Comparison's

I pulled Jez from the Mews yesterday. he weighed 680 grams.

Amazing how much he has changed in a year.

Here is a  side by side comparison taken by my wife.

Old and New

I had 2 transmitters lying around doing nothing. Both were the FMV 1/3N Transmitter nice transmitter but since moving over to Marshall Scouts i have not had the use for them. I also prefer the screw caps to secure the batteries.

With having the Kestrel these where way to big a friend lent me what i thought was a FMV mini but it turns out to be a MX Mini 377 which is even smaller. He needs it back to fly a merlin so i went on the hunt for a new transmitter and in the price range i could afford (which was about $100). the MX Mini 377 was out as that is around $170. with just moving house money is tight.

I first tried the FMV mini , this might be ok for the merlin’s or coopers but no good for a kestrel.

The specs for the mini are good and if i was flying something bigger i think i would come back and look at a mini again, the price isnt to bad either at $104 dollars but whilst it is light 4grams with battery it is has a large form factor.

So the other option was an LL electronics Merlin Special. They have two options available but i went with the great range and lighter weight 14 miles and 3 grams with battery. the price was $129 which was right at the limit of what i wanted to spend.

 

So once it arrived i dully tested it and made sure it worked. I plan to use it on a neck mount which from what i have read from other falconers shouldn’t be an issue.

 

AK Training

She’s flying to the fist quite happily but that’s all she wants to do. So from today we are not flying to the fist she either has to fly to game or a lure, she has started to fly to a lure (10 feet) but doesn’t really chase it, she will pounce on it if it’s like a foot away. The same goes for a sparrow. she won’t chase it but will pounce if its right at her feet. I let her have an English sparrow and make in. I don’t think she has ever caught a sparrow so right now it is getting her weight dialed in just right and presenting lots of sparrows for her. right now she is a 96.6 so i have reduced the one gram decreasing to 1/2 gram decreases.



 

AK well feed on sparrow.

(incedently i wouldnt normally let her crop up on this as there is a risk of sour crop but to get her switched onto sparrows i let her eat what she wanted)

 

My wife has been doing some amazing photography during training.

 

 

 

 

Harris Training

 

I'm in no hurry to get started and want to bring his weight down more slowly. currently he is at 700grams , im aiming for 640grams. We should be there by the end of the month . i want to try and solve the screaming that he was prown to last season in the mews (but not in the field)

The season is slowly starting

We moved house and we are still unpacking, i'm racing against time to get all the hunny do list completed. Jez is weight is starting to come down.

A short while ago i took on an imprint kestrel. some family had taken it in, they panicked when they found out it had to be licensed and tried to get rid of it, it flew back..... being an imprint that's really no suprise but they didn't know that.

 

The idea being to get her flying and hunting and then release her. Apart from the imprint screaming i'm pretty pleased with her progress. Almost got her ready for Lure flying and then onto catch some sparrows and starlings. So far she is at 101.6 grams ( was 110grams) when i got her.

 

I have finally had some success at sparrow trapping thanks to another friends pointers on funnel traps. I've been using elevator and V traps with little success , so i turned the V trap on its side, instered a funnel and closed the rest of the opening and success.

 



And that's it for this year

Photo By Jan Martin McGuire

 

Photo By Latrell Olner

Its that time of the year where the days are getting lighter and the "honey do list" is starting to rack up. Commitments and compromises so that i can do this amazing sport start to take priority so with that in mind, on Sunday i decided it would be the last time we would go out for the year.

I have been contacted by a local Artist Jan Martin McGuire and her Husband James Hines as to whether they could tag along. I also decided i would like to take Bella my English Pointer out to see at 6 months how she would do. My amazing wife Latrell also agreed to come out with me even though it was her birthday.

We headed to copan not to hunt rabbits (as they have all started breeding) but to try some bird flights. I have a couple of Covey of quail that sometimes if I'm lucky we can bust. Quail Numbers are so amazingly down in Oklahoma that if you come across a covey it tends to take you by surprise. For Falconry Quail Season ends on March 31st. We are very fortunate in Oklahoma to get an extra month of Quail and Pheasant hunting at both the beginning and end of the regular quail season.

So we entered the field and started walking through brush. initially we didn't see much and things where looking pretty bleak. But then like other times it happened. One step towards some seed scattering weeds and a cop of small trees and suddenly there was hugh explosion of noise and flapping of wings 15 quail took to the air and it was glorious. As with before i think Jez gets overwhelmed by whats happening and took of from the T-Perch late. In the fall i will probably get some captive breed quail and bag him on a few to work on this.  A lost opportunity but very rewarding.

