. Didn't have any bates, and she was calm the whole time. Around 2:00, we took some of the birds outside for a little weathering, and Ryan decided it was time for a creance session. I informed him that I had just fed her 4 hours ago, and that her response was a bummer then, but he roled his eyes at me, and hopped her to his fist three or four times with INSTANT response! I'm like "WHAT?!?!?!?!?" Then we get the creance out, and she does a little hop to the fist, and then a return to the perch, before she started turning her crop over. Hind sight has made me realize, that the reason I have been getting "slower" response than I should be, and the reason she was perfect for Ryan, is because I'm workin her with the dog everytime, and Maggie is a distraction still. DAY 12 (9-27), she was at 1022 grams (1009 grams naked). Total, that is a loss of 234 grams over 12 days, with an average loss of 19.5 grams per day. Total, that is a loss of 18.83% from trap. Did a creance session outside with her and the dog, and only got about five good hops out of her, before I ended the session on the lure....the longest was only about 5 or 6 feet. I'm getting tempted to put the dog away, so that I can have more progress with her, but she is still so distracted by Maggie, that I think re-introducing her to the equation later would just add more work over all....I need to just be patient with my progress, and it should pay off in the long run. Anyways, put her up last night at 1066 grams (1053 naked). DAY 13 (This morning), she was at 1033 grams (1020 grams naked), which is a loss of 33 grams in 14 hours, @ a ROL of 2.36 GPH.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Log Day 9/10

At 8:00 PM, she was at 1084 grams (1071 grams w/o leash setup...will be refered to as "naked" from now on, though it's not a very accurate description, since she has a bunch of gear on....either way..."naked"). I must have been off of my "A" game last night, b/c she managed to pull the first few tid bits out of my hand (without hopping)...sneaky lil slut! B/c of this, her response time was less than desired (compared to yesterdays), so I only did a couple hops before she lost her "instant" response. She got eleven grams (they were big portions), and I put her up for a break at 8:30 PM (she was at 1095 grams, or 1082 grams naked). Got her back out fifteen minutes later, and got two more hops out of her with instant response, for about 5 grams of food, and she went back on her block at 1110 grams, or 1087 grams naked. This morning DAY 10 at 7:30 Am, she wighed in at 1100 grams (1087 grams naked), which is a loss of 10 grams in 10.5 hours, at a ROL of .95 GPH. Well, I finally got around to making a hood. Lets just say that watching other people do it (or helping out making one with "proper" supervision) gives one the misguided opinion that "hey, I can do that." Well....it's a WHOLE lot harder doing it at home by yourself. My seams arn't smooth on the inside, my eye placements are lopsided, and the beak opening isn't centered.....I worked on it for a few hours, and it's useless! Pretty much, the only thing I did correctly was to keep the stitching tight. I have an even greater respect now, for those who have the patience to make hoods, and have become masters at their crafts (like Jeremy Bradshaw! I couldn't ever dream of making a product THAT good...his kestrel hoods are out of this world!) I AT LEAST think I have the sizing down correctly now. I was aiming for a 7.4 hood, but the pattern was so off, that I ended up using a 7.6 and evening up all the lines, so after trimming, it was the size of a 7.4.....I think some of my problems came during the "evening out" process, and I lost some of the curves in the hood., had I made it properly, it would have fit perfectly (I think). Oh well...think I'm gonna give Huber a ring, and see how much a hood would set me back. On the plus side, the bird has stopped trying to kick the hood off she is wearing now, so it will work for the time being.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Log Update

At 1:00PM, she weighed in at 1092 grams. Her leash/swivel/extender setup weighed 13 grams, so she weighs 1079 grams with just the jesses on. From trapping, that is 164 grams lost over 9 days. That's an average of 18.22 grams lost per day, and is a total body loss of 13.19%

Log day 8/9 1st hop!

