Trapping My First Hawk!

It must be said that I am a good girl. One month before I received my permit and a week before the opening of the second trapping season, I received a call from my work that a hawk was stuck in a building. It had been there for 5 days, and they needed help to get it out. I went out and successfully caught the bird that had flown through a window and been stuck in a small chamber since. (They thought some kid had thrown a ball through the window). The bird was a gorgeous, huge immature female red-tail, just what I would be looking for in a month. Sigh. I let her go and tried not to think of how cool it could have been to have taken her home especially later when it was coming down to the wire and I was wondering if I'd even get a bird this season.

It was three days before the end of the trapping season. Permit freshly in hand, I begged the day off work knowing that the weather forecast for the two days after looked grim. I woke up early and met my sponsor Rudy. We drove up to a place where Rudy had trapped red-tails before. I was relying on his experience because I rarely see red-tails, and when I do, they are usually adults. It was a foggy morning and the first bird we ran across was a dead first year red-tail in the road. My sponsor laughed and said, "that was your bird!" I collected it anyhow hoping that we'd catch a live one and I'd be able to use the feathers off of this one in case we broke some in trapping the live one. More on that later

We arrived to the place where Rudy thought there would be a lot of red-tails, and he was right, I’d never seen so many in one place, and I look… believe me! The first one we saw was a big immature female, but she flushed the wrong direction and wasn't interested in our gerbils. The second bird we saw was sitting on a power pole. Rudy caught sight of her first. We got close to her and threw his trap out of the car. We headed down the road a ways while we waited and then spotted two other birds. Before we could get turned around however, the bird on the power pole came down to the trap, was that ever thrilling to watch! We pulled off and watched her foot the trap again and again for almost 5 minutes (those poor gerbils!). She just wasn't getting caught. Finally she started to jerk her foot erratically. We figured she had finally caught a loop. Thinking this was our chance we moved in and before we could reach her, she took off, knocking the trap over in the process.

Luckily, she landed nearby in a tree; she was keen on those gerbils. So, since she had fouled up (no pun intended) the other trap, I threw mine out there. I had spent about 8 hours building and setting loops on this trap, it had probably close to 150 loops on there. We drove down the road again and put Rudy's trap out on another young bird and by the time we turned around our first bird had nailed my trap! It was incredible! I grabbed a towel and ran over to her to restrain her... oh she was caught really good! She had at least 8 loops around her feet, she wasn’t going anywhere! We collected her, hooded her wrapped her in a towel and took her home!

Preparing for the Hawk

To become a Falconer, one must go through a series of steps. The major and most difficult step is finding a sponsor who is willing to apprentice you for two long years as you learn to train and hunt a bird of prey. I was lucky. I found Rudy by chance. The one task that was outside of my control was behind me, now it was up to my skill and ingenuity, or so I thought.

Step 2. Take a Test.

Every state requires that would-be apprentice falconers take a written test of which they must pass with a score of 80% or better. Rudy told me that the test was not difficult, they just want to be sure you won’t kill the bird if you get one. Well, Rudy is right about most things, but that test was HARD! I pride myself on knowing by birds. I can accurately identify a hawk on the wing at 300 yards without binoculars driving in a car at 70mph thanks to my years of training. But this test required more of me than just basic knowledge of hawks and natural history. It was chalk full of questions related to disease, falconry terms, training, and identification. I passed, with an 83%. A disappointing number, and a blow to my ego for sure, but passing.

Step 3. Building the Mew.

I had passed my test (luckily), but now I had to rely on my limited carpentry skills to build an enclosure to house my future bird. I have a wonderful family who visited for the Thanksgiving holiday. They helped us demolish an old play set to convert it into a new hawk cage. We settled on an 8ft wide, 12ft long, 8ft high design that was a combination of a Mew (hawk house) and a weathering area (hawk tie-out yard). It took two long months of work, favors pulled in from friends and family, and a trip to the emergency room, but in early January, the Mew, my masterpiece, was finished. (Since this picture, we've added doors and walls to the antechamber.)

