Opening Day Fading Away

Opening of the duck season is an exciting time for a longwinger in Oklahoma.  Ducks are the main quarry of falcon flying falconers in the Sooner State, and when the season opens and there are actually ducks on the ponds, all the better!

The first duck flight of the year couldn't have been better.  Osprey, "Oz" for short, is just beginning her second season, coming off an ok first season for a young bird.  The 2nd and 3rd seasons are the time to shine.  We found a group of Gadwalls on a small pond and off she went.  After a long run out, Oz came back with a good pitch over the water and I flushed.  She poured on a stoop over the group of ducks, cutting them off from the pond.  They were not going down easy and they turned into the wind with the falcon in hot pursuit.  I watched as she chased them over a line of trees and out of sight.  Her telemetry signal told me that she was coming back, though, and when I finally saw her she was way up.  I headed back to the pond, and sure enough one duck remained.  He was flushed and Oz promptly smacked it to the ground 40 yards from the pond.  Very good start to the new season.

The next day the season opened in my local waterfowl zone (it was open earlier to the west of us) and went to my local hotspot pond to find another group of Gads.  Hoping to start the year two for two, Oz was cast off to start her climb.  Today she was not nearly as high as the day before but still a respectable pitch.  When the ducks were flushed she put on a half-hearted stoop toward the flock.  This was too much for one of the ducks, though, and it separated from the group and high tailed it back to the pond.  Oz broke after the loner curving to the right and the duck hooked in from the left, leading to the head on collision right over the middle of the pond.  The duck splashed down seeming unharmed as it spend the next few minutes dodging as splashing the falcon as she fruitlessly buzzed it on the water.  After several minutes of this the bird was soaked and I called her to the lure on the side of the pond.  As she ate on my fist, the duck casually swam to the middle of the pond and suddenly died.  

Right square in the middle of the damn pond.  Of course there was no wind whatsoever on this day and there is floated, unmoving.  Hoping that if I gave it some time it would drift over to the bank; I went off to fly the Prairie Falcon that I've been rehabbing to the lure.  About forty minutes later I returned to the pond only to find the duck floating in the exact same place.  By this time the air temperature had warmed up to a balmy 46 degrees and I'm not one to waste game so I decided I would "wade" out there and get it.  I've never been in this pond before, but I always assumed that it was one of the shallower ponds around.  I waded out about 4 or 5 steps then the bottom dropped out and I was swimming.  It's amazing how hard it is to breath in cold water.....

Eventually I retrieved the duck, and some how had the forethought to record this stupidity.  (At least my family would have known what happened to me if I had froze to death).  After the swim I slogged my way back to the truck where my hands and legs promptly cramped up to the point that I could not open them for several minutes.  At this point I realized that a cold swim alone was not the best idea I've ever had.  Oh and "where was the dog," you ask?  First time I had left her home in the month......

Second day of hawking, 2 for 2, but the downward slide had begun.

Upon reviewing my phone pictures I thought I had snagged a picture of a UFO in the sky.  But upon closer examination.....

I just had the picture upside down and it was the duck.  Clearly shows how calm the wind and water were that day.

46 degrees! Good thing I was wearing my polar bear boxers. (no I dont sag my pants, boxers just riding up from running around the field)

Flight 1, great, flight 2, so-so but everything was ok, flight 3, well, no so great...

The cold, frosty, morning held the promise of a great flight but it was not to be.  After meeting up with Daniel, we quickly found a slip and got Oz in the air.  She took a quick initial flight over the ducks then turned to the west for an out run.  All appeared to be going well and setting up for a great flight.  Out in the range of binoculars only we observed her circling and not coming back.  It seemed that she had found another group of ducks that she liked better and was not coming back over.  After a few minutes we lost sight of her but still had a good telemetry signal.  I tried calling her back to the lure and at first this seemed like it was working and the signal got stronger for a time, but then again changed and quickly faded on all but the far setting on the receiver.  So we hopped in the truck and after a few minutes had her location narrowed down.  I swung the lure and she quickly appeared.  

Upon getting her back on the glove I noticed that she had a broken primary.  The shaft was crushed about 4" from the tip.  I know that she was in perfect feather when she left the fist initially so something had obviously happened to her, and the fact that the feather was crushed was kind of peculiar as well.  Upon closer inspection she had a secondary broken in the same fashion on the other side, and a small amount of blood under her wing.

After I got her home got the feathers imped and cleaned up her wound.  Oddly it was only about 3/16" long and looked like a perfect cut, almost like it could have been done with a scalpel.  Very strange....I had suspected that she has collided with a fence, but when I've seen those injuries before, the skin is generally ripped and jagged, not a clean cut.

My other thought is she may have caught a Cormorant.  We saw several of them flying near her when we were watching though the binos.  The long neck and fish catching beak on those birds could have easily smashed the feather shafts with a bite and the claws on the end of their webbed toes may have been what caused the small cut under the wing.  I've never caught a Cormorant before so I don't fully know what they are capable of, but I have caught a Common Merganser in the past, which are similar to a Cormorant  The Merganser flipped on its back when taken to the ground and proceeded to kick like mad in order knock the falcon off of it.  I could see this same being true of the much larger Cormorant.  Ultimately, only the falcon knows what happened.  Luckily it seems that she'll be alright after a few days rest to heal.

