My Latest Endeavor...

NorCal tortoise guy

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Thanks for posting this!
I attended a CHC meet as a youngster with a scouting group we were able to see lots of fun thing and even go on a couple hunts. That experience fostered in me a keen interest in falconry!
An interested Ive yet to be able to act on and maybe never will who knows.
I very much enjoyed reading about you experiences!
 

Tom

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We have one week left in the cottontail hunting season. I'm making the most of my last season with Minerva. We continue to have amazing days out hunting together interspersed with days where she does her own thing and flies over to the next field to go hunting by herself. Self hunting, as my sponsor calls it. I think I've got her figured out. She never leaves me. If I get out of her sight, she'll come back looking for me. When she takes off she doesn't go far and if I'm out of sight on the other side of a building or hill, she will fly back just enough to see me. I think what she is doing is trying to lead the hunt. Some days she doesn't want to hunt with me, she wants me to hunt with her. Other falconers might call it bad training, but a few times I've let her lead and just followed her from field to field to see where she would go and what she would do. She has a much better vantage point than me, so I wondered if she was seeing something that I couldn't see. I don't think so. We fare no better when I follow her, than when she follows me. In fact, when I am walking over to catch up to wherever she's flown off to, lots of rabbits jump up and run, which would have been great hunting opportunities for her, if she'd stayed with me and been in position.

She has been an amazing teacher. I've enjoyed my time with her and learned from both the triumphs and frustrations. I look forward to returning her to the exact pole that I caught her from. She will be parasite and disease free, well hydrated, well fed and in top shape when I release her. She will also be dosed with Ivermectin from my vet the day before release which will give her about a month of residual parasite protection out there in the wild. I do feel sorry for any birds that moved into the territory in her absence. She will surely kick them out.

Some people seem to think I should be sad about not having her any more. I just don't feel that way. She was never "mine" to begin with. I borrowed her from Mother Nature. I rescued her from a certain slow and miserable death. I've shared daily adventures with her since November of 2016. I turn her loose daily as we enter the hunting fields, with no guarantee or certainty about what will happen or what we will see, and together, we have seen some amazing stuff. Most days we don't catch any rabbits, but we sure try and some of the flights and near misses are nearly as much fun as the occasional catches. The acrobatic ability and maneuverability of this huge bird of prey in mid air is astounding. Its enough to make a person question the laws of physics sometimes. My time with her has been a privilege and an honor. I look forward to seeing her return to where she came from, and I look forward to rescuing another bird from certain death next year.

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JoesMum

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We have one week left in the cottontail hunting season. I'm making the most of my last season with Minerva. We continue to have amazing days out hunting together interspersed with days where she does her own thing and flies over to the next field to go hunting by herself. Self hunting, as my sponsor calls it. I think I've got her figured out. She never leaves me. If I get out of her sight, she'll come back looking for me. When she takes off she doesn't go far and if I'm out of sight on the other side of a building or hill, she will fly back just enough to see me. I think what she is doing is trying to lead the hunt. Some days she doesn't want to hunt with me, she wants me to hunt with her. Other falconers might call it bad training, but a few times I've let her lead and just followed her from field to field to see where she would go and what she would do. She has a much better vantage point than me, so I wondered if she was seeing something that I couldn't see. I don't think so. We fare no better when I follow her, than when she follows me. In fact, when I am walking over to catch up to wherever she's flown off to, lots of rabbits jump up and run, which would have been great hunting opportunities for her, if she'd stayed with me and been in position.

She has been an amazing teacher. I've enjoyed my time with her and learned from both the triumphs and frustrations. I look forward to returning her to the exact pole that I caught her from. She will be parasite and disease free, well hydrated, well fed and in top shape when I release her. She will also be dosed with Ivermectin from my vet the day before release which will give her about a month of residual parasite protection out there in the wild. I do feel sorry for any birds that moved into the territory in her absence. She will surely kick them out.

Some people seem to think I should be sad about not having her any more. I just don't feel that way. She was never "mine" to begin with. I borrowed her from Mother Nature. I rescued her from a certain slow and miserable death. I've shared daily adventures with her since November of 2016. I turn her loose daily as we enter the hunting fields, with no guarantee or certainty about what will happen or what we will see, and together, we have seen some amazing stuff. Most days we don't catch any rabbits, but we sure try and some of the flights and near misses are nearly as much fun as the occasional catches. The acrobatic ability and maneuverability of this huge bird of prey in mid air is astounding. Its enough to make a person question the laws of physics sometimes. My time with her has been a privilege and an honor. I look forward to seeing her return to where she came from, and I look forward to rescuing another bird from certain death next year.

