Long Night ahead

Today i took Zoie to do a bit of urban hunting. A few hundred yards from my house is the AG building for the high school. They have a number of cattle pens, it looked like a good spot for a rabbit or some rats. I also wanted to work some more on her being carried on the T-Perch. All was going well until she decided to fly up to a pole with a transformer. What must have been only a few seconds seemed to be a life time as i saw Zoie get electrocuted and fall to the ground.

I called my sponsor and drove home with her still body in the GH. She was in deep shock. By the time i got home she was standing up again and begging to be fed.

Steve put a call into the vet and i went over to his house with her. Tonight she stays with him . Dr Moore prescribed Lamsil and Amox a Anti-Fungal and an Anti-Biotic. If there is any change she's off to Dallas to be seen by him. Hopefully there will be no brain swelling or organ damage we will find out over the next few days. For now she gets a few days off a piece and quite.

It's amazing how much these animals get into your blood. Driving home and not having the jingles if her bells in the house is a bit like someone removing your left arm. feels very strange after such a short time of being in my life

Wide Open Spaces

This week i'm working on a few training things with zoie. Shes been very difficult when in an open field. She will fly off to the nearest tree or lamp post regardless of where it is rather than sit on the t-Perch . So i'm working on improving this.

Steve came over with smash so we headed out to platter with his Harris and my red tail, We hunted smash first, we had some awesome flights on sparrows and wrens. It can be quite amazing at how acrobatic smash can be when chasing small birds.

Then it was my turn. The plan was to head for a corner of platter that we know holds a few rabbits. The cover is quite dense so it takes a little planing to flush one up. We got one flush and she was on it for a brief few seconds and then it was gone in the undergrowth to the safety of a near by rabbit hole. We tried to kick a few others up found some fresh sign but the rabbits here are very weary. She had an awesome stoop on another one but again the brush is just to dense.

One thing is becoming very clear, Zoie is not an open field bird, she will fly to the safty of the nearest tree. She tolerates the T-Perch for a short while but then she is off.

Both our legs are cut to pieces with the brambles and wild rose bushes, i so need some chaps.

We are talking about heading over towards tishomingo wildlife refuge, there is a public hunting area just south of it and maybe give that ago. At least the evening are going to get lighter so more hunting time and the squirrels will be out later.

I think a plan of what i want to do for the future is starting to form . So far it will be hunt Zoie till March 31st. Nearly all the available prey I'm interested in stops being legal and the "let it lie"rule comes into effect. I'll feed her up and intermew her for the season after that point.

If i can afford it i want to go to the THA meet (15th Jan), I have a lift and the offer of a hotel room to share. My sponsor is giving a talk on the new Texas regulations and i have the chance hopefully of flying zoie on some good game. I also am looking for ward to meeting a few people.

I told you so.....

This morning as i was waiting for my sponsor there was 3 squirrels in our back yard less than 25 feet from the front door, to my surprise my wife was get zoie, get zoie you are so going to regret it if you dont fly her on those squirrels.

I didn't get zoie , zoie was boxed up ready to go out with steve.

Steve turned up at 11am and we headed off to some private land, here we found his Harris doesn't like horses and starts screaming at them. We saw a coopers hawk and a red shouldered hawk mobbing each other and we saw 3 ducks rise from one of the stock ponds on this property.

There wasn't much there for zoie so we moved onto a different spot. On the way there we sposted the most beutiful redtail hawk. She has a total white head and a white tail with a red band at the bottom. She even had white patches on her wings.

The spot is near the Roosevelt bridge on highway 70, core land. We went after squirrels but didn't see any , saw a few empty nests. We did have some amazing flights on two Cotton tail rabbits and some rats but the brambles where so dense that at one point i fell through 3 feet of them into a flooded patch. We also crossed an inlet that was covered in fallen tree's. Obviously at some point a tornado has come through this spot as everything was flattened. The rabbit flights where awesome , zoie likes to kite and then does this wing over into a stoop. Pretty amazing to see. The rabbits used the brambles as cover to walk through , the denseness of them keeping them safe ( our legs are cut to ribbons). We both got sunburnt and towards the end i had to sit down on a log cause we must have walked miles. Zoie was amusing in the end as she was tired and walked back to the car instead of flying, Couldn't help but pick her up and carry her the rest of the way.

got home had the usual beer with Steve only to hear my wife say "I told you so"

Well the weather out there if frightening

I have 4 days of and i was planning on hunting all of them... Well that was the plan i guess someone else had another plan because today we have had nothing but torrential rain and then this afternoon winds gusts of 12mph and snow. Zoie has been sitting in the living room on her indoor perch whilst my wife and i cook for Christmas day.

I borrowed two books of my sponsor.

Rabbiting( with ferret, dog, hawk and gun ) by Sean Frain and Understanding the Bird of Prey by Nick Fox.

funny enough Sean Frain is form my neck of the woods in the UK. I am looking for a good rabbit hunting book for the USA so if anyone knows one drop me a line.

