Falcons & Fishing

Claire's APLA Hunt Test

2011-04-06T10:07:00.002-04:00

Well, we went to our first APLA (American Pointing Labrador Association) Hunt Test last weekend. Originally, we were only going to go to see the test and not enter Claire. I was very hesitant to enter a test that I've never even seen. But we decided to give her a try, she had been doing great in training. Then she got sick and had surgery and lost nearly a month of training. We only had two weeks after surgery to prepare and she was almost there but not quite. Her issue before leaving for the test was that she didn't want to bring birds all the way to me. She would run out any distance or swim out and bring birds to within five feet of me but would then just play around with the bird for a while. As you'll see in the video this is what lost her the CRP title.

Claire ran the upland portion first and she did okay. We were looking for Chukar in the field and she had only seen one chukar in training. She winded the first two but got too close and flushed the birds. She pointed the third bird great. She held point for much longer than the required 5 seconds. Then she lurched in and caught the bird when the gunner approached. On her simulated retrieve she went out and got the bird but was VERY slow to bring it all the way to me.

The judges decided to send her on to the water portion. They thought that she did great, had a nice natural point but stated that she would have to run the water portion perfectly or risk a cooperation score below a 2 which would fail her.

Her issue was still there and she wanted to play with the duck and wouldn't bring it all the way in. She failed Cooperation and failed the test. Oh well.

It was a great learning experience and we know what to work on and we'll get the next one.

Anyway, here is her run.

NAFA Meet / Amarillo, TX 2010

2010-12-06T17:00:00.003-05:00

Had a great trip as usual out west to hawk with friends. Started out at the NAFA meet in Dodge City, KS and stayed there until after the board meeting Tuesday night. We headed out first thing Wednesday morning for Amarillo. The usual crowd was in attendance at Jimmy & Karen Walker's, Matt Mullenix, Brian Millsap and daughter Katie, Matt Reidy and this year Chris Lynn joined us with his girlfriend Steff. Here's a video of the weekend.

NAFA Meet / Amarillo TX 2010 from Eric Edwards on Vimeo.

Claire, 5 months

2010-08-25T11:21:00.003-04:00

Claire is 5 months old now and last week we joined a great dog training club. The Central Florida Field Trialers club is in Lake Wales, FL and is 500 acres of dog playground. They have big flight pens with 1,000 quail for training and shooting. Ponds for retriever training, shooting ranges, RV sites with hook-ups and a club house.

Here's a video of Claire at the club. You can't see some of the points because she's behind a bush here and there and the quail also moved around on her a bit. But she's doing great and learning the ways of the wily quail.

More Quail

2010-08-06T09:47:00.002-04:00

Claire is still doing great on the planted quail and very soon I'll be taking her out to a dog training club near Lake Kissimmee where they have a pen of really good quality Bob Whites for training.

Dog Park

2010-08-06T09:41:00.004-04:00

Since Duncan's passing, Claire hasn't had any furry friends to play with so we thought she would do well with some socialization. So, we joined a private dog park. She was VERY nervous of the larger dogs at first, there were 2 mix breed dogs there the first day. And the followign days there were several labs, a large bully of a german shepherd the enjoys pinning her to the ground, a boxer that she loves playing with and a few other odd dogs.

Claire's Introduction to Quail

2010-07-22T12:27:00.004-04:00

Last weekend Claire met her first few planted quail. She did great. I put a bird out in the field and hooked Claire up to a check cord to keep her from being able to catch the bird. We started 100 yards down wind and started working towards the bird.

Claire was bouncing around, mostly playing in the field as we worked towards the new smell. The instant she picked up the scent her attitude changed, for the first time she turned into a hunting dog. She first held her nose high in the air and then hugged the ground searching for the source. When she got close she locked up on point for several seconds and eventually flushed out the bird.

Here's a short video we shot of her second quail.

New Pup

2010-05-19T14:54:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago we learned that our chocolate lab Duncan has cancer. We discovered this after he nearly bled to death after a tumor ruptured in his spleen. His spleen was removed and biopsied and it wasn't good news.

He's undergoing chemotheropy now, but even with that his prognosis is 6 - 12 months. So we thought it was time for a new pup.

Claire, our new chocolate lab arrived on Sunday and has been loads of fun. She is a Pointing Lab just like Duncan, she was the pick of the litter female and both of her parents hold 2 Grand Master Pointing Retriever titles. Claire's mother has the same father as Duncan, Grand Master Pointing Retriever "Cajun of Black Forest". In all, there are at least 5 GMPR titled dogs in her pedigree. It should be a fun summer getting her ready for snipe fields.

End of Season

2010-02-22T18:19:00.001-05:00

Snipe season has come to an end and birds have been tough to find so I hung up my glove for the season. But, what a season it was. My good friend Joel Volpi, from GA, joined me for the last few hunts and as usual Doc flew great.