Since I'll be out of the field for the next few days I decided it was time to release the Prairie Falcon that I have helped to rehab from a car collision that resulted in a broken furcula.  He has made a full recovery and has been flying really well to the kite and lure.  Today I cast him off into 25 mph winds and he instantly took a couple of hundred foot pitch above me.  I tossed him a farewell quail and off he went to live on his own once again.

-RVZ

Final Duck of 2012-2013

Had a real nice flight from a good pitch to catch is hen Ringneck Duck.  Turned out to be the last duck for me this season.  

The falconry gods have told me its time to wrap things up with my new hybrid this year.  The final flight for her started with a Prairie Falcon harassing her not 10 seconds after leaving the fist, after screwing around with that little annoyance, Osprey came back over the pond and spent another good 10 mins trying to take a duck off the water.  She finally gave up on that idea and headed off, presumably to get some pitch, but as soon as she was out of sight to the ducks, they decided to make a break for it.  She turned and was hot to chase them.  They easily out distanced her with their head start and made it to the safety of another pond a 1/4 mile away.  Here I watched her vulture around that pond, trying to decide which duck she would take off the water.  I had enough at this point and pulled out the lure to call her down.  Upon getting her back on the fist I realize that one of her transmitters is missing.  I'm not too worried about this at first, figuring that I could just track it down.  Only problem was I got no signal in any direction.  I would say that the bird was never further than 1/2 mile from me at any given time, so I should have had a strong signal.  The only thing that I can figure is that the transmitter got knocked off or torn off, above the pond and sunk to the deepest part.  I've found transmitters under water before (see post from 2010), but this time I go nothing as far as signal goes.  

I'm out $200 bucks, had a worthless flight, but I did get my bird back.  I'd have rather ended on a good note with a great flight this season, but in my experience you push your luck too much and it always ends badly.  So here's to next year's waterfowl season.....

-RVZ

High Five

High Five, or four in this case.  Also the 4th duck caught

Great day to fly a falcon.  About 14 degrees and a baby blue sky with ducks on the pond.  Osprey took her sweet time leaving the glove this morning, but when she did, she went.  I watched her run out to the north in my binoculars and saw her begin her turn back.  I took my eyes off of her and headed down below the dam to get ready for the flush.  With my eyes on the sky I waited for her to come over in position.  She is not much for ringing.  Usually a long run out and then she comes back high.  I waited and waited but couldn't see her.  After about 6 or 7 minutes I decided that she had probably flown off to check out something else in the world.  I pulled out my receiver and clicked it on.  The signal was banging on near!  So back to the binoculars, and sure enough there she was dead over head and just barely visible to the naked eye.  Awesome!  "This is the pitch I've been waiting for."  

I flushed the ducks and.... nothing.  She wasn't stooping.  Several seconds went by before she finally committed. Almost a 90 degree stoop down and WHAP!  Only she didn't hit it solid.  It looked like she just clipped the outside of the wing.  The duck wobbled but didn't go down.  Osprey righted herself and began her pursuit.  The duck headed to the nearest stand of trees and the falcon when right in after her.  I heard a crash and bells, so I hurried my way on over.

Where's the falcon in this picture?

I had to use my receiver again but quickly found her in a dry creek bottom under a branch.  After a non-graceful trade off, she contently ate on the lure, and I got a chance to look over the Gadwall.  What I thought was a missed meaningful hit on the stoop, was actually a deep gash in the breast of the duck.  The duck probably tried to dodge to the side and the falcon got just enough foot on it to do the job.  That probably explains why the duck flew into the trees instead of around or over them.  

I've got to do a talk for the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission tomorrow so Osprey will get a well deserved day off.

She began her rest before we even left the field.

I also flew the Merlin free for the first time today too.  It went off without a hitch.  A great day on the prairie....

-RVZ  

Long Way From Home

Duck season in our part of the state is now open and I had planned on holding off from starting my duck hawking til after Thanksgiving.   Things change however, and a friend of mine invited me along to go hawking and take out a land owner and his son.

I was reluctant at first but eventually gave in (got to at some point anyway).  Having only one flight under her belt without the kite and only being served twice, I was not expecting much.

We found a real nice small pond with 10 or so ducks on it, "here goes nothing," and she was on the wing.  The falcon made a small circle around the pond and me about 100' off the ground.  Her wing beat indicated that she was not really sure what was going on.  She kept on flying though, and eventually made a run out for the horizon.  After a few minutes her wing beat changed and she really started to climb.  Twice she started to come over and then turned and made another wide ring into the sky.  On the third time I decided to go ahead and flush with her wide.  A quick yell and the ducks were heading out.

