New Mexico/NAFA 07

[Tasha55403]

Part 1-Bill Boni
So as you may have heard, I was a little late getting to Mr Bill's on Saturday night. In hindsight, I think what happened was that I forgot to look at the second page of directions when I was figuring out how much longer it was going to be...oops-lol. At any rate, instead of getting there around 3-4pm like I thought, I got there about 8:30pm...mountain time. Mr Bill was about to keel over from hunger so we went straight to dinner. He was a bit disappointed when I chose buffalo wings, but that's what I get 99% of the time when I go out to eat-lol. I really am a cheap date

Saturday morning we brought the jacks to the city zoo. I've never actually been to such a small zoo before. Considering what their budget must be they seem to do a pretty good job. There were even some (apparently) wild black-bellid whistling ducks by the pond. It's too bad I left my camera back at the house-I've never seen one before and apparently they're only a casual visitor to New Mexico. Odd looking ducks, I hafta say-lol. After that Mr Bill showed me a couple of his spots, including the "outback". Then we drove around looking for hawks. Even though he wasn't able to get a gerbil so we couldn't go trapping it was still fun. I got the best wild ferruge pics in my portfolio that day...of course, they're also the ONLY wild ferruge pics I've got, but they're still fantastic-lol. After a bit we headed back to the house to pick up Woo Hoo and go hawkin'.

Woo Hoo gave me the evil eye when Bill got her out of the truck, even though I was still IN the truck. We had already decided I should stay in the truck till she took her perch and then hang back a bit. After the look she gave me I stayed a LONG ways back-I didn't want her booking it. We didn't have to wait long for the action to start, either. Bill and Ilso had gotten maybe a hundred yards (? I'm terrible at judging distances) when he bumped a jack that ran out across the cleared strip next to the road. It looked like it was intending to cross the street, but a freight train named Woo Hoo intercepted it before it got halfway there. She went for a bit of a ride as it tried to scrape her off under a tree, but she had it fair and square. And as Bill said earlier, when I was taking pics of her on her jack she decided she was definitely uncomfortable with my close proximity and actually jumped off the jack and flew around the tree. I took that as my hint to head back to the truck. After Bill recovered her and hooded her up we took some trophy shots then headed back to the house to get Bijou (it was too hot to leave her in the car while we went hunting and it wasn't far).

Bijou was 936g if I recall correctly. I could tell when I unhooded her that she wasn't quite on, though. She didn't have the intensity she should have and was clearly nervous of Mr Bill. But, I hoped when she bated that it was after quarry. I was wrong-she just went up to a telephone pole. After a bit of persuading she came down to the lure and we continued on. She sort of chased some cottontails and jacks, but she only put a good effort in on one jack. She chased it around a bush and hit the ground several times, but it still got away. Eventually she missed a rabbit and just kept flying and flying and flying until she came to a tree on the other end of the field (the nearest large tree around). And then she refused to come down. By this time the sun was down and it was starting to get dark. Bill managed to flush a couple pheasants under her, but she didn't even bat an eye. On a hunch I finally asked Bill to head back to the truck. And, sure enough, as soon as he got far enough away for her liking Bijou came right down to the lure. Sigh. We both agreed she was a bit too high, without any doubt. A darn shame too. If she'd been on we'd have had a jack. There were tons of them!

In hindsight I wish I had had more time to stay with Bill. He was an absolutely fantastic host and I'm very glad I got to meet him. I left the next morning to head to the Bosque del Apache, but before I got more than 20 miles down the road I got a call from Bill-I had left my jacket in the closet. Oops! So I didn't really get on the road till nearly 10 am, and then it was quite a drive. I consistently underestimated how long it would take me to get most places in New Mexico-lol...the trip was off to a great start, though.

[Tasha55403]

Here's a pic of a wild ferruge that we found, and a pic of Woo Hoo on her blacktail jack:)

[SolidLeo]

Nice pics Tasha!!!!****

[Finnish]

More pic's needed on this thread...:supz:

[Tasha55403]

Thanks guys :lol: I'll put more pics up to go along with the stories as I get them written up. I've got 3 more New Mexico stories before I even get to the NAFA part:-D But you're going to love some of the pics I got of Dave Stevens eagle Aden. I got one in particular that is probably the best action shot I've ever taken so far:supz: That is one fantastic bird! In fact, I don't think I've seen a better one of any species. And Dave was great too:lol:

[Pete J.]

Thanks guys. I'll put more pics up to go along with the stories as I get them written up. I've got 3 more New Mexico stories before I even get to the NAFA part. But you're going to love some of the pics I got of Dave Stevens eagle Aden. I got one in particular that is probably the best action shot I've ever taken so far:supz: That is one fantastic bird! In fact, I don't think I've seen a better one of any species. And Dave was great too
Well, it's Sunday and you ain't workin'! Let's get with it sista!!:lol::supz:

[Tasha55403]

Pmsl, I may not be working but the dishes and laundry and just plain CLEANING are calling my name...not to mention there's a cool show on Discovery Channel right now (Life of Mammals):lol::rolleyes: But I'll see what I can come up with:-D I wouldn't hold my breath, though-it'll take me a few hours at least to get another written up:oops:

[Pete J.]

Pmsl, I may not be working but the dishes and laundry and just plain CLEANING are calling my name...not to mention there's a cool show on Discovery Channel right now (Life of Mammals):lol::rolleyes: But I'll see what I can come up with:-D I wouldn't hold my breath, though-it'll take me a few hours at least to get another written up:oops:
TiVo...it's a concept...look into it! Besides....aren't Greg's arms and legs functioning this morning?LOL I suppose he's recovering from a case of dishpan hands.LOL

[Tasha55403]

ROFLMAO. Actually, Greg had to get up at 3am to go plow-we got about 4-6 inches I think. So, he's working today. Hopefully he'll finish in time to go duck hawking later this afternoon:) I'm crossing my fingers that Bijou will get another, too:D

[Pete J.]

ROFLMAO. Actually, Greg had to get up at 3am to go plow-we got about 4-6 inches I think. So, he's working today. Hopefully he'll finish in time to go duck hawking later this afternoon:) I'm crossing my fingers that Bijou will get another, too:D
I see...it's all about hunting with you two huh?!! Since blue isn't my best color... in that case I think I'll head over to Dick's Cafe and have a nice breakfast burrito smothered in cheese and green chiles and come back and vacuum and darn socks..."Darn you socks! How many times do I have to tell you to stay in pairs during laundry trips?! Geez!!"

[Tasha55403]

Pmsl, hunting is the best part of the day! When it goes well, anyways:)

[Pete J.]

Pmsl, hunting is the best part of the day! When it goes well, anyways:)
True! I'm hoping that Utah will finally score this evening. He is getting stronger finally. Now if it doesn't rain or blow like hell then maybe he'll get to get his feet into something after a 4 year hiatus.

[Tasha55403]

Here, I'll be "nice". One teaser pic of Aden in flight:supz:

[Tasha55403]

True! I'm hoping that Utah will finally score this evening. He is getting stronger finally. Now if it doesn't rain or blow like hell then maybe he'll get to get his feet into something after a 4 year hiatus.

I'm crossing my fingers for you two:supz:

[Pete J.]

