Monday, November 2, 2009

"Such is falconry"


Bummer weekend....went sorta like this. (Day 45) Got home at five, and she weighed in at 1049 grams. Headed out to the field by the train tracks, to see if my bad luck on bunnies was going to continue to be a trend, or if it was just a fluke. Well....it's a trend :(....Beeped her up, and we heading into the field. She was really focused, and following well, but i just couldn't manage to kick up any rabbits. Beat around for a cool minute in the "rabbit" section, but then headed out into the open field, following the creek bead that is full of briars. Kicked up 5 or 6 snipe, one of which she put in a half hearted flight at, but other than that...nothing. Snapped a few pictures on the way back to the car of the sunset, and then we called it a day. Saturday (DAY 46)at 10:00 AM, she weighed in at 1053 grams. Put her anglo hood on her, with the hopes that she would cast by the time we started hunting (which she did!), and headed to Jonathan's house to pick him up. Off to Bartlesville we went, and we hit up the field behind the school. I gave Jonathan the honors, so he pulled his bird out, and we went for rabbit number three. He unhoods her, and she flies up to a tree, and then immediately does a pretty focused flight over to a cedar, and starts looking around. We enter the field, and head to where she is, and kick up a rabbit within a few seconds. Short flight out of the tree, and the bird had scored rabbit number three......total hunt was about sixty seconds long, and I think it's fair to say that she knows the name of the game now FOR SURE! Dee Dee's turn to fly, so I get her beeped up, and she flies up to the same tree to start her hunt off. Just like Jonathan's bird, she immediately looks focused on something, so I go and start kicking around that area. I get a flush in short order, and she comes out of the tree and slams the ground....I get over there, and find her tearing at................a VOLE! Little slut! I try to get it away from her, but she gulps it down before I can get anything done, and I'm pretty irritated by this point. I'm like, well....lets keep hunting before she puts that into her stomach, so I get her to fly up to a pole, and we continue to beat the brush. We continue on, and she hasn't "perched up" yet, so I give her the signal to move closer, and she flies up to a closer telephone pole (which we had previously bumped a hag RT off of). She lands, and immediately starts bending down and eating something. I'm like "what the heck is she eating!!!!" Jonathan says she is eating a rabbit leg, and I start getting even more irritated. She gulps down TWO rabbits legs that where on this pole, and I'm thinking my hawking day has come to an end....I mean really.....one vole and two legs....that's pretty much a full feeding.. Alright, I'm lieing.....I WAS PISSED! I was looking forward to a GREAT day of hawkin, and it's in shambles. I send Ryan a text, looking for some motivational words to get us back in gear, and to lift our spirits, and his response is "such is falconry..." Dang! We head off to the field behind the mall, and meet up with Kent and a couple of his buddies. They came out to shoot pictures, and to join in on the brush beating, and it was nice getting to meet them. We flew his young bird first, and got quite a few nice slips for him, but he is still very leery of crashing brush hard, and still picking up "the game", but over all, flew well. Next, it was decided that Jonathan was going to try and double it up, so we pulled his bird out, and we headed off toward "the bush." We get a few slips for her pretty quickly, and she got pretty darn close to connecting with a few of them. Honestly, had she not already connected that day, I'm pretty sure she would have snagged at least one of them. Headed up toward the road on the east side of the field, and then cut back toward the parking lot, getting a few more slips, but nothing that was really "catchable." He decided to cut his session short b/c of her response, so next it was time to fly Kent's older bird. He seemed VERY intense during our session, but seemed more focused on rats than on bunnies. We didn't manage to kick up as many rabbits for him as we had been for the other birds, but he made one or two decent attemps, while he refused a few other ones. About this time, Dave E shows up, and it was GOOD times getting to see him again. We shot the $hit for a minute, and apparently he had kicked up a Great horned, a barred, AND a Barn owl on his way through the field, when he was coming to join up with us. Pretty neat the amount of raptors that are all pushed into this little area. After a bit, we put his Harris up, and I'm like screw it...let's fly Dee. So I get her out, and after having to call her down immediately b/c i forgot to turn her transmitter on, headed off into the field. We walked east toward the road, and then cut back north, heading to an area that we hadn't explored since last winter. Got a slip or two in between this, but she was either out of postion, or really far away (due to the lack of proper perchs in this section). She got close to connecting on one, where she flew a LONG ways off of a telephone pole, and was following it perfectly through the open field, but just got juked when she came in for the connection. Finally made it to the other end of the field, and we started kicking up quite a few rabbits. Had some GREAT flights, and she almost connected with a few, but she was just one step behind them all (had she not eaten, she would have caught I'm sure....just didn't have that extra motivation to put out the full 100%). Flew her butt off, and by the end of the session, she was REALLY tired! Called her down to the lure, and when i weighed her that night, she was at 1102 grams (She must have been FAT after the vole and rabbit legs, to still be that high after getting her balls flown off!). (DAY 47) Sunday was dedicated to car hawking. Weighed her in at 1:30 PM at 1032 grams, and Austin had a game plan already. We headed to some spots that he thought would be popping with birds, and he was absolutly correct. Got a nice slip on a pigeon which she ALMOST got, some grackle slips, and a REALLY nice one on a crow which she chased hard. Had to pick up the parents dog from the kennel, so we paused for a little bit while taking care of that, and then we decided to swing through the fontana shopping center to look for birds. There was a really nice slip on some starlings, but she only did a half hearted attempt at them. She flew up to to a flag pole, and then got mobbed by a ton of crows. She flew off over some appartments, and the chase was on. Saw her in a tree, but she wouldn't come down to the fist, so I was about to pull out the lure, when she took off again. Lost sight of her for about ten minutes, and drove around with the telemetry out and finally found her again. There was a big group of kids around watching her, and as I was about to get out of my car to call her down, when she spooked off again, and I lost sight of her. Zeroed in on her location, and we found her up in a tree. One positive was, that she stayed in the same general area, and she kept making circles looking for me I THINK, but I was just one step behind the whole process, and got to her location just as she was wanting to leave. Did somemore searching with the telemetry, and eventually found her in the tree next to the flag pole she had originally flown up to after the slip. Swung the lure, and she came down instantly. My thoughts.....I extended the session WAY too long. Should have been satisfied with the five or six really nice slips that I had had before we picked up the dog, and should have just ended on a big feed up on the lure. Instead, I kept pushing, and it ended in a telemetry chase. Lesson learned.....I HAVE to score a rabbit in the next hunt though, just to get her back in line. I fed her a little when I got home last night, not thinking about the fact that day lights savings had hit, and so she is going to be at weight TONIGHT, which does me no good. Should have just left her where she was, and flown this morning, but I didn't. Oh well....may try to do some car hawkin at lunch. It has now been four days since she has scored....none of which was her fault (other than the vole and rabbit legs...slut!), and I'm going to HAVE to step it up, and start giving her more slips. Right now, it's just me that is holding her back.

4 comments:

  1. Oh so now you're sneaking into my fields without me around? I see how it is.... lol

    A fat hawk makes for a weary falconry, wasted time and an empty game bag

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  2. shame she didnt get the crow, remember there is always tomorrow

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  3. went trapping for the first time this weekend... ill hook you up with some pictures later.

    We caught a 59 OUNCE HAG RT!!!!!
    that puts her well over 1800 g ON AN EMPTY STOMACH!

    bummer couple of days though... "such is falconry"... i like it

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  4. strike that... 59 ounces is 1600 not 1800... but still... SHE WAS BIG!

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