First Kill of the Season

We had to go to the VA in Dallas today and i wasn't even sure i would

get out to hunt but we made it back in time. The weather was a bit warmer than yesterday and he was a few grams heavier than i would have liked.

I have this field that is basically the spill off from a truck salvage yard. In the center of the field is a large stock pond that has managed to keep some of its water. The owners are long time friends of my wife.The lad next door who is 12 wanted to come with me and my wife. For my wife to come on a hunt is something pretty special. As has been previously written she came into falconry kicking and screaming but has totally fallen in love with it the only part she cant cope with is the dispatching. We started to flush the field with lots of large grasshoppers flying everywhere. Within a few minutes of entering the we kicked up our first bunny of the day, Shiloh actually didn't see it but saw another and chased after that. We started to flush towards some brier bushes and some other broken down truck beds. All of a sudden there was a wing over a crash of brush and briers and one very excited hawk. I dispatched the rabbit and let Shiloh break in and eat. We traded off OK for the lure and headed home. One very nice rabbit in the bag. I did have an issue with Shiloh wanting to carry the rabbit off and the picture shows him completely covering the rabbit and not letting anyone near it. But i think once we get a few more in the bag it will be a different story. 

The boy next door had a great day, my wife was more excited about the hunt than she let on. So it was the end of a prett y perfect day as we got some great news that my wife doesn't have cancer as previously diagnosed and really the day couldn't have been any better than it was.

First Rabbit

This is a first in so many ways.

We headed out to the airport. I knew a field i had hunted before but the only problem with it is its waste deep in briar's for much of the field. You have to crash through them there are that many. The idea was we might fly willow a bit, catch maybe a rat but get her ready for the weekend. Cope out i know but anything was worth a try. Well that was the theory.

My son in law Luke came with me and we pulled up next to the field. and soon he was cussing me because of all the briar's , I guess i didn't use it much last year because of the pain you experienced when you entered and when you left it.

First slip resulted in a confused hawk. She came down in a classic tear drop, i spotted a rabbit hole but with nothing in it we quickly moved on. Second slip resulted in a wing over that was just amazing.

She was soon on the rabbit and telling me about her achievement. She has not said a word in 8 weeks and now she was screaming. I dispatched the rabbit quickly and fed her up. Trade off was crap, something we will have to work on but there was no way in hell she was going to let her rabbit go. We headed home, she ate 100 grams of rabbit tonight, i put her outside hopefully she will be at weight for tomorrow i have another spot to check out.

Sorry no pictures as i forgot my mobile phone.

oh yeah, on the way home i got stopped by the cops, in my excitement i forgot to put my lights on, the cop laughed and i went on my way.

All i can say is way to go Willow !

Day 16

Well things are still progressing slowly, but we are doing this at willows pace and not mine. Shes flying across the room now. Not every flight results in a tidbit on the glove. I have been changing the way i present the tidbit on the glove and she seems to be responding better. She still bates of the pearch when i approch so we have been working on that too.

A friend of mine Matt made me a new cloroplast box ( he had a spare sheet) which i have now furnished out. I'm not sure its quite tall enough so will probably be making another really soon and ill keep the other for another hawk in the future. Its amazing how much lighter than my wooden GH it is ( and i made that on the sparse side).

Willow 2010

Caught a Female weighing in at 46.5 ounces just north of McAlester on highway 69/75. I am done with trapping, Ihave been trapping most days for since August the 1st ( 3 months ) now this will do for this seasons. Started manning down, the usual dead chicken routine went on for 3 hours and i put her away after 8 hours of manning, you forget how tired your arm muscles get ! She is very different from Zoie alot lighter in the chest and face and willows tail feathers are darker. Not the male i wanted but shes a very impressive bird and now we have extended trapping season i can keep looking but at my own leasure.

Urban Hawks

Found this new website called Urban Hawks, interesting videos and pictures of Redtail Hawks.



I'm amazed at the number of Videos and Pictures the site has.