Here, I'll be "nice". One teaser pic of Aden in flight:supz:
There! See? That wasn't so hard was it?!!:supz: Beauty of a shot! Thx for sharing. Now get back to those dishes and cleaning so you can go hawking with Greg when he gets home, ya slacker!!:goodman:

[Tasha55403]

Lol, you're welcome:lol: I'm halfway through the next part:)

[Pete J.]

Lol, you're welcome:lol: I'm halfway through the next part:)
OMG..look at the vid clip in "The deadly couple" thread Tasha!

[Isaac]

But you're going to love some of the pics I got of Dave Stevens eagle Aden. I got one in particular that is probably the best action shot I've ever taken so far.

...Still waiting!!! :evil: ;)

[Isaac]

Nevermind, I'm assuming those pics in Dave Steven's thread are the ones you are talking about. AWESOME!!! :supz: :supz:

[Tasha55403]

:lol:Yup, the middle one looks absolutely fantastic as a 13x19 print, if I can say that myself:supz::oops: I accidentally posted my next part of the story on my gos thread. When I get home I'll copy or move it over here...my bad:oops:

[Tasha55403]

I almost forgot to mention! I had tried to be cheap and avoid getting another scale by using an old triple beam scale I still had(my first scale, in fact). Unfortunately, I discovered just why I don't use the thing anymore. It's useless. For some reason the pan wobbles terribly and the weight range I can get from it is about an ounce of difference depending on where the bird stands It's just awful. That was part of the reason Bijou was too high when I was at Bill's. Luckily, Bill was a saint and had an extra digital scale that he doesn't use and allowed me take with me. Without it I would've been royally screwed. (I'll send it off back to you soon, Bill, -I've ordered another one and it's supposed to get here on the 11th-pokey!).

So we finally got on the road to the Bosque fairly late. With the temps in the upper 70's and lower 80's it was REALLY hot. So we did a bit of rearranging of my car and instead of having Bijou cooking in her giant hood I just put her on a bowperch in the back (she was hooded, of course). It worked out fairly well, actually, though it wasn't perfect. It was a lovely drive towards Socorro. Lots of hills and interesting scenery. At one point as I was driving along I noticed the rocks had suddenly turned volcanic (black) and there were some really cool desert plants. When I stopped at a pullout to take some pictures I discovered that I was in El Malpais (the badlands). When I was doing my research on where to go in New Mexico I had seen that and was interested, but with my busy schedule I decided not to go out of my way. So, imagine my surprise to have stumbled across it by accident! I didn't stay long-I still had a long way to go, but I got a few neat pics at least.

As it started to get later in the day I started thinking about where I could hunt Bijou. There was lots of BLM land around so I wasn't too worried. The trick was going to be finding game. Eventually I stopped to check out a spot that was fairly close to the highway I was on and not too far from the Bosque. I was planning on camping for the night then getting up early to be at the Bosque for sunrise. I saw a couple rabbit pills right away so I got Bear out to scope the place out before getting Bijou out. I didn't want to have to hood her up again-that always makes her cranky. She wants to EAT, not go back in the dang hood! Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of rabbits there and the cover was pretty thick, though it wasn't all that tall (just over knee height). We only kicked up one jack in 15-20 minutes of walking. That's not enough to keep Bijou happy. So, we got back on the road and I kept looking for a good rabbit spot. After a little ways I pulled into another spot. It was starting to get a bit late though. It was going to be this spot or nothing, now if I wanted to give her much flight time.

To my horror as I went to beep up my transmitter I discovered that I had somehow left the receiver on and the batteries were dead. There was some swearing going on at that point, as I'm sure most of you can imagine. I was 5 hours from the nearest falconer, as far as I knew. I learned later there was actually a falconer just a few miles away, but I didn't know that and I certainly didn't/don't know him. The last time I used the transmitter I had taken the battery out rather than turning it off with the magnet so I KNEW it would be on when I put the battery back in. After a minute of hesitation and thought I decided to risk it. Bijou was about 10 grams lower than the day before and there was no one around and not likely to BE anyone around. Plus, we were a fair distance from the highway so there really shouldn't be anything to spook her off. I can't remember now if I had a bell on her-I may or may not have. I know I had taken the bell off her the night before and I've been flying her without a bell lately so I really can't remember if I remembered to put it on or not.

At any rate, before I got her out I noticed a dickey bird in a bush so I quick snapped some pics of it. When I processed the pics yesterday I decided it was probably a Bewick's wren, though I'm not entirely sure if that ID is right (it's supposed to have white on the tail and it's a little questionable, though I think there is, it's hard to see-you CAN'T see it in all the pics, just a couple). Anyways, I got Bijou out without bothering to check for rabbits. There wasn't time to. I figured at least she would get to fly a bit even if we didn't see anything. I hate just feeding a bird-I like to have them work for it if possible. Bijou was definitely more in the game today. She was alert on the fist, head bobbing like a silly pigeon-lol. And it wasn't long before she spotted a bunny and gave chase.

The cover was tough, though. The rabbits were in large patches of thorny knee-height brush about the size of a car and probably 10-20 feet between patches, with some taller bushes here and there and open dirt/gravel in between. The bunnies had trails through the thorny weeds and some of them had holes in there, too. Bijou was having fun chasing the bunnies all over, but they just didn't have far to go to get to cover. There were a few jacks too. Eventually she went up on a rock with hawk chalk from a previous occupant on it and refused a jack that I flushed right in front of her. At that point I decided she'd had enough and when she came down I hooded her up. It was starting to get rather late and we still had a long walk back to the car. I was still puzzling over where I was going to spend the night when a jack hippity-hopped in front of us about 30 feet ahead. And stopped. It was SOOOO tempting. But, I didn't want to feed Bijou anymore if I was going to hunt her the next day. So I remained strong and resisted the temptation and was about to continue on...when a cottontail stepped out from behind a bush 25 feet ahead and started munching away, oblivious to our presence.

I wasn't strong enough to resist THAT temptation, I'm afraid. I took the hood off and watched Bijou. She saw the bunny almost immediately. Instead of giving chase though she just slicked down and leaned over. She saw it, but I could almost hear her whisper to me "let's see how close we can get-that bunny only has 15 feet to go to get to another patch of brush". So, I carefully stalked that bunny. One foot in front of the other we crept up to it. I think I managed to get about 15 feet away before it finally realized it's danger and bolted. Bijou was after it as soon as it turned and managed to slam into it just as it reached the edge of the brush Yes!!! It was a teeny little thing being a desert bunny (about half the size or less than the bunnies we have at home), but we were both happy nonetheless-lol.

Just to make life difficult though, Bijou did NOT want to transfer. In fact, she would reach around the transfer piece to pluck And it was getting dark quick, too. I finally got her to transfer after she'd plucked awhile, but it wasn't the prettiest. Luckily there was still enough light left to find my way back to the car. I would've been happy to setup camp right there, but even though I apparently had a phone signal I couldn't call Greg. So, I couldn't just stay there. I hadn't talked to him all day and if I hadn't called him I would've been in big trouble. So, I headed out and when I got to San Antonio, NM I was able to get a call through. By then it was pitch black though and I didn't feel like setting up the tent in the dark so I gave in to the inevitable and went to Socorro to get a hotel for the night.

