SUCCESS!

[zolac_no_miko]

NAPOLEON CAUGHT A SHREW! His second ever vertebrate catch! YAAAAAAAY!

He was so good, too! He performed beautifully in the face of a whole pile of new situations: new location, new people, more people than he's hunted with before, new hunting style. He started on the fist while we flipped over boards and sheet metal, and he figured out pretty quick what was going on. When we finally flipped a board with a nest full of mice, we got carried away with the yelling and Poly freaked out and flew away in the other direction and into a tree and wouldn't come down again. After he calmed down a bit (and made a try at one of the escaped mice), shichahn started flipping boards again, and again he clued in immediately, following along from his treetop like a hawk hunting bunnies. ...Napoleon, I'm sorry, I will never call you dumb again. (Ok, that's a lie, I probably will.) shichahn exposed a shrew and he dropped like a guided missile. I heard the impact from thirty yards away. He flew with it into a tree, but it was a low branch and he went right back to the glove without too much trouble at all. HE'S SUCH A GOOD BOY. <3

shichahn hooded him and we had a bit of fun trying to catch rodents by hand. shichahn's sponsor Ben the Kestrel did succeed in catching a vole, and we all succeeded in getting our hands and knees muddy.

After a spot of lunch we had a very successful afternoon with the bunny hawkers. Parker the redtail hawk caught a packrat in a tree (to the chagrin of his falconer, who had trouble getting him down again), and Ruby, another redtail, caught a garter snake. True to form, our favorite mass murderer, Harlot the goshawk, ended the lives of four cottontail rabbits. <3 <3 <3

It was a gorgeous day, and I spent a fair amount of it scrambling through the underbrush and getting my skin ripped apart by blackberry brambles, and I am now very tired and very happy. I can't think of any way I could have spent my Saturday more enjoyably.

Comments

[gogoangelgunboy.livejournal.com]

that sounds about as awesome as anything i can imagine. and harlot is a GREAT name for a goshawk. though not as good as parker for a red-tail *laughing*

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha ohmigod I didn't even think about that! I got distracted by Spiderman, because one of the girls I was talking to was remembering the hawk's name by thinking of Peter Parker. ...Ohmigod, if Parker were a raptor, he would totally be a redtail!

Chris and Sabrina are married and both falconers, and Harlot is Chris' bird... she got her name because she's the "other woman". Sometimes Chris comes home and kisses his wife, and sometimes he ignores her and goes straight out back to the mews. XDD ...She really is a rock star, though, truly an amazing bird. shichahn, look_alive, regonym, and I are the unofficial Harlot Fan Club. We loved her at first sight, even though she only caught one jackrabbit that first time we went out with her, and we didn't even get to see the kill. She's just... she's so gorgeous and scary-looking. Goshawks are just awesome like that. But pretty much every time she goes out hunting, she murders several jacks or bunnies in quick succession. She always puts all the other birds to shame at the meets. She's extremely competent, and she's got a great temperament, not aggressive toward her falconer or even to strangers. I freaking love that bird.

...And yes, it is about as awesome as anything you can imagine!

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

Fierce hunters, all! \0/


My cat Smokey is a badass hunter. When we lived in a more rural area, he was always bringing me prey. Things I didn't want, sure-but prey! We never had to worry about snakes or rats.

He gets very mad now, because he has to watch from his window while other cats come stare in at him. Well, I'd be pissed, too. 0.0

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Poor kitty! I feel bad that we live in an unsafe area for our cat to be outside... I know Z must really really really want to kill things! All she gets in our apartment is bugs. But she's great at catching flies!

[littlemissgriff.livejournal.com]

I don't know what it is about animal-on-animal massacre, but while I can't imagine the idea of people hurting animals in the name of sport, when it's just one fluffy critter disemboweling another, it's just cute.

I think this has to do with the fact my pitbull bites mice in half so he can share with his little boston sister. I mean, seriously, HOW SWEET IS THAT?

I'm glad everyone was victorious on their day out! It sounds like a blast.

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm glad you agree! I'm not, like, violently opposed to hunting with a gun or bow, but... it really does not interest me at all, as a sport. Just... no. Falconry, though... there's something fantastic about seeing these beautiful, deadly animals do what they do best, what they would be doing on their own in the wild, anyway... and seeing the relationship between falcon and falconer is a lovely thing, too. They really love and care for their birds. And it's a great feeling being a part of this multi-species hunting team, especially when bunny hawking with a gos or redtail or Harris... people and dogs moving through the underbrush, flushing game, while the hawk follows along, moving from treetop to treetop with us, watching... and then when a rabbit gets scared and runs, chasing it down like a fighter jet. Or to see a falcon dive out of the sky at a duck or a pigeon... it's poetry. And most of the game goes to feeding the bird. The sport is about love for your bird, training it well, forming a partnership, and the proud feeling you get when they hunt well.

Hahaha, aaaww, that is way sweet! What a good big brother!

Well, I dunno that everyone at the meet was successful. I don't think the long-wingers caught any ducks, and Michelle's redtail got stage-fright and sat in a tree. But on the whole it was a good day for bunny hawkers (mostly Harlot, but she pretty much always kills everything)... and Napoleon the kestrel! :DD

[sirona-gs.livejournal.com]

That sounds just lovely! Lucky you, getting to canoodle with Nature! I miss doing that, NGL.

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Guh, ohmigod, it was, like, the antithesis to what I was doing on Friday... sitting at a computer screen for eight hours in a building with no windows. I hate my job. DD: It felt so nice to get sweaty and muddy and tired climbing through teasel and blackberries and rusty fences and soggy ditches, beating bushes with sticks and sprinting to the kill on a glorious, mostly-sunny-and-actually-almost-warm January Saturday.

[sirona-gs.livejournal.com]

♥

Lucky, lucky girl! /wistful sigh

[ava-jamison.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you had a great time!

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod, it was so much fun. I had a huge smile on my face all day. Nature + aerobic exercise + good people + happy dogs + gorgeous, deadly raptors = HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

[regonym.livejournal.com]

*wipes away a proud tear* Today a shrew, tomorrow THE UNIVERSE.

Also, WOOOO HARLOT WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Let's hope he doesn't kill the universe....

Oh! I forgot to mention! Oppurtunity knocked, so Sabrina has acquired Harlot's full-blooded sister, okay, her clutchmate. Because when Fate offers you something like that, you don't pass it up. Her name is, I believe, Hecate. She was at the meet, but Sabrina didn't fly her; she hasn't had her very long.

...This will not be a source of family rivalry between Chris and Sabrina, no, why would you think that? XD