First Kill

Same drama with family started this morning but eventually hawk , gear and me were in the car to pick Steve up. We headed down to Dallas to a bunny field many apprentices first start out in.

She weighed in at 940 grams when i left which was spot on for the day. Walked into the field and un-clipped her and away we went, Initially she just stayed on my fist but after a while flew up into a tree. We started walking the field only to find a Red Tail hunting the field, everything started to go to pot in that zoie wouldn't follow or was very hesitant and it took a while, almost to the point i thought shit we wont get her back do i through the lure out now...

We came to a railway embankment and i flushed the bottom of a small gully whilst Steve flushed the top. This is where a rabbit bottled up the embankment with zoie on its tail. The rabbit headed into dense brush and no matter what Steve and i did was not going to reflush.

At his point i get caught short, nerves and cold ( as was a little nippy) and half a bottle of Dr Pepper, But just as I'm taking quick leak zoie spots a Squirrel and decided to chase it ( Moral to story go before you hunt !)

Believe it or not there is a Buck Squirrel in the fork of a branch. Zoie gets into position and i manage to move it and then she was on it for one of the most amazing flights ever cork screwing down the tree truck.

We made in trade of was a bit messy but that was down to me , so first kill and we all came home safely.

Day 20

Tomorrow will be the 3rd week i have had Zoie, Tomorrow she free fly for the first time. Tonight she weighed 925 spot on for our target. she was flying 150 feet and hitting my glove hard. after about 10 solid flights with some in field distractions from a dog and some kids skateboarding Steve my sponsor was satisfied enough with her progress and its off to the bunny field tomorrow. We came back home and fitted the Larry Cance bells i had got some time ago. We feed her 50 grams of washed beef heart and 20 grams of pigeon on the lure, she hit the lure very heard and was all about that.

She maybe ready but i guess i have the apprehension of all new apprentice about to turn their hawk loose for the first time in the filed, the mind says yeah lets hunt the body says no don't do it what if she don't come back. I really hope we get her onto her first bunny tomorrow, if not there is always Saturday and Sunday !

oh yeah after today i wont be labeling each post Day this and Day that, This part of Zoie's training is over and the next stage is just about to begin.

Day 19

Her weight was down to 920 a little low and it showed in her response to i fed her extra and today we will see what she is like. shes flying to 100+ on the creance , she is bond to the glove and the lure now. hasn't quite got the hang of the T-Perch but its coming. providing i don't screw up her weight we should be hunting tomorrow. We have decided for now her target weight will be 928 without bells ( because we haven't fitted them yet).

Day 18

Weighed her this morning and i knew she was going to be under the 20's tonight so gave her 7 more grams. by 5.00pm she was at 925. Took her too the local city park and set up for some 100 foot flights, i barely got 50 feet and she was following me. Wasn't hitting the glove hard but we did have a number of very good flights Fed ehr 40 grams of Beef heart and 15 grams of pigeon. Tomorrow we are going to put her bells on and fly her in the park again

People in glass houses should not through stones

An interesting article appeared on fox news concerning Dominique Swain spokes woman for PETA One wonders how these people are so out for animal rights yet cant look after there own pets. The ethical thing would have been to have her dog spayed if she didn't want puppies at least she didn't give them to her own organisation to be euthanized.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2009/11/09/dominique-swain-dumps-unvaccinated-puppies-shelter-says-shes-broke/?test=faces

Day 17

Well I'm still getting up around 4.30-5.00am to man her an hour before work. to be honest it probably the best time i have with her sat on my fist as we watch the early morning news, everyone is asleep in the house and its just me and zoie. Something very relaxing having a wild animal that weighs just under 2lbs on ya fist.

After work i rushed home as usual to catch the evening suns rays, get zoie out and see where we are at today. She weighed 928, a tad on the low side we wanted her 935 and 925 on Friday so zoie got two sessions today, 50 feet flights and lure training and then later that evening i was getting her to hop or fly to my T-Perch and then to the lure. I think the cold front dropped her too much and she cast the feathers from Sunday. So 25grams of beef and 20 grams of pigeon should pull her back up a little.

Dreading Friday in a lot of ways, and i guess it's something every falconer goes through but in other ways i cant wait for us to both start getting bunnies and squirrels

Day 16

Steve came over at 1pm and we got Zoie out. she was a little heavy from the pigeon yesterday at 951 (had not cast yet) . We did some 40 feet flights and some lure training. We reckon she will be hunting by next weekend so the plan is to bring her weight down to 925 ready to go.

After we put Zoie away we headed out to a field I'm planning on hunting in. Steve's wife and my step daughter came with us. IT was Shelby's first time out in the field and she did brilliantly. It public land near lake texoma. We saw a lot of sign of rabbits as well as deer. We flew Smash Steve's Harris Hawk who caught a few grasshoppers, 1 mouse and 2 birds, We had 5 slips of bunnies but we really need a dog to flush them out as they would wait for us to pass before bolting. So a pretty good day all round and it was very very good to get going again.