Doc caught his first snipe on Dec 6th and in the following 50 hunts he went on to take 32 head of game, including: 24 snipe, 2 doves, 1 Bob White quail and 5 Misc birds.

I'm looking forward to a speedy molt and another great season.

Amazing Hunt

2010-02-18T13:44:00.001-05:00

The weather was cold, the skies were clear and the wind was calm, the forecast called for pain. Doc flies at his best in these conditions, and this hunt was no exception. Doc left the fist and rang up in small circles, following the dog and I out into the field. When we were 100 yards out from the truck Doc was up 500' and waiting patiently. There was a slight breeze and Doc was staying just up wind of us, when he circled he was come right over head and then circle back upwind and come right over again. I saw Duncan begin to get very birdy and looked up to see where Doc was, he had just begun to swing away from us when a snipe flushed out of the cover.

Doc immediately folded up and 100 yards out, just before impact the snipe slammed into high cover and Doc pitched up. Duncan and I made our way to the spot while Doc rang back up. he was 200' when the snipe reflushed and this time he followed it into cover fast and hard. He missed the snipe and they were both on the wing. The snipe got a good jump on him coming off the ground but Doc tried to make up the distance. He chased the snipe up 300' and eventually gave up chase after a few minutes.

Doc headed back toward us while we made our way back to the the spot we flushed the first snipe. We worked the area again with Doc 500' overhead and soon flushed another snipe. It headed to a saw grass pond with head high grass and shin deep water. Doc stooped but the snipe made it to the pond. Not to let another get away Duncan and I headed into the pond to find the snipe. Doc circled overhead and we soon reflushed the snipe. It headed out of the pond but swung around trying to come back to safety when Doc struck the snipe with a loud thump. He knocked the snipe back into the pond and I found it floating in the water. I picked up the snipe and looked up to see Doc climbing again.

When I got out of the pond Doc was 300' up and climbing so we headed out to find another snipe. After 5 minutes of looking for birds I was running out of field and started to tie a piece of meet to my lure to call Doc down. Duncan swung around towards a patch of tall grass and flushed out a small covey of quail. Doc was now 500' up and straight overhead. He came sizzling down and plucked a quail out of the air 50 yards out and 30' up. Doc set his wings and glided to a high patch of ground.

I've caught a few quail with my merlins but this is the first one with a big falcon. I never find them in hawkable situations here. One snipe and one quail, not a bad day.

Snipe 2-6-10

2010-02-11T17:05:00.002-05:00

Isaac Nichols, a falconer from Colorado was in Florida for a week of training. He rented a car to come over and see Doc fly and he was not disappointed.

We flushed a snipe while driving in the field and parked 50 yards from the spot it landed. Doc took a nice 500' pitch and we headed in to flush. We over shot the mark and we ran around in the wrong spot for several minutes. We lost sight of Doc and finally had to stop and search the sky. While we were looking for the snipe Doc was climbing, he was WAY up and directly overhead.

On a hunch I moved back towards the truck and kicked up the snipe. Doc came sizzling down and the snipe bailed into a small patch of cover with Doc right behind. The snipe flew out and the chase was on. Doc put it back in a few hundred yards away.

Doc mounted back up over the spot while we ran to flush. He was a few hundred feet up and we reflushed the snipe. With a thump, Doc claimed snipe #21.

Now for a little Fishing

2010-02-11T17:01:00.002-05:00

The shad run beginning on the Saint John's river. A few weeks ago we gave it a try and came up empty handed (a little too early). But last Monday Diana and I headed over and I hooked 8 shad and landed 6 nice fish. I also caught 3 nice size Speckled Trout.

Winding Down

2010-02-03T13:19:00.003-05:00

I fear the season is near the end. I'm having a tough time finding snipe and Doc has given up on me a few times and flown off to chase distant birds (successfully one time).

Doc did fly great today he waited on patiently and nice and high and eventually caught a miscellaneous bird that we flushed while walking through the field.

Last weekend Mike Dupuy was visiting for the weekend, we had a great time and Mike got to see Doc and Bubba fly. We flew in a very stiff wind (close to 15mph) that I probably wouldn't have flown in if Mike wasn't down.

In typical fashion I had a minor screw-up while gabbing with Mike. I had my yearly telemetry malfunction (I didn't turn it on). Naturally, Doc saw something downwind and we lost sight of him chasing a flock of blackbirds. This is when I realized that my telemetry wasn't on. But luckily we drove down and he flew right in and landed on the lure.

Weekend Hawking Clips

2010-01-28T16:39:00.002-05:00

The birds flew good this weekend. Here's a video with some clips of Doc's flights.

A Different Kind of Flying

2010-01-16T16:57:00.002-05:00

I went up for my first ride in a small plane last weekend. Jonathan Millican is a pilot and we rented a plane for a short flight to do some scouting for snipe hunting spots. We found lots of likely spots.