Tomorrow is a new day and the storm should have passed with winds approx 8mph and clear Sky's during the day. Hopefully we can get out and go hunt something...

In the mean time a Merry Christmas to all those that read this blog..

Peace be with you, The Olner Family

Can't Buy a Bite

In england there is a saying when the fishing is slow, "I can't buy a bite" its a turn that was taught me by a friend called Jimmy. Jimmy was what i call a professional fisherman. He taught me lots and helped with my own fishing. We would fish the canals and lakes of saddleworth together mainly going after Perch, Roach, Bream and a carp if we could get it. When things where slow he would say "I cant buy a bite" in a northern accent. I feel like that with Zoie at the moment we cant buy a bite.

We headed out to a Pecan Orchard , 100 acres of prime land. I know the land owner personally and in the past have seen rabbits and squirrels on this land. Recently its been leased out for cattle and allot of that has changed. The grass is no longer long as the cattle keep it low and it gets mowed during the pecan harvest.

I only saw 2 nests , saw lots of birds, Ssparrows, Wrens, Cardinals and Starlings and the Stock pond in the middle of the land had 6 ducks on it.They were weary and flushed when i was 200 yards from the pond. We did get mobed by a Coopers Hawk but i chased that off .

We did have two slips one item i didn't see and another we think was a red fox. Both Zoie narrowly missed out, I tried to re-flush with no avail. After 2hrs we headed home both weary and ready to be fed up.

The lack of game or the narrowly missing out is getting frustrating for both of us , I'm going out but for one reason or another we just don't seem to be connecting. I need to find some more land or find someone that has a sure thing that i can fly zoie on for a few days because at the moment "we just can't buy a bite"

Hatched

Today i was checking on the pigeons before Steve and i took Zoie out. We have two very small chicks. I have one mated pair but don't think i have any others which is a bit of a disappointment so will have to prune a few down. I started making my hutch pigeon loft. it will be 3 feet by 6 feet and then 4 feet tall. I have placed it on legs so will be about 3 feet off the ground. I want to get this finished by next weekend so i can start free lofting Zoie in the mews.

Steve and I headed out to the creek, first time Steve's been there but this is my 3rd trip. Although we didn't manage to take any game we did have 5 very good slips . 3 of which we never saw the squirrel but was a very long flight and we eventually found Zoie on the ground walking around. 2 of the flights we did see and the chess match was on two of which ended in a stalemate with the squirrel either hiding in a nest or in a hole up a tree. Zoie started to rip apart the nest but after a while ( 3 minutes of us banging on the tree) she lost interest and moved onto the next chase. This flight resulted in the squirrel going to ground and leaping 40 feet to the ground with Zoie in hot pursuit.

We did have two more flights, one of which was exceedingly long and took her out of the wood along the lake. We are assuming this one might have been a rabbit as we did spot some rabbit sign.

After 3 hours of hunting Zoie decided it was time to call it a day so we headed home.

Steve was delighted by the hunt and seems to think Zoie and i are making a good team, she is following well and on the long flights i am somehow managing to keep up. I have also decided to give the T-Perch a rest for the moment, Zoie wont fly to it and for squirrel hawking its more of a hindrance than a help, what i did get was a tire check stick that long distance lorry (Semi ) drivers use. This one has a metal collar on the end which proved great for banging tree's and bushes. The catapult/Sling shot worked out well again today. I seem to be withing 6-8 inches of the target. I do want to get some heavier ball bearings as these ones seem a bit light

Managed to get out tonight but took longer than i intended. She was a little high at 960 but we both needed to get out long day, cold and wet. We had some really good flights and some very good following. I was also practicing my sling shot, its amazing the difference steal ball bearings make. I was reading Gary Brewers book on the subject and he is more than correct when he says small pebbles and stones don't have a straight trajectory. I managed to hit 4 out of 6 on target but didn't manage to stir any squirrels out of there nests. I might see if i can get a heavier ball bearing from Gander Mountain this weekend.

I ended up feeding her some rabbit on her lure. I've also started feeding her with the dog present and near me. The dog did manage to get footed when she stuck her nose up her butt, but Zoie didn't bate once with Emma around. The idea being the more used to each other they get, the more chance i have got of flushing some more rabbits.

I was quite pleased with tonight as Zoie was really good at following on. I did spot allot of coyite scat in a clearing where there where allot of deer tracks. Didn't spot any rabbit sign but by the amount of scat i found i would have been very surprised. Might be worth at some point in the future doing some varmint hunting in this particular clearing.

Wet Hunt

She was at weight 941 and had enough time to get her out after being to my wife's units Christmas party. We headed to a new spot some squire ll hunters had told me about.

