Tasha55403
16-01-2006, 06:37 PM
We had our minimeet this weekend down in Rochester, MN. There were lots of people and a lot of birds to fly. The first day we flew 3 redtails and caught 3 bunnies in quick succession at one spot. Then we flew three harrises at the same spot. There were hordes of bunnies there. Then we discovered why we wouldn't be returning to that spot. After a missed flight on a rabbit (pic below) one of the harrises (Heather Gast's Aurora) didn't have the oomph to get up to the crossbars and attempted to land on a wicked looking metal bar with wires and nasty stuff. She died instantly. That's the second time I've seen a bird die from electrocution and I really hope it's the last. It was horrible. And no, I did NOT take any pictures. I could've, but chose not to.
We went to a different spot and flew a single harris and had some great flights. Eventually she caught a bunny. If I had stayed where I was I would've had some awesome shots...but, no. I had to try to climb up the other side of the embankment to get a better view and had my back turned, then was trying to shoot through a bush. So, I missed that, darn it.
After that we drove over to Owatonna to fly some more harrises (the weather was a lovely 33F, though the breeze picked up a bit later in the day). Nothing more was put in the bag, but we had some nice flights-the cover was just too thick. It would've been good for a redtail, but we were out of those. I couldn't fly my bird with people on Saturday (too high) so I didn't mind not flying and was hoping he would be ready on Sunday.
We started out on Sunday with the redtails again. This time we were flying at a farm out by Pine Island. What a difference between hawkin out in the country vs in the city. We had to work much harder to put anything in the bag. It was a bit of a challenge for the birds too, since we had 20 people in the field (17 falconers, 15 vehicles and 3 landowners). The first bird did well and after numerous flights in the woods caught a bunny up by the farmhouse. The second redtail was a seasoned bird and caught a bunny in short order, though most of us missed the flight while we were crawling through the sumac and *****ly ash. The next redtail was another young bird, but this one took exception to so many people in the field and went on a walkabout. Her falconer retrieved her and we decided to go for pheasants with Steve Kaufer and his Gos Meenah.
At this point I was reminded of why I really don't care much for chasing pheasants with goshawks. It is WAY too much work for me. Since I knew I couldn't keep up I gave the camera to Greg and let him take pics:) It didn't take too long before Meenah got a very nice, extremely LONG flight on a pheasant. Steve could tell she had lost sight of it because she had perched high up-if she had put it in she would've been on a low perch rright above where she saw it put in. So he had us stay where we were and ran to fetch her-I don't think he realized how far she was. He came back a lot slower than he had left. Next flight was a bunny which she caught in a nice twisting flight through the sumac (or so Steve said-I didn't see it and Greg was on the wrong side of the sumac and missed it, too). Not much happened after that, but a lot of walking. After that we split into two groups. I had to fly my bird and one of the apprentices had his redtail to fly so we took a few people and went to another spot. Now, I clearly stated all weekend that I couldn't fly with more than two people at best, but everyone seemed to keep forgetting that. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. "Tasha do you want to fly next?" No, I can't fly with y'all cuz my bird is a butthead. Sigh. Talk about frustrating. It is the one unforgivable quality in this bird. So, anyways, I was up next. I knew my bird was still on the high side (that pheasant on Tuesday has been sticking like glue, I swear), but I figured it couldn't hurt to try to have a couple people out. From the beginning I could tell it wasn't really going to work out, though. I've been having people give him a tidbit before going out hunting to help "make friends", but he wasn't too interested this time and was bating away like a fresh trapped bird, though he did take the tidbits after a little thought. He started out great, though. He waited on in the wind, hovering over the trees for us to kick something up for quite awhile before landing in the tippy-tops of the trees. But when I called him down he was slow to respond-the first sign of his dissatisfaction with people in the field. This spot was a couple trails with woods in between and on one side and a golf course on the other side. It was very thick with fallen branches and spiky vines. We kicked up one rabbit, but Reppa never committed to it-I don't know if he just lost sight of it or if he was refusing because of our guests (another sign of his displeasure). When I called him down to the fist he came down then stayed on his tippy-toes all stretched out looking for those nasty people. The next time I called him down he blinked-he came halfway then pulled up into a tree above me-he didn't want to come down with the people in the field:( Then he started bumping ahead of us. At that point I asked the guests to go back. He wasn't going to work with us with them in the field. I was hoping they could go out with the apprentice, but I found out when I got back that he had left to go find a spot to hunt on his own-his bird wasn't hunting with people in the field either (and barely chasing rabbits anyways, I guess). I kept going a little ways, but I wasn't seeing much rabbit sign and I was seeing a lot of dog tracks. There were a couple patches of woods on the way back that were more into the golf course and I was hoping there would be rabbits there cuz hopefully the dogs wouldn't have been able to go that far off the trail. As I was walking back I turned around and there was Reppa with both his feet stuck in a squirrel nest in the crotch of a tree about 5 feet behind me. He proceeded to pull a gray squirrel out and dropped to the ground, getting hung up in branches twice on the way down. He had it by the head when I got there with his middle talon sunk halfway into it's eye. Luckily there was room for my screwdriver too. With the talon and the screwdriver through it's skull and me compressing it's chest as hard as I could it STILL took a minute or two for it to die. Man they're tough critters! Greg still had the camera so I didn't get any pics. At first I though it had his toe in it's mouth, but on closer inspection his toes was just on the outside of it's lips-talk about close, though. He WAS bleeding pretty good out of one of his nares, but we think he just banged his beak on the way down. I couldn't see any blood or anything inside his mouth. That's his first squirrel of the season, and only the second squirrel I've ever caught-he caught the first one last year. He was definitely hunting gray squirrels before I ever got him. So that was the meet for me. Greg might tell what went on with the group he was with-they were hunting till dark-I was already home by then:)
Tasha
We went to a different spot and flew a single harris and had some great flights. Eventually she caught a bunny. If I had stayed where I was I would've had some awesome shots...but, no. I had to try to climb up the other side of the embankment to get a better view and had my back turned, then was trying to shoot through a bush. So, I missed that, darn it.