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Good luck Minerva. We have enjoyed your stories.

And Tom, thank you so much for telling those stories. It has been a fascinating insight.
 

wellington

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Do you know, once released, do they have a hard time going back to just being wild? No more person, no straps, no man made shelter, etc.
Has a study ever been done? Are they more prone to being human friendly?
I guess I didn't realize you released them, or dont remember.
A couple weeks after her release, I wonder if she would come back too you if you went out there and called her? Anyone ever done that you know of?
Have a great time this last week with her and enjoy the release. Although I would be sad and it would be hard too do. It's got too also be a great feeling.
 
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Tom

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Do you know, once released, do they have a hard time going back to just being wild? No more person, no straps, no man made shelter, etc.
Has a study ever been done? Are they more prone to being human friendly?
I guess I didn't realize you released them, or dont remember.
A couple weeks after her release, I wonder if she would come back too you if you went out there and called her? Anyone ever done that you know of?
Have a great time this last week with her and enjoy the release. Although I would be sad and it would be hard too do. It's got too also be a great feeling.
Good questions. These are things that I should have already explained, but haven't yet, so thank you for the opportunity and reminder.

DFW (Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, formerly known as Fish and Game) has done extensive studies on this. I believe the number is a 98% survival rate for falconry birds returned to the wild after a season or two of hunting with a licensed falconer. These are not captive raised birds. They are not "imprinted" on humans in any way. They hatched in the wild and were raised by their parents. After a few months of being cared for by their parents, each new year's babies are kicked out of the territory of their parents. They must leave, go find their own territory, learn to hunt, defend themselves, evade predators, find water, and survive completely on their own. On average 75% of each year's hatchling don't make it to October 1st. They die from starvation, predation, dehydration, disease, parasites, poisoning, hit by cars, shot by idiot humans, electrocution, windmill power generators, etc… Of the ones that make it to October 1st, 80% of these survivors don't make it through winter to see their first birthday. So we are talking about 5 of every 100 that see their first birthday in the wild on average. As bad as that sounds, its way better than baby tortoise survival rates in the wild.

Wild juveniles that hatch in the spring time are called "passage" birds. Mature adults in the wild that manage to survive a season or two on their own are called "haggard" birds. We are only allowed to trap the passage birds and only from Oct. 1st through Jan 31st. These passage birds know how to survive on their own and are 100% imprinted on other red tail hawks, not people. During the time they spend working with a falconer, they become reasonably tame, and recognize us as a food source, but they do not "bond" to us in any way. When they are not hungry, they are not coming back to their falconer. When the hunting season is over and we put our birds up for the molt in late March and feed them up, they don't have any desire to come to the falconer and really don't want us around. They revert to an almost wild state within days of the free-flowing food. Only when we bring them back down to a hunting weight the next fall do they have any interest in coming to the fist.

They go back to surviving on their own in the wild with no problem whatsoever, and my bird has no interest in people other than me, even when she's hungry and at flying weight. She is very leery of anyone she doesn't see on a regular basis. So leery that when I try to bring other people out hunting with me, she frequently leaves that field to get away from them. She has a healthy fear of people. I'd bet $1000 that if I found her in the wild a couple of weeks after releasing her that no amount of her favorite food would make her come any where near me. I'll bet she'd leave the area on sight of me or any other human walking within 100 yards of her lofty perch.

In a nutshell: We capture a juvenile wild bird, get vet help to make sure they are disease and parasite free, tame them down and train them to hunt with us, and then we return them to the wild as sturdy, healthy, well-practiced adult hunters. They fall right back into their role as wild predators with no problem at all, and have no desire to interact with any people they may encounter.