[Tasha55403]

I had a feeling they would raise the price for the Festival of the Crane at the Bosque...and I was right. Normally the Motel 6 was only $33.95. A guy in line in front of me was getting a room for the next night as well and the clerk warned him that the second night the price was going up $20!!! She didn't say it was for the Festival, but I have no doubt that was the reason. Lucky me, I only wanted it for the one night There were birders all over that little town. I didn't feel comfortable leaving Bijou in the truck even though it was dark out and I would be leaving before dawn so I brought her into the room on her bowperch and put her in the bathroom (on plastic I had brought). I was probably being paranoid, but better safe than sorry. Many birders are NOT pro-falconry and I didn't want any trouble.

The next morning I got on the road nice and early and managed to get to the Bosque just a bit before sunrise. As I drove up there were pulloffs next to the road and I could see people lined up looking out over the water at flocks of snow geese and sandhill cranes. When I didn't find anyplace better I turned around and pulled into one of these and went out to take some pics. It was rather frigid (think metal lens and no gloves-my hands started to HURT after awhile), but very cool seeing all those birds. Too bad my lens isn't meant for low light, though. All the pics taken before the sun came up are uselessly blurred, but at least you can get the idea of what it was like. I drove around the autotour loop and took pics for a few hours, but it got warm really quick. I didn't feel comfortable leaving the car even when it was cool because of the hordes of birders around. I've never seen so many big lenses in my life! It's the first time my lens has seemed like a tiny amateur's-lol. But at least I could handhold mine

Eventually I noticed Bijou trying to cast through her hood (she hadn't gotten any casting, but apparently she thought otherwise) so I backed into a quiet spot and unhooded her while I sat on the back of my car trying to be inconspicuous under the hatchback. I was on the phone with Pete Jungemann (the next stop on my trek through New Mexico) when she finally decided she didn't want to be under the hatchback-she wanted to be out in the sun. To make matters worse there were cars coming from both directions towards us. I bid Pete a hurried goodbye and crammed the hood on Bijou quick and put her back on her perch and hightailed it out of there. I don't think they noticed us, but it was a close thing. Even if they happened to be friendly the gathering of people would attract the attention of others and it wouldn't be long before I'd have collected a crowd of birders. NOT something I wanted to deal with. Bijou still hadn't cast so I decided it was time to move on.

I drove a little ways south of the Refuge and pulled over at the head of a trail so I could weather Bijou on the fist for a bit and let her cast. I figured all the birders would be in the Bosque so I'd be safe. We were good for about 5 minutes before a car pulled in behind me. Argh. Luckily it was a very nice couple from Utah (birders, of course). Bijou freaked out as soon as they got out of the car so I quick hooded her up, then brought her over to them. After a few minutes PR they went down the trail and I packed up and went down the road a good ways. This time when I took her out I was several miles down the road and off on a bit of a side highway. I took Bijou out to weather some more and she sat the fist happily for at least 20-30 minutes. Eventually she got that look in her eye that said she'd had enough and was starting to get antsy and bated so I hooded her up again and moved on. She never did cast-apparently she just wanted to fake me out. Grrr-lol.

I stopped at Caballo State Park to do more birding, but was faced with the same problem as before minus the birders. It was just too hot to leave Bijou and Bear in the closed up car. It was fine with the window down, but I couldn't leave it like that. Not with all my stuff (including the critters) in there. Bear would protect the car if she weren't in her kennel, but if the windows were down she'd just jump out and follow me so that wasn't an option. Finally I gave up and just relaxed and read a book in the car-I managed to find a shady spot so it was comfortable with the windows down. Eventually I got a hold of Pete again and got the directions to his house and off we went again down to Las Cruces.

[Tasha55403]

Here's the Bewick's wren, Bijou on the rock with hawk chalk, El Malpais, and a horde of various blackbirds (I see redwinged, yellowheaded and crows and some plain black ones).

[Tasha55403]

Here's a pic of the mountains near the Bosque, some Snow Geese flying by, a Western (?) Grebe and a female/juvenile northern harrier.

[Tasha55403]

I thought I'd put different pics up than I put up on the Passage Gos 07 thread. No point in doubling up, I figured, even if I was silly enough to post it to the wrong thread:)

[IAmTheWeasel]

Tasha, I have lens envy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1:twisted::ya winkle:

[Tasha55403]

:lol:I love my lens:heart: But, it does have it's limitations. It really needs sunshine to do well. But, I haven't found anything else that would suit my needs as well(that I can afford, anyways:P). For falconry it's a fantastic lens-the zoom gives it the versatility that makes it so great for shortwings, the 400mm gives the reach. If only it were faster. But, then it would be too heavy to haul around, so it's a good tradeoff I guess:) There are some zooms that go up to 300mm that might do great...the Sigma 120-300 f2.8 looks really interesting. Someday when I have some money, maybe.

[Tasha55403]

[It's been a few weeks since my trip so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I'll do the best I can to get it right]
I ALMOST made it to Pete Jungemann's house without a single wrong turn. I did everything right except I forgot the last little bit. I pulled into what I THOUGHT was his driveway. It was absolutely lovely with a big birdfeeder in front. And there were QUAIL running around under it! Cool! The only problem...there was a pretty red truck in the driveway and I didn't see Pete anywhere around. He had said he would be working on his old Toyota truck (if I remember right) so I had a sinking feeling this wasn't the place. I love cell phones. I called him up and he answered after a minute. I asked him if I was there, mentioning the red truck. Umm. No. He wasn't sure where I was until I pulled out of the driveway and he spotted me-lol. I was so close to getting it right! Ah well. At least I made it:)

We chatted for a bit, ordered some pizza for dinner and eventually hit the sack. Pete was nice enough to let me sleep in a bit the next morning, so we got a rather late start. We took Bear out to the gravel pit where we would be hawking later. Bear did NOT have much fun on this trip, I'm afraid. Since I don't trust her to play nicely with other dogs and it was too hot to leave her in the car where she's comfortable she ended up spending an awful lot of time in kennels in strange places. That did NOT make her happy, but I didn't really have any alternative. But, she did enjoy getting to go out to the gravel pit with us. We only kicked up a couple cottontails which she never saw, but she still appreciated getting out and running and checking everything out. She didn't like the sandburrs and other pokey things, but she was good about letting me pull them out of her feet when she didn't do it herself. We have sandburrs at home, too, so she knows how to deal with them even if she doesn't like them.
Afterwards we had a great lunch/breakfast, then did some errand running. When the time was ripe we took Bijou out to the gravel pit to see how she would do.

