Halloween Mini Meet

This was a great weekend! We had several out of town falconers come in, including Anthony and Jen from England. I think that we wore them out from all the hawking, but we definitely gave them the Texas Hawking experience. We hunted from Wed - Sun, and also trapped 2 new passage redtails, one for Krys and another for Jeremy from Austin.

I am playing with Katana's weight. She did not take any game this weekend, but at a lower weight (950g) she was following better, and still took several great flights. If she had been in better shape, I am sure she would have been more successful. I think that she has regained the same fear of landing on the ground from last season, so I am going to work with her on this again and wait til Thursday to hunt her. We are also going to jump ups and try to get her back into shape.

And We're Back!!!!

After Katana's brief period of rest, I took her back hunting today. We went to her favorite field, and true to form she had nailed a rabbit within 10 minutes. My little girl was following again, and back in true form. We only saw one other rabbit that took cover quickly, and Katana never saw it. Her lure response is still weak, but she did fight very hard against the wind to come down to it eventually. I am finally seeing glimpses of my Katana from last season, and while we are going to start out slower this time, I am expecting great things!
Weight 970
3 rabbits, 1 snake, 1 rat, 2 grasshoppers, 1 frog

The verdict is....

Well, Katana is healthy. Blood tests and a fecal revealed there is nothing wrong with her. Turns out that if you fly a bird over 10 hours in 6 days right out of the molt, she will be sore. My little girl is just out of shape and over overworked. My fault, the worse she performed, the longer I flew her. Turns out that hawks are even more similar to people than I thought. Nice to know that I am not the only one who is out of shape and sore after all this hunting :). Needless to say, she is going to enjoy a few days of much needed rest before going back out to the field this weekend. As much as I hate to take a break, I admit I will enjoy it as well.

My bird is broken :(

Well, I have been having some trouble with Katana's weight. On Saturday when she flew at 990, her response was not great so I was told to cut her weight. So I did. At 970 and 950 her flights were weak and she was taking low perches. Today I flew her twice - first at 1030 which is the weight she caught her first rabbit at, and second at 995. At both weights she would watch the rabbits flushed run away, not follow, and gave no lure response whatsoever. She did catch a rat that ran under her while she was sitting in the ground in the field. All she did was reach out and grab it. I think that something is wrong, as she should not be passing up flights. If she were high or low she might fly and pull off the prey, but not just watch as it runs away. I am going to take her in for a fecal and blood tests to see if she is sick, and will go from there. I cropped her up tonight and will give her tomorrow off. Based on the results of her tests, I plan to fly her again on Thursday around 990g, and leave her there for a few hunts to see if she comes around. I suppose only time will tell.

Weekend Update

I flew Katana everyday this weekend - Friday thru Monday. I have been playing with her weight, dropping her to try to get her to follow better. I had her all the way down to 950 (partly by accident) and think that is too low for her. Today she was passing up easy slips. I am going to start raising her up a little bit, as she is definitely getting back into shape. So far she is up to 2 rabbits, a snake, a frog and 2 grasshoppers. :) It is an interesting season. Her flights are fantastic but she is still not following well. I am hoping that will change soon, as it is very frustrating.

An AWESOME flight!!

Today after Belle got out of school we headed back to the same field we hunted on Tuesday. It was hotter and more miserable I must say, but it got better :) She still is not following very well, and chased 3 rabbits that we never saw. About a half and hour into the field, I kicked up a rabbit from the center of the field that had the misfortune of running straight towards her. Her flight was AMAZING!!! I could not give it justice by describing it. Luckily, I don't have to because Krys got pictures! Bunny #2, and we will also be hawking all weekend. We also hunted Brandi's newly trapped Red-Tail, Makya, and she took her first rabbit in an awesome flight from the fist only 5 minutes into the field. What a great day!

And We're Off!!!

I picked up Belle from school today at 3:00 and headed to one of our favorite fields from last year. I know that I said I would fly her for the first time on Friday, but the weather was too beautiful to wait. She weighed the magic weight from yesterday - 1030g. I met Kurt at the field to help me out - just in case I lost her!! She immediately took to her favorite pole from last year and we began to beat below her. I must say, the cover is thick and terrible! I think that she self-hunted most of the time, as she did not follow well due to the fact that she was always fixated on something in the other direction. try as I may, I could not flush whatever she was staring at. We had four flights, and the last one yielded a rabbit. It was a very long flight, and I was surprised that she was successful as out of shape as she was. After 45 min. in the field, I transferred her off to a large reward and called it a day. I did not want to push her until she is back in shape. I cannot believe how good it felt, and how much I missed hunting. She is sitting in front of me right now, drinking from her bath pan, and whether she shows it or not, I know she is glad to be flying again. May this be the start of a GREAT season!!

The Magic Weight

Today Katana was 1030g and I put her on the creance again. I flew her over 100ft more than 20 times with instant response. On a few flights I didn't even make it the full length away from her. When I pulled the lure she was facing backwards and responded instantly. I am going to keep exercising her at this weight and then free fly her on Friday morning. Yeah!

Almost there!

Today Katana was 1150g so I put her on the creance. She flew several close flights and 20 flights to me from 100 feet. I then pulled the lure from 50 feet and had instant response. I sat with her while she ate and then transferred her from the lure to a tidbit on the ground with no problems at all. I think that she is VERY close to her flying weight, if not already there. I plan to hunt her next Friday, and will continue to exercise her until then. The season is now upon us....YEAH!

Katana's New Tail

Getting Harder...

Katana still weighed 1170g today so we did more jump ups. We started with 4 to me, and then she did 6 to Belle. After that she met her new nemesis - the weighted leash. She struggled to make the short jumps at first and I can tell she was not happy because she was hesitating between rounds. At the end I had her jumping to full height with a little more ease, but it was still tough for the pudgy out-of-shape bird. Another week of this and she should be good to go!

Birdy Boot Camp

Well, Katana's weight is dropping. Yesterday I flew her on the creance, mainly because Brandi still had it out after flying her bird. Her fist response was decent, but lure response was non-existent. Today we did 15 jump ups in the garage, and she did very well. Her weight is currently 1170 grams, 100 grams over last years hunting weight. I plan on getting her back into shape over the next week or so, and then taking her out into the field (once the lure response returns that is!!) She is definitely still out of shape and in need of much exercise, and I will be introducing her to the weighted leash soon. I went ahead and changed out her equipment in preparation for the season, and added the bells so that she can get used to them.