Doc, Snipe #3

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

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

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

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.

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????

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

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.