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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

One Sunday afternoon.

Went up to Copan with Remington On Sunday. It was the re-opening of duck season here in Oklahoma. In the distance we could hear plenty of shot gun shots. It was our first time out as a team since Remington got sick. It was more of a training session than a hunt getting Jez to fly over Remington and chase game. Building up confidence from both dog and bird. I also wanted to see how Remington was doing in terms of could he keep up with things. So we set off into a new area we hadn't been before to see what we could russel up. I don't normally like prospect hunting but i had 4hrs before sunset and just needed to get out.We saw plenty of small birds still but little else. Most of the Wetlands Development Unit was full of water but it was also covered in about 2 inches of ice. We did get to see a Bald Eagle sitting out on the ice and an immature Bald Eagle in a tree. I had heard of reports of some quail coveys but in the area we went to i didn't see any.

It's amazing how in 2 months copan has gone from being green to brown.

I'm interested in going out to Ellis County and Optima to try and hunt for quail and pheasant in the new year (falconry Regs here in Oklahoma give us until March 31st to hunt both species. If anyone is interested in coming with me you'd be welcome.  I think it would be interesting to see how Jez does on them.

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

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.

Good things come to those that..... well........ Hunt

We have been going out every day, most hunts involved 1-2 rats and 1-2 birds being caught in each hunt. The rabbit chases have been 2-3 in each hunt. on three occasions he bound but for some reason or another the rabbit finally got away. The cover is still pretty think in most places there seems to be two kinds of plants that i haven't seen in the past one has little yellow buds with a thin stem. The plant grows to about 3 feet. the rabbits can move freely under the main bloom but seeing through and crashing through the top part has been challenging. The other plant is well id say very close or must be related to some kind of heather very dense.

Today was different we had a rain shower earlier and i was expecting a storm to come in later( storm never materialized) but we went hunting any way he caught his first bird after about an 20 minutes then we started to get the bunny chases and re flushes. This particular rabbit was trying to sneak past us but never got more than 10 feet.

i traded him off (which wasn't to hot) but we went again and he caught another bird and chased 2 more rabbits into dense brush. One went on to a property I'm not to keen to go on at the moment even though i have permission.

Talking of permissions, even on waste ground never assume you can fly your bird there. I learnt a valuable lesson on Sunday , one that I'm kicking myself over and obsessing as my wife tells me. Also never assume one parcel of land is owned by one person. I found out that 4 different people own part of this property. none of it is fenced , no markers . It took a lot of detective work to find who owned what. All turned out well and i was granted permission but it's not how i want to practice falconry and made me feel immensely guilty.

I like the fact that there are challenges with flying a captive breed bird , food begging , sticky glove but i like the fact when you go out you know there are going to be some great flights and he/she will get something. With work and home life this is fun i can be out for 1hr -2hrs forget about the world and just concentrate on one thing finding those rabbits.

where are we at.....

We are out hunting most days. Quite a few bunny chases just not quite connecting. Brush is a bit thick in a few fields but that doesn't stop at least 3 chases each outing. He's quite birdy too chasing dove and English Sparrows. I'm enjoying watching him learn and figure things out. I was out with Johnathan Coleman last night , he has an amazing Redtail was great beating brush for some on else and then Johnathan hunting with with me when it was my turn.

i also came across this site http://birdhunterstable.com/ think this will be on my christmas list

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.

One Slow Summer

Well June is out of the way and allot has happened.

Tech Ed has been and gone and i learnt allot about Team Foundation Server and SharePoint. Also taught a class at the Conference on Team Foundation Server which was accidental but allot of fun.

The OFA Picnic took place on June the 8th and it was pretty good by all standards great turn out and they tried something new with the introductions of Workshops.

A full write up can be read here.

 

I was asked to run for treasurer which i did with some reluctance. I was PR officer for the British in-line Puck Hockey Association at one time and the political just about killed me hence the reluctance. One of the things i am proud about though is i did re-design the logo for BIPHA and the BRSF which they still use to day. So far this has been pretty good we had our first board meeting. I have known Robert Huber a while and he makes all my hoods. Perry White i have gone to for veterinary and squirrel hawking advise. Ken Riddle is now the president and if you can get his book it's a dam good read and in my opinion should be compulsory reading for anyone starting out in falconry..

Rob Huber , Kelly Rawlings and Perry White all got elected too but you can read about it at the above link.

Robert Huber, Kelly Rawlings, Perry White, Ken Riddle and myself.

Ken gave a excellent workshop on imping, Ryan Van Zants has shown me how to one form of imping with Carbon Fiber and bambo , Kens version was a lot more complicated and used beading needles and pieces of feather shaft (Calamus).

Ken Riddle Imping Workshop

I also won a Short Cuff Glove at the picnic, first time i have won anything so was pleased with that.

I have about 40 pigeons right now with still more to come. so plenty to continue my dog training. still working on Woah and using the Delmar Smith and Willow Creek Kennels method of training and so far it seems to be coming along all but slowly (which is more down to me than the dog) David Gowdy also has an excerlant book on GSP training.


Harris Update
Got a call from the Coulsons to say my bird will be ready mid August which will be just in time to get going for the new season.

The Birth of a Harris Hawk

A friend of mine sent me this this week. It's a Harris Hawk chick emerging from it's shell.  The resolution is not that great but its pretty awesome still.