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Moozillion

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We have one week left in the cottontail hunting season. I'm making the most of my last season with Minerva. We continue to have amazing days out hunting together interspersed with days where she does her own thing and flies over to the next field to go hunting by herself. Self hunting, as my sponsor calls it. I think I've got her figured out. She never leaves me. If I get out of her sight, she'll come back looking for me. When she takes off she doesn't go far and if I'm out of sight on the other side of a building or hill, she will fly back just enough to see me. I think what she is doing is trying to lead the hunt. Some days she doesn't want to hunt with me, she wants me to hunt with her. Other falconers might call it bad training, but a few times I've let her lead and just followed her from field to field to see where she would go and what she would do. She has a much better vantage point than me, so I wondered if she was seeing something that I couldn't see. I don't think so. We fare no better when I follow her, than when she follows me. In fact, when I am walking over to catch up to wherever she's flown off to, lots of rabbits jump up and run, which would have been great hunting opportunities for her, if she'd stayed with me and been in position.

She has been an amazing teacher. I've enjoyed my time with her and learned from both the triumphs and frustrations. I look forward to returning her to the exact pole that I caught her from. She will be parasite and disease free, well hydrated, well fed and in top shape when I release her. She will also be dosed with Ivermectin from my vet the day before release which will give her about a month of residual parasite protection out there in the wild. I do feel sorry for any birds that moved into the territory in her absence. She will surely kick them out.

Some people seem to think I should be sad about not having her any more. I just don't feel that way. She was never "mine" to begin with. I borrowed her from Mother Nature. I rescued her from a certain slow and miserable death. I've shared daily adventures with her since November of 2016. I turn her loose daily as we enter the hunting fields, with no guarantee or certainty about what will happen or what we will see, and together, we have seen some amazing stuff. Most days we don't catch any rabbits, but we sure try and some of the flights and near misses are nearly as much fun as the occasional catches. The acrobatic ability and maneuverability of this huge bird of prey in mid air is astounding. Its enough to make a person question the laws of physics sometimes. My time with her has been a privilege and an honor. I look forward to seeing her return to where she came from, and I look forward to rescuing another bird from certain death next year.

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So beautiful, Tom.[emoji2][emoji173]️
You have a rare gift of truly appreciating and enjoying animals, and you don’t let your ego taint the relationship.
No wonder you’re so good at what you do!!! [emoji2][emoji173]️[emoji93][emoji93][emoji93][emoji93][emoji93][emoji93][emoji93]
 

mrnewberry

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Now this is nuts. I “discover” all these non tortoise sections of the forum today and find out that you are into bees (I also have done a bit of beekeeping) and now you are also a falconer. (I also do falconry and even just changed my profile pic here to the one that I use on FB which has my first hawk in the photo.) I feel like I am going to find some other section on here and discover that you make knives.
 

Tom

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Now this is nuts. I “discover” all these non tortoise sections of the forum today and find out that you are into bees (I also have done a bit of beekeeping) and now you are also a falconer. (I also do falconry and even just changed my profile pic here to the one that I use on FB which has my first hawk in the photo.) I feel like I am going to find some other section on here and discover that you make knives.
HA! That's great!

I don't make knives, yet, but I do appreciate them and my daughter and I always carry a folder or short fixed blade. Wife carries one in her purse and refuses to heed my warnings about not having one on her person.

How long have you done falconry? I just received the paperwork to turn in and finish my apprenticeship. As of July 1st, I'll be a general. Have I accurately depicted what its all about and how some aspects work? What bird(s) do you have? I'm open to any advice you'll offer.
 

mrnewberry

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HA! That's great!

I don't make knives, yet, but I do appreciate them and my daughter and I always carry a folder or short fixed blade. Wife carries one in her purse and refuses to heed my warnings about not having one on her person.

How long have you done falconry? I just received the paperwork to turn in and finish my apprenticeship. As of July 1st, I'll be a general. Have I accurately depicted what its all about and how some aspects work? What bird(s) do you have? I'm open to any advice you'll offer.

The bits I read seemed accurate. I’m sure by now you would know it if it wasn’t. I have been at it four seasons. I became a general falconer almost a year ago. I do not currently have any birds. I haven’t kept any for more than a single season. I had a red tail my first season and have done Kestrels the last three. Mainly because I had a small child and a Kestrel seemed to work out better for hanging out in the living room and training during naps.
 

