Hawking Posse

On Saturday January 8th I got to get in some hawking with my former sponsor, Dave, and was able to show falconry to a couple of new friends.  I have Kaylynn, pictured above, to thank for these pictures.  Dave was flying Patti, his passage RT hawk.  I flew Bailey later in a different field, but didn't get a picture of the both of us with our birds.

From left to right is first Christina, a young lady I have known for several years, who wants to get into falconry as soon as her life will allow her.  She currently is finishing up her education with massage therapy . . . so I will know where to go and who to send people to very soon when they need to get that stress and muscle strain worked out.  Next is me . . . complete with my cold weather hawking gear patched up with duct tape!  I'm trying to get one last year out of it before I buy new stuff.  It was a pretty cold day (single digits with a light breeze, but thankfully sunny) requiring the heavy duty stuff.  Then there is Dave.  On the far right is a young man from my current workplace.  Justin is very interested in falconry, and may possibly become my first apprentice.  This was his second opportunity to go out hawking with me, and I think he is thoroughly hooked.  He was the best dressed of all of us!

My hawking posse met up with me over some coffee and bagels as we awaited for Dave to arrive.  After a bagel and some coffee of his own, we left to go to a field that I've not visited for two years to first fly Patti.  We had a tough walk at times, but much better than some of the fields I've been working lately.  Patti got several flushes but just didn't manage to connect with any of the bunnies.  Dave told me he has been mostly flying her in the afternoons, so she may have been a little confused by this morning flying.  After a couple hours Kaylynn had to leave, so we relocated to a different field.  I then flew Bailey, who also got a couple of flushes, but also did not catch anything.  The final move was to the tiny field I've flown multiple time to try for that bunny that keeps getting away.  We didn't see it at all this time.  So . . . we were skunked that day . . . but it was a good day out letting our birds exercise, and ourselves too.

Many, if not all, of these people are going to try to make it to the Wisconsin Falconers Meet which is the first weekend of February.  I'm looking forward to it!