After that we drove over to Owatonna to fly some more harrises (the weather was a lovely 33F, though the breeze picked up a bit later in the day). Nothing more was put in the bag, but we had some nice flights-the cover was just too thick. It would've been good for a redtail, but we were out of those. I couldn't fly my bird with people on Saturday (too high) so I didn't mind not flying and was hoping he would be ready on Sunday.
We started out on Sunday with the redtails again. This time we were flying at a farm out by Pine Island. What a difference between hawkin out in the country vs in the city. We had to work much harder to put anything in the bag. It was a bit of a challenge for the birds too, since we had 20 people in the field (17 falconers, 15 vehicles and 3 landowners). The first bird did well and after numerous flights in the woods caught a bunny up by the farmhouse. The second redtail was a seasoned bird and caught a bunny in short order, though most of us missed the flight while we were crawling through the sumac and *****ly ash. The next redtail was another young bird, but this one took exception to so many people in the field and went on a walkabout. Her falconer retrieved her and we decided to go for pheasants with Steve Kaufer and his Gos Meenah.
At this point I was reminded of why I really don't care much for chasing pheasants with goshawks. It is WAY too much work for me. Since I knew I couldn't keep up I gave the camera to Greg and let him take pics:) It didn't take too long before Meenah got a very nice, extremely LONG flight on a pheasant. Steve could tell she had lost sight of it because she had perched high up-if she had put it in she would've been on a low perch rright above where she saw it put in. So he had us stay where we were and ran to fetch her-I don't think he realized how far she was. He came back a lot slower than he had left. Next flight was a bunny which she caught in a nice twisting flight through the sumac (or so Steve said-I didn't see it and Greg was on the wrong side of the sumac and missed it, too). Not much happened after that, but a lot of walking. After that we split into two groups. I had to fly my bird and one of the apprentices had his redtail to fly so we took a few people and went to another spot. Now, I clearly stated all weekend that I couldn't fly with more than two people at best, but everyone seemed to keep forgetting that. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. "Tasha do you want to fly next?" No, I can't fly with y'all cuz my bird is a butthead. Sigh. Talk about frustrating. It is the one unforgivable quality in this bird. So, anyways, I was up next. I knew my bird was still on the high side (that pheasant on Tuesday has been sticking like glue, I swear), but I figured it couldn't hurt to try to have a couple people out. From the beginning I could tell it wasn't really going to work out, though. I've been having people give him a tidbit before going out hunting to help "make friends", but he wasn't too interested this time and was bating away like a fresh trapped bird, though he did take the tidbits after a little thought. He started out great, though. He waited on in the wind, hovering over the trees for us to kick something up for quite awhile before landing in the tippy-tops of the trees. But when I called him down he was slow to respond-the first sign of his dissatisfaction with people in the field. This spot was a couple trails with woods in between and on one side and a golf course on the other side. It was very thick with fallen branches and spiky vines. We kicked up one rabbit, but Reppa never committed to it-I don't know if he just lost sight of it or if he was refusing because of our guests (another sign of his displeasure). When I called him down to the fist he came down then stayed on his tippy-toes all stretched out looking for those nasty people. The next time I called him down he blinked-he came halfway then pulled up into a tree above me-he didn't want to come down with the people in the field:( Then he started bumping ahead of us. At that point I asked the guests to go back. He wasn't going to work with us with them in the field. I was hoping they could go out with the apprentice, but I found out when I got back that he had left to go find a spot to hunt on his own-his bird wasn't hunting with people in the field either (and barely chasing rabbits anyways, I guess). I kept going a little ways, but I wasn't seeing much rabbit sign and I was seeing a lot of dog tracks. There were a couple patches of woods on the way back that were more into the golf course and I was hoping there would be rabbits there cuz hopefully the dogs wouldn't have been able to go that far off the trail. As I was walking back I turned around and there was Reppa with both his feet stuck in a squirrel nest in the crotch of a tree about 5 feet behind me. He proceeded to pull a gray squirrel out and dropped to the ground, getting hung up in branches twice on the way down. He had it by the head when I got there with his middle talon sunk halfway into it's eye. Luckily there was room for my screwdriver too. With the talon and the screwdriver through it's skull and me compressing it's chest as hard as I could it STILL took a minute or two for it to die. Man they're tough critters! Greg still had the camera so I didn't get any pics. At first I though it had his toe in it's mouth, but on closer inspection his toes was just on the outside of it's lips-talk about close, though. He WAS bleeding pretty good out of one of his nares, but we think he just banged his beak on the way down. I couldn't see any blood or anything inside his mouth. That's his first squirrel of the season, and only the second squirrel I've ever caught-he caught the first one last year. He was definitely hunting gray squirrels before I ever got him. So that was the meet for me. Greg might tell what went on with the group he was with-they were hunting till dark-I was already home by then:)
Tasha