12 Months from previous take

Still deciding on what i want to do bird wise. I called the Oklahoma department of wildlife today needing to know when the possession year started and ended. In Texas its June 1st to May 31st and some other states have Jan1st to Dec 31st. I was kind of hoping it would be the same (as Texas) unfortunately not, it's from the last time you trapped a raptor.

I was thinking maybe trap a kestrel and then see about a coopers and some sort of falcon in the fall but that would be 3 birds in one year so that option is totally out the window.As i trapped Shiloh in January of 2011 that means i can now take 2 wild raptors.

This season has been interesting game wise but the predominant game is small birds and surprisingly a large number of ducks. I caught more rabbits this year than previous but that's down to one field and i really don't want to over hunt it. I have been looking for other fields but all have failed to produce any results. Places that i have had flushes before or had rabbit sign have been none sparse this year.

 I have been loaned a Female Harris Hawk, Shes been fun but not really what i am after. If there is a rabbit in site she will chase it , if there are small birds she will chase them but only if shes in a cast and there is competition from another Harris. If i just want a Rabbit and Squirrel Hawk then i might as well get another Male RT. I like Male RT's they're fun.

So the choice is going to be a Coopers Hawk for small birds and the odd rabbit and either a peregrine or a prairie falcon for ducks and anything else i can get them to fly on. Now the next question is wait till the fall and trap a peregrine or trap a prairie now, man it train it over the next few months and have it ready to go in September on teal. I like the idea of training a bird over the next few months as i feel i need the experience of training multiple birds.

It would be interesting to see everyone else's view.

Last Monday the forecast was for storms and possibly snow. I went to work having decided that it was better to leave the birds in the house.

Around 12:30 i got a call from my daughter to say the house was on fire. By the time i got there the Utility room was pretty much destroyed and smoke damage to the rest of the house was extensive. All the kids got out due to quick thinking by my son in law Luke who is a Fire Fighter for Colbert

Both birds died of smoke inhalation which sucks on so many levels as the weather forecast was wrong and  i really started to feel like i was starting to get some place. Not sure what i want to do right now. I've been offered a Harris Hawk, on loan for the spring which i probably will take up. I wont take anything yet until all the smoke damage is removed from the house and some sense of  normality come back.

Season Update

So far we are doing quite good by my standards anyway.

It does seem strange not to be driving thousands of miles looking for a Redtail this year and then doing the inevitable manning, creance work. I have been Bow Net trapping  with Mark runnels and Ron Lloyd and did trap a Kriders Redtail.

 However i didn't need another Redtail so i passed up on it. I still want a female coopers hawk (passage) but they seem few and far between right now. If something doesnt turn up soon i'll give up for the year and try again next year. Having read all the banding station and hawk count reports it would seem coopers hawks are down this year.

Shiloh has turned into the best Redtail a falconer could want. I now feel that if i'm in a field with rabbits in we are bringing one home in the bag.So far the count is 3 rabbits and 1 Squirrel and a couple of miscellaneous ( he had eaten them by the time i got there).

First rabbit was a crash straight into some briers, Nice wing over , over the top of the briers and then he was in.Squirrel was soaring above the tree tops before plucking a squirrel out of the tree's and tumbling to the ground.Second rabbit my son-in-law was flushing along a line of spruce tree's we flushed a rabbit to Shiloh who was in a tree on the other side. Shiloh probably flew 10 feet if that.

This weekends flight was a little different in that it was earlier in the day, We had had a couple of flushes when we moved to a more dense area. i flushed a rabbit along a dirt road with Shiloh pumping for all his worth.

Nothing to report on Cowboy just yet, we have been doing some creance work and i free flew him for the first time yesterday. I'm hoping some wind will pick up soon so i can start to use the Kite.

New Buddy

Picked a new friend today. This is cowboy a hybrid.

Big Change

Well as of an hour ago i am no longer classified as an apprentice falconer. It truly is the best feeling ever. Lots of excitement with what the future brings and lots of dread as well. As for the blog. I wont be posting quite so much, lots of reason for that and most i don't want to go into but it wont be a daily log of hunts anymore. It will be more of a when something interesting happens or something that i care to share.

Shiloh is amazing and so different to any of the red-tails i have had before, he got a squirrel at the weekend, He flies very very different when squirrel hawking almost in a sore above the tree tops. Right now he is fat having fed well.

I do want to thank my friend and mentor Steve Armstrong for all his help and every falconer in both Texas and Oklahoma that has helped me get to this point.

On wards and forwards. Happy Hunting
Stephen

Got a New Hood

Got a new hood from Robert Huber today. Can't wait to start using it.

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.