Tom

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The bits I read seemed accurate. I’m sure by now you would know it if it wasn’t. I have been at it four seasons. I became a general falconer almost a year ago. I do not currently have any birds. I haven’t kept any for more than a single season. I had a red tail my first season and have done Kestrels the last three. Mainly because I had a small child and a Kestrel seemed to work out better for hanging out in the living room and training during naps.
I've always loved the kestrels. We have loads of them around here. They pester my hawks everywhere we go in spring with their peeping. I may try one for fun in the next few years.

I have a friend who flies Merlins. Says they are like kestrels on speed.
 

CarolM

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Toothless died of aspergillosis. Everything was going great for a while and then I just found him dead. A good friend of mine is a Board Certified Avian vet and he performed the necropsy for me himself. My falconry sponsor felt awful about it. He said that many of them carry it and sometimes it just gets them. He said its not anything we did or anything that I could have prevented. He said that once you see symptoms its too late, and that there isn't much that can be done. I was very upset about it for a long time. Still am. When you do everything "right", bad things aren't supposed to happen, but sometimes they just do.

The new season starts October 1st, and the lessons that Toothless taught me will carry over for the next bird and I'll do an even better job.
Oh no. That is really sad. Toothless sounded like such an awesome bird. I know this is two years too late, but my condolences. Especially as Toothless was your first one and I imagine holds a very special place in your heart.
 

CarolM

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Time for an update. The saga continues…

After such an upsetting first round, I was afraid to post anything about round two for fear that the same sort of thing would happen again. Well… spoiler alert… Year two has a very happy ending with a fine story to go along with it. Sorry to give away the ending, but last year's devastating, sudden and unexpected death really shook me and made me question everything.

Before you read on, I would like to warn everyone reading that this thread is about hunting with a hawk, and I'll show some hunting pics of the bird on game. Stop now if you don't want to see pics of that nature.

Meet Minerva:
View attachment 212643
This is her perched upon her training lure after catching it and eating her tidbit. This picture was taken mid-season


Let me back track and tell the story of how Minerva and I came to be acquainted. I started trying to trap a new bird as soon as the season started in October. The warm weather prevented the birds from migrating down from the north and the pickin's were slim to say the least. I didn't want another bird from the area where I got Toothless, so I was looking elsewhere. I had been pre-scouting in September, and this is one of the only birds I saw:
View attachment 212644

This was my first few of Minerva. Its a view I would see many times… After seven attempts over a period of weeks, she refused to show any interest whatsoever in my trap with the delicious free rat in it. Time after time, I'd drive all the way out to where she was, and time after time she'd look at my offering and refuse to come down. I tried for a few other birds, but wild hawks are all pretty leery. At least this one never tried to fly away at my approach, and she looked so big and beautiful sitting up there ignoring me.View attachment 212645

On the day of attempt number 8, my frustration level was high. I was frustrated that I still did not have a bird, and I was double frustrated that 7 attempts at all hours of the day had failed to catch this bird. I told myself that this was the last time I would try for this bird. I kept trying because this bird was always in the same spot, and there were no other birds anywhere around her… {Foreshadowing here…} and there were few birds to choose from anywhere, unless I wanted to go back to where Toothless came from, which I really didn't.

So I get everything ready and drive all the way out there. Like always, there she is sitting in her same spot looking content as the master of her world. Like usual, I place the trap in the perfect spot, right in her view and I hightail it out of there. I drove a good mile away, whipped around and pulled out the binoculars. Was she down on my trap getting caught up this time? Nope. Still sitting in the same spot that she is always sitting in. Mocking me. Surely laughing at the silly hairless ape who keeps coming back and fussing around under her pole perch week after week. So I sit there for 40 minutes, muttering to myself the whole time about this bird who just doesn't want to come down and play with me. In a huff, I say: "That's it. I'm out of here. I'm done with this stupid bird!" I start the car and before I can pull back on to the road, I had to wait for another car that is coming and heading in the same direction as the bird. While waiting for that car to pass, I glanced back over to see the tiny dot sitting atop the pole in the distance. This is when I think I see the tiny dot fly down to where I left the trap…

Gotta go to work. To be continued...
Oh No!!! You have been in the movie business too long.:D At least I am a good couple of years late in reading this. It is like watching a series, and you have all the seasons lined up to watch one after the other. :D:D
 

CarolM

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All total we got 9 rabbits for the season. I'm told that is pretty good, especially since we'd been in a 5+ year drought and prey was scarce. With all the rain last winter, more prey animals should survive the summer, and hunting should be good this coming winter.

