# Banner Week



## Hawker (