Good day yesterday! Headed out to Owasso to do a little chillen with Mark. He had flown the barbary in the morning, so we took his hybrid out for some exercise. As usual, had a great time watchin his bird fly, and he performed better than Mark had anticipated (though, he did get off to a slow start!). I forgot his GH, and the money for the telemetry, so I guess I'm just gonna have to go fly again tonight or tommorow. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm completely distraught about that :)!!! Got home, and was not feeling too hot. I think I am still a little dehydrated from the last week or so of celebrations, and was feeling pretty crummy by the time I got home. Put the bird on the scale at 9:00O PM, and she weighed in at 1106 grams. All I could think about was laying down, so I was hoping the bird would be responsive. Gary suggested that I give her a bite to get the session going, so I did that, and then stuck her on the back of a chair. Held the fist back a little bit...she strained to reach it, and couldn't do it, leaned back...sleeked down her feathers, and hopped to the fist! NICE! Put her back on the chair, held my hand at the same spot, and she hopped to it instantly. About that time, I decided I HAD to lay down, or else it wasn't going to be good, so put the bird unhooded on her block at 1110 grams @ 9:05 PM. DAY 8 7:45 AM...she weighed in at 1101 grams, which means she lost 9 grams in 1.5 hours, @ a ROL of .86 GPH. Because of some advice from a good friend, I am going to continue to keep track of her total weight lost from trap, so I will be weighing her leash/swivel/extender at lunch, and start keeping track of that number again. Feelin MUCh better this morning, and I am drinking a ton of water. Planning on a good session tonight!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Log Day 7 and 8

Last night at 6:00 PM, she was at 1098 grams, and didn't want to hop to the fist. Presented the food a few times, but she just wouldn't do it. I weigh her again afterwards, and kept getting the same weight.....This is what doesn't make sense. She lost 6 grams in five hours between morning and lunch yesterday, but these numbers say she lost 16 grams in 6.5 hours between lunch and evening.....I'm not thinkin so...her burn cycle should have been slowing down...not speeding up. This is where my problem lies. When i have been weighing her, I have been doing the hold the swivel and leash in your hand and have the jesses sorta raised up thing.....that way it sorta gets a "trueer" weight. In theory, this works.....but I can't do it right. Either my hand is moving, or the bird is twitching her tail, or something is moving, and i'm not getting an accurate weight...it just changes too much. Day 8. I try weighing her like I normally do, and it says she is at 1089 grams. IF this was an accurate number, it means that the first night she was left unhooded (which was last night, and she did GREAT!), she actually burned WAY less than she normally does while hooded....can't be right. That would mean she only lost 9 grams in 14 hours, at a ROL of .64 GPH....that's half the normal rate of loss at the END of her burn cycle, after it's already slowed down. I mean, granted, she could be like that, and her ROL has almost stopped, and I will be seeing green mutes when i get home, but I think my technique is flawed. This is what i'm thinking...Put the whole leash on the scale...then i don't have to worry about whether or not i'm messing it up or not. I won't have to be messing with her so much, making sure she isn't standing on the jesses, and i should start getting more accurate weights. SOOOOO this morning when i weighed her (with the leash setup and all), she weighed in at 1122 grams. This is the new number I will be going off of, and hopefully I will start getting a more accurate read on her weights. I will no longer be able to accurately tell how much her total percent loss is from trap (which is something i wanted to pay attention to), but I was already estimating it b/c of the bell/transmitter additions I made, so I'm not too distraught.
I put her out for her first "extended" weathering session (the other couple times, she was only out there for forty five min or so), and she did PRETTY well (not perfect, but not bad). She is still bating more than I would like, but she at least has the returning to the perch thing down. What surprised me though, was that she never once has, on any perch, done the full out bate, where her feet get tripped out from under her, and she does the sprawled out laying thing (you all know what I'm talkin about)....I assumed the first few times out weathering would be when i encountered this, but she seems to be settling into her new situation well. I didn't get the hood made last night, b/c I am an irresponsible apprentice, but I should get to it tonight (i'm running out of time...If i don't get a properly fitting hood on her soon, I foresee some complications arrising). I have decided to incorporate the LED into my training as my conditioned reinforcer (got the idea off of the OPC forum, through a heads up from my sponsor...good stuff on there for sure!), as opposed to a clicker or some "other" type of whistle.....being that she should be hopping tonight (I know, I said that yesterday...but she WILL do it tonight :-)), I need to buy one ASAP. SO much to do, so little time. At Lunch today, she was at 1113 grams, which is a loss of 9 grams in 5.5 hours @ a ROL of 1.64 GPH. I had left her unhooded in the kitchen, and she had a leg tucked up when i got home. Put her out to weather for a little bit, and then left her hooded on the block for the afternoon.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Crazy Coops!