Step 4. Be Patient!

I have learned the essence of patience in waiting for my falconry permit. When trapping a hawk in Florida, there are two six week seasons that you area allowed to trap. I had missed the first (Sept-early Oct) and the second ended on January 12th. I had started the process of taking my test in early November hoping that the permit could be issued to me by the end of December so I could trap my bird after the Christmas Break. I took my test, secured my sponsor, built my mew, pulled together all the equipment I’d need, had a law enforcement officer come by and inspect my facilities, and now I had to wait… and wait… and wait. Well, it took two months of begging my own agency before they finally mailed my permit on to the Feds. The gal who issues the permits from the Feds processed my permit and faxed it to me the same day she received it. By the time I finally had my permit in hand, it was January 9th, I had 3 days to locate and trap a bird or I would be out of luck until the fall. The forecast was for rain. Sigh.

Next post… Step 5, trapping my first hawk!

How I Met Rudy

I guess since I am starting this Blog about my falconry experiences and this may go beyond just what Musket and I do together, I’ll start from the beginning. Summer of 2007, I met my sponsor, a seasoned falconer named Rudy Howell. A good friend of mine, Jim Garrison, introduced us one day when we were down at the FWC regional office. Rudy was there working on painting something and he and Jim struck up a conversation. Rudy was talking about his last bird, a merlin (small falcon), that he caught from the wild and let go because frostbite had gotten to its toes and they were turning black and falling off. That instantly caught my attention. I dropped what I was doing and listened in.

For those of you who don’t know, I have been interested in Falconry since my early years of college. I took all the classes UC Davis had to offer about birds of prey, participated in road surveys, and volunteered at the campus Raptor Rehabilitation Center cleaning cages, handling sick birds, and participating in outreach events with resident birds. It was always so fun to strap this powerful amazing bird to your fist and talk to people about it. I loved it! I wanted to be a falconer to develop my own bond with one of these powerful animals, but I didn’t have the time, money, or ability to go out and actually kill things having been a vegetarian at the time.

Here I was almost 10 years later, having lived in North Florida for 3 years, working check stations, gutting deer, shooting squirrels, dealing with nuisance wildlife. I had long given up my vegetarian ways. At last I felt a full understanding of where meat came from and, having participated in hunting activities, could finally see myself actually hunting my own meat. I felt that I had the right to eat it now. (I know that doesn’t make sense to most people, but that is how I feel about it.) So, I was faced with this falconer, who seemed really friendly and knowledgeable, so I asked him if he’d be willing to take on an apprentice, and he looked at me surprised and said, “well sure!”

And that was the beginning of my relationship with Rudy Howell, my sponsor, teacher, and mentor in this endeavor.

The Woes of the Molt!

Okay,

I've decided to start this blog so my family and friends can see all the fun I'm having with my red-tailed hawk Musket. After hunting three times last season (she was a late capture, but more on that later) we are in the off season. She is spending her days molting (loosing her old worn out feathers and growing new ones) and eating like a pig. She has lost her fear of me, but now has decided that she just has to sit and look pretty to get her meal, no performing necessary. I let her have a few stress-free months off without expecting much of her, except that she not attack me when I bring her her daily meal, but now I'm asking her to eat off my glove again, no pressure, just take the food off my glove and eat it. I've been doing this for a week now and she has gone from unapproachable to at least tolerating my hand near her food again. She'll make a quick grab for the food off my glove with her foot and then casually eat it at her leisure, not giving me the time of day. It's enough for now, but I can't wait to start working with her again!

We got a quota to hunt the archery season at Camp Blanding this year. She still has most of her tail to molt in and does not seem to be in any hurry to do it, so I don't know how prepared we will be for that weekend at the end of September, but the goal is to be hunting by the 25th of September, so wish me luck!

Next post I'm going to start from the beginning with this bird, for my own benefit so when I re-train her to hunt I can remember the steps we took to get there the first time, and so you all can see just how fun it is!