She came out of the hood alright and didn't seem to mind Pete's presence too much. [This is where the fuzzy memory comes in] Bijou had a few nice flights, eventually putting a bunny into a hole in the side of a...wash?...in the gravel. It was like a little 8 or 10 foot high cliff in the gravel/rock. Unfortunately for the bunny the hole was only a foot or two deep and the sun was going down FAST. If it were just me I might have let the bunny go, but Pete wanted to see her catch one and we didn't have much time left. So, he pulled the bunny out and let it go along the base of the cliff so Bijou wouldn't see it right away. It did manage to get 10 feet or so before Bijou saw it and pounced on it. Ah well. While it wasn't a spectacular chase Bijou was happy and that's what really counts, I guess. I was having trouble with Bijou wanting to pluck, and pluck and pluck...forever. Pete suggested I try skinning it for her and opening it up. And it worked great. She's not at all footy so she let me skin it and open it and help her get the goodies. That got her switched into eating mode and out of plucking and she transferred off nicely. I've been using this method on most of the rabbits she catches since then. She tends to eat more than I want her to, but it's enjoyable for both of us:)

The next day Pete worked on his truck in the morning then we headed out to look for ducks for the barbary. Unfortunately, ducks like water and there wasn't any:P So, we just took her out to an open spot and gave her some exercise instead. On the way back to the house Pete spotted a "red" redtail so we pulled over and I snapped a few pics. Gorgeous bird. I'd love to bring one of those home with me sometime! By then it was time for some real hawkin and we went back to the gravel pit with Bijou and Pete's many times intermewed male gos Utah.

We got Bijou out first and she had some great flights again (more fuzzy memory-they were good, but I couldn't describe them, now). She chased one into a bush and while she was perched in it we managed to reflush it for her. She pounded it as it was running into a littleleaf sumac bush. It had a trail going through the bush and when I got there Bijou was a foot or two into the trail with her bunny. And of course, as I walked up she dragged it further into the bush where it was more open, but more sheltered for her. Argh. Luckily the bush wasn't too *****ly or spiny and I was able to crawl in and dispatch the rabbit, then haul them both out. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently I had a whole lot of those little leaves in my hair when I got out. Pete took pics, but didn't tell me about it. So it wasn't till we were back at the house and I touched my head that I realized what a mess I was:P While I was busy working on transferring Bijou off the kill Pete went to a different section of the gravel pit to fly Utah. The sun was going down fast and at that stage I didn't want to rush Bijou on the kill. So, I didn't get to see Utah fly, but he did get a few slips at least. We headed back to the house and Pete cooked up a delicious curry for dinner, then hit the sack.

The next morning I packed up my stuff and we headed out to the gravel pit one last time to fly Pete's sharpie. She wasn't too keen on my presence though and kept a close eye on me. The quail were hiding out in some really, REALLY thick stuff, but we could hear them in there. Before we could get a good flush though, Mini had had enough of my presence and flew up to the top of a mountain of gravel. And was promptly checked out by a large raptor. That one moved on as we yelled and waved our arms, but the next visitor-a cooper's hawk- was a little more persistent. I think it was a bit startled and put off by Pete and I yelling, plus Mini just sat there rather than fleeing like a smart bird would've done. Instead of grabbing her it just landed next to her and gave her a look. After a couple seconds it took off again, but I think Pete lost a day or two of his life with that little stunt. I backed off a bit and he was able to call her down and he called it a day. He wants her for breeding more than hunting and if she ends up in a coop's crop she won't be able to do either. Of course, as she was feeding on the fist while we walked back to the vehicles we managed to flush several quail that were picking at the gravel in the open. Never fails!

We said our goodbyes there at the gravel pit and I headed out for the next stage of my trip. The plan was to go to Portal, Arizona for some birding, then go visit Harry McElroy in Willcox the next day. But, it didn't quite turn out that way...
Tasha

[Tasha55403]

I put most of the pics on my Passage gos 07 thread (under shortwings), but I'll put one different one up here for y'all...

[Tasha55403]

So, the PLAN was to drive over to Portal, Arizona and do some birding photography for a day, camp out, then go to Harry McElroy's for a day and stay with him overnite, then go to Albuquerque to visit with Paul Domski for a few hours on the way to Alamosa for the NAFA meet. But that wasn't QUITE the way it turned out. Since I didn't want to buy an Arizona license for 1-2 days of hawking I wanted to hawk Bijou in New Mexico before I crossed the border. So, when 1-2pm rolled around I started looking for BLM land just this side of the border. While I was searching I spotted some quail on the side of the road in front of a house and snapped a few quick pics. Speedy little guys!

The first place I stopped was a likely looking area. I got out of the car and saw some bunny pills. When a rabbit popped out of the first patch of brush I kicked I was thrilled. Even though it was still a little early for Bijou I figured I'd give it a shot. When I first unhooded her I let her settle in and weather a bit first. After a few minutes of relaxing on the fist she started getting antsy so we started hunting and I could tell she was in the groove. We walked for maybe a half hour...not a single bunny. Apparently I kicked up the only bunny in the area when I first got there. Talk about frustrating! Bijou did NOT want to be done. Once I got the hood on her she was antsy as anything jumping all over the place so I took her transmitter off and put the tailguard back on so she wouldn't bust her tail up. She just wouldn't listen to me when I told her we weren't done!

So, I drove back a few miles back east further into New Mexico (since I didn't want to cross the border) and stopped at a spot I had rejected earlier since I wanted to be as close to the border as I could. There were a few pills, but not a ton. But, now there wasn't any time to find another spot. It was here or not at all. So I got Bijou out and started up a bit of a wash where the cover was heavier and started looking for rabbits. Bijou had a few flights at things I never saw, but nothing spectacular. She managed to land on a cholla cactus though and got her feet full of spines. I took some time to pull out what I could, then we moved on. Eventually I gave up and we started walking back to the car. She went up to a bush and I was taking a pic of her when I suddenly noticed something...why did her tail look so funny? That's when it hit me. I'd been so excited and in such a rush to fly her I had forgotten that I'd taken the transmitter off and put the tailguard on...she was still wearing the TAILGUARD! Doh! You can bet there was some swearing at myself going on. I was just lucky she didn't take off or disappear on me!

By then the sun was going down so I decided to call it even though there was a little time left. I needed some light to get the tent up. This spot was as good as any to camp, I figured. It took a bit, but it went up pretty quick and smooth. Lighting the lantern was a bit tricky, though. I couldn't remember Greg's instructions so I just kinda...winged it. I was lucky I didn't blow myself up! That thing was scary! I finally managed to get it going without singing myself, but I was NOT going to light that thing again! I couldn't find the batteries for the flashlight, so when I put the lantern out I would be without any light except the car's headlights. Which didn't bother me too much at first. I rolled out my sleeping bag in the tent, changed into my sweats, took my boots off, put the lantern just outside the tent opening (it let off a gas smell which I didn't trust) and relaxed with a book since 6pm was way too early to be going to sleep. Bear curled up on my legs and we were both nice and comfy.

It was about 7:30pm and I was starting to think about putting the lantern out and going to sleep when Bear suddenly got up. She started growling and when I touched her she was vibrating from head to toe with fear. That's when I heard the coyotes yipping. I don't know how many there were, but there were more than one or two. And they weren't that far away. I had my loaded pistol right next to me, but with Bear in such a panic it wasn't all that reassuring. After a minute or two of thought I decided this was NOT a good idea. I was using an old, stinky dog blanket for a pad under my sleeping bag and I'm sure the coyotes would be MOST interested in checking it out. Combine that with no light, no cell phone signal and no humans around for miles and miles (I was in the middle of freakin' nowhere!) and I decided this was a situation where discretion was the better part of valor. I kept thinking of that scene in the movie "Quigley Down Under" where the crazy woman is in a cave with the aborigine baby and the dingos were attacking. Everyone sez coyotes are cowards and wouldn't do anything, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck that much. I put Bear away first-I've never seen her jump into her kennel so fast! She practically slammed the door shut in my face-lol. It was amazing how fast I took that tent down and got it in the car. Probably 3-4 times as fast as it went up-lol. And that was with me carrying the pistol and lantern with every trip the 20 feet to the car-lol.

