one more day till the end of January

All week i have been in meetings or it has been too cold to fly for any length of time so yesterday it was good get out for a while. We had some good chases on rabbits and small birds. We had one rabbit that he couldn't keep hold off and it bolted into a rabbit hole with jez trying to get down the hole after it. We also had some pretty cool flights on small birds. We chased a good rabbit out into the open, Jez grabbed it by the butt and both rabbit and Harris tumbled along. Jez wasn't going to let this one go. Total count for the Night was 1 small bird, 1 rabbit and 1 vole.

If the rain holds off tonight we will see if we can put another in the bag.

a 30 minute hunt.

So since Sunday my tribe have been dropping like flies due to the Flu (finally diagnosed by a Dr yesterday) Temperatures raging between 100 and 106.8. So in the madness of it all i managed to squeeze in 30 minutes.

I went to a site that i have been before on a number of occasions. Recently 2 other falconers where spotted on the property , it was put down to falconers passing through and i never got an answer to who it was. But i noticed today No Trespass - Private Property signs were put up. So some what irritated by that as this is the ideal spot for short hunts. 3 blocks away from my home. To me it doesn't take much to ask , hey is someone already hunting there and how can i get permission. Common courtesy and respect for fellow falconers. Some falconers put great emphasis on Ethics but it seems others adopt them when it suits them.as i said its irritating.

I need to contact the land owner and make sure its still ok for me to go there but for now i backed out and decided to go else where.

So i headed of to my regular spot. I decided to go to a different part of the field, one i hadn't been to for a while. I had him at 650g the highest i have ever flown him, the first thing he did was chase after a Redtail and i was expecting a telemetry chase but after catching up with the last sport i saw him i let out a blast of the whistle and he came out of the tree's. I'm trying to get Jez to pitch high into tree's at the moment so we headed to some that covered some brush. We spotted some rabbits and he took chase. i saw him crash brush but didn't hear a sound and on catching up with him he had it firmly by the head. I dispatched it and the trade of was excellent.

Because of the kids i thought it wise to head home and call it a day, we walked past some briers and i felt the push off from the t-perch. just as i looked round there was a squeal and number 2 was in the bag.

and a great end to the weekend......

Thursday my daughter and I where sick resulting in a  3 hour Dr's wait, me getting a shot and Katie getting Anti-biotic.Friday i had to take Remington to the Vets for his monthly Percorten-V injection and his Rabies boost which should last him 3 years. Then Saturday the winds where high and going of past experience to high to fly. Good exercises but bunnies run into the wind when the winds high.

So Sunday was the first day out in a  few days. I met up with my work colleague Matt Long and headed to one of the fields i frequent. Just as we arrived a local dog walker arrived asking what we was doing and then proceeded to walk through the usual slips. I wanted to try a part of the field out that we hadn't tried before. I knew it was thick but i wasn't expecting much as the ladies dogs had probably flushed everything in our normal spot. I fitted Jez with the 808 Camera. still not happy about the weight so looking at ways to reduce it maybe removing the case or cutting parts of it out. I'm using elastic bands to attach it to the Marshall scout transmitter i use. When i want to remove the camera all i do is snip the band.

The 2gb card I'm using holds about 20 minutes of footage.I've also started using corels video suite to edit which made life a hell of a lot easier.

We had some good bird chases but didnt quite connect again the wind seemed to pick up so we head back to the tree line. Rabbits where using the thick brush so we ducked under the bridge into another field i have permission on. In the new area we had some amazing chases with some almost gos like moves flying through trees and branches. In a clearing we managed to secure our first catch of the day. A really nice chase with the rabbit trying to bolt for cover across some open ground. Trade off was brilliant and just as we stood up the chase was on again. 

We continued as i really wanted a second so at 5pm we started to head back the way we came. couple of chases on the way until we hit a spot we had flushed bunnies at before. The rabbit made the same mistake and tried to run through open cover and there was a our second double of the season.