When we get there we find the way bared by a rail line and no crossing. Just at that point 2 park rangers show up and i ask them about where the public hunting started. my step-daughters boyfriend was with me so we headed into the woods. I really wasn't expecting anything as the rain was the kind that whilst light soaks you to the skin and i figured that zoie would either put up in a tree or all the game was holed up for the night.

We was probably in the woods 20 minutes when zoie flew with purpose to one spot and stayed in the tree's. I spotted a squirrel and started shouting HO-HO-HO and running towards the squirrel. zoie was in the tree's following the squirrel and Luke my step-daughters boyfriend was also running towards the squirrel but from a different angle. The chase was on and lasted 20 minutes as the squirrel jumped from tree to tree with us all following it and trying to get zoie into position for the finally assault. But all of a sudden the squirrel runs down a tree trunk and vanishes. We found a small hole that was barely big enough for it to have fitted. I banged on the trunk but it was hollow and our squirrel was firmly tucked up inside. We started moving around trying to flush other stuff hearing the barks of other squirrel's flushing them away from us and zoie. zoie had one good flight on something else but i never saw it and she lost it.

We all including zoie at this point looked like drowned rats, every tree we banged we got a shower but i can truly honestly say it was one of the best hunts we have been on so far. Everyone came home safe and a good time was had by all. I fed zoie up for the night and plan to make another return to my new found ground.

More hoods

I've been hood making today, wanted a spare

Weighed 979 grams, fed her another 120grams of beef heart and had her in the weathering area all day. Hopefully this will sort things and i can bring her back down again. She starts talking every time i go into the weathering area and has got very social recently which i like.

Something not quite right

We have decided to put Zoie up for a few days, her mutes are still very very runny. She seems to be taking allot of water on board when she is in the weathering area, we also think this is then interfering with how much i feed her based on her weight. Until we can get to the bottom of it i think its best i don't hunt her. her weight 939 ( whether that's a true weight is another matter) so fed her 120 grams of beef heart, will do the same tomorrow to see what happens.

Lack of squirrels

This morning i awoke to an eruption of shit. We think its just the pigeon she has had is a bit rich so I've put her back on beef heart. mutes later on in the day where a little better but its something we are going to keep an eye on. We want to take her to the vet anyways and get her check over so that should happen in the next few days

We went out pretty much all day today. I thought that part of my problem was that i was hitting the woods where i live to late in the afternoon. Well i can truly honestly say there are no squirrels in that particular section of the woods. There are a number of nest but but apart from 2 squirrels all day we never saw anything else. there are nests by the thousands but they are truly empty having managed to strike a few off them with sticks . I never saw any running on the ground which in other areas i have. I also heard from one deer hunter that when they get board they take out the squirrels to practice on.

We did have two great flights though one was over 600 yard through the canopy again by the time i caught up she was on the ground looking for what ever she missed. After 3 hour of nothing else in the spot we moved onto another area.

The second was a proper hunt with me more involved i manged to kick up a squirrel and keep it moving for about 20 minutes. She slammed into some dense tree/brush/vines and it managed to get away. i kept working it but we lost it where ever it went. We kicked around for another couple of hours before calling it a day.

I then drove home with her on the stirring wheel to see if we saw anything on the way home but again nothing. I'm going to start checking out some other areas after tomorrow as i think we are both getting a little frustrated.

New Arrivals

Not much has happened the last two days, Zoie has been out in the weathering area. I have had to work late. Hoping to get her out tonight and we will head of squirrel hawking. I've been feeding her up a bit as her weight dropped a little and we are trying to get a balance. Last night she was at 960 (to heavy for hunting). She is getting more and more used to the weathering area and is now spending all day out in it. I'm still bringing her in at night but i feel safer about that anyway.

The weather looks good for hunting all this holiday week with the average temp around 65F until Sunday when there is a 40% chance of a Tropical Storm.

At the moment i am trying to find out as much as i can about squirrel habitat and there daily life cycle. For instance at the moment i notice come 3.00pm most squirrels are in there nests, now does this change as the winter moves on and they have to forage for more food, Zoie See's the odd stray when we go hunting after work but hasn't connected with one yet. So its all a learning game for both of us at the moment. My sponsor recently had a good conversation with the Corps Park Ranger in charge of where we go hunting and basically we can hunt anywhere even areas not strictly set aside for hunting. He is very fascinated by the sport and even wants to come along.

On another note my pigeons have started to lay eggs. Which I'm very delighted about. Two eggs where laid yesterday. so in about 19 days we should see a chick or two... I am hoping to get there coop sorted this weekend and get them all moved into it so they can start flying about more during the day time

Second Kill

Pictures courtesy of oknsakes.org

We have been hunting for squirrels and rabbits the last few days. She def seems to know what squirrel woods are and what nests are. So far we have been unable to connect. Wild Red-Tails where soring over ahead so all squirrels where holed up tight and good and i couldn't kick up a rabbit to save my life. We where in a little creek area and Zoie was up a tree and she flew away from me with purpose. i managed to get to her minutes later thinking initially it was a mouse only to my horror to find it was a snake. I broke the head with my t-perch (pushed the head into the ground) Not know what sort of snake at the time it was caution on my part. I traded her off to the lure and we headed home.