We then continued waling through tall grass that's is common to the copan area. Sparrows had started to pop up in the odd location. Normally on these flights Jez waits for them to put in and then he hits the ground hard. We had a few chases like this. The sparrows how ever have a plan , hit the grass and freeze like stones using there feathers to blend in and then running though the grass to safety. after looking and not finding anything we would move on.

The best flight of the day was not because it resulted in a English Sparrow from being caught but because of the the way it was caught. Jez chased after it like normal (over a distance of about 30 yards) and then struck it with his body knocking it to the ground and then did a 180 flip to turn around and grab it. I let him have his reward because i most defiantly want those types of flights

Bella had been with my wife so by this point we decided to let her run and see how they would react together. For a first time out they didn't do to bad. She's young and wants to chase birds so half the time she would end up pointing Jez and then the other half pointing something else.

So the plan for the summer is to get her (Bella) trained properly. Dog and Hawk used to one another and then hit the Quail and Pheasants fields in October.

This is my first season with a Harris and i got to say regardless of whether you think they are beginners birds or not they kill and catch stuff and a wide variety of things. Modern day hunting requires a Versitle Dog and also a Versitle hawk. I think i well eventually have the right combination.

So the final head count was .

• 22 Rabbits.
• 2 Virgina Rail
• 50 Pack Rats.
• 100 Mice and Voles
• 12 English Sparrows.

For the first time in 5 years i have a freezer that's pretty full.

We have also had some good chases on Pheasant and Quail and a couple of chases on Dove and Duck.

So by my standards i couldn't be more pleased with a great year and a great hawk. I had thought about getting a second and hunting them in a cast but i decided to put that off for another year. My reasoning being 1 hawk takes a considerable amount of time , with Jez being a first year bird i want to build on what we have achieved so far rather than the distraction of a second bird. I want great hawks not average hawks. To get great hawks you have to put the time and miles in. I don't want a bird that just hunts lots of rabbits but will take other quarry and not just by luck or accident too.

30 minute hunt.

the wife was ill and today was going to be hit or miss. the weather gave us a break in higher than normal temperatures (30F) so i seized the opportunity to get out for a short while.

We where working along a tree line that we had already flushed one rabbit. Fresh rabbit sign was everywhere. The sign was all on fresh snow and it was amazing what was about. The first rabbit tried sneaking behind us but Jez was on it and the rabbit didn't get 10 feet. Because my wife was sick and we have three rowdy kids i decided to head home. We had been in the field exactly 15 minutes.

The second rabbit we flushed in front of us on the walk back it decided to run between to young spruce trees. Jez rolled it and hung on. the rabbit hadn't got 20 feet. 2 rabbits in 30 minutes.

This makes 20 and 21. My target was to reach 20. This is a young bird and i wasn't sure of the rabbit numbers in my area. Where we lived before this many rabbits would never have been in our wildest dreams. The variety of items this bird will go after just amazes me. In a few weeks i plan to fly him on Pheasant at the OFA winter meet that's being held in Fariview Oklahoma. I'm hoping the weather will warm up a little as we will be camping. I'm actually quite excited about going as this will be my first OFA meet.

and that would be 19

So early Saturday we had sleet and drizzle. The result was ground that resembled an ICE rink on the roads. The air temps where high so I went hawking anyway. Jez flies best at 30+

We had some good chases; the brush was thick and his timing a little of from not flying for a week. It was interesting being in the middle of this field and hearing all the emergency vehicles running there sirens for people that had been driving too fast and now needed assistance but at the same time the peace from the field my hawk flying overhead seemed a little surreal.

 

Sunday I met up with Ryan Van Zants, Daniel Murray and a couple of their friends that were visiting from Canada. Duck is currently closed till mid Feb so they wanted to see some rabbit chases.  Jez ended up catching 2 rabbits (both by the head) and having some amazing flights on some other rabbits. I was hoping for a couple of bird flights but Jez seemed totally dialed into rabbits on the day. (Sorry No Pictures) So that drings his tally up to 19 Rabbits.

Monday I wanted to get a hunt in before the weather came in. We were expecting 6 inches of snow (which hasn’t materialized) nothing much was moving unless it was in deep brush. Jez tried but couldn’t quite connect we did catch a vole as a conciliation prize. The snow Tuesday should make spotting rabbits well. Hopefully we will get out again this week.

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.

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.

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.  

New Camera

My Wife bought me a Key-fob Camera for Christmas. I attached it to a scout transmitter to try it out on the back of Jez.

After allot of editing here is 10 minutes of the 1hr of video it recorded.