Rainy Day Snipe

2010-01-09T13:46:00.001-05:00

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof, it was 36 degrees outside, raining and windy. Under normal circumstances I would have rolled over and went back to bed. But a falconry friend, Jonathan Millican, was in town for the weekend before being shipped out with the Marines for a 6 month deployment. So, I drug myself out of bed and headed out.

I wasn’t expecting much under the conditions but as usual Doc exceeded expectations. I launched Doc in a light drizzle of cold rain and when he was only 50’ up something caught his attention downwind and he was on an obvious mission towards something. Several hundred yards out he pitched up and circled over a spot in the field. He started making his way back to us and I saw a Harrier get up from where he flew to. Not sure what that was all about but he was now ringing up and heading back.

He was half way back to us and 200’ up when he went into a stoop back in the direction of the harrier. I heard the call of Greater Yellowlegs and saw that Doc was after one flying low. The Yellowlegs headed to the ground and Doc was strafing him in the field and the Harrier was flying toward the scene. Jonathan and I were running to the spot when I saw Doc start flying back towards us and Jonathan saw a Yellowlegs flying away. I don’t know what exactly was going on but we headed back to the snipe field.

When we got back to the snipe spot Doc was back up high but slightly downwind when the first snipe flushed. Naturally, the snipe flushed straight into the stiff wind but Doc was folded up and falling fast. They were 200 yards out when Doc closed the gap and the snipe bailed into cover. Doc pitched back up and I decided not to run all the way over for the reflush. I wasn’t able to mark the spot and the odds of finding it again were slim.

Doc remounted back up to 500’ and was waiting on tight, right overhead. When the next snipe flushed I looked up and Doc was already folded up tight and dropping straight down. His tactic looked like he was falling straight down to build speed then at 100’ he leveled out towards the snipe. He was closing fast and when he was only a few feet from impact the snipe bailed with Doc right behind. The snipe jumped back up and Doc flew him down again. The snipe bailed into cover under a palm tree and Doc was right behind again. He missed it again on the ground and the two were back on the wing. The snipe went to the ground a final time and Doc claimed his meal.

Under adverse conditions, Doc again exceeded expectations and put on quite a show.

First Double

2010-01-07T13:43:00.001-05:00

All season Doc has been putting on quite a show and we’ve had a lot of good flights with a few great one’s mixed in. Today was one of the GREAT ones.

It was 29 degrees according to the truck thermometer when I pulled into the field. The sky was blue and there was very little wind. Doc was quick to leave the fist and quick to get up to 500’ and then on up to 1,000’.

We were hunting a depression in the field where there is a “u” shaped pond that’s only about 30’ across at its widest and it's about 50 yards long. The inside of the “u” is muddy and holds snipe. The first snipe flushed across the water and Doc put it into cover and headed in after it. He missed it on the ground and I ran around to try to reflush it. The snipe put in to a thick briar patch that I kicked around the edge but didn’t find the snipe.

I ran, with the dog, back to the muddy area as Doc went back up to 1,000’. We soon flushed another snipe that took out across the field and Doc was folded up. The snipe was over 100 yards out when he was about to crush it, and the snipe bailed into cover. By the time we got there Doc was ringing back up. I wasn’t quite sure where the snipe was, I wasn’t able to mark the spot he put it in. We kicked around a few minutes and then headed back to look for more.

When I got back to the snipe spot I looked around for Doc and couldn’t find him in the sky. I pulled my sunglasses up to see if that helped and I finally saw a small flickering of wings straight up, right over head, I don’t know how high he was but he was WAY up there.

The next snipe flushed across the muddy area and across the water and turned left along the bank. Doc came sizzling down and chased the snipe into a tall patch of grass. The snipe jumped up and Doc was right on his tail. They both flew toward us along the bank of the pond. Doc grabbed it right as it was landing in the water and they both settled down in the pond. Doc let go of the snipe and flew a few feet over to a patch of lilly pads, leaving the snipe floating in the pond. As I waded in to the snipe Doc took to the air again, pretty wet. I picked up the snipe and put it in my bag. I was waist deep and it was 29 outside.

I was very cold and could barely feel my legs but when I looked up Doc was 500’ and still climbing. So, like a good flushing monkey I started to run to the other side of the pond, back to the muddy area. On the way we flushed another snipe and Doc pounded it to the ground 100 yards out. The then fluttered down and claimed his well deserved meal. Snipe #14 and #15 for the season.

The Old Man

2010-01-05T13:54:00.002-05:00

My German Short-Haired Pointer, "Flea", will be 18 years old in June. Hard to believe how long he's been around. He's seen a lot and been all over the country with us. He gets a little cold in the winter so we bought him this very stylish hoodie.

Snipe Hunt 12-29-09

2010-01-02T09:15:00.001-05:00

Another video of Doc chasing and catching snipe.

Another Video

2009-12-29T13:34:00.003-05:00

Doc is still flying great, catching snipe most hunts. This past Sunday he had a very long hunt. He flew for over 20min and chased about 6 snipe, catching the last one. Here's a video of this hunt. And you'll want to watch this full screen in HD for best quality. The video is a little long, almost 9min but Diana shot almost 20min of video.

