I should re-name my bird Crash after today!
I got in touch with Rudy's other apprentice, Tom Norris. We decided to meet up and hunt our birds together this morning. He has a small female redtail named Rose. He's had her a few months longer than I've had Musket.
We decided to meet up at my office since it is in a Wildlife Management Area and I've seen squirrels frequently outside. Right when we got there we could hear squirrels barking in the trees. He got his bird out and we headed out to the woods to see if we could track them down. As soon as we got near the trees, the squirrels went quiet. We put Rose up in a tree to see if she could see them better than us from the ground, but Rose was not very responsive; Tom said that she was a little high in weight. Well, she went up into a tree and followed us fairly well at first, but then, got rather sluggish and decided that she was pretty happy up in that tree. We got her to follow us through most of the pines and found a nice oak hammock where we could hear some more squirrels barking. But we could just not get Rose to come down to where we were. Eventually after calling her for 20 minutes or so, Tom decided to lure her down and end her hunt.
Then it was MY TURN! We got Musket and headed back to where we had heard the squirrels barking. Tom brought his bird with us, which I was at first unsure about, but Musket and Rose did not seem to mind eachother's company. I put her up in a nice oak tree and started to work my way through the brush. Musket followed faithfully keeping a close eye on me the whole time. At one point in the hunt, Hazen (aka eagle-eye) spotted a squirrel in a tree just as it flattened itself along a branch. He kept his eye on it and I coaxed Musket to where we were. I did have to tease her with the lure once, but after that, she was on me! When I'd blow the whistle, she'd try to come down to me or come to a branch over my head. She never hesitated to crash through the small branches in her flight, it was pretty fun to watch. All this was new for me since before, she's been happy to stay up in a tree once she's there, usually. I had her working all around this squirrel. We tried to get it to move by throwing sticks at it, but it knew that in order to survive, it needed to say perfectly still. After about 20 minutes working Musket around this tree, she finally saw the squirrel and took off for him. She grabbed the branch where he was huddling and footed it hard, just missing him. He shot off like a rocket and she was in hot pursuit. She lost her balance and landed in another tree facing away from the squirrel just has he took a desperate dive out of the top of a 50 foot oak tree. She didnt see the dive. But she heard the scuffle and saw the squirrel scurrying up the tree. She headed right for him and followed where he went. She lost sight of him eventually but jumped into a squirrel nest and flushed him out again. I thought she had him then, but he managed to escape again and flattened himself against a limb. Hazen said that he could see the squirrel and the bird in the same view from his binoculars, but she didn't see him. We tried in vain to get the squirrel to move so she would try for it again. Eventually I blew the whistle at her and she made over to me, but the squirrel still didnt move. I tried one more time to get her to go back to that tree to go after him, but she was intent on me and eventually made her own way back to my fist. At that point we were done. I called it quits for the day because she wasn't trying anymore, but it was an exciting chase anyway.
So, we still have no wild game. We've had two exciting chases this week though, and I'm encouraged to see her trying for squirrels so hard. Maybe we'll get the next one!
We decided to meet up at my office since it is in a Wildlife Management Area and I've seen squirrels frequently outside. Right when we got there we could hear squirrels barking in the trees. He got his bird out and we headed out to the woods to see if we could track them down. As soon as we got near the trees, the squirrels went quiet. We put Rose up in a tree to see if she could see them better than us from the ground, but Rose was not very responsive; Tom said that she was a little high in weight. Well, she went up into a tree and followed us fairly well at first, but then, got rather sluggish and decided that she was pretty happy up in that tree. We got her to follow us through most of the pines and found a nice oak hammock where we could hear some more squirrels barking. But we could just not get Rose to come down to where we were. Eventually after calling her for 20 minutes or so, Tom decided to lure her down and end her hunt.
Then it was MY TURN! We got Musket and headed back to where we had heard the squirrels barking. Tom brought his bird with us, which I was at first unsure about, but Musket and Rose did not seem to mind eachother's company. I put her up in a nice oak tree and started to work my way through the brush. Musket followed faithfully keeping a close eye on me the whole time. At one point in the hunt, Hazen (aka eagle-eye) spotted a squirrel in a tree just as it flattened itself along a branch. He kept his eye on it and I coaxed Musket to where we were. I did have to tease her with the lure once, but after that, she was on me! When I'd blow the whistle, she'd try to come down to me or come to a branch over my head. She never hesitated to crash through the small branches in her flight, it was pretty fun to watch. All this was new for me since before, she's been happy to stay up in a tree once she's there, usually. I had her working all around this squirrel. We tried to get it to move by throwing sticks at it, but it knew that in order to survive, it needed to say perfectly still. After about 20 minutes working Musket around this tree, she finally saw the squirrel and took off for him. She grabbed the branch where he was huddling and footed it hard, just missing him. He shot off like a rocket and she was in hot pursuit. She lost her balance and landed in another tree facing away from the squirrel just has he took a desperate dive out of the top of a 50 foot oak tree. She didnt see the dive. But she heard the scuffle and saw the squirrel scurrying up the tree. She headed right for him and followed where he went. She lost sight of him eventually but jumped into a squirrel nest and flushed him out again. I thought she had him then, but he managed to escape again and flattened himself against a limb. Hazen said that he could see the squirrel and the bird in the same view from his binoculars, but she didn't see him. We tried in vain to get the squirrel to move so she would try for it again. Eventually I blew the whistle at her and she made over to me, but the squirrel still didnt move. I tried one more time to get her to go back to that tree to go after him, but she was intent on me and eventually made her own way back to my fist. At that point we were done. I called it quits for the day because she wasn't trying anymore, but it was an exciting chase anyway.
So, we still have no wild game. We've had two exciting chases this week though, and I'm encouraged to see her trying for squirrels so hard. Maybe we'll get the next one!
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