So, there I was in my pajamas driving down the road. I was trying to figure out whether I should go to a hotel in Lordsburg, NM or just go straight to Wilcox, AZ. I still wanted to go birding in Portal in the morning so I was leaning towards going to Lordsburg even though it meant I'd have to head back east. I finally got to a small town and stopped and called Greg. That's when I discovered I had lost a day. I had thought it was Thursday night, but in fact it was Friday night! I wanted to be in Albuquerque Sunday morning to see Paul Domski run his dogs. I didn't have time to play around with birds like I had wanted. Going to see Harry was more important. The birds would always be there, but, well...Harry IS getting kinda old (not that he shows it much!) and Arizona is a LONG ways from home. I had tried to call Harry earlier that day, but didn't get an answer. Since I hadn't actually TALKED to Harry about dropping by (Bill had emailed him for me, but I hadn't actually talked to him) I was a bit nervous about it. But, I gave it another try while I was sitting in the parking lot and this time there was an answer. After a bit of chatting he convinced me to crash at his place instead of going to a hotel. I was worried about it being too late, but he assured me it was ok, so off I went.

This time I had to do a lot of searching. I went back and forth over one stretch of road looking for the road in question. I THOUGHT I knew which road it should be, but the name on the sign was wrong. Argh. I hadn't realized how badly I needed a new prescription for my glasses until this trip. I saw something moving across the road in front of me and I was so frustrated I was just going to hit it...until I got a little closer and saw that it was a skunk. *#$^%! I managed to come to a stop about 5 feet from it. Close enough to make it kick it into high gear and waddle off the road as fast as it could go, anyways-lol. Eventually, I just tried the turn I thought was right, and sure enough, that was it. I pulled into the driveway and walked up. I was pretty sure it was the right house, but when I tapped the doorbell no one answered. It was about 10pm by then, so I pretty nervous about getting there so late. Harry had said he would leave the light on for me, so I wasn't sure if they'd already gone to bed and had, literally, just left the light on for me. I didn't want to wake anyone up if they'd already gone to bed. After a little hemming and hawing I finally just opened the door and peeked in. At which point a huge pack of dogs started howling up a storm! Oops. Well, if they'd been in bed that would've woken them up if the doorbell hadn't done it-lol. Luckily they weren't in bed yet, they just hadn't heard me. I must not have pushed on the doorbell long enough (I just tapped it real quick).

[Tasha55403]

They were really, really nice about it in spite of the late hour. We chatted for a bit, then headed to bed. I can't remember now if breakfast came before or after we took Houdini out, but whichever it was it was delicious-lol. Houdini did ok, but he definitely needed a bit of...tuning up [sounds like he's dialed in and doing great now, btw]. When we were done with Houdini we went back to the house. We looked at pictures for a bit, then Harry took a nap and I tried to catch up on some email (I ended up taking an inadvertant nap too, though-lol). After the rest we loaded up the horses and packed up the hounds (Rachmaninoff the young britney and Schubert the fiest) and the Aplomado and headed off to the field to engage the enemy:)

I was a little nervous about bringing the camera on the horse, but I decided the risk was small enough to try it anyways. You never know what you'll get when you take pics, but if you don't take any it's a guarantee you WON'T get anything. I tightened up the straps so it wouldn't hang so low and slung it over my shoulder so it would thump at my side rather than on the horse. Wow. Talk about fantastic animals. It wasn't just that wonderful extra gait either. That horse was incredibly patient with me. I don't have a lot of experience riding, but I've got enough to know I'm not terribly good:P I KNOW I was giving that poor horse all sorts of conflicting signals, but he managed to figure out what I really wanted most of the time.

We had a flight on quail right off the bat. Wow, that bird could motor! In the blink of an eye she was gone. We headed in the direction we saw her and after a bit she reappeared. If I remember correctly we had another chase and this time she had put one into a bush. Schubert the fiest said it was in the packrat den of the bush she was sitting on, anyways. And from what Harry says and I saw, Schubert is usually right. I tried to get pics of the flight, but even with that smooth extra gait of the Peruvian Paso it was impossible to take pics one handed. My lens is NOT balanced well enough to take pics onehanded even when I'm standing still. From the back of a moving horse it just wasn't happening. If I had held the horse back and just taken pics I MAY have gotten something, but it was much too exciting and we chased after the flight instead-lol. I managed to get some really nice pics of the aplo in the bush while Harry dug out the packrat den. Unfortunately, Schubert beat Harry to the quail so we didn't get a reflush on that one.

We had a few more flights with us chasing the birds across the desert. It was a blast! After a bit the aplo managed to put another into a packrat den. This one was buried deep. Harry wasn't sure if it was still there he had to dig so deep, but Schubert kept saying it was RIGHT there...and of course, he was right again-lol. This time Harry managed to get to it before Schubert though. It was too gassed to really fly when he tossed it, but the aplo didn't care and nabbed it just ahead of Schubert who ran right in to "help". Harry used his "aplo pickup" which went pretty darn smoothly, I thought, and we called it a day and pointed the horses back to the truck.

When we got back to the house we cleaned the quail and had an absolutely fantastic dinner. I've never eaten quail before (or artichoke, for that matter) so it was a real treat for me. Very, very tasty. I HAD planned on leaving that evening so I could get to Albuquerque in the morning-it was about a 6 hour drive-but it got late pretty darn quick and I don't do well driving at night. I usually only manage about an hour max on a long trip. If it's in town it's not so bad, but for some reason on long trips I just can't do it. My eyes start to cross and that darn line just mesmerizes me. So, I gave up on that plan and instead hit the sack early and got up around 4/4:30am and hit the road. Since Harry and Beth weren't planning on being up that early (gee, I wonder why not? lol) I said my goodbyes as we went to bed.

One interesting aspect of life near the Mexican border is all the border patrol. I was surprised by just how huge of a presence there was. There were more border patrol vehicles than there were highway patrol-by a long shot! And when you leave Las Cruces you have to go through a check station. When I went to Harry's the guy just flagged me through with a glance. Going up to Albuquerque I had to go back through Las Cruces and this time it was a bit more exciting. As I pulled up I could see this time there was a dog. Cr*p. I didn't have anything I shouldn't in my car, but with a dog, quail, rabbits and a hawk sitting on a bow in the back of the car...if that dog DIDN'T express interest in my car I would've been shocked. As I pulled up the one guy started chatting politely with me while the dog gave the car a sniff from the passenger side. He asked me where I was going, where I was from, did I live here, what was I doing here, that kinda thing. All very polite chatting. I was just explaining to him that I was here for falconry and what that was when the guy with the dog suddenly yelled "There's a BIRD back here!".