Well, for those of you who don't know, I have a pretty thick coopers hawk population in my area. One pair nested just a few streets down from my own, and it's not that uncommon to see them a few times a week. Ever since I put my pigeon loft up, they are around my house A LOT more. They have been getting nice and plump on my inexperienced birds. Anyways, put the bird out to weather while I was eating lunch, and she had been there maybe forty min or so, when i suddenly hear the coops callin. I rush to the window to see a huge haggard female make a nice little stoop at the RT, but pulled off well above her head, and landed in my neighbors yard, yelling her head off the whole time. I tried to get some pictures of her sitting up their, tellin the world how pissed she was this bird was on her turf, but she was just too far away for my bad camera. Anyways, when i weighed her at lunch, she was at 1114 grams, which is a loss of 6 grams in 5 hours...not too bad for being perched hooded all morning. From the trap, that's a total loss of 129 grams, or 10.38%. I have been getting into contact with some of the local pecan orchard owners, and have been given permision to hawk a few of them, which is SWEET! I'm stressin on having enough fields to hawk, so every new one is a blessing!

Day 6/7


Well, I did the apprentice thing. I know, I know....calm down! Got home after work, and was all psyched to mess with the bird. Pulled a sparrow out, and she bent down and ate it immediately...NICE! Then i realized I hadn't weighed her before hand....pretty irritated, but i guess it's not ThAT big of a deal. I know about how much a sparrow weighs, so i can get a pretty good guess. Anyways, at 5:30 PM, she weighed in at 1137 grams, and chilled most of the evening inside, unhooded, on her block. She didn't bate away from anything, and the only times she did, it was more of her just bating toward a higher perch. I am not a fan of the block thing right now...at least not with a fresh bird, and am going to be getting a bow for her in the very near future. She just always crosses her leash over the top, and it ends up sending the leash through her train...Murphey's law says she will bend a tail feather in no time at all. DAY 7 at 7:45 Am, she weighed in at 1120 grams. She lost 17 grams in 14 hours at a ROL of 1.21 GPH. My goals for the night....get her to step up to the fist, go say what's up to Gary, and make this bird a new hood.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Log update and weekend adventures


End of DAY 3 (9-18) At 5:30, she weighed 1147 grams, and was still way too distracted/fat to want to eat anything. DAY 4 (9-19): At 7:45 AM, she weighed in at 1115 grams. She lost 32 grams in 14 hours, at a ROL of 2.29 GPH. She ate most of a starling, and when I put her up at 8:20 AM, she was at 1171 grams. At 7:00 PM, she was at 11:45 grams; she had lost 26 grams in 11 hours @ a ROL of 2.36 GPH. Not really sure what I was thinking, but I went ahead and fed her another two sparrows, which brought her up to 1183 grams when i put her up at 8:00 PM. DAY 5 (9-20) At 7:15 PM, she was at 1148 grams, which meant she only lost 35 grams in 23 hours, at a ROL of 1.52 GPH. About that time, I realized we had put her bell on, and tail mounted her transmitter, so those numbers are pretty much way off. Because of all the food she ate the day before, she wasn't interested in putting forth the effort to bend down and eat, so she got nothing. DAY 6 (9-21) At 7:00 AM, she weighed in at 1126 grams. She lost 22 grams in 11 hours, @ a ROL of 2 GPH. That is a total body mass loss so far of 117 grams from the trap, or a loss of 9.41%...which means she still has a bit to come down for sure! She seemed a little interested in food this morning, but wouldn't take the effort to bend down....she should be hungry enough tonight though. I made it out to Bartlesvill yesterday (Sunday) morning, and did a little hawking with Jonathan and Kent. The dew was crazy heavy in the morning, so we had to take the occasional feather drying break, but over all, he flew pretty well. Had quite a few nice flights, and he got really close to connecting with another kill. The closest he got to catching one, involved him grabbing the back end of the rabbit, and going for a short rodeo ride, before eventually getting kicked off. Pretty sure next time, he is going to aim more for the head! Here is a picture of the harris drying off by the truck.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Beginning of Log (Day 3)