New Hood

Today the weather was against us and i had a few errands to do. One of those was to stop by Hobby Lobby and see what leather they had, I needed a new hood for the weekend. they had some 4-5oz tan leather. They had an 8x11 piece for $7.99 it was a little on the thick side but will do for now. The result is the following

It's basically an Anglo Indian but with a feather plume twist. Need to work on my piping a little but it is a good fit and will work until she has another pissy fit and destroys it. I finally worked out how braces work. I quite pleased as this is only the 4th hood i have ever made.

Tomorrow we are off out hunting, so i just fed her 40 grams of squirrel.

Hoods and Leather Conversion

Well I'm in the middle of making a new hood, i also need to buy some more leather. One of the issues i have with all the leather suppliers is they measure there leather in different thickness. It took a while but i finally found out what the difference was and found a conversion chart

Leather Conversion Chart

Inch	Ounces	Irons	Millimeters
1/64	1	0.75	0.4
1/32	2	1.5	0.8
3/64	3	2.25	1.2
1/16	4	3.0	1.6
5/64	5	3.75	2.0
3/32	6	4.5	2.4
7/64	7	5.25	2.8
1/8	8	6.0	3.2
9/64	9	6.75	3.6
5/32	10	7.5	4.0
11/64	11	8.25	4.4
3/16	12	9.0	4.8
13/64	13	9.75	5.2
7/32	14	10.5	5.6
15/64	15	11.25	6.0
1/4	16	12.0	6.4
17/64	17	12.75	6.8
9/32	18	13.5	7.2

The modern apprentice has a link for Slijpers Hood software.
Slijper's Cannon Indian hood pattern software - shareware

She did kill somthing but not what i wanted

We headed out to platter tonight to look for squirrels, I have seen a number in a small wood that is near one of the bunny fields. We pulled up and immediately i heard one bolt from the hedge row. My wife was bashing one side of it whilst i got zoie in position and then the flight was on before it put in again. We both tried to reflush but the hedgerow was way to thick and what ever was there was long gone, We tried entering a wood that i have seen plenty of squirrels in. Zoie was all about this and followed very well. We couldn't see or hear anything so headed back to the field that had the bunnies in but nothing. As the sun went down again and nothing in the bag zoie got fed up and frustrated and flew to my left elbow and grabbed it we tried flushing again in the brush piles but nothing. I hooded her up and we headed home.

On the trip home she decided to show her displeasure with lots of banging about.

This is all that's left of her hood. I fed her up extra and she responded to the lure in an instant, I put her up for the night. We need to find some game and find it fast i think we are both getting a little frustrated.

If your not bleeding....

my sponsor has a saying if your not bleeding your not hawking.

Today i raced home, food was already weighed out this morning and she was spot on weight come time to go. Decided to go up near the airport. The filed i wanted had been mowed so i went 300 yards into another field. It was tough going. the thorns and black berry brambles where waist height. My knees are cut to ribbons. Zoie had two flights, the ground was dense so I'm assuming they where mice, the first was a dive straight into some long grass and she came up short and did the what teh hell happened look. The second was an awesome wing over into some dense bush, she got hung up in it and again ended up short. We walked the field and then went around the back of some old hangers. She followed pretty well and again was happy to land on the T-Perch. The sun started to set so we headed home, i fed her up the rest of her ration and tossed her lure out she hit it pretty hard , i messed up the trade off but we got there eventually.

Tomorrow I'm going to head back to platter and see if i can do a bit of squirrel hawking

Zoie was spot on at 940 so Latrell, Shelby and i headed to our field in platter, the weather was cold. We had two good flights on something, she started using the T-Perch and i could feel her strength through the pole, she followed a little more closely. We watched the sun go down and it was was time to head home, fed her up on some squirrel and pigeon and then did some hop ups to the T-Perch once we got home. Ill probably go on my own tomorrow or look for some nearby squirrels

All Washed Out

It was the last day of my 5 Day Texas Hunting Permit, Well last day of my available time. We headed to a field that is my sponsors , sponsors sponsors (Jay Lehmer). Fort worth, McKinney and Frisco all have areas that are classed as flood plains. Building has forced rabbits into these fields as these are the only available fields left. Today we headed to one of these fields. Last year we were tripping over bunnies in this filed and it was decided that it would be good for me and zoie to try it with Jays approval. This year the field had changed mainly because they had cleaned it up, many of the wood piles had been moved.

Zoie was a little heavy at 953 grams but we gave it ago anyway. My wife Latrell came with me along with my middle daughter Shelby. This is Shelby's second time in the field and Latrell's first. We had 3 flights two barley missing on a caught rabbit. It was so close that in both cases the rabbit got away with just an inch separating the pursued from the pursuer.