Another Snipe

2009-12-27T14:42:00.003-05:00

Doc has had his ups and downs this week. After his last snipe I decided to try him on doves. I found a nice flock of 100 birds and Doc took a great pitch. I started flushing doves and Doc started ignoring them. He watched dove after dove flush right under him without interest.

He finally folded up and put in a half hearted stoop at a dove forcing it to cover. He remounted but continued to ignore the doves. I finally called him down to the lure. Not sure why he's hesitant about doves but this is the second time he's done this.

The next flight, a few days later, it was rainy, warmer and windy. I had a few snipe spotted and released the beast. Doc flew downwind and mounted but when he came back to me he had lost most of his pitch. He stooped a sparrow, losing the rest of his pitch. Then he just flew around my head looking for the glove. I finally gave it to him and took him home.

Today I wanted to try a spot that is wide open with very little cover. We drove into the field and immediately flushed 5 or 6 snipe. Doc took a nice pitch but started after some unknown bird way off downwind. We watched as he chased it across the sky and then back across the sky and we eventually lost sight of him.

I saw a few small flocks of black birds swirling around where he was last seen and I started waving a pigeon around to get his attention. After quite a while Doc came flying in low across the field and I called him down to the lure and hooded him.

I decided that I'd let him take a rest and work with the Red Necked Falcon, Bubba, and then take Doc to another spot and try him again.

The second hunt was fantastic. Doc took a great pitch and stooped 4 or 5 snipe, remounting back to 500' each time. He eventually caught one in a long stoop into the wind and ended up following it in to cover and catching it on the ground. He chased two others to the ground and lost them and put in many stoops. This boy loves snipe.

Snipe #5

2009-12-23T10:58:00.001-05:00

Doc has been flying very consistent this week. I think the cold weather has really helped (tough to take a good pitch in 85 degree weather). He's flying 500' and staying very close.

This was the second snipe we flushed today. Doc was 100yards up wind and he closed on the snipe very quickly. The snipe bailed into shin high grass with Doc right behind him. Doc missed on the ground and the snipe blasted back up with Doc right behind. The snipe sought cover again but Doc was on his butt.

Red-Necked Falcon (Red-Headed Merlin)

2009-12-22T14:20:00.002-05:00

My new little bird arrived last night (or rather this morning at 1:30am). He's 150g of pure coolness.

Thanks to my buddy Keith Richman of CA for sending this little fella to me. Keith has been flying him all summer and decided to let me have a crack at him. He was bred by Bill Meeker who will hopefully have some of these guys available to the falconry community soon.

Snipe & Dove Hawking Video

2009-12-22T14:10:00.004-05:00

Sunday I took a small group of people out to watch Doc hunt and Diana took some video. Doc flew great putting in several blistering stoops at snipe, Diana caught one of them on video and I have a slow motion clip of the flight. When Doc pitches up you can see him do several barrel rolls as he flips over and resumes the chase. Diana didn't get the whole flight, it's VERY fast, but he continues chasing the snipe across the field.

Doc ended up catching a Dove, you can barely see it on the video it's very blurry. But he stooped down and hit the dove then grabbed it out of the air.

This video is best watched in the HD version, full screen.

Comparison of Snipe Hawks

2009-12-18T09:27:00.002-05:00

I've been asked this question several times now so I thought I'd write my thoughts here.

"Are there differences in this passage bird versus other falcons flown at snipe?"

Well, I am very early into my season so I don't feel comfortable making much of a comparison at this point but I do have a few initial observations.

The first, obvious, fact is that Doc has caught snipe quicker than any other bird I've flown. I caught him on Oct 11th, he was free flying on Nov 2nd and caught his first snipe on Dec 6th and has gone on to catch two more this week.

By comparison my best Barbary was obtained in June and didn't catch the first snipe until Nov and not another until Jan.

Doc, as I would have expected from a passage bird, has very good flight skills. He's powerful on the wing and has a natural tendency to stay upwind of me waiting for a flush.

When a snipe flushes there is NO hesitation, he comes down fast and determined. The tail chase he had a few days ago was nothing short of amazing. My Barbary's have tailed snipe and pushed them a few hundred feet up and forced them back to the ground to catch them but Doc's chase seemed to go on forever and he was at least 500' up, truly amazing.

His manners are still wonderful, he hoods well and has not tried to carry.

PASSAGE BIRDS FOREVER!!!!!

Doc, Snipe #3

2009-12-17T16:59:00.003-05:00

Well he did it again. Doc's flying great and put snipe #3 in the bag, that's back to back snipe days.

2nd Snipe

2009-12-16T15:02:00.001-05:00

Doc caught his second snipe today and I saw one of the most amazing flights I’ve seen. The weather here has been way too hot for good falconry with highs in the mid 80’s and lows around 70 and today wasn’t much different but Doc flew great.

He cast off and flew downwind and began to climb. A group of black birds caught his attention and he headed farther downwind and started circling over the flock which was now packed into thick cover. He continued climbing but stayed downwind ¼ mile.

After about 10 min of this he finally started making his way back to me and took a 300’ pitch right overhead. The dog (Duncan) and I started running around looking for snipe. We finally flushed a bird and Doc was a little downwind but he stooped hard and was in pursuit. He pulled in behind the snipe and got very close but the snipe evaded him. But he wasn’t about to give up.

Doc was 10’ behind the snipe and very determined. The snipe began to climb with Doc right on its tail. He stayed 10’ to 20’ behind it all across the sky. I watched the chase in binoculars as they climbed up to 500’ and started coming back towards me. After a good two to three minutes they were now flying right over my head 500’ up. As they passed over me the snipe began to pull away. I yelled and waved and Doc pulled off the chase. It was the most amazing snipe chase I’ve seen, I couldn’t believe how long he pressed this snipe.

Doc was now right over head 500’ up and circling for the next flush. We ran around frantically searching for another flush. A sparrow flushed and Doc made a short stoop, losing some pitch. Then another snipe flushed and Doc was locked on. Just as he was about to close the deal the snipe slammed down into a small marsh 300 yards away. He hovered over the spot but wouldn’t go in after it.

Duncan and I ran over as Doc remounted. We waded into the thigh deep water and Duncan put the snipe back up. It flew out of the marsh and Doc easily flew it down over the field, claiming his second snipe of the season.

The NAFA meet & Amarillo Hawking

2009-12-01T14:02:00.007-05:00

I’m just back from the 2009 NAFA meet and TX Panhandle tour. I had a great time and Doc flew well. I didn’t fly him in OK because of 20-25mph winds but once in Amarillo on Wednesday the wind speeds were much more doable.

Doc flew great on ducks and came very close to putting one in the bag. I had a great time hawking in Amarillo with Matt Mullenix, Jimmy Walker, Brian Millsap, Matt Riedy, Heather Gast, Ken Jennings and a few others.

Here are a few pics of the meet and the trip. Oh and I bought a new Canon 7D camera just before the trip.

Almost Hawking

2009-11-14T13:05:00.003-05:00

Well, we're almost hunting. Doc did great today, going up 1,000' to the bait on the kite. Tomorrow the plan is to send him back up 1,000' to a target on the kite and release a pigeon under him. This will be our first real "flushed game". If he does well with this then we'll be looking for wild game.

Doc's weight is now up to 450grams and he is flying very strong, he wasn't even breathing hard today and he had quite a climb into a 10mph wind.

2009-11-10T16:13:00.001-05:00

After much internal deliberation I have decided to go back to the kite. I’ve trained plenty of birds with the use of pigeons. I had a gyr/peregrine that would spec out daily from the use of pigeons. But this was before kites and if I had to do it again, I’d use a kite.

After two days of letting Doc fly around aimlessly, letting him chase pigeons and waiting for him to decide on his own to go up (which I have NO DOUBT, he would have soon) it just didn’t feel right to me to know how to use such a valuable tool and leave it in my truck. I wouldn’t forego lure training or hooding or telemetry or any other advancement in the sport just because it wasn’t done in the past. My name is Eric Edwards and I love my kite. ;-)

So the quick run down: on free flight #2 I tried the kite but he ignored the bait and just flew around. Flight 3 and 4 were without kite, I let him fly and served a few pigeons, he got up to about 50’ and did check out the field some. Flights 5 and 6 we were back to the kite. On flight 5 he immediately recognized the bait and rang right up to 30’ and pulled it down. Day 6 he went up 200’ immediately to the bait.

I’m sure it’s just me but I’m much more comfortable with the direction of my training right now. I’ve trained enough birds to know that the key to training any behavior is clearly communicating to the bird what you want. The quicker the bird understands what you’re asking of it the quicker your training will progress.

For me it’s all about hawking game as soon as possible and I think the kite will get me in the field quicker. I plan to have him up to 1,000’ by the end of the week, serving game under him. Next week we’re hawking. (that’s the plan right now anyway)

I really appreciate ALL the advice and input I’ve gotten on training Doc and I’m always all ears. I’ll take all the free advice I can get.

To Kite or Not to Kite????

2009-11-07T16:17:00.001-05:00

My initial plan for this bird was to treat him like every other peregrine or Barbary I've flow in the past 8 years and train him to the kite.

I like kite training as a transition from the creance to game hawking. When you train a peregrine or any falcon to "wait on" your goal is to have a bird that will fly high up into the air and circle overhead, waiting for a bird to flush. There are many ways to accomplish this and I've used most of them, but I’ve found the kite to consistently produce great results.

But, naturally there was no kite training 40 years ago when falconers last trained passage peregrines and most of the experienced passage guys suggested the kite was not needed.

The second day of free flight I put the kite up to 800’ and put the bait 10’ off the ground. I unhooded Doc and he just sat on the glove staring at me, probably wondering what I wanted him to do. Previously I had always put him on a perch to start our training. He looked at the bait and back at me and finally took flight.

He circled out and came back towards me and the kite but flew right past the bait. He continued to circle around but never went for the bait. I finally called him down to the lure and let him eat the food on the lure. While on the lure I unhooked the bait from the kite and walked it over closer to him. Once he finished the food he finally hopped up a few feet and grabbed the bait from the kite lure line.

I started second guessing my kite training approach and the next two days out (including today) I didn’t put the kite up and tried traditional pigeon training. He flew around both days making circles around me getting up to 50’ or so and I served him a pigeon when I thought he was starting to lose focus.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings but I think I may pull my kite back out.

Day of First's

2009-11-02T18:31:00.002-05:00

There were two important first's today. First free flight and first bath.

I intended to fly him free yesterday but my plans were spoiled by a juvenile Bald eagle. I flew him to the lure on the creance and then just when I was planning to un-tie the string for the second flight an eagle flew right over us, looking down and circled 3 times overhead. I chickened out and did the second flight on the creance also.

But today there was no creance. He made 8 or 9 circles around me, making a few half hearted attempts at the lure then I threw it out on the ground and he flew right down to it.

Back at home he finally decided to use his bath pan and take his first bath on his shelf perch.

Day 18 & 19

2009-10-30T09:47:00.002-04:00

Doc is probably more ready for free flight than I am.

The last two days he's been flying 100' to the lure, instant response, catching it in the air. He's very steady on the ground, allowing me to walk up and tid bit him on the lure and steps off to the glove with no problem. He's only tried to drag the lure away once and I was probably a little too fast walking up to him.

He's spending the day on his shelf perch unhooded and still takes the hood well. I usually hood him while he's eating on the glove.

I'm still undecided on my next step. I'm leaning towards putting him on a kite for the first week of free flying. I think it will help keep him close and will help to establish a good routine. We'll see.

Day 15 to 17

2009-10-27T16:04:00.002-04:00

We've had our ups and downs this week. I moved to football field at the local middle school and the first day there Doc threw a fit.

The moment I pulled the hood off he looked around, looked at me and bated like a wild bird for several minutes. I finally got him back on the glove and tried for a short flight but he didn't want to play at all. I took him home and did some tid-biting on his perch.

I spent most of the weekend at home working with Doc. He spent the weekend on the shelf in the living room, unhooded, and I did a lot of tid biting after his morning training sessions.

Sunday and Monday he did great at the football field making a few short flights to the glove then a few 20 - 30' flights to the lure.

I've heard all the stories about these super tame tundra peregrines that train up in two weeks but I did NOT trap one of those. I would say Doc is quite a bit behind in training and in tameness than a passage merlin at the same stage. But he is progressing every day.

Doc, Day 14

2009-10-24T12:47:00.002-04:00

Day 14, 445g

Doc is sitting the fist well, and still hooding well.

He made a 20' flight to the lure yesterday in the back yard. Tomorrow I'll have to move to a larger area to continue his training. He ate a quail leg on the lure then walked over and hopped up to the glove.

Doc, Day 13

2009-10-23T08:21:00.002-04:00

Day 13, 448g

When I got home I unhooded Doc and let him sit on the shelf perch for a few minutes before training. He was much more attentive and stepped up to the glove for a few bites. I weighed him and he hooded with out incident.

I set up a block perch and creance in the back yard for our first outside lure flight. Doc was unhooded and placed on the block, I sat 10' away. I threw a garnished lure on the ground between us and he immediately hopped to the ground and walked over to the lure. He ate the quail wing and a few tidbits from my fingers and jumped up to the glove when he was done.

A perfect lesson for the day.

Doc, Day 12

2009-10-22T09:21:00.004-04:00

Day 12, 453g

Doc was a little slow to fly in the back yard yesterday. He eventually made a 20' flight then another from 15' much quicker.

I hooded him up and took him back inside and introduced him to the lure on his shelf perch. He ate what was left of a quail wing with some meat on it. I gave him a few tidbits on the lure.

He still has the terrible habbit of not regaining the fist on his own after a bate. I have to put him back on the fist after every bate. He's still a little nervous and doesn't like to be touched but he's getting calmer every day. He also doesn't sit well on his shelf for very long. I'm keeping him hooded at night and when I'm not home.

Passage Peregrine

2009-10-21T16:58:00.004-04:00

Ok, I'm going to do my best to blog the training and hunting with my new bird. I was lucky enough to trap a tiercel passage peregrine in Maryland. For the first time since 1970 the USFWS allowed the capture of 36 passage peregrines for falconry this year.

Florida did not get their rules in place in time to participate this season so I was left with applying for non-resident take in one of the state that were participating. I applied to 5 different states and was only selected by Maryland. So, it was off to Maryland.

Diana and I drove the 15 hours all through the night to get there first thing in the morning to trap. And we were lucky enough to find a tiercel that came down to a ring-necked dove in a noose harness.

Doc was trapped at 500g on Oct 11th. He ate on the glove the first night back at the hotel in a dimly lit room.

He was hoping to the glove on the 17th and made his first flights outside 20' yesterday.

Making a Dho-gazza net

2009-06-03T08:34:00.004-04:00

A few years ago I started making my own Dho-gazza nets. I looked around on the internet for years trying to find information but it was very scarce. And it's really something that you need to see to fully understand.

I finally learned how from my friend Jimmy Walker on one of his visits to Florida. Once I saw it done it was just a matter of practice. I've tried to explain it to a few people but I think this video series will make it much easier. It's not the most professional video but I hope it helps (just ignore the barking dog & screaming parrot).

If you want to make your own nets I recommend starting with the net making kit from Jann's Netcraft http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

One Step Closer

2009-04-16T14:07:00.002-04:00

I spoke at a FWC commission meeting yesterday when a draft management plan was presented to FWC commissioners. The draft plan was approved by the commissioners with very little input. A final plan will now be drafted and hopefully approved at the June meeting.

I hope we'll be trapping peregrines in 2010.

For immediate release: April 15, 2009Contact:
Patricia Behnke, 850-251-2130

The world’s fastest bird is also resilient

The peregrine falcon is famous for its steep downward plunge, and that’s exactly what its population did during the past century when DDT usage in the United States nearly wiped them out. However, when the peregrine dives, it also rises with its prey, and that’s what has happened to its numbers in recent years. To keep those numbers soaring, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) directed staff to finalize a management plan for peregrine falcons Wednesday at the Commission meeting in Tallahassee.

The FWC decided in June 2008 to remove the peregrine falcon from the state’s endangered species list. However, before delisting can occur, the Commission must approve a management plan. The final plan will come before the Commission for approval at the June meeting in Crystal River. The Commission also directed staff to bring a rule for delisting the species to the June meeting as well. “The peregrine falcon is a success story showing what wise conservation practices can accomplish for a species,” said Robin Boughton, the FWC’s peregrine falcon management plan leader. “This draft plan offers management strategies for the peregrine’s continued success.”

As a result of pesticide regulations and captive breeding-and-release efforts, the peregrine falcon made a dramatic comeback from precipitously low numbers in the 1970s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the species in 1999. Peregrine populations dropped from about 20,000 birds prior to the 1940s to 650 birds in 1965. Of the two subspecies of peregrine falcon that breed in the United States, there are now at least 1,900 breeding pairs.

The peregrine is known as the world’s fastest bird, averaging 25-34 mph during normal flight and reaching speeds in excess of 150 mph during dives for prey, which include doves and ducks.

Shad Fishing the St. Johns

2009-02-23T10:03:00.004-05:00

For years I have wanted to fly fish the shad run on the St. Johns river. Every winter shad migrate back to their spawning grounds and fly fishermen line the banks to greet them.

The past few years the shad run has been very slow and we never had a chance to give it a try. Last year I met a new falconer, John Reed, that lives on the St. Johns and he emailed last week to say "The Shad are running".

Walt and I spent all week tying up tiny flies and jigs and headed out for our first shad fishing adventure on Sunday. The water in the St. Johns was very low and "Puzzle Lake" earned it's name, I ran the boat a ground a few times.

We first stopped a few hundred yards down stream. Walt got distracted by large bass swirling near shore and he played with those while I tried my hand at shad fishing.

It's much more like fishing for trout in a stream. You cast upstream and bring the fly down at a natural speed, twitching slightly as it floats. It didn't take long for me to land my first shad. We ended up landing 12 shad by noon.

Merlin Release

2009-02-12T11:26:00.005-05:00

The end of the season is drawing near. Black Mamba, the suspected black merlin, had a great season catching nearly 65 sparrows this season, caching all but 4 or 5.

She cached the first sparrow she caught and continued that trend the whole season usually not even eating the head off of her victim.

I left her in the field on Saturday and Diana went back out Sunday while I was off fishing. While Diana was putting on her vest and gathering up some food Mamba came flying overhead.

She gave her a quail breast and took a few photos with her phone through her binoculars.

(Caching is a behavior in merlins. When they catch a bird they will take it to a stump, bush or thick grass and hide the bird without eating it. They will usually eat the head and hide, "cache" the rest and then return to hunt for more birds.)

Offshore 2009

2009-02-11T12:51:00.003-05:00

February is not supposed to be a time for trolling the Gulf Stream for big Dolphin (Mahi Mahi) but I don't think you'll be able to convice me and Spence of that any longer.

Spence let his merlin go in Jan so I think he's been sitting around the house getting the fishing flu a bit early this year. He talked me into an early season offshore trip this past Sunday. We left the port at 5:30am and ran an hour and a half through the dark to get to a spot we hoped would produce a Wahoo.

We got there as the sun had cleared the horizon and started to fast troll over some bottom structure. The Wahoo did not show so we continued out to the gulf stream. For over an hour we didn't see any signs of life, no flying fish, no weeds, no bait, just deep blue water as far as you could see.

We decided to troll for another hour and then head closer to shore to fish for king fish. Ten minutes later a 30lb bull dolphin slammed one of our ballyhoo and burst out of the water. I finally landed the fish 20min later.

In the next three hours we landed three more nice dolphin and a skipjack tuna and we lost three other dolphin.

The 2009 Offshore fishing season is off to a great start!!!!!

NAFA Meet

2008-11-22T08:26:00.003-05:00

I'm just about done packing up, waiting on Diana to get finished. I'm heading out to Baton Rouge, LA today to pick up my best bud Matt & then it's off to Amarillo, TX.

I hope to catch up with lots of old friends and meet some new ones. Hope to see you there and I'm sure to have plenty to write about when I get back.

I found them all

2008-11-17T15:16:00.002-05:00

Today was one of those days I was so glad that my wife did not have a camera. I managed to find every hole in my field today. I went head over heels, tumbling across the ground today more than the total of most seasons.

One instance I should have broken my leg or at least tore something in my knee. I was running full speed toward a palmetto full of sparrows and the merlin was locked in. I crashed the palmetto and stepped knee deep in a hole. I felt my knee hyper extend and it vaulted me out of the bush and onto the ground (again).

The feral pig population is out of control this year and they have created quite the obstacle course for me. I'm really hoping that I don't end another season with knee surgery.

The Shaheen did much better today, up 1,000' to the kite. Shaheens are very small at 1,000'. And did much better on the glove.

The merlin flew great, chasing sparrows and dodging my flailing legs as I tumbled across the ground. She started strong but she was spun out when she hit a stiff weed while chasing a sparrow. She seemed to slow down after that but still flew good.

Sportsman's Paradise

2008-11-17T14:56:00.002-05:00

Sunday was one of those days that makes me glad to live in FL. I was up at the crack of dawn loading up birds and the dog and off to the field.

I flew Rufus, the Shaheen, first and all started normally enough. I had the kite up 800' and he went right up. He grabbed the bait and came to the ground. He finished his meal and came running over to me and hoped right up to the glove. I put one jess in and he then looked up at me and freaked out. He spent the next 5 min baiting, screaming and footing my arm with his free leg. I finally attached the leash and let him go to the ground to see if he would calm down. He continued looking at me like he'd never seen me before and would not look at the food in my glove. 15 min later I finally had to grab his legs and force his hood on. I don't know what I'll do with this bird but I do think he's fat and that will be the first problem I fix.

Now for the merlin. Black Mamba was unhooded and she rode around on the fist for a few minutes and then took a perch in a tree on the edge of the field. A group of sparrows flew to a bush and I called her in for the flush. I flushed a dozen birds out and she pulled in behind one tailing it across the field until it made it to cover. I had another bird in the bush so I called her back and flushed, she smashed it in a head on flight.

She took the sparrow to a fallen pine tree and I watched her eat the head and then hop around finally caching it and flying back to me. She cached the first baggie I gave her and now this one, her third wild sparrow.

I headed home, unloaded the birds and hooked up the boat. Two hours later I was launching at River Breeze park at the north end of Mosquito Lagoon. 10 minutes into poling the boat I saw a red fish cruising the shoreline. I made my first cast and hooked up with a nice 26" red. I then sent a photo of the fish to both of my buddies that backed out on the fishing trip HAAAAAA.

It's tough to beat Florida for someone that loves to hunt and fish, especially when you want to do both in the same day in November.

2008-11-07T08:53:00.002-05:00

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.

Weathering Area

2008-06-26T20:44:00.002-04:00

My weathering area was looking pretty sad so Diana and I gave it a face lift. We also added a few eye bolts so it can double as a hammock stand. Ths before and after show the addition of a LOT of pea gravel.

The Molt

2008-05-23T11:04:00.002-04:00

It's May 23rd and I can't believe how quickly Rufus is molting. He only has two tail feathers to drop and half his back is already in. He has remained very tame, flipping his head at me when I walk in the room. He and I are dreaming of snipe and hoping for a few tropical storms to flood the fields.

1st Mate

2008-05-11T19:22:00.004-04:00

We took Duncan on his first fishing trip today. It took him a while to get used to moving around on the boat and naturally he went for quite a few swims. It didn't take him long to figure out how to get back up on the boat.

We're planning to take him to the Keys with us in June, judging from his maiden voyage he'll do just fine on the boat.

While on the boat we thought he needed a good pirate name so while on the water he's now known as "Chug Bug".

Welcome

2008-05-02T15:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I've resisted creating a blog for quite a few years now. I mainly feared that I wouldn't have the time to keep up with it or that I wouldn't have anything interesting to say.

But, with many of the recent activities within the falconry community and in my life I thought it was time to give this a shot.