This is what her crop looks like after I let her "crop up" on a kill in the field:
View attachment 212748

Also in this pic:
-You can see the long line I use to clip on to her when she's on game and feasting. You don't want a full bird to fly up to a pole. They don't tend to come down as well when they aren't hungry. {A little sarcasm there…}
-You can see the little black telemetry device on her left leg. I actually needed this a couple of times this year. I was flying her too heavy and she would get up soaring in the thermals, go pick a new field a mile or two away and go self-hunting without me. She is a pretty independent bird. There was a little male wild red tail that would sometimes follow us around on hunting days. He was more attentive to me than my own bird. She'd chase him from perch to perch, trying to drive him away, and he'd be diving after the rabbits I was flushing.
-The feathers on her head were a little tousled in this pic because she dove into some thick brush to catch that day's rabbit. Some people call red tails "brush busters".
Do you think the male was at some point someone elses bird for a while, and as such knew that if he followed the two of you that you would be flushing out rabbits for him?
 

CarolM

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Okay, okay… I've been busy lately… :p

So my bird is a beast. She's quite a lot larger than average for her species. For months I pondered why in November/December of 2015 there were dozens of birds out in that area, but in Sept/Oct of 2016 it was a ghost town except for this one bird, who would not come down to my trap for some reason. My sponsor speculated it was due to the warmer weather that lasted well into fall. The Northern birds don't migrate south until the weather cools. It hand't cooled much yet. Even when it did cool though, there were still not many birds out there. Warmer weather also reduces their appetite and hunger drive.

Fast forward… I caught Minerva, trained her up, started hunting and catching game with her and I'de been flying her loose around my ranch for weeks, when one day, totally out of the blue, she just takes off and leaves me standing there alone. She just left for no "apparent" reason. I watched her fly across the valley back in the direction of the ranch, but I couldn't see exactly where she landed due to the distance and the trees. I waited a minute to see if she'd come back, and no sign of her. Very odd. I pulled out the telemetry device and it confirmed she was right over where I saw her go and apparently not moving. So with a fair amount of concern and frustration, I began the 10 minute march all the way back over there. As I approached I could see her sitting on a pole that we regularly use for training. At some distance, I can see her restlessly moving around. "What is she doing?", I think to myself as I keep walking toward her. She keeps lowering her head. As I get closer, and I'm looking straight up at her, I can see that she's eating. I can also see her crop is pretty full, so she's been eating for a while. Its about this time that I'm also noticing the familiar scream of the resident adult red tail hawks that own and control this territory. They always scream at Minerva whenever I put her up, but they keep their distance when I'm around, so this wasn't unusual.

Well… My bird found some food. Now what? There was nothing I could do. I had to sit there and wait for her to finish her meal. Knowing what a greedy pig she is, I wasn't too worried about getting her down. After 20 minutes and several attempts, she predictably flew down to the lure. I took her back to the ranch and weigher her. She'd eaten about 270 grams of whatever she found. No flying tomorrow for her…

The next day it was business as usual. We hunted for several weeks without incident. All was going pretty well. She flew over to the next field a couple of times to go "self-hunting" because I wasn't scaring up enough game, the thermals were favorable, and because she's an independent cuss that doesn't need me for nuthin'. A little help from my sponsor and a slight weight adjustment fixed that problem, and we were a having a great season. Then, one day…

It was late mid February. I finished work and I had enough time to get her up and fly her for her food, but not enough time to drive to one of our usual hunting areas. I pulled her out, got her hunting jesses and telemetry on her and sent her up to the nearest pole that we always used. As she flew, I was already reaching into my vest to get her first piece of food ready to call her straight back. She took a sudden hard bank to the left and started flying straight away from me into the distance. Not coincidentally, she was flying straight toward that same pole from the first "food" incident weeks ago. Mind you, this is totally out of character. She never just flies away from me like this… I'm trying to see where she's going and as I look ahead of her, I notice one of the resident hawks perched on that pole in the distance. "Uh oh…" I think to myself… "That adult is going to kick her butt if she gets too close…" For a brief second, I was worried that my bird was going to get herself injured or killed, and I still had no idea what she was doing or where she was going…