The only complaint i had was zoie kept going back to the location of the second flush and not following us to were the rabbit had put in. In the field she came back to the glove no issue at all but often got out of position. Part of our team building is slowly coming together but we both learn something each time we go out together.

Some people would say it was not a successful outing as no game was brought home, i would beg to differ in that we had two near misses, i can trust her at a slightly heavier weight and I appear to have a very versatile hawk.

Our last flush we thing was a rat or a mouse , on all three occasions zoie ended up looking at me with the "What the hell happened look" at this point the heavens opened and in no time , Latrell , Steve ,Zoie and myself where drenched to the skin. It was time to call it a day and head home.

Once home i got Zoie out and she was still wet after an hour in the car. Fed her 33 grams of squirell and 18grams of pigeon. She seems to burn of pigeon alot faster than anything.

Tomorrow if Zoie is at weight we start to hit more local fields on our side of the red river.

One thing i did notice, Squirrel is to hawks like porridge is to man, it sticks and burns of slowly.

Zoie was to heavy today and even though she was at 958grams and her target is 940 i just didn't want to risk it, so today we stay home. I'll feed her 40 grams of squirrel tonight in preparation for tomorrow.

I did pick up some road kill however. On the way back from the shops i saw a squirrel get run over, so slammed on the brakes and tossed it in the back. Its now in the Ice box and will be consumed eagerly by zoie in the next few weeks.

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.

Day15

I had to work at a re-enactment of the civil war in McKinney , The magazine i work for wanted pictures of 4 particular people. It was a real i opener as to how people lived and the fact that on weekends people dress up and live like that today.

anyway managed to get done and back home in time to find the dog had been sick everywhere in the house, our bed, the living room and my step daughters bed. not sure what caused it but it had to be all cleaned so zoie came out later than i wanted. Zoie weighed in at 930 grams at 5pm

Tonight we spent time on hooding and the lure, with both she was very much "what the hell". she was also introduced to pigeon i was putting that on the leg and she was hesitant to start with but was then "oh yeah baby" and couldn't get enough. We hope to get her on the creance tonight and get some 100 feet flights so made sure that was all ready

This morning she weighed 951 a little heavier than yesterday at about the same time but she hasn't cast (pigeon) and it was a little warmer last night than the day before. I cut up the remainder to the pigeon for today and will mix it with the beef for the next few days.

Day 14

Cant believe it is nearly two weeks since Zoie came into our lives. She has changed the house hold so very much. Tonight i rushed home from work but got caught up in traffic and then had a chore to do. Finally got her out with 20 minutes before the sun set so it was a quick and successful session. Had her flying to 40 feet again but instant response and was starting to slam the glove. at one point there was a commotion in the filed next to us a a large crow mobbed a redtail hag(hen) it was hugh. the hag flew off and the returned a few minutes later roosting in the trees 300 yards from us. Zoie was well behaved in all of it and stayed focused on me. She never bated once leaving the house or whilst on the perch. I fed her up (40 grams) and put her away for the night. She was 947 grams which was 3 grams under where i thought she would be. I'm predicting she will be around 939 by 8pm tomorrow night

Tomorrow will suck some in that i have to go to McKinney and be there for 10am and wont get back till around 8pm. If she had been able to hunt i would have taken her with me but alas we are a few weeks away from that. so tomorrow i want to concentrate on getting her hooded and taking the hood, we have had some minor success however I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I plan to have her out on the perch before latrell leaves for drills and until i have to go. Then when i get back ill have her out again and hooding will commence

Day13

She weighed 959 grams at 4.30 tonight, took her outside and had her to 40 feet pretty consistent, response was fairly instant but she wasn't hitting the glove that hard. I think it would have been better if she had lost a few more grams however she didn't burn off as much as wanted her to this afternoon. I need to start hooding her getting her back in the house causes an instant bate. Tried to get her to fly to Latrell but that was just not happening so carried on as we were.

Issac over at another falconry blog suggested this falconry video site, there was one clip from the BBC that was just out of this world and i had to share. The put mini cameras onto a goshawk and a peregrine. The results totally amazing.

Day 12

She weighed 965 grams so we took her outside, steve couldnt make it, she was very distracted but eventually came round. She bated a few times due to the distractions. Was very pleased with the results all things considered.

Day 11

zoie weighed 981 grams at 6.00pm tonight. She was very responsive flying before i had even whistled or raised my glove and sometimes before i had even got into position. She is in fact flying the full lenght of the living room. Spoke to my sponsor and it looks like we will be taking her outside tomorrow evening for some 25+ feet flights

Day10

More of the same, she's at 990 grams and hitting the glove harder, still batting occasionally however i just hold my glove out and she returns, which makes life easier.