Gift Horses from the wife should always accepted

So my wife surprised me in finding an English Pointer litter locally in Dewey. Now if you know my wife you knwo this is a big thing. She has a love/hate relationship with remington and she likes the purse dogs that are all cute and cudderely. Her favorite saying is i dont want dogs so for her to say hey come look at this litter, well you just got to its kind of like winning the lottery.

With Remington's health issues she wanted me to have another dog but also one the whole family could get involved in. The owner is a Local hunter that was not intending to breed. He had papers for his Sire and Dam but the deal with the puppies was you vaccinated and did everything else yourself.

Ryan Van Zants another local Falconer and Pointer Trainer/Owner came out with me, as i trust what he's going to tell me, he holds nothing back and i respect his opinion.

We had the pick of all but one of the litter that had already been placed. we whittled it down to three possibles a male and 2 females. I eventually settled on one of the female. She was one of the few that kept coming back to me when i walked off and was interested in a quail wing that i started playing with. She also pointed Ryan's son a couple of times as he ran around the yard ( He had been playing with quail all day).

 

We spent about an hour with the owner talking about puppies , hunting before making our way home. Once we got home i went to tractor supply and got specter 5 as she had not been vaccinated and gave her her first dose. She'll live in the house for the first couple of weeks until she can mix with my other dogs.

oh and we decided on calling her Bella.

Winter is finally here

Winter has finally arrived with our first inches of snow. After some consultation i decided to take Jez out and see what he would do. the temps where in the Upper 20's  with about 1inche of snow on the ground the sun was out allowing a small amount of heat to hit the ground.

 

 

We headed out to our usual spot and started hitting the brush. We could both see Mice and Rats running between the grass clumps and diving into the cover of snow.

Then it was on We have chased this rabbit a few times and pulled fir. He was in the same location he had been on previous occasions. Jez had caught him by the rear and i rushed in to secure the kill. Traded him off fairly well and we tried for a double. We caught 3 more voles. I let him have the heads and traded him off for the rest. We had a couple more chases on rabbits but it was obvious Jez was loosing interest.  After about 20 Minutes Jez had had enough and flew into a tree. Pulled a foot up and didn't want to move.

 

 

On Saturday We went to another location (again int eh mid 20's) .I've hunted this pretty religiously for months (time to give it a rest) we tried to repeat the day before we caught 3 more voles and again after 20 minutes Jez was pulling feet up and no longer interested.

Frost bite in Harris Hawks is a worry so i decided to wait until the temps are back in the 30's  Tuesday should be back in the 40's.

I'm looking for another Harris to Hunt with Jez. If anyone hears of one needing a good home i would be interested in talking about it.

On another note was pretty awesome getting out for 5 minutes with my daughter and doing some redneck sledging. Left over Mews roofing panels make great sledges.

Some times work gets in the way

I have been in Share point Training all week traveling back and forth from Tulsa. Dark when i left and Dark when i came back. I knew this before i started the week so we got a couple of hunts in before the weekend was gone.

I took a friend out who is getting more and more interested in falconry , We had some good chases on Rabbits, Voles and Small Birds. Slips have been drying up at one spot and i think the rabbits have got the idea we are coming so we moved to a different part of the field. Just as we got to a brier patch bag the squeal of a rabbit could be heard. I dispatched it and we moved on. Trade off was not to bad. We then moved on and found a nest of Voles he grabbed 2 with each foot. Trade off was good and we moved on. We got on a really good rabbit chase that i thought he was sure to get but at the last minute the rabbit kicked up and behind and hit Jez in the chest. This put him off a little and the rabbit was able to carry on but still with jez in pursuit, By this time the sun was setting and it was time to head home.

Because of the training i feed him up with cold weather due and knowing i wasn't going to be able to get out right now I'm just bring his weight back down ready to start hitting the fields again.

if i take one more step

So there we have it. we took one more step.
We have officially caught more seasoned game with this hawk than any other previous. The feeling is pretty good. In total so far Jez has caught Sorrel, Rabbits, Pack Rats, Voles, Mice and Birds. (34 in total) He has caught 5 things a Sorrel and Rabbits that have a dedicated season. How ever you want to count it i am pretty pleased.

I am pleased i haven't had to use a bagged game item to get him going like a quail or a rabbit. All we are doing is hitting the field every day for 1 1/2hours longer on weekends. He cant hit really think brush but so far it hasnt really mattered. The bird chases are pretty spectacular. Harry McElroy likes the Male HH to a Female Coopers hawk and in his opinion are just as fast but with out all the hang ups a Coopers Hawk has. I flew a passage coopers last year and i got to say i don't miss those hang ups. Its great being able to just pick the bird up and go hunting and know you are going to catch something. It doesn't matter if there is a dog or another person in the field.