Wow, talk about good timing! I'm glad I was already talking about it when he noticed. Whew! So I did the PR spiel and explained that I was here hunting rabbits with my bird. He thought that was just the coolest thing he'd ever heard of:) I could tell he wanted to talk more, but he had a job to do and there was a line behind me so he waved me through, but I'll bet he got on the computer when he got home and started checking it out-lol. I am SO glad I didn't have her in the box. If it hadn't been obvious what got the dog's interest I probably would've had to pull over so they could check everything over. THAT would've been a mess with all the sh!t I had piled into my car:P Luckily it WAS obvious or who knows how much of a pain that would've been!

I think I got to Paul's place near Albuquerque around 1pm or so. Unfortunately, his truck had broken down so I chatted with his friend while he worked on it. After a couple hours we got the map out and they helped me figure out how to get to Alamosa. I didn't have a US map of any kind, just a New Mexico Gazetteer so I didn't really know how to get there. Once we got that figured out I hit the road, hoping to get to Alamosa before the orientation meeting. I didn't make the meeting, but I did get there by 8pm or so.

[Tasha55403]

Gambel's Quail; Harry's Houdini; another of Harry's Houdini; Harry's aplomado Jean Harlowe

[Tasha55403]

Monday morning I slept in, then got registered and got my 5-day meet license. Liberally mixed with socializing, of course. After a bit I hooked up with an old friend, Troy Moritz. He's flying a golden eagle and I really wanted to get out with him. We had a bit of a caravan, but not too bad. Unfortunately, the spot we went to was very thick and it was hard to see the whitetail jacks. We flushed a few and had a couple flights, but not many. After a bit we moved on to look for another spot. Unfortunately we didn't see ANY rabbits there. That sucked. So, we moved on and kept searching but even though we stopped a couple more times we didn't see any rabbits and we couldn't find any geese in a slippable spot either. I HATE it when that happens! I did get a nice flight shot of a wild dark-phase ferruge, though. That was kinda cool.

We got back to the hotel and I got ready to go out hunting myself. I didn't know where to go, so I broke down and got a Colorado gazetteer from Walmart (on the opposite side of town from the meet hotel, unfortunately) and went out by myself to see if I could find some wabbits. I eventually got to a likely looking bit of BLM land and got Bijou out. By then it was getting pretty late. If there wasn't any game I wouldn't be able to find another spot. And, sadly, there wasn't any game. Well, we DID get one lone bunny up and Bijou had a nice chase uphill, but the darn rabbit pulled a disappearing act on us and got away. We were both so disappointed we were chasing rodents. I even flushed them for her on purpose just so she could see/catch something, but she just couldn't pull the trigger on the quick little ******s. Argh.

Tuesday I went out with my friend Tina and her friend Brent from Kentucky and his mother. Brent and his friend Eric had come up to Minnesota for work and brought their birds last year. Tina took them out and showed them their first whitetail jacks. They were impressed by the monster rabbits, but didn't manage to bring any home with them. Tina took us out to a field that they had been to the day before that had plenty of whitetail jacks to give Brent a second try at them. First up was Tina's many times intermewed redtail Bonnie. Tina decided she was still a bit too low and just didn't have the energy she needed to chase jacks. So after seeing a couple flights she put her away and after checking the other birds it was decided they still needed to cast so Tina's several times intermewed eyas ferruge Shawnee was up next.

It was very peculiar. She just did NOT want to fly much. She did fly out a couple times, but then she RAN the whole way back. Not just a few feet, but probably 100-200 feet. Now, she's run back before, but never from THAT far away. It was really, really weird. I think the general consensus was that the birds, as well as the humans, were feeling the effects of the high altitude. I heard of folks that were puking sick of it even, though most folks just had a headache. I hadn't thought about it much, but when I was at Bill and Pete's I DID have a headache and felt kinda cr*ppy for a couple days.

Anyways, next up was Brent's male passage redtail (not sure how many times intermewed) Ares. He powered up to a nice high perch in one of the few trees around. It wasn't long before we kicked up a WT jack. He hesitated at first, then powered after it. He decided it was too far away though and went back to the tree. Then, to our surprise, he went after it again! I don't know how far it was, but it was a long, LONG ways out there. And he hit the ground after it! We all cheered Brent on as he ran and ran...then slowed to a walk...then eventually stumbled over to where we'd last seen the bird go down-lol. He got lucky-when he disappeared from sight I thought he was just kneeling down by the bird...apparently he fell into a ditch. He was very pleased when he learned I didn't get pics of it-lol. After a bit he rejoined us (complaining that he'd coughed up a lung along the way-lol) and he had a nice hovering flight on a chipmunk or something that got down a hole. Ares wasn't used to flying off the fist, but he did pretty well. We were approaching some haybales so I suggested he let Ares go to them. Brent decided to keep him on the fist a bit longer (I think he was worried the bird would make the bad decision to go all the way back to the tree) and not a minute later he flushed a WT jack at his feet.

It was perfect. A great chase off the fist ending with Ares tackling a furry fury. Brent started running as soon as the bird left the fist and got there about 12 seconds after the bird grabbed the jack (the camera's handy for that kinda thing!). It was pretty funny looking at the photos-you can see him throw his beating stick away and then slide to a halt when he got to his bird. It looks like he's sliding into home base-lol. You've never seen such a happy falconer Especially when a truck pulled up and it turned out to be some more falconers looking for a duck slip and included Hal Webster. I took a pic of Brent with Hal and his jackrabbit for him. He was just tickled pink!

After we got that taken care of we got out Brent's harris hawk Maya (Bob's "old" passage bird) and showed her some jacks. She chased a few times, but really seemed put off by the size-she'd never seen them before. They ARE some monster rabbits, I can't blame her a bit. We decided to head back into town for a potty break and maybe some lunch. As we were leaving we discovered that just across the street and down one field someone was flying an eagle with a HUGE crowd (at least 13 beaters). We stayed by the road and watched for a little bit, then headed out.

We went back a couple hours later and got Tina's redtail Bonnie out again. With a little time to digest a morning snack she seemed to have more energy and flew well. She had some great chases and ALMOST had a couple, but didn't manage to put one in the bag. It was getting late by then, so it was time for me to get Bijou out. Tina suggested I go over to a field by a house a block away. She'd seen some blacktails there when they were leaving the night before. I wanted to show Bijou blacktails-we've got whitetails at home and it would've been nice to start her on something a little smaller and "easier". I was a little nervous about hunting there because it was NOT that far from the eagle. Only a field away, really. But, I didn't have many options. I went to the corner as far from the eagle I could get but I was still uncomfortable with it's presence.

I figured Bijou would be ok with just one or two people (she did fine with Pete) so I let Brent and his mother come out in the field with me. Bad decision. Bijou came out of the the hood, took one look at them and was NOT happy. I should've known better than to let her go, but when she bated I THOUGHT she was going after a rabbit...but...no. She went up to a tree and promptly ignored my attempts to call her down. I suggested they go back to their car (which the did), but Bijou decided she was going to go check out the next house over. Argh. As I attempted to get her to come down from the tree she suddenly came down...but not to my lure. There were cottontails in the field around the house and she'd spotted one. She had a couple flights, then ended up on the fence next to me. I picked her up and started walking back to the car. Another bunny flushed at my feet and I made the bad decision to let her go...I just couldn't help myself, honest! That of course led to more chases and me trying unsuccessfully to retrieve her. With so many bunnies she wasn't giving me the time of day. I had 5-6 rabbits flush when I took my first couple steps into the field to try and get her down!