The wide flush proved to be too much of an advantage for the ducks.  The falcon tried her hardest to close the gap and just as she did the ducks put into the next pond a 1/2 a mile or so down the way.  We could see her last minute stoop through our binoculars, then a pitch up, then off and away.  We followed her telemetry signal as she made her way north, then northwest, then west, then southwest, but she was out of binocular range.   Several times we thought about getting in the truck and heading her way.  Just as I was about to head toward the vehicle the signal started getting stronger and she was coming back.  Thirty seconds later I could see her humming along toward me ready to knock the lure out.  All in all, she was in there air for maybe 15 minutes before she came back.

This flight was not a loss in my book.  She learned to come over me if she wants a chance at catching a something, also to go even higher to have the angle, ducks do leave the water, and there is an easy way to still get fed if I just stay in the vicinity of that tall skinny guy.  Off to a good start, really too early in her training to expect anything more.

-RVZ

Best Pics of 2011-2012 in No Particular Order....

-RVZ & -D-

Tale of Two Transmitters

Unfortunately, as posted in the last post, Daniel's Hybrid got hit by a car after a fly-off.  Very unfortunate; that bird was coming along nicely.  What Dan didn't write about was the search leading up to our calamitous find.

About 9:00am I got a call from Dan that his bird had flown off from the kite, he had a good signal but the bird had gone pretty far and he "wouldn't mind" a little help.  So I grabbed my receiver and jumped in the truck.  I headed down the highway until I saw Dan on the side of the road with Yagi in hand.  We both had a strong signal coming from his Marshall Powermax transmitter, on the far setting, but it was a strong signal.  Just as we were about to get into the truck and continue the chase, the signal disappeared.  Very strange.....  In my experience this can often mean the bird went to the ground behind a large hill or in a valley.  To play it safe though, Daniel took off in the direction we last had signal and I started circling the section roads to see if one of us could regain audio connection to the bird.  After about 1 hour of searching, Dan had made it pretty far away and I had checked about every square inch of the nearby hills and valleys finding nothing.  I had to head back up to work and get a few things done so I had to check out, leaving Dan to continue the search on his own for a while.  

It still was bugging me that we had such a good signal and then it was gone in an instant.  Sure maybe the battery died, but it was a new battery, or maybe the antenna fell off, but it was glued on.  My suggestion to Dan was to go back to where we had our last signal, walk out to the biggest hill and try his backup transmitter, a Merlin Systems Mini-FMV, that was tail-mounted on the bird.

About an hour later I get a call back from Dan, that he did indeed get a signal from the tallest hill in the area, but it was faint on the furthest setting on his receiver.  So I headed back his way and the chase was back on.

We found the going down the hill only half way caused the signal to disappear.  So the bird was nearby and behind the terrain or he was still quite far away.  After exhausting our ground search in the proximity we decided to get back in a vehicle and head toward the signal again.

For several miles we got nothing.  As we were driving down the road I saw a tall feed hopper with a ladder down the side.  Last year when my friend Jay lost his bird, the only place we could get a signal initially was on top of a feed hopper such as this.  Couldn't hurt to try it again.  So I hauled my receiver to the top and tried my luck again.  Sure enough, there was the signal, but still weak.  Again we tried to get a better reception on foot but the bird was still pretty far away.

About this time our friend Scott also met up with us to help with the chase.  Encouraged that we still had a signal we kept moving in the direction that we had a beep.  More miles ticked off the odometer before we finally got a faint signal from the side of the road, a big improvement from the weak signals from high places.  As we followed the beep it was getting stronger and stronger until, BOOM.  Our hopes of finding the bird alive were squelched.  There in the road was the bird, a faint trail of feathers blowing across the road....

Upon closer inspection the Marshall Powermax transmitter was still functioning, but the antenna was broken inside the sheath.  We figure that we lost our initial strong signal when the bird was struck by the vehicle, breaking the antenna.  Luckily (term used strangely here) the Merlin Systems Mini-FMV was still intact and it lead us on a path that was well over 5 miles, with far less than ideal conditions for tracking.  I was thoroughly impressed that we could track a signal that far on a Mini-FMV, especially considering it was laying in the road, many miles and many hills away from where we started.

This is not an advertisement for either of these companies since it was a bit of an extreme set of circumstances.  I will continue to use a Powermax on my big longwings, but I definitely have a new found respect for the little guy.

Mini-FMV: Miniature Falconry Transmitter

Weight - 4.0 grams with batteries Size - 1" (26mm) X 0.30" (8mm) Battery Size - Two #377 silver oxide Operating Life - 7 days Range - Field tested at 15 miles direct-line-of-sight under ideal conditions

www.merlin-systems.com

PowerMax Transmitter

HIGH POWER
The PowerMax has about double the range and distance of the RT+. Like any transmitter, the range 

varies with terrain, but tests have given distances of 10 to 80 miles in the open deserts of the 

western United States.
This makes it the right choice for your primary transmitter used to track down a bird in adverse 

situations.

Our engineers also implemented a unique design into the circuit that maintains high power

 levels even

 as the battery drains, or as the temperature drops and the battery current follows suit. 

You can count on the PowerMax signal all the way through the life of the battery.
Signal range will depend on the height of the transmitter, the height of the receiver as 

well as the type of terrain and obstructions.

www.marshall-radio.com

-RVZ