It was September 16th, not really sure what time of the day it was, but she was the last bird we trapped. Chris' car slowed down next to a dumpster, and we were assuming that he was throwing something in the trash (b/c we didn't see a bird anywhere. By the time we realize that a trap was dropped, we were already almost on top of it. Ryan slammed the truck in reverse, and we backed away a bit, and then started watching her. She was very interested in the trap, but for some reason, every car in the world decided they wanted to drive past us. She did a couple little flights for it, but didn't really commit. Finally, we caught a break in the traffic, and she flew down next to the trap. She eyed it for a minute from a few feet away, but was pretty darn suspicious.
After what seemed like eternity, she finally jumps onto the trap, and everyone holds there breath, waiting for her to start bouncin. Suddenly, she starts freakin out, and Ryan throws the car in drive, and we haul balls down the road toward her. She is struggling and fightin, and right when we are gettin up to her, she flies off! WTF! I jump out and grab the trap, and then we head down the road and pull up next to Chris. He was like "What the heck where you guys doing, that RT was hovering 20 ft above your head, when you jumped out to pick up that trap!" After inspecting the trap, it was decided that she had broken on of the nooses, or else the knot from that noose came undone. At that time, we see the RT flying back over the field, and lands on the same pole that she was previously at, so we quickly flip a u-turn, and I toss Ryan's trap on the opposite side of the road that the bird is on. LUCKLY, I tossed the trap right side up (unlike a lot of my previous tosses!), and we head down the road to watch. She only waits a few moments, and then flies down pretty near the trap. She eyes it for a moment, and then jumps on top of it. We hold our breaths, and then suddenly she tries to take off, and her foot is caught in a noose!!!! Both trucks start driving up quickly, and the bird manages to take off with the trap a little bit. Ryan jumps out of the truck, and starts running toward her, and she manages to fly up onto one of the fence posts. She tries to take off from there, but on of the other nooses gets snagged on the fence, and she is held down. Ryan runs up and grabs her, and then Chris cuts the other noose off the fence. She is untangled from the trap, and weighs in at 46 OZ!. She had a meadow lark feather in her mouth, which was a good sign to me...hopefully, she will be a little more birdie than most females. We shall see. We gear her up in the braums parking lot, and then we jump in the car, and head on home, happy with our successful trip!
We got back to Ryan's house around ten or so, and dropped some images onto his computer. A little quick advice was given for the upcoming few days, and she weighed in at 1243 grams. Yesterday, 9-17-09 at 8:00 PM, she weighed 1178 grams, and was starting to calm down pretty well. During our brief session last night, she only bated once, and that was because Maggie got a little too close to her, and made her nervous. I offered her a starling, but she was still a little too nervous to eat. She crunched around on the head a little bit, and got most of the brains, but other than that little taste, refused the rest of the starling. I hooded her back up after about an hour, and she still weighed 1178 grams when I put her back on her block, around 9:00.
This morning (9-18-09), she weighed in at 1165 grams, and was def. more alert to her surrounds. When i picked her up, she did that really quick footing thing, where she bounces back and forth for about 10 second periods. She sure does have a hell of a grip on her...I may need to switch to the pineo glove, so she doesn't poke through the cheaper one I got from Northwoods. She did it again when i was leaning down to put her on the scale, and was more "aware" when i was moving around her toes, so that she wasn't standing on the jesses. Gonna have to start paying more attention to her feet now that she is "waking back up". I feel confident that she would have eaten if i tried to feed her this morning, but i'm going to wait until either lunch or evening, depending on how much weight she loses. Either way, I will be able to get an idea on her rate of loss (ROL) by lunch time.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Your not going to believe this!

