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 !