Chenango Dave

Here's a few pics from our latest outings hunting with my Redtail hawk Moka. So far we're up to 48 rabbits for the season. Still have the whole month of March to hunt with her. Genny Light Pro Staff..lol.. Here's a couple videos from our outings. Take care Dave

I'm up to 46 with my redtail hawk so far but I still have the whole month of March to hunt yet.

And a bunch that didn't..haha.. My hawk Moka has turned out to be an absolutely amazing hunter. We're up to 35 rabbits for the season so far. This was one lucky bunny.. And some not so lucky Our first and only triple for the year so far.. A buddy of mines Harris Hawk took a liking to my truck Here he is hunting from a T perch. Still working on getting some good videos..That has turned out to be harder than I imagined it would. Take care Dave

Got out with the hawk, a couple buddies and the beagle dog Ziggy the other day. My hawk had a quite a few flights and crashes after the rabbits but my buddy Scott was having a hard time getting it on the camcorder. My hawk ended up ground pounding a rabbit not 3 feet from where he was standing. As you can tell by the audio he was pretty excited. I wish I had the camcorder on me- that would have made a great clip. And here was her catch for the day Hope to get some better vids in the near future. Take care Dave

Actually Predate I'll be hunting with Rick on Monday. Small world it is.

Thanks guys. Jeremy - I'm sure she would go after a cat if she seen one. I'm always cautious about taking her near houses just because of that. Nyslowhand - I'll hunt with her until the end of March. I'm still deciding if I'll let her go or intermew her and hunt with her again next year. If I get any good videos of her over the holidays I'll be sure to post them up. Merry Xmas everyone.

them fuzzies. I know a lot of you been interested in our adventures rabbit hunting with my hawk this year so here's a little update. Moka has been having an amazing year so far. We are up to 23 rabbits for the season with 4 doubles. Finally getting our first snow so it'll only get better from here on out. Here's a few pics from our latest outings Got a new Canon video camera, still working on getting some good vids of her in action. Here's a couple , hope to get some better ones on Xmas eve when we get out again. http://youtu.be/eiXYhE5fec4 Take care Dave

Got my first pics of this deer last winter after deer season. After having my cams out all summer this is the first good pic I got of this guy this year. Looks like he put on a few inches from last year. 2011 pic 2012 pic And a nice up and comer..Like to see what this guy would be next year. Take care Dave

Big bunny down...lol... Been exactly one month and one day since I trapped my hawk Moka. Been free flying her for about a week now. Tonight we connected with her first rabbit. She's getting the game down now. Our next task is to introduce her to my buddies beagle, hopefully she'll put up with him just like she does my lab... Keep tuned...haha Dave

How you can watch a property all summer long ( including trail cams) and never see a paticular deer and all of a sudden he just shows up. Tonight is the first time I've seen this deer, I have no idea where he has been all summer, but I do hope he hangs around.Glad I had my camera along tonight..lol.. And caught a couple sparring tonight as too. Take care Dave

And got my redtail hawk free flying in exactly 3 weeks from the day I trapped her. Now it's time to start beating the brush after some fuzzies. It'll be a lot better when we get rid of all these leaves. Take care DAve

A few photos from this past week.

What an amazing buck, good luck.

Well it's been almost two weeks and so far she has been a real sweetheart to work with. Started working her on the lure this morning. If things go good we should be free flying in another week or so. And a vid from this morning

Since trapping my redtail I haven't had much time to take many pics and get them edited. Here's a few from the past couple weeks. Momma still nursing a lil one Losing the summer coat... And finally got some hard horn... Take care Dave

I think Touchdown has your name all over him this year Wooly.

I have a whole falconry gallery on my pbase website in my signature if anyone would like to see more photos.

It's a female Redtail, she was just born this year. They don't get their red tail until their first moult.

Yeah that's kinda how it is. It's actually all weight management. The are like a fighter, you want to get them at their fighting weight (hunting weight). When they are too heavy they are fat and lazy and would just assume sit there and watch a rabbit go by. You get them to light and they are weak, you get the same results. Get them to their hunting wieght and it's game on. It does take a little time to determine what their hunting weight is. Just a matter of 20-40 grams can make all the difference in the world in how they react to you. In the spring time before letting them go - you feed them as much as they can eat for a couple weeks. When they get fattend up like that they turn wild just like the day you caught them. You could walk in the mews and their hackels will go up and wings stretch right out. That's when you can tell they are ready to be cut loose. You could try and call them back to you but they wouldn't even give you a second look. The whole process is actually quite a learning experience.

They already know how to hunt - I just train them to let me help them hunt. I'll beat the brush to get rabbits to flush and the hawk will crash after them. They have some amazing flights after game. When they do catch game it's as simple as trading off the game to the birds the lure if you would like the game for yourself. There is a lot of work and paper work you have to go thru to get to the point where you can trap and train a hawk or falcon. It's federally lisenced and state lisenced. You can only keep a passage bird, meaning one that was born that year. They are very intelligent creatues, it only takes 3 to 4 weeks to train one. I could keep this bird if I wanted to but it's just as easy to let it go and train a new one the following year. That way you don't have to feed it all year long and if you go on vacation, someone has to feed it that knows how to. There's a lot of work involved in training and keeping a bird. That's why it is so regulated. You have to go thru a 2 year apprenticeship under the supervision of a General or Master falconer. But hunting with them absoltuely amazing and is something few people ever get to see up close and personal. Here's a few pics from previous years outings..

I know some of you guys were into my falcony threads last year, here's the beginning of a new season. Saturday September 1'st was the opening day of falconers trapping season. I had my heart set on a big ole fat footed female this year. The very first hawk we trapped was just that. A good size female with huge feet. This ones feet are at least half the size bigger than the last 2 birds I've had. This will be the first year I've kept one this early in the season. So far she has been just amazing. She started eating off the glove the first night. She just started hopping to the glove in the house on Monday. She started starts flying across the room on Tuesday,now it's time to take her outside and start flying her on a creance line. I hope to have her all trained and hunting with her the first week of October. Meet Lamoka - or Moka for short. Her back side This is right after trapping her. And here she was Sunday morning. You don't want to be on the wrong end of these things... Training pics to follow.. Take care Dave

Some recent pics I've got of this guy on 3 different cameras this past week. Hopefully he sticks around until October.

Yeah Wooly it flashes in the daytime if its in a wooded area or even on a cloudy day. If it's sunny out or real bright where the cam is it won't flash.

A Sony DSC S600 with a Yetti control board in a Pelican case.

Been a while since I've put any photos in here from my trail cams. Here's a few from the past couple weeks... This was over 2 weeks ago of a 10 point hitting a community scrape, hopefully he put on a bunch of growth since then... Got ole split brow on cam too... Way too many of these things around... Take care Dave