We didn't catch a single passage kestrel......I know....nuts huh?!?!?!? This is how it went down. Headed to Bartlesville Monday night, and we got up semi-early to head out of town. Saw quite a few kestrels in the morning, but I ended up botching most of the tosses (silly apprentice!). Jonathan joined us for our trapping trip, b/c he was wanting a new RT, but we only saw one passage bird too, so to say the morning was slow would be a pretty big understatment. Mid morning/afternoon hit, and all the hawks went soaring (not very condusive to trapping huh?!?!?!?). Kept driving, and didn't see another freakin kestrel for 6 HOURS! Little sluts just dissappeared. Got to Woodward, and Ryan took care of some work stuff, and then we were on our way to Hydro. Saw a couple more kestrels, but they were not it trappable situations, so we didn't even toss a trap till late evening, when we got close to hydro. Still, no interest in the traps from the birds, so we got to Chris's house, and got our drink on!
The next morning, we headed out again, but with the company of Chris, Jon, and Walt...again, no birds were caught, and we were getting a little irritated. Chris said screw this, and we headed up to his "honey hole" for passage RT's. We were not even off the highway for a minute before we trapped out first bird, and it continued like that for the rest of the afternoon. We trapped 6 RT's that day, and 4 of them were kept (one went to Jer's apprentice, whose name escapes me right now, Jonathan got a new bird, Chris kept an average sized male, and I ended up keeping a female!!!!!!). Still can't believe I ended up with an RT....she will be good times though, and I'm pretty damn psyched about the possibilities this season holds. I am cramming in my studying right now, since I havn't really focused my reading on RT training for YEARS, but hopefully I will pick up the info pretty quickly! I have a kick@$$ sponsor though, and the support of my good friends, so hopefully she will turn out to be a good lil bird. We accidently deleted all of the pictures off of the camera, when we were uploading them onto Ryan's computer, but here is a teaser for ya. More to come VERY soon (once I get them back!). Come on baby, let the good times ROLE!!!!!!!!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

OH SNAP!!!!! It's about to be on!!!!!

12 hours till trapping season!!!!!!!!! Can you freakin believe it?!?!?!? It's almost here! To say that i'm geeked out, unable to concentrate at work, and jittery would be the understatment of the century! I'm heading to B-ville after work, and then we are getting up at the but crack of dawn to go trapping!

Went out hawkin with Kent and Jonathan this weekend, and had a GREAT time! Both caught rabbits, along with a couple of rats, and a turtle (don't ask! It was pretty funny though!). This picture cracks me up...can you tell we were havin good times!?!?!

I LOVE FALCONRY!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Maggie Mae


Well, this stupid blogger thing has changed somehow. In the past, when I had been wanting to add an image, I uploaded it, and the picture was in a "picture" format. I then dragged it around wherever I wanted it, and then I would post it when I was satisfied with the structure. Well, for some reason, now they are put into there in "text form", and I am not able to move it around like I would like (notice when i posted the pictures of Jonathan....notice how it's no longer all tight and stuff as far as picture/text relationship...pisses me off!!!!!)....well, I hadn't posted any pictures of Maggie, so I thought I would try and figure this thing out. I have checked all the settings, and can't find anything to solve my troubles, so I am going to have to figure out a way to work around it.

Either way, This is Maggie! She is a 3.5 to 4 year old German short haired pointer that was given to my by Oklahoma falconer Doug S. Due to unfortunate circumstances, he was no longer able to take her out and run her @$$ off anymore, and being that he loved her so much, knew that she would be better off living with someone who could take her out. I was lucky enough to be the person who got her, and she is a great lil girl. Though she has been a house dog for a minute, and her field control now sucks, I am attempting to get her back in line. So far, I have been unsuccessful due to my inexperience with hunting dogs, and my general inability to be a proper trainer....but I am learning. I took her out last weekend with Ryan, and she made me look like a total duche, but it sorta kicked my butt back into gear, and it motivated me to put more time into her. She is the sweetest girl ever, and has the potential to be one hell of a hunting partner (she was already a great hunting dog, she just needed to be brushed up, and I botched the job the first attempt)....I'm excited about what the future (though very distant) will hold. Five more days till trapping season!!!!!!

(note: It worked! Not sure what I did differently, but it worked!!!!!)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Crazy busy

Life catchs up quickly, and I have been crazy busy. Not much to update about...just waiting on trapping! 6 more days!!!!!!