She was about 200 yards away from me now and moving fast. All of my questions and all of the mysteries were answered in an instant. BAM!!!!! My 10 month old, immature, juvenile bird, flew straight into the resident, adult, territorial adult female and knocked her right off the food she had captured. No hesitation. No regard for her safety. No doubt about how this was going to go. Just BLAMMMO! Minerva slammed right into this adult and snatched her meal away from her, and then proceeded to sit right there on her pole and eat the entire thing. The resident adults are all paired up and nesting at this point in the season. They get extremely territorial and defensive as they know they've got babies coming soon and they can't be sharing space or resources with competitors. Both adults were pissed. They were screaming and dive bombing Minerva while she ate. She ignored them like meaningless flies, and kept right on eating. She finished her meal and with a full crop, it took me about a half hour to get her down this time. I was shocked. I'd never seen or heard of behavior like this from a juvenile. All these thoughts and answers came flooding into my head. This explained so many things…

Late February/early March. Fast approaching the end of the hunting season. I get another clue about who and what my bird is: There is a complex of hunting fields that I go to that are surrounded by businesses, buildings, side walks and lots of human activities. These factors all conspire to make a perfect rabbit breeding/living area. All the human activity, cars, foot traffic, etc… keeps all the predators away and desensitizes the rabbits to a degree. All the light poles, telephone poles and building make prefect perching places for a red tail to hunt from, but the wild ones are intimidated by all the activity, so they stay away. Since there are no predators to keep the rabbit population under control, they can breed to levels that are not healthy and unsustainable. So I'm happy to provide a service in keeping the local rabbit populations healthy and in-check. Another little male juvenile red-tail had discovered this area, and I'm guessing his hunger helped him to over come his fear of the people and activity. I'm guessing that after enough repetitions of people walking down the side walk next to these fields and the rabbits bolting, that he was able to put 2 and 2 together, the same way we deliberately teach our captive birds this same lesson. The lesson is: Watch the humans near these fields because they will make the rabbits jump up and run so you can catch them. Anyhow, this little male would attentively follow me from field to field and watch my every move. He was much more attentive than Minerva, in fact. Well Minerva didn't like this. Instead of hunting and going after all the rabbits I was flushing, she spent her time trying to drive away this little male. She hopped from pole to pole trying to displace him and make him leave, while he hopped from pole to pole paying attention to me and going after the rabbits I scared up. The point of the story is this: Minerva is very territorial. She cares more about defending her turf than catching game.

As a side not to the Minerva story: This fantastic little male appears to have met an early demise, which is so common for the wild birds. I had silly dreams of him and Minerva pairing up and making wonderful babies some day after her falconry career is over, but it was not to be. When engaging in the sport of falconry, we are all supposed to conduct ourselves courteously and professionally. Ambassadors for the sport, as it were. This being the case, I stop and make small talk with the people who live and work in the areas that I hunt. One of the business owners in the area comes out to watch and talk sometimes. He hadn't seen me for a couple of weeks and he came out to tell me how relieved he was that my bird was okay. I asked what he meant and he told me they'd seen a dead hawk on the side of the road and they feared it was my bird because they hadn't seen me for a couple of weeks. It was my little attentive male. I can only guess that he was hit by a car, or that he succumbed to the parasites or diseases that are so common in these wild birds. There is a reason why so few of them survive their first year, and this wonderful little male that was so smart and full of life is now part of those statistics. I quietly cried a little over his loss. I only knew him for a few weeks, but I felt like I'd lost a friend, companion and teacher. I looked forward to seeing him every time I drove out there.

Moving on to the very last day of the hunting season, March 31st of 2017. Things have been going very well up to this point. We'd caught nine rabbits for the season, (And one unintentional ground squirrel, which is vey dangerous…) which I'm told is a pretty high number for a first year apprentice with a new bird. I was determined to get one more rabbit to make it an even 10 for the season. Problem is that all the slow and dumb rabbits are already caught. The ones that are still alive at the end of winter are alive for a good reason. They know how to not get caught. So we get out there around 5pm and I'll have light until around 7-7:15pm. We start hitting the fields hard. She's on her game and paying attention. We have a few near misses.
View attachment 213315

View attachment 213317
These late season rabbits dive into this heavy cover and Minerva can't get to them. This is where a good dog with a strong nose will come in handy. The dog will sniff them out and flush them again.

