TOD Mini Meet and Wild Game Cook Out

This was a great weekend! A large group started the day at Whataburger at 7:00am Sat morning to meet for a day of hawking and good eats. First to fly was Noel's bird, Joe, who was a little fat and unresponsive. We then flew Tom's Harris' Hawk, Maya. Maya chased a rabbit into a brush pile and buried herself deep. Sheldon crawled over the top and into the pile to pull her out and we continued hawking. After putting Maya back up again, she immediately returned to the pile again. When Sheldon crawled back in we learned that she had killed a rabbit deep in the middle. Pulling Maya and the rabbit out, we had our first kill for the day! We then flew Harley (who had her first bunny triple on Friday!) with Dr. Moore's dog, Bone Head. Harley didn't seem to take well to having the dog in the field, and didn't fly at the rabbits we flushed. On one flush, Harley got a hold of it and it got away, then Noel kicked it, and it was finally chased down and retrieve by Bone Head! It was an exciting display of team work. We then went to another field and flew Katana. She had a couple of chases before taking a long flight off a pole, right past Sheldon with a video camera, and got her rabbit. Sheldon caught the amazing flight on video and she barrelled towards him! Onward to another field where we flew a cast of 4 Harris' Hawks. Sheldon noticed this area of field we were at previously, but had never hunted. His intuitions we correct, and Joe scored 2 rabbits and Maya scored one. After that it was Cheyne's bird, Bullzeye's turn. Bullzeye's weight was a little low, but he managed to get ahold of a rabbit in the same field. Cheyne allowed him to crop up on the rabbit, and we carried on. We then flew Veuka, who had the opposite problem. Veruka was fat, and though she flew at a couple of rabbits, her response was weak. We then tried to cast Harley and Katana one more time. They started out okay, but then decided to start crabbing. We put Katana away and continued to fly Harley with no luck.

Saturday night we all met at the hideout for drinking and wild game. Everyone brought a dish from Venison Chili to Duck and Wild Mushroom Gumbo. While I ate a steak, everyone else stuffed themselves sill on all the food. It was a great time with great friends, even though I went to bed early.

Sunday, we started a little later. Katana flew well, flying close. She stooped out of a tree and caught bunny #11! We never saw the rabbit until she had it, but she was in perfect position for the kill. We then flew Harley. Sitting on the top of a building she was nailed by another Red Tail, stooping out of the sky. I think that shook her up a little, as her response faltered after that. Harley, who is usually in perfect position and follows beautifully, was lagging behind a little. The next thing we knew, she chased something a long way (not sure what) and was gone. About an hour later, and perhaps a mile, we finally found her. That ended the day of hunting for us, and we were all exhausted.

On my own!!!

Today after work, Katana and I set out to our favorite field. At 955 grams I was sure that she was anxious to hunt. My feelings were correct and she followed beautifully, taking perches ahead of me as I beat the brush. She flew after 2 rabbits that I flushed with no success. She chased the 3rd one twice, as it kept putting up in the brush. On the 3rd flush the rabbit made the mistake of running into an open area. Katana flew off the tree she was perched on overhead the rabbit, and nailed it with a sweet wingover. For the first time hunting on my own, I heard the rabbit scream and I knew that she was successful. I traded her off the kill and I think that it gets easier with every rabbit. She pouted for a few minutes, then put up in a tree to continue hunting. Working my way back to the car, I flushed 2 rabbits at once, and once she finally decided which one to chase, she followed it to the far side of the field. She reflushed it herself twice, as I was still running toward her, but it got away.
I called her to the lure for a quail, feeding her up for a couple of days off before the weekend. What a fantastic day! Bunny #9 for the season in the bag!