After a bit a truck drove up-it was a couple of the Texas falconers. He rolls his window down and says "Hey, the eagle is flying just down the road, you shouldn't be flying here". Grrrrr-he's lucky I only verbally snapped at him. My reply was "I'm TRYING to get my bird down!". As should have been obvious by the lure I was swinging. Almost more annoying than the fact that his presence and stopping was making it even more difficult to get my bird down, we had been there BEFORE the eagle!!! Eventually all the rabbits found some cover and Bijou finally came down to the lure. Then I asked the lady in the house if I could get permission to fly there Sadly, she only owned the little bit around the house, the field was owned by someone else, she didn't know who. There was still a little bit of daylight left so I went back to where we had started to try again. The lady who owned the house drove up just as I was about to reenter the field (before I unhooded Bijou, thank goodness). To my disappointment she asked me not to fly there and go further down the field because she had to let her dogs out. I did take the opportunity to ask her if she knew who owned the other field though and hit the jackpot...or so I thought.

[Tasha55403]

It's amazing how the small-town...gossip(?) comes out! She gave me the names of two different guys who owned the land around her place. When I thanked her, she very carefully suggested that I NOT go to ask permission myself, but should send a man instead. The guy was weird, she said. Since I obviously didn't get her meaning she went into detail to explain-apparently when the other lady bought the house from the guy she walked in and found him in her underwear drawer. And she's telling this to a total stranger! Wow. I assured her I wouldn't go asking myself and would send a guy in my stead, then took Bijou back to the car. People are so strange!

The problem was that the other end of the field was WAY too close to the eagle for my comfort. I couldn't fly there. The frustration was boiling at this point. Bijou was ready to go (so long as I didn't have anyone else in the field) but I didn't have anywhere to fly her. After some thought I went back to the field next to the one we had flown the day before. This field wasn't overgrown like the one we had flown. It was mostly bare, with weeds only along some long dirt ridges-they looked like speedbumps, actually. I'm not sure what they were for. But, we had pushed a lot of jacks this direction so I figured it was worth a shot in the fast fading light. To my everlasting surprise I managed to kick one up for Bijou! And she chased it, too! Unfortunately, it was getting dark really quick. She hit the ground after it, then lost sight of it (I assume, usually she would've gotten back up after it). I picked her up and we kept looking. And I got another up! She chased this one too, witht he same result. At that point I gave up and called it a day.

Wednesday I slept in a bit, but I know I was up by 8 or 9am (for the free breakfast, of course-lol). I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I THINK I spent most of the day processing pictures and making prints to attempt to sell at the vendor table. I decided to go out with Tina and Brent again in the afternoon for some more jack hawking. Bonnie was up first and flew to a low branch on the other side of the street. We didn't think much of it and started walking the field. We had gotten a fair distance away when we suddenly saw her fly straight at my car and hit the back window. F#&!* We were all horrified. Bonnie was ok, at least, and picked herself up and landed on top of my car and started looking for a way in.

Because of the warm temps I had my back windows partially down for Bijou-who was hooded on a bowperch in the back of my car. Bonnie must have been in the perfect spot to see Bijou move when she was on that low branch. My back window is heavily tinted and most of the time I can't even see her even when I'm standing right next to the car. We were all running back to the car as fast as we could...which wasn't very fast. Luckily Brent must've gotten used to coughing up a lung after his run the day before because he managed to get there long before Tina or I and got Bonnie on the fist before she figured out how to get in the back window. I don't know about Tina, but I think I shaved off a few days of my life with that incident!

Since Greg had given away my giant hood (grumble, mutter, swear) I didn't HAVE a giant hood to put her in. Luckily, with one bird flying we had an open box so the rest of the trip we played shuffle the birds. It was a pain, but at least we didn't have to worry about Bijou getting eaten or a bird breaking it's neck trying to get at her. Bonnie was a little upset about the whole thing, but we carefully showed her the empty car before we tried again. That seemed to help and she went on to have some good flights and near misses. Just to make Tina's day even better, the local redtail decided to come in and give Bonnie some grief. It was NOT pleasant. Bonnie WILL scrap with the locals if they push it. Luckily we got away without any physical contact, but it was an added stress to the day. A little more excitement than any of us wanted, really. Eventually we put Bonnie away and Tina got her harris Maya out.

Maya had had a close encounter with a burning teflon pan a week or two before so Tina wasn't sure how she would fly. She was very concerned about her (as far as I know, she's fine, now). She didn't seem to have as much energy as usual, but she did alright. She had a couple chases in the section I had hunted the evening before, coming a hairsbreadth away from putting a whitetail in the bag. I've seen this bird catch a couple whitetail's at home, so she knows how to handle them if she gets a foot on one. By this time, though, it was getting late again so Brent split off to look for some ducks for his harris and I split off to go fly Bijou by my lonesome, again, while Tina stayed in that field since it was a good one for a single person to walk.

When I had mentioned the name of the guy that owned the spot I had stumbled on the day before to Tina I was tickled pink to find that it was the same guy we had permission from! Perfect! So, this time I had a place to go and headed over there straight away. I got over the fence and into the field, unhooded Bijou and unhooked her and within seconds we had our first flight! And then...I noticed that she was flying kinda funny...her tail looked white...sh!t! I left the tailguard on her AGAIN!!! Twice in one week! Talk about stupid falconer tricks! I got her back on the fist and took the tailguard off, but decided against going back to the car for the transmitter. Hooding her up would've just ****ed her off and to get back through the fence I would need to do so. It was a risk, but I didn't think it was too high. We had some great chases back and forth, but she just couldn't close the deal. The rabbits all seemed to be disappearing under a rockpile in the backyard of the house. I had just gotten her back on the fist when I heard a very faint yelling from a house way off in the distance. It sounded very disturbingly like "Get off my property you $&*!#" Uh oh. I had THOUGHT we had permission on this bit of land, but I suddenly had a sinking feeling I was mistaken. It didn't take me long to decide I had best leave, just in case I was on the wrong bit of land. I took my time at my car though, figuring he could come talk to me if he felt the need. I wasn't going to go over there, but if he really wanted to chew me out he could. Thankfully he didn't, but I was back in the same position as the night before. I went back to see if I could find Tina, but I couldn't see where she was, though her truck was there. I finally just gave up and headed back to town. At least the sunset was beautiful.

