Monday, October 31, 2011

Season Update

So far we are doing quite good by my standards anyway.

It does seem strange not to be driving thousands of miles looking for a Redtail this year and then doing the inevitable manning, creance work. I have been Bow Net trapping  with Mark runnels and Ron Lloyd and did trap a Kriders Redtail.


 However i didn't need another Redtail so i passed up on it. I still want a female coopers hawk (passage) but they seem few and far between right now. If something doesnt turn up soon i'll give up for the year and try again next year. Having read all the banding station and hawk count reports it would seem coopers hawks are down this year.

Shiloh has turned into the best Redtail a falconer could want. I now feel that if i'm in a field with rabbits in we are bringing one home in the bag.So far the count is 3 rabbits and 1 Squirrel and a couple of miscellaneous ( he had eaten them by the time i got there).

First rabbit was a crash straight into some briers, Nice wing over , over the top of the briers and then he was in.Squirrel was soaring above the tree tops before plucking a squirrel out of the tree's and tumbling to the ground.Second rabbit my son-in-law was flushing along a line of spruce tree's we flushed a rabbit to Shiloh who was in a tree on the other side. Shiloh probably flew 10 feet if that.


This weekends flight was a little different in that it was earlier in the day, We had had a couple of flushes when we moved to a more dense area. i flushed a rabbit along a dirt road with Shiloh pumping for all his worth.

Nothing to report on Cowboy just yet, we have been doing some creance work and i free flew him for the first time yesterday. I'm hoping some wind will pick up soon so i can start to use the Kite.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Friday, October 7, 2011

Big Change

Well as of an hour ago i am no longer classified as an apprentice falconer. It truly is the best feeling ever. Lots of excitement with what the future brings and lots of dread as well. As for the blog. I wont be posting quite so much, lots of reason for that and most i don't want to go into but it wont be a daily log of hunts anymore. It will be more of a when something interesting happens or something that i care to share.

Shiloh is amazing and so different to any of the red-tails i have had before, he got a squirrel at the weekend, He flies very very different when squirrel hawking almost in a sore above the tree tops. Right now he is fat having fed well.

I do want to thank my friend and mentor Steve Armstrong for all his help and every falconer in both Texas and Oklahoma that has helped me get to this point.

On wards and forwards. Happy Hunting
Stephen