On another note, if you heard that GEOCITIES got shut down and I'm sure Matthew Mullenix knows that his site/log went off line. However there is a new website called REOCITIES set up by disgruntled GC users and they move his site to :-

http://www.reocities.com/matthewmullenix/falconry/

Day 9

In between photo shoots this afternoon i took a picture of zoie for this blog. She was kinda like what the hells going on but i wanted to replace the picture (which i didn't take) of the falcon that was at the top of the blog with one of zoie. Needless to day i'm sure there will be other studio shots of her in the coming months.

Continued the training at 12 feet today, her weight is down to 1000 grams, she is starting to hit the glove with a bit more force and reconsiders baiting when on my fist. we are aiming for an initial weight of 950ish in the next few days and then i can start taking her outside. Fed her 40 grams of washed beef heart and put her up for the night. I have noticed i am very unfit, this training lark is starting to work up a sweat.

Day 8

Session was a bit late tonight due to the family doing trick and treat. We had a number of 12 foot flights


She wasn't ready to go any further though as i tried her on a longer line and she flew past me. I know she is to heavy and that will change in the next few days. Still very pleased we are where we are and progressing nicely

Day 7

She weighed 1024 grams today, We had her perched in the living room, she bated a few times so i sprayed her with water and she stayed and dried out for a while. Later we did a few hops to the end of her leash, i extended the leash to 12 feet and she was flying across the room, Sometimes leaving the pearch before i even blew my whistle or had placed a tidbit on the glove (she ahd 50grams of washed beef heart in total). Every time my arm was outstretched she would fly to it. fed her a 5 gram chuck as a reward and then put her away for the night

Day 6

Zoie spent most the evening on the perch and then in the hands of my sponsor. the reason for this was that her anklets for some reason had stretched from fitting comfortably to being so loose there where in danger of coming off. I had made snap on anklets out of buffalo leather. Its very think , very strong but seems to change shape and stretch way to easy. Zoie has not bated that much so was surprised by the amount of stretch. Her jessies have stretched by 3/4 inch from being right to being to long. Steve came over with his wife with some chromed leather and we swapped her out for some perm anklets ( Thanks o wise one !). I then fed her up with 40 grams of washed beef heart and put her away. When i weighed her tonight at 6pm she was at 1043. Feel much better for changing her. I also did some work on two hoods, more for practice than anything but the idea is I'm going to get some more leather and see if i can make my own.

Day 5

Steve came over to check on her tonight. after weighing her at 1054 we decided to place her on the indoor perch. Steve also wanted to show me how to trade off to another falconer in the event that i had to take someone bird or had to pass zoie onto someone else.

she bated the once on the pearch and then after that settled down after about an hour on the pearch i started feeding her on the glove but i started to notice she was stretching more and more out to my arm. I then decided to let her jump for it. We grabed the video camera and made a short clip of her jumping to my fist.

Day 4

Had a great day with zoie today. I got up at 5am ( 1080 grams) and had her out for 45 minutes, feed her 18grams of washed beef heart and then had to head to work. I Got her back out at 6pm and she was down to 1067 grams. The session lasted all of 5 minutes she was bouncing all over my hand and looking for some place to bate too. I put her away for 2hrs and got her back out at 8. I wanted to use a spray bottle on her to damp her down which didn't seem to bother her in the slightest,she bated once and returned to the fist correctly. She then settled down and i started to feed her on the fist again, gently stroking her feet, legs wings and chest. if she reached to far forward i would move my hand away. I learnt how to palm the meet in my hand using my two smaller fingers and then as my two front finger were on her breast i would drop the meet onto my glove. I also introduced the whistle tonight by the end of the session she was waiting for the whistle before taking the tidbit. She ate another 45grams. I decided to end the session on a high and put her away until tomorrow. Pretty pleased with how things are going and I'm hoping to introduce her to an indoor perch tomorrow. Steve my sponsor will be here so should all being well be a good session.

Day 3

This morning i had her out for an hour before work, We just sat and watched some tv, i weighed her at 1071 grams at 5.00am. At lunch was 1050 by dinner time. Fed her up on 50 grams of beef heart. Things seem to go a little slower with zoie testing me , think she would have a bated a few more times if i had not managed to distract her in time. She did manage to walk up my arm at one point i guess i have my first right off passage. She was very grabby with getting her tidbits so if she grabbed for it i would move my hand back and wait a few moments before giving her more. Hopefully tomorrows session will go a bit better

Day 2

Had her on my arm for 2hr stints 3 times today. 2hrs because i just couldn't take it anymore. no-one tells you about the mussels you suddenly discover. i know i know I'm a wimp. Had her eating from the fist today she had 50 grams of beef heart (Unwashed) weighed 1071 first thing this morning and had a cast at 4.00pm. After feeding she weighed 1080.