[Tasha55403]

Thursday was a little different and a treat I'll always remember. Tina is actually friends with and had talked to the guy with the eagle (Dave Stevens, from Oklahoma) and worked things out. So we took him to the field we had been flying in and got to see him fly, properly, with only two other folks with. All I can say is, wow. I have rarely ever been so impressed by a hawk and it's falconer. And it wasn't just because it was a golden eagle, though that certainly didn't hurt. This was his first eagle, Aden, which he'd trapped last winter/spring (I think). By NAFA I think he'd caught over 150 jacks. And it showed. This was one of the fittest, gamest birds I've ever seen fly. He had flight after flight after flight on whitetail jacks and never gave up. Half the time when he would lose sight of the quarry he would turn around and come back to the fist without ever stopping. Which is fantastic in itself, but when the flights went hundreds of yards it was incredible to see. I don't think I ever saw the bird pant. Not only was the bird taking on slips that STARTED hundreds of yards away, he was also willing and very capable of taking the close slips, too. Unlike the ferruges I've seen fly, Aden was able to get to top speed, much, much faster and was able to overtake a close flush in a snap of his wings. I took nearly 700 pics that morning and got a ton of great ones, including probably the best falconry pic I've taken to date. I didn't get any good pics of the flight that ended in success, though. When we figured he caught it Dave had us just relax and chat for a few minutes, then we were able to approach. By then Aden had killed the rabbit and was having a good pluck. Dave transferred him off the jack as easily as I would one of my redtails. When he finished his jack leg we continued hunting and the bird didn't miss a beat. Eventually he went up to a telephone pole and Dave decided to try leaving him up there. He'd never had Aden up on a pole before (must be nice!) so he wasn't sure what he would do. By then it was 11-12pm and I think Aden was feeling the effects of the nice weather, afternoon sun and the jack leg and tidbits he'd already eaten. When he didn't chase the second jack we got up while he was up there Dave called him down and we headed back to the hotel to let him weather properly in the yard.

That afternoon I went out with the Brunottes and we went out to a spot where Greg was already hunting with Noel (from Texas) and Emily (from Canada). I got to see Howie have a nice flight that ended up right in front of us...unfortunately I wasn't ready for it and didn't get any good pics. The bunny got away in a pile of junk, though, and Greg put him away so Richard could get his gos Billy out. I don't think he appreciated the horde of people though. He had a couple of chases but he just wasn't into the game so Richard got Ms Havoc out. She did much better but then we had trouble finding bunnies for her. We had a few flights and got to use the ferrets a couple times, but it wasn't too long before I had to split off to fly Bijou.

Greg led me to a place by a mushroom factory and got permission from the folks that lived in the house next to it. It looked promising. This time I remembered to take her tailguard off and put her transmitter on, at least-lol. Bijou had a flight right off the bat, then refused to come down from the roof. I sent Greg back to the truck and once he got far enough for her taste, she came down. I called him back and we moved on. This place was fantastic. The rabbit pills were so thick it was almost a solid layer in some places. We had many, many good flights, but the cover was really tough. The rabbits didn't have far to go to get to the next patch of sage/mesquite or whatever it was and they used it to their advantage very, very well. Bijou was skunked yet again.

Friday morning dawned with more than a little bit of a chill in the air. It had snowed overnight and there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground. It was beautiful, but dangerous to drive in. I had so much fun with Dave on Thursday I asked if I could go with him on Friday morning, too. Dave was most welcoming We went to a different spot this time and had a fair number of folks along. But Aden did just as great as before, with the same results-another whitetail in the bag before lunch with as neat a transfer as you could ask for from any bird. We headed back to the hotel and I took the chance to process some more pics and took a shower while everyone else was still out hunting. I knew I'd probably be out hunting late and with the banquet that evening and 4/5 of us in one room bathroom time was going to be at a premium.

I went back to the mushroom factory again, but this time it was just Bijou and I. I thought with the snow to help out we'd have a better chance of catching one of these wily desert bunnies. We didn't get off to a very auspicious start, though. Just as I was getting Bijou out of the car a great big red dog came trotting out of the mushroom factory parking lot. I quick put Bijou back on her perch and jumped back in the car. The dog didn't LOOK aggressive, but I wasn't going to trust that. After a few minutes it went back to the parking lot and I got Bijou out and we started hunting. She had chase after chase after chase, but she just couldn't do it. At one point she was sitting on the mushroom factories fence and the dog came right up under her. To my surprise she started peeping but didn't bolt. I called her to the fist and she came! Excellent! To my frustration though, she wouldn't chase rabbits even though the dog was on the other side of the fence. The one time I got up a bunny in a fairly open situation and she ignored it because of the dang dog. Argh.

It was absolutely depressing. I've been to the NAFA meet every year since Lamar in 2001. I've had at least one bird at every meet since 2002. And I've caught game every year...except this one. It was very, very depressing. The only "good" thing about it was that Bijou caught a bunny the first time we went out hunting when we got back home. I had hoped she would find the bunnies at home easier, and it did seem to be the case. She's been doing great since we got home

[Zingy]

and a horde of various blackbirds (I see redwinged, yellowheaded and crows and some plain black ones).


Sorry to bring up an old post but..Who's hawk was it in the bottom of the last pic(horde of various birds)? Did you slip Bijou on them?

ps- I wanted to "quote" the pic in the post but don't know how?

thanks,

phil

[Pete J.]

Sorry to bring up an old post but..Who's hawk was it in the bottom of the last pic(horde of various birds)? Did you slip Bijou on them?

ps- I wanted to "quote" the pic in the post but don't know how?

thanks,

phil

Can you be more specific on which pic you were looking at? Maybe quote the date of the particular post?

[GregMik]

Sorry to bring up an old post but..Who's hawk was it in the bottom of the last pic(horde of various birds)? Did you slip Bijou on them?

ps- I wanted to "quote" the pic in the post but don't know how?

thanks,

phil


Looks like a crow....:yawinkle:


Greg

[Pete J.]

Looks like a crow....:yawinkle:


Greg
If it's the pic of the redwings and yellow-heads and blackbirds...likely some of those are Brewer's blackbirds which have subtle irridescence but not any flashy markings like yellow-heads and redwings. It probably wouldn't show at the distance and angle. They often hang out with other blackbirds when they are in large groups like that. It doesn't look quite big enough to be a crow and I don't know if Great-tailed Grackles occur that far north of me, although they are very very common down here (about 3 hours south). But we're kind of at the northerly edge of their range. I'd be betting on Brewer's blackbirds myself from the size (basically the same general size as the other birds in the pic). We also have a smallish raven down here that is just a bit bigger than a crow, but it doesn't even look as big as a crow in that midst of blackbirds.

[Tasha55403]

Sorry to bring up an old post but..Who's hawk was it in the bottom of the last pic(horde of various birds)? Did you slip Bijou on them?

ps- I wanted to "quote" the pic in the post but don't know how?

thanks,

phil

:) That was taken in the Bosque, so NO, I didn't slip Bijou on them:lol: I didn't have a deathwish, there were 6 birders with VERY large lenses next to me taking pics-it would NOT have been a good idea:lol:
At first I thought you were talking about the bigger black birds on the bottom, but then I noticed a larger tan/brownish bird on the righthand bottom corner. I couldn't say for sure, but I would be willing to bet money that it was a northern pintail (duck). Pintails and coots were the only "ducks" I saw when I was there.

[Zingy]

Can you be more specific on which pic you were looking at? Maybe quote the date of the particular post?

Its post number 23...the bottom right just up to the left of the copyright symbol. I looked quick and thought maybe it was another one of Natasha'a action shots...Kinda looks like a hawk flaring in to make a grab but I think your right Greg...it does look like a crow(or was it the hawk no one saw that caused them all to flush :wink:) This is what happens on days I can't hunt..I start hallucinating....

phil...at work...

[Tasha55403]

:lol: