Merlin Release

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.