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.

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.  

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.

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.

Lake Murray and Family Reunions

We headed down to lake Murray, south of Ardmore this weekend for a family Reunion and a spot of camping. I finally got to use my New Fly Rod for a few hours and some flies a friend of mine hand made. Didn't catch anything but it was pretty awesome fishing as the sun came up. Lots of people at the reunion wanted to know about falconry , which is always a good thing.

Perceptions

I'm all about wildlife, have been for years. Responsible animal owner ship and care taking of our natural resources.

Since i was a child i have had 8 Dogs , 6 cats, Exotic Fish, and since become a falconer 5 Raptors.

I'm also all about Rehab of animals. Sick and injured animal in the wild get it to a Rehabber, 9 times out 10 its the best place for it. If its 2 sick they will euthanize it and put it out of its misery.

Like falconry, rehabers have set rules. A Rehaber in Oklahoma recently posted an SOS request for a member of general public to go and pick up an injured raptor and keep it over night. Raptors in the US fall under the migratory bird act. A few people mentioned to the Rehab that this was illegal. Needless to say the on slaughter of abuse towards the people that stood for what was right was immense and unjustified. The risk of fines and imprisonment for that the taxi driver ( which is what they where agreeing too) was strong.

The rehab facility then contacted the Oklahoma Wildlife department for clarification and basically got told if you continue this process of asking the general public to pick up your raptors we will take your rehab permit away.

The abuse continued towards the people that had pointed this fact out, to the point of "you are now responsible for millions of deaths" and "we are only one in this area carrying out this work " and finally we can no longer accept Raptors to our clinic" which in all three cases was not correct.

Tragically 80%+ of raptors die anyway in the first year. Whilst Rehab gets the Raptor through a certain stage in its life there is nothing to say that the bird went on to breed or was even killed the next day after release.

Source (http://www.sibleyguides.com/conservation/causes-of-bird-mortality/)

There are three other Rehabbers in the this particular area of Oklahoma that take Raptors in for rehab.

Lastly , there was no reason to state they couldn't take them in, it was just members of the general public could not go and pick them up for them and then transport them to them.

I think the thing that annoyed me the most with this is that the rehaber in question put the animals they where wanting to save in front of the very supporters that kept them going. This is not to say the animals are not important, they are. But there has to be some sort of balance. Once you loose support, you then loose any effectiveness to do the job you set out to do. What made things worse for me was that they knew this and was willing to put people at risk of fines and imprisonment.

Sad day for animals and raptors in particular and good Samaritans wanting to help them......

Summer Morning at the Lake

Remington and i enjoying Lake Copan in Oklahoma. I got him pointing on a couple of ducks by the lake shore really nice.

Game Scents and more dog training

One of the things i want to develop is remingtons nose. Remington is great on visual point but get over welmed with scent smells in the field. Witht hat in mind i head over to Gun Dog Supply and got a couple of scent bottles.

I bought the Quail and the Rabbit scents to see if it really makes a difference. I also got a large bumper. I plan on using this for training an will be wrapping it with rabbit fur.

Remington has pointed and chased a few Rabbits which I'm delighted with and i just want to encourage and re-enforce that. We are also currently working on the woah command and making sure he is steady on point.

This will work for a while allowing my pigeon loft to catch up on young , so far i have 5 breeding pairs with a mixture of Racing Homers and Common Pigeons.

End of Turkey Season

Well today is the end of Spring Turkey Season and i didn't manage to get one. Not for the want of trying as most weekend i was out looking. I learned allot and had a lot of fun with it. Was very different to Falconry. I must admit i do prefer falconry but i had fun none the less. So here is to the next turkey season in Fall.

I came close to getting a turkey twice. But unfortunately they were both times just out of range. I will work on my calls for next season and hopefully that will change.

First Quail Flush

Took him out to Copan again today. We have been working on field control, getting him to come back when he is told, walking to heal without a leash.

We got an excellent flush on a covey of quail just before we left. Once he got to 200 feet i called him back from the chase and he came right back. We need to work on our holding and pointing but so far i have be delighted with how he has been behaving

I was expecting more turkey hunters out there but the place was deserted but for safety sake i put a hunter orange life vest on him just in case.. We meet some old boys running Beagles and Remington was very well behaved the entire time. It was interesting comparing the two breeds and it was nice just enjoying the country side with a fellow outdoors-man.

My Big Baby

Prepping for Turkey Season

Turkey Season is just 6 days away. For a whole month in the surrounding counties we get to take one tom per county to a total limit of 3 toms. With that i have been buying up Turkey Calls and Camo as well as practicing shooting my shot gun from 40 and 50 yards.

 

I have been using the Primos tight wad Turkey Choke but it still seems to spread the pattern at the 40 - 50 yard mark. The Havi-Shot seem to do this even even more than some other rounds i tried. I've also been practicing my calls with a Box Call and a Slate Call.

Cycles

I was updating my season information and i noticed there had been changes in the season dates for game that i am interested in. Dove season has been extended to 75 days but Quail and Pheasant (Gun ) has been shortened and in the case of Quail the season is 50% down on the previous year.

I came across a number of reports that had some very interesting reading. Quail in Texas and Oklahoma seem to go through a cycle of a 5year hi/low. 2005 was a very productive year for quail and if my understanding is right we should be and the emphasis on the should be on another high... but we are not , we are in a declining population.

One of the reasons put forth is the change in agricultural policy and a change in hunting behaviour. More and more pasture is being given over to the growth of none state native grasses for hay production. Nearly all fields in Bryan county have hay bails on 2-3 times a year, the farmer gets anywhere from $50-$100 depending on that year prices, a small pasture of 10 acres can produce 100 bails in a year, that's allot of money for practically doing nothing.

One of the other reasons is, quail hunting appears to be down, this is partly due to the fall in birds but also the fall out of favour in Quail hunting with hunters. Quail hunting in terms of trophy bucks is not as glamorous.

Pheasant populations are falling for the same reasons, lack of habitat and lack of interest from hunters.

These reports ( spanning 25 years of data) also conflict with the anti-hunting lobby in that here is direct proof about how hunting regulates game numbers and the opposite effect of why we shouldn't hunt occurs. Numbers go down ( and not up) when game is not hunted.

I was also reading another report on Quill that also found that leaving quail coveys alone for the winter resulted in a higher loss of birds per covey (50%) than a covey that had been harvested. In other words the ones that where harvested would have perished due to the winter anyway so the harvesting of quail didn't really effect the natural populations of the covey.

I spoke to a few friends that own large pastures and have small to medium sized properties about why thy didn't allow the stocking of quail on there property and the overall reason was because they would then have to allow public access to there property , something they were not to happy about.

The solutions are never simple but one thing that has to change is the agricultural policy and habitat for these two game species in order to start bringing these populations back