Burns Falconry Meet

I have not attended many of the Oregon Falconers Club falconry meets in the last few years. I left that to Karen. I have felt that it is time for the newer generation to shape the club in their own image. I had my time, and I was content to let them run it as they wished. Karen is gone and the meet was in Burns Oregon only 100  miles from here, so it seemed a bit churlish to not attend. There are many things that I do not agree with, but that can be easily be attributed to the crankiness of advancing age- possibly? I  actually had a good time, and have the feeling that the new officers just might be on the right track. So I am glad that I took the time to go. My main bitch was that the officers did not include the membership in the day to day business of the club and it was becoming a bit to yuppie, (catered dinners, and unnecessary expense) Most of the membership are common dirt poor types, due to their chosen lifestyle of falconry. You can either be rich and famous or happy, but poor. Rarely both at the same time.

I arrived on Thursday, and having a dear friend as well, a lady friend within several blocks of each other, I had a leg up on every body else. I stayed at Connie's and went hawking with Pat Brewster. Since Hope has such a wide response weight, I starved her for a couple days, down to a lower weight that would give me a larger margin of weight gain so that she would be able to hunt all three days of the meet without shorting her on her kills. We started out at 940 grams, only 60 grams  (2 ounces) above her real flying weight, and ended up weighing 1148 when we finished. That is of course with her full crop at the next morning of the day after the meet. I would venture that most Raptors do not hunt well even two ounces above their normal flying weight. Hope is a champ even among her own species.

Pat and I hunted in a cast those three days and it was a lot of fun. That is the two birds were hunted together, and cooperatively. That increases the survival difficulty of the Jack Rabbits by a couple of hundred percent, as the Hawks soon learn to take advantage of the other Hawks "set ups". When one misses the other has a free shot that often will end in a catch by the other Hawk who has positioned herself to take advantage of the miss. I ended the three days of hunting with three Jack Rabbits in the bag for Hope. Pat I believe had two.

The one who caught the butt of the Jack is the one who actually caught the Jack,. (Hope)

The one on the head is the back up that keeps the first from getting taken on a ride.

Pat and I, sorting out the tangle and rewarding the victors.

The deer are moving in. I am seeing them in the yard and the creek. These are taking a nap by the creek.

The Moon rise

The Sunset.