Fat Bird in a Little Coat

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8x9A0pU5zA

I weighed the Kat when I got home this morning and she was a whopping 1020 grams. I was waiting on the glass dude (see Kylie's previous post) so I was not going to fly her, but Kylie was fairly insistent, and she has a way of getting what she wants. So after the glass dude finally got done I headed out to the field around 10:30 am. Katana followed very well for the first 15-20 minutes and then sat on the same perch for the next hour plus while I worked the field all around her. I finally called it a day around noon and headed back to the car. I called her in to the lure about 250 yards. She landed about 10 feet from the lure and did not move. I tried for the next 2-3 minutes to coax her to come to me. Finally she decided that she was hungry enough to ignore me and stepped over to the lure. I leashed her up and let her finish her meal.

Hunting 3/3 - 3/5

Well, I must say that we had a very eventful weekend, not all good unfortuately.

On Saturday, we all set out and started the day flying Katana. It was pretty windy, and I believe it affected the birds quite a bit because the fields yielded no game taken. Her weight was 955, and she followed beautifully. her fist response remains awesome, and while she entertained us with 7 magnificant flights, we walked away empty handed.
At the end of the day, Krys and I picked up my sponser, Roger, and flew a field by his house. Though we had seen rabbits there in the past, we were unable to put any game under her, though she continued her tradition of following closely.

On Sunday, due to an error in weight management, she flew last. At the end of the day she was 977, and flew fantastically. I was unable to fly her for more than 20 min, because our trucks were broken into. We came back from hunting Cheyne's bird to find the windows broken out of Aaron and Krys's trucks, and quite a bit missing. By the time we finished with the police it was almost dark. She did fly after 3 rabbits, but no such luck.

On Monday I flew Katana for 2 1/2 hours. At 945 grams, her response was great, but I think that her flights could have been a little stronger. We had about 11 chases, but the rabbits kept putting up into thick brush and she just couldn't quite get them. She definately has learned the benefit of staying close, and watched me kick up and reflush over half of the rabbits. Her performance this weekend was fantastic, and I am sure that her next kill is right around the corner!

A Suceesful Yet Unsuccessful Hunt

Due to high winds yesterday, I was skeptical to hunt Katana. Nevertheless, I dressed the lure with a smaller piece of meat in case she decided to soar, and headed out to the field. After turning on her transmitter :), I released her. She immediately caught the wind, missed the first perch she aimed for and landed across the field. Working over to her, I noticed she was paying very close attention to me, instead of self-hunting the other side of the field. I started out following her around the field, and then decided to go the other way. To my surprise, she followed. Not only closely, but she kept moving up as I worked the brush. After about 15 minutes, I kicked up a rabbit which she pursued, but ended up missing because she got tangled in the brush. She obviously realized that I produced the game for her because she then followed even closer, and was taking perches in front of me anticipating my next move. It was incredible! I called her to the fist from the top of the tree, and her response was instant. I was shocked! I had not seen fist response from her in quite a while in the field. We kept working the field, periodically calling her to the fist to re-enforce the behavior, and it was as though she was a different bird! She was in perfect position for the next rabbit I flushed and she took off. She flew out and hovered for a few seconds before folding her wings and diving into the brush. She obviously missed because instantly she came back up, continued flying and crashed again. She did this 4 times on the same flush before she lost the rabbit. Her persistence was astounding!She sat on a low tree branch for a minute and when I got close to her she took off - into a soar. I had been expecting this and my first inclination was to pull the lure to call her in. I watched her go up about 500 ft, and then decided to try to call her to the fist. Her fist response had been great all day, so why not? Circling over head, I blew the whistle and held up a tid bit. To my surprise, she started circling closer in, losing altitude with each rotation. As she got lower, she folded her wings and came barreling towards me in a tear drop position. I was in awe. When she was about 15 feet away, she spread her wings again, and landed on the fist. I pulled her from a 500 foot soar to the fist! Wow! We continued hunting for a total of 2 hours, yielding 6 good chases, and her response never faltered. When she tired and quit following, I called her across the field to the lure. Instant response, and she was amply rewarded for her efforts. Although we took no game, it was definitely the most successful flight we have had together. What an awesome day!