She has got used to the family and rarely baits. In each season i think she bated a total of 2-3 times and about 8 times in total. heckles are still raised but wings are tucked in and tail is closed the majority of the time. Got bitten and footed trying to feed her on the fist, more shock on my part than anything , the slight of hand thing is going to be interesting to perfect.

Passage Female Redtail

Today at 4 am we headed out to Fredrick Oklahoma meeting my sponsor Steve on the way. We arrived at the WMA just before sunrise and soon after started pitching the trap to catch a hawk. after a few no goes and a repositioning of our actual position we tossed the trap out for our first passage bird. She was a gorgeous bird but for one thing. She had been electrocuted at some point and was missing two deck feathers which had started to regrow back in and here wings where so badly damaged that it was amazing she was still flying. We quickly released her and headed on. Nothing else much materialised all day, Steve had to leave at 12 so we headed into town for some food and gas and then headed back. We saw plenty of hags everywhere some bumping before we had even got within 30 yards. We caught a hugh female that after being released flew back to the same pole she was on and stomped her feet.

Shortly after 4.00pm tired and exhausted i decided we would head home the long way staying on the Oklahoma side on highway 5. We spotted a redtail and through the trap out missed and decided to move onto the next hawk 5 posts down. the trap was barely down when it was hit and we had to get her off real quick. Quick check and weigh and home ward bound with a new hawk.

On the way home she decided to regurgitate most of her crop and after weighing weighs 1062. The boss (my sponsor) has decided she is female due to her feet and the size of her legs and mussels in her shoulders. Manning started and she only bated a few times. kids where in and out and she coped great with that. right now i think we all need a well earned rest and some sleep

Field Sports Britian

I watch and subscribe to field sports Britain. I have actually learnt more about English gun and hunting laws since being in the USA than ever i did in 40 years of living in the UK.

The program has an interesting Falconry section. This issue shocked me as it dealt with the mishandling of a Golden Eagle that died whilst in the care of one a body that that is supposed to be there to protect these animals. Check it out makes for interesting watching

Hackberry Flats WMA

Heading to Hackberry Flats WMA on satuday to trap my Redtail if anyone from OFA wants to join me they would be more than welcome !

hags and more hags and not a passage insite

must have seen over 30 hags today, we drove all over bryan, charter, marshall county and not a passage insite

No luck today

Well we headed out into the pea soup of an evening in search of a juvie, We saw some redtails on private land . We did see plenty of Hags ! We through the trap out for two hawks both turned out to be hags, i bumped the first in the process of doing it but the second hawk was a small female maybe 4 years old, very very hungry and had an empty crop. I took the wife and my middle daughter i think they both had a fun time. It can get very exciting once you get into the think of it. Might not trap tomorrow but will head out over the weekend. My sponsor wants to be there for the one i catch so wont be going to OFA. This is a shame if i had a bit more notice and had my Bird already i would have been all about it. I will try and get to NAFA and it will be good to meet everyone

Came that close

When i got home there was an email that caused an immediate rush to petsco for 2 hamsters. Yeah you guessed my fed license came through, my sponsor Steve Armstrong headed out looking for my first bird, we saw some that were far off and a few hags but then we came across a beautiful passage that was very very dark. She flew at the trap twice but the traffic kept bumping her off. We are going to go back again tomorrow for another go and see if she is still in the area. Never had so much fun so close to home and I'm sure ill be repeating that statement through out the year !

Been meaning to post these but these are some of the 13 pigeons i have jsut recieved.

Pigeons

Turns out my friend brought me 60 pigeons. I gave half to my sponsor and kept the rest. 13 are flying around in the mews whilst the rest are in the freezer. We had to get rid of one of the count due to a nasty looking sore on its breast. Tonight i sprayed for Mite and Lice. My step-daughter Shelby is loving every minute of this. In the next few days I'm going to build a small pigeon coop , ill post pictures when I'm done. So far i have a source of food for my hawk all year round which i am very happy about. Wont be the same as getting the old squirrels or rabbits but its a back up for when days are lean. I want to get some quail and keep a few off them too. My wife things im nuts and crazy but secretly she i loving every minute off it. At the moment all the pigeons are roosting in the mews.

My state permit arrived today, jsut waiting on the federal one. its a fed holiday on monday so hopefully it wont be to much longer after that maybe even trapping by the weekend, picking up my pigeons tomorrow

Squirrel Call

I was in academy sports today and bought one of these for 8 bucks, it sounds authentic if you have ever heard a squirrel chick, Ill try it out this weekend to see what happens. The price wasn't bad either at 8 bucks, According to the literature squirrels cant resist, we shall just have to see...

Bit bummed today, Spoke with licensing at OKWD and they tell me my permit has still not been approved yet, the delay is unfortunately due to the Wildlife expo that happened a week ago. They are waiting on the state biologist to give the nod and say it is ok.

