Awesome day today (Falconry)

[JestersHK]

So I've seen a guy a few times in the field behind my house doing Falconry.  I stopped and chatted with him today and he asked if I'd like to hunt with him.  Heck yeah was my reply and we began walking the fields kicking the brush.  

Birds really are amazing, and this example was an 8 month old Cooper's Hawk.  She really is beautiful and pics don't do her justice.

We flushed a quail and she was off but couldn't quite catch up to it.  We never could get it to flush again, but we started up by the field edge where there's usually rabbits.  

We flushed 2 rabbits but couldn't get them out of the super thick brush... They were hunkered down tight almost like they knew she was hunting them.

We were down to the last little piece of brush when we flushed a big bunny.  She was perched just right in the trees and hit the rabbit and rolled it a few times. Then got a good hold.  Rabbits are about 3 times the weight of her and he said she usually only gets them 1 out of 6 tries.  Well she got this one and we walked up to her and dispatched her bunny.  He field dressed the rabbit and gave her the heat and liver as a reward then gave her a small starling to eat and then bagged the bunny.

Very amazing experience.  I've seen videos of birds, but this was the first time I've been that up close and luckily got to be part of a successful hunt.

[JestersHK]

[TRRANGER]

That sounds like a super fun experience. That is a beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing. 

[JestersHK]

Her kill

[Johnsfolly]

18 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

Her kill

That's awesome. Ever since I read "My side of the Mountain" I have been fascinated by falconry. Over the years found that it is a lot more work than I am willing to do (so far). One of the guys at our Maryland facility is a falconer and he just caught a female peregrine this November and is currently working with her. I hope that I can see her hunt sometime. I only know one guy in Missouri that is a falconer. He was in Columbia for work a couple of years ago, I thought that he was now living out near St Louis. Was the guy you were hunting with named Larry?

[BilletHead]

           Thanks DJ for posting this. Takes dedication to do this and take care of such neat raptors. Totally cool deal, 

BilletHead

[MOPanfisher]

Very cool.

[JestersHK]

Yeah I heard it is a ton of work.  I had seen a forum thread on it a while back and they definitely require dedication. 

He had 2 Merlin falcons in the back of his SUV as well that he showed me.  Nope not a Larry and he lives out here in St. Paul by me.  

We exchanged numbers and I hope to hunt with him again.  

[jdmidwest]

Sweet.  I have never seen anyone work one, it looks like fun.

I did read a Arkansas Game and Fish release a few years back that brought a chuckle. 

Falconry season opens next week.  Hunting with Falcons is legal, hunting falcons is not allowed.

Seems like there must be some confusion south of our border.

[Linhardt]

Was interested in Falconry when I was  young.  Studied hard and was ready for the falconry test, handmade some of the equipment, looked for a mentor, and ready to capture a bird (wanted to start of with American Kestrel, then move to Redtail Hawk), but parents at the time were not too keen on me having one.  So it never transpired.  Still interested now days but will probably wait until retirement when I have more time on my hands.