It's been a while since I last posted to this blog and I'm going to give this another shot to try to keep up with it.

As active as my life is right now you would think I'd have something to write about (fishing, hunting, working, serving on the board of two national falconry organizations and our state club), the problem is finding the time.

My life has two fairly distinct seasons, Fishing season and Falconry season. Although I suspect this year I'll take a few fishing trips during the falconry season. The birds are both flying good and the merlin "Black Mamba" caught her first bird a few days ago.

She is turning out to be a very good merlin, she is chasing just about everything in sight. She likes doves and sparrows and chases both hard. She is catching on to my style of hunting and is starting to understand that the swing of the lure means that I have a bird to flush for her.

Rufus had a slight delay to his season due to a severe hooding problem. The day I had to physically hold him while putting the hood on in the field I decided something needed to be done. I suspended his training and spent a week only feeding him in the hood. After a week and a half of this he would thrust his head forward at the presentation of the hood. Now a few weeks later he is still taking the hood but does balk at it in the field if he doesn't think he's done or has had enough food.