I have a friend that keeps bee's, We got chatting on a bee keeping forum and ever since have kept in contact. Well it turns out he also keep pigeons and needs to thin his flock out. He said he would bring me 25 of them for food for my hawk. Pretty pleased about that !

Few Redtails

So far this season i have seen few and far between red tails. Having Driven to McAlester (180 miles round trip) along Highway 75 North, Grant (140 Miles round trip) along Highway 70 and today to Dallas Highway 75 South and Highway I-45 i have only seen one Redtail, I have seen a number of Merlin's. We probably need another couple of cold fronts to come in to push down this way again

i'm in the market for a gun, a big gun

I've been wanting to get a gun to go hunting for some time. A friend of mine is a gun collector and has been helping me to find what i want and what would best suit me.

Remington 760

Yesterday on the way back from a photo shoot Latrell and i stopped off at his house to try our a Remington 740 in both .308 and 30-06 Cal's and a Remington 760 .308

Remington 740

Latrell and i shot off about 40 rounds between us trying out the different guns, We where shooting at 6 inch targets from 300 yards. Latrel has a little bit more experience as she shots a M16 and a Saw for the National guard i have only ever shot once before and that was with the ruger 10/22. We also had a go with a lever action .22 which was a fun gun.

Both of us a little tender today but nothing like what i thought i would be. You hear all these stories about how a 30-06 will fl out of your hand and kick your butt. I was expecting the thing to nearly blow my arm off and be in allot of pain after the first shot.

All in all i preferred the 740 but in the 308 cal version. mainly because the pump action on the 760 i felt i was over stretching and therefore not comfortable , There seems to be very little in the amount of kick from a 308 and a 30-06 it is noticeable but in my opinion negligible. I felt both Latrell and i where a little more accurate in hitting our targets and yes we did hit them and hit them hard than with the 30-06.

Jim suggested we try a 30-30 and a .243 in two weeks time and then after that make our final decision. All i can say is watch out Deer and Watch out hogs the Olners are coming !

On another note on hunting i cam across a video on YouTube where a young land of about 14-15 was shooting a Hawk and laughing about it. I've since reported it to Operation Game Thief and am waiting on there report. I have never seen anything so irresponsible as i had in the video. I really do hope the game warden for that area catches the youth and the youth is really punished.

I stumbled across this program on youtube. There is an interesting section in it about goshawks that i thought people might like to see.

Oklahoma Wildlife department called today to say that i should have my state permit by the end of next week, Reason for the delay being that the state biologist is caught up in the wildlife expo in oklahoma city.

painting and weathering

Well as i waite for permits to arrive i've been water proofing everything, we have had none stop rain since the actual inspection. I noticed the sealant i had used had not bonded to the wood and therefore let water in. I experimented ona 2x4 and with a blow torch lightly heating up the aluminium backing. This melted the pitch that was supposed to seal the wood cracks and joins. The instructions said just run your hand along the top and that is enough. Well that's not the case. I found you have to use a blow torch on it. Lightly brush it over the top use an old towel and its bonds very very well. So yesterday i re-sealed the whole roof, i also painted it with some black asphalt paint, No 201. This should completely seal the wood and keep it water tight, i should no again in a few days as we have another cold front coming in and probably some rain with it. I have also been painting the OSB board white and sealing that. This shot was taken from the farmers field next door. I'm wanting to put some siding on in a few weeks time but overall its pretty much finished and waiting its new tenant.

Yesterday we where heading down the platter road bypassing some very heavy traffic heading north on highway 75 out of no where a coopers hawk flew right across our wind screen with one wing actually hitting it. I couldn't believe how close we came to hitting it. It was flying like a bullet and was gone by the time we looked round no where to be found.

My wife and i have been thinking about some ethics of falconry recently. One conclusion we came to is we never want to pay for a bird of prey and we feel morally obligated not to be potentially responsible for the accidental realse of a bird of prey that is not native to this area.

Whilst the red tail is the apprentices bird i don't want to give up that hawk once my two years is up. however for the above reasons i feel uncomfortable introducing a Harris hawk or a goshawk into the area. Don't get me wrong i love Steve's birds, smash is an awesome hunter and when charlie gets going he will be too, however i feel what a miserable existence not being able to find a mate or one of its own kind. This came to light last year as Steve was hunting in DFW and a female Harris joined them on a peace of flood plain in the middle of the city, wild but either realised or escaped in that area.

In this area there are lots of pecan orchards. One of the biggest problems the pecan farmer has is crows. Someone recently suggested that i should use the RT to bait the crows (as they will mob the RT) bring the RT down and then get someone with a coopers to get the crows. Interesting concept and thoughts. Potentially opening up allot of hunting areas for me in this area.

Also recently when the game warden came by to inspect my mews he left a Game Magazine for me to look out, Two things Car Hawking on public land (including public roads ) is not legal in Oklahoma . During muzzleloader and gun season, the hunter orange has to be warn both a head covering and a vest.