To be continued...
Oh I jumped the gun with my question about the little male. Hmm must learn to be patient.:oops: So sad though about the little male. I was busy dreaming that he was going to be an addition to your hunting endevours.
 

CarolM

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Oct 30, 2017
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Location (City and/or State)
South Africa - Cape Town
So last day of the season. 5pm. Hitting the fields hard. Several near misses…

Its getting late in the day and I'm moving from field to field trying to catch one of these late season rabbits off guard. My daughter is a frequent hunting companion and she helps me flush the rabbits. I've got Minerva in perfect position up on a pole at the edge of the field. I'm walking in the middle of the field toward her and my daughter is walking the edge of the field along the row of poles that Minerva is patiently waiting on. The idea is to have the rabbits jump up and run away from the people and into the field in Minerva's direction. No luck here at this field, so my little helper stops near the brush right under the pole where Minerva is sitting, and I've given up and am walking back over to call Minerva down and move over to next and last field. My daughter is bored at this point and starts lazily kicking the bushes under Minerva's pole. Rabbit jumps up, Minerva jumps up, my daughter jumps up, and I'm watching the whole thing from a distance as I approach. Rabbit is running right into the middle of the field where we want him to go, sees me and does a 180. Minerva follows. Rabbit bolts through the field, across the side walk and into the street, headed for the landscaped bushes next to the business on the other side of the street. Minerva makes her move and dives when the rabbit is almost to the curb on the other side of the street. She touches the rabbits hind quarters because I see the push, but she's unable to latch and the rabbit evades her and dives into the cover of the bushes. This is where a good dog could have given me a second flush. We looked for 10 minutes and couldn't find the rabbit in the is low ground cover. So frustrating.

Minerva hops onto my fist and we move over to the last field of the day for a few more minutes of hunting before dusk on the last day of the season. Got one near miss at the new field, and I put her back up again. I've got maybe one more chance and I've saved a choice area for last. There are always rabbits in this last little patch, and I had seen movement over there when we first walked up. Minerva is in perfect position to strike as I begin working this last patch of brush. I snapped this pic:
View attachment 213319
I look up at her in time to see her take off and start flying right toward the middle of the field with a purpose. I'm thinking she sees a rabbit and she's going for it, so I go running that way to keep the rabbit moving and focused on me… But Minerva just keeps going… Where is she going? She's taking off again! Dammit! No time for this!!! I lose sight of her behind a building that she flew over. As we start our long walk in the direction we last saw Minerva, I realize its almost dusk. We are done hunting one way or the other. I'm also hungry and I know my daughter is too. As I round the corner of the building visually scanning every possible perching point for birds, I realize there is a hawk on a light pole right in front of me and its shaking its disheveled feathers off. Whew! I found her. But why did she come all the way over here to this building? Wait… That's not my hawk. That's a wild bird with no bracelets or jesses. So where is Minerva. The disheveled adult bird is staring hard over at the nearby building. I follow the gaze, and there is Minerva eating this bird's catch. As the sun begins to set.

Now go back and look at the pic. See how she's looking off in the distance, up high, not at the ground where rabbits would be… That my friends is what we call a clue. Its a clue I missed until long after the fact. A more seasoned falconer would probably have caught that.

So its dusk, my bird is up on a building, out of reach, cropping up on this other hapless bird's meal, and I've got a starving 10 year old and a wife calling to see where we are and when we're coming home. Sh*t! This is not good. Nothing to do but wait for her to finish and then call her down like usual. She finishes eating, and I give her a few minutes to settle in and relax after her meal. Its dark now, but were are right under a street light, and being the prepared-for-antything kind of guy I am, I've got a flashlight and a headlamp with fresh batteries. I hold up my fist with a tasty morsel and spot light it with the light and… No dice. Tossing the food on the ground ALWAYS works, right? Nope. Not tonight. Alright… time to pull out the "big guns". I carry a thawed rabbit leg with me to trade her off of any rabbits that she catches. I pull out this whole rabbit leg. I'm about 20 feet away from the bird waving this giant bloody rabbit leg and calling her. She glances at it and them promptly looks away without a care. Okay. If that's how she wants to play it… Out comes the show stopper. I pull out the rabbit lure and attach the rabbit leg to it. My daughter runs this lure for Minerva several times a week and the bird loves it. Ava takes off at full speed. Minerva looks at the lure, thinks about going for it, and then does nothing. Settles back in and rouses her feathers. She's good for the night and settling in. Its about 9 o'clock now. Security for the strip mall showed up, watched us for about 20 minutes and then left. I'm starving, my daughter is crying, wife is pissed, and the bird is sitting on a building, not more than 10 feet away form me, and I can't do a darn thing about any of it. I circle the building looking for a way to get on the roof, but these new modern buildings put the roof access INSIDE the building to thwart people like me who want to get on the roof and have no business there.