Nice start to the week

Work is going to get busy again. Audits are coming so trying to get as much falconry in as possible. We got out today. I have been flying him at 630 which is about 20 grams higher than i have before and it really seems to have made a difference. Having said that he was 10 grams over that. His chasing birds and rabbits and really leaving the mice and voles alone (for now).

Today prize was different in that he was high up in a tree i had gone round the other side. i hear a whack , a muted scream. i get round the other side and Jez had got it by the head.I let him eat the heart, kidneys and liver. We had a good trade off and went in search of number two. We had some amazing flights but couldn't quite seal the deal. We also had some good long chases on small birds.

So all in all a great start to the week.

Awesome Weekend.

Yesterday i went to a friends house to site in my Bow. then after we went for a hunt.

Things had been pretty quite the entire hunt, most rabbits where not where they had been before. Matt and I walked along a cutting when a rabbit tried to sneak behind us. Jez was off after it a good 40 yard chase eventually he had it by the butt with the rabbit dragging him another 5 yards before i came running up to secure the deal. Not bad for being 30grams over what i normally fly him. I think i'm going to start flying at this weight.

Kent Carbaugh and i want to start flying ours together. After two unsuccessful attempts and trying this we decided to follow the Coulson method so after church today. Kent and I perched out Jez and one of his on the front lawn for a few hours.

We perched them out just close enough to not get each other with there feet. Proved for some amusing time. We plan on doing this at least once a week until they ignore each other and we can all go hunting together. I took Jez out later but the wind was pretty strong. He got some good exercise trying to catch up with me once he went off into a sore. Couple of good flushes but each time the rabbit just went running into the wind. Something i have noticed before.

First Double

The forecast was for freezing rain, by the time 3pm came around it was rather pleasant so i decided to go out anyway. We hit one of my favorite fields one that is destined to become a new church in the next year or so.

We entered into an area thick with briers and he was swooping down into some dense brush. The rabbit decided to go the wrong way and he had it by the back leg. I came running up to secure the rabbit. First one in the back. We had barely been in the field for 20 minutes so i let him have the heart and kidneys. Trade of was really good. So off we went again for another.

Jez is pretty good at the crash into the edge of the brush type kills. The chases over a distance have been interesting to watch him work out. We entered a different part of the field and we was off again. He grabbed this one by the butt. The rabbit took him for a ride trying to buck him off. Both seemed to roll and tumble at one point. I ran up and again secured the prize. Not bad for our first double. Cant say how much of a beam was on my face as we left the field with the sun setting.

Back on Track....and not so on track

So the last month has been interesting with the weather, new foster kids, sick dogs, new puppy and the holiday season all to boot. We have caught things just not rabbits in that time. Today was the first day in a while that the temps where above 30F so i arranged to meet with Kent Carbaugh and going hunting in a spot that's local. Kent flew his birds first and both caught decent sized rabbits. Then we took mine out ( the plan eventually is for us to fly both sets of birds together).  We where hitting some pretty dense brush and moving them about and had some good chases and some completely ignored chases. Eventually i was about to call it a day when we flushed a rabbit heading back. Jez gave good chase over a good distance and went for the grab and missed. I saw where the rabbit hid and picked Jez up for the re flush. The rabbit tried to bolt back to where he had originally came from. Jez grabbed it by the butt and being closed i ran over and secured it.  It always amazes me how a bird can tackle another animal twice its body weight.

I let him feed up on it for a change as i want to get him really turned on to rabbits. ( i also have a plan to use a dog dummy wrapped in fur for days we don't have good chases and i will drag it behind).

On the Finlay walk back he was still chasing rats even though he had a full crop. you just got to love these birds.

 

Next few days are going to be interesting weather systems again so hopefully we can get out.

 

 

 

Bella is coming along nicely i have her pointing a Quail wing on a fishing rod. and shes almost has "Sit" down. House training seems to be working and generally shes a pretty sweet dog.

 

Remington on the other has some behaviour problems we think is due to the medicine he is on. The medicine he is on has been solving the electrolyte issues to the healthy range (30) but there seems to be some stress trigger that we are now encountering. We are going to try a few different things to give him a chance. We are looking at maybe changing his medicine to a different type. Not quite ready to make that final decision.