Yesterdays hut had a spectacular chase on a sparrow followed by a Rat and Mouse. The sun was starting to set and i have had problems with great horned owls in the past so decided to head home. just as we was walking back to the car Jez was of the T-Perch and in 5 feet there was the sound of a bunny being caught. quick dispatch and a good trade of and we continued our trek back to the truck

As the Falcon Her Bells

This is the book that started it all. I have been after a copy for a while and one popped up for the right price. 30 years later i find myself having the same amount of fun. different birds different game but a total fascination with birds of prey and the game they take.

One more rabbit

On Saturday i took a few friends from wok hunting with us in the field. We chased many rabbits and a few quail. We caught Rats, Voles and some small birds. The look on each of these guys faces (they are all hunters) was priceless. Big smiles all round.

Sunday i went out on my own again plenty of chases on rabbits and some long haul flights on birds. about 30 minutes into it he hit the ground hard and rabbit number 3 was in the bag. Trade off was better than any other. With the Rats and Voles i have been pinching the heads off letting him eat them and carrying them off. I have noticed he burns through Rats and Voles at 3 times the burn rate of say rabbit and quail.
I can't say it enough this year is turning into a fun year for this hawk and I. I only need one more Seasoned (Seasons as in there is actually an official season for it) game item and i will have caught more seasoned game than any other year. I have had official more kills on Rats, Voles, Mice birds and Rabbits than any other bird and any other season. It's pretty amazing feeling going out into the field knowing you're going to catch something , just not sure what.

Remington continues to improve. Right now we are trying to figure out the right dosage that gives him an active life but none of the side effects. right now he is drinking and urinating every hour with a few accidents in the house. I spoke with the vet this morning and we are going to drop the Prednisone from 5mg to 3mg. I'm also having to keep an eye on him as he has been showing signs of aggression to my other dog and growled at me once. I'm putting this down to hunger as his appetite has really picked up and he is starting to gain weight back. I still have him on Rice and Boiled chicken , he cant seem to get enough of it. I have had him running in the back yard after pigeons and started calling whoa when he stands still i let the pigeon go. Rewarding the good behaviour with a pigeon chase.

Great weekend

Friday and Saturday i was hunting with Kent Carbaugh in the center of town.

We tried 2 different field. His birds where still not at weight so we didn't end up flying them. Jez caught a mouse Friday night and some really good chases on rabbits and birds. The wind was pretty high and a few times you could see he was having fun with it.

Saturday morning was also windy but amazingly cold to start off with, again some great chases on rabbits(Jez was a little heavy) as we where walking near a tree all of a sudden all a dove took to the air with Jez in pursuit. He has chased dove before but this was with intent. The dove decided its best bet was to fly back under the tree and Jez followed it grabbing and pulling tail feathers. The Dove got away but man what a flight. We had a couple more rabbits chases when all of a sudden we got to a grassy area. first one quail popped up and then 10 more.Jez was a little overwhelmed at so many targets and you could tell he wasn't sure which one to go for. Kent and i jsut looked at each other i dont think i have ever seen so many quail take to the sky

Sunday afternoon i got into the field a little later than i had hoped but we immediately started chasing rabbits and small birds. AS we where walking along a small ridge a rabbit decided to take a bolt for it with Jez after it grabbing it by the head. I dispatched it and let him have some, trade off was a lot better this time. The vole chases that followed where out in the open (2 more in the bag) and the bird chase was fast. The bird made the mistake of putting in with Jez hitting it hard. The sun had set so at that point it was time to go home.

Getting used to each other

When i first got Jez this amazing alarm call would ring out when ever Remington came anywhere near him. After a few taps on Remington's nose and Remington learning to not sniff Jez things are starting to claim down. Jez no longer calls out and Remington tries and keeps a low profile. This i probably the closest they have ever been which boads well for when we get them both in the field together.

Got Jez flying to 100 Feet now and even chasing me down on a few occasions at 50 feet. Weather is starting to cool down a little so it's that time to finally go hunting.

Comming right along

Hes now flying to 50 feeet with no issues. Weight is 590grams. We will be moving to a longer creance in the next day or so. My wife took this picture and i'm pretty pleased with it. I have also been training him to the lure which is also going pretty well.

I also found a few interestng articles on Raptor Medicine.

Almost ready

Well we are almost ready to go hunting , I fitted his back pack last night. Took a while to get it right but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Crappy IPhone picks but you get the idea. This is the first time i have used a Marshall Scout Transmitter so it will be interesting to see how i get on with it.