What to do? Hmm… Gotta get creative. The ledge where Minerva is sitting is only about 10 feet off the ground. If I had a 6' ladder, I could reach her. But I don't. OOOHHHhhh! I have an idea! I'll toss the baited lure up to her. If I land it two or three feet away, she won't be able to resist the free food, even though she's already got a full crop. You remember the day I caught her, right? If she binds to the lure like usual, I can use the string to gently pull the greedy bird off the roof and catch her and the lure on the way down. Not ideal, and certainly not how it is supposed to be done, but desperate times call for desperate measures. So I pull out the lure, bait it up and I look up to spot where I want to toss it and… Minerva flies off into the night before I even do anything. What? They aren't supposed to fly at night.

She flies to a lamp post across the street, just like the one in the picture above. I can see her silhouette, but since I'm looking straight into the light, I can't see much else. I'm right in the light now, so I do the dance with the rabbit leg drop, and the lure and all that. After about three minutes on the pole, she takes off again and flies around the back of the strip mall building.

Great. Perfect. Just what we needed. Thinking I've really lost her now, me and Ava begin walking around the building to get back to the van and pull out the telemetry device. Who knows where she's gone now? As we round the corner into the parking lot, there is Minerva sitting in a small landscaping tree. This is a new plaza, so the trees are all young and immature. Too thin to climb. I walk up to the tree and she's only about 2 feet farther up than my reach. I look for a trash can or something to stand on… Nothing. So frustrating. She looks a little worried, so I'm afraid she'll bolt again. The only thing I can think of to stand on is my van. So I back it right up to the curb and climb on top, trying desperately to not scare the bird into flight again. I walk as far as I can on the buckling roof of my van, and I'm at eye level with her now, but I just can't quite reach her. She's about 2 or there feet beyond me reach and she won't come to the food or lure. I climb back down and I'm going to back the van up the curb and onto the side walk. I'm expecting the police to show up any minute: "Hahaha… Hi Officer. Just doing a little falconry with my car on the side walk, in the dark, after the season has now officially ended, with my crying daughter…" Luckily, the popo had better things to do that night. Then I started thinking: "Man. I wish the popo would show up. I'm out here after dark with my kid and I can't leave without the bird…".

Now I don't want to scare the bird, so I slowly back the rear tires right up to the curb and then gun it to get up onto the sidewalk. No such luck. The tires just start spinning and smoking, and making all sorts of racket. The bird is just 10 feet away form all this non-sense, but she stays put. So I pull forward a couple of feet and I make a run at it hoping the momentum will carry me up onto the curb. It does, and then I have to slam on the brakes so I don't back right into the little tree she's on. Once again I climb onto the roof of the van and slowly walk back to the bird in the tree. I just now she's going to take off any minute, but she doesn't. I reach right out and grab a jess, and then ease her onto my fist. She seems pretty relaxed about the whole thing and happy to be on the glove again. I'm so hooped up on adrenaline that my knees are shaking and I'm about to collapse. Thinking quickly, I attach the long leash to her jesses, so that if I fall off the roof she won't be able to fly away again. I successfully climb down, get her in her transport box, and nearly collapse from the excitement.

Our story has a happy ending. Everyone goes home safe with a great story to tell. Or maybe its an awful story, but its a story none the less. Me and the daughter head to In N Out for a 10 o'clock burger and that is how we ended the season.
Sorry, I have to laugh. I can just picture the whole scene. Not funny for your daughter and wife, but funny none the less. Minerva is certainly giving you a run for your money. At least you are being trained well by her. She probably thought to herself, it's the end of the season and there is just one more hunting tip/training that I need to get in.....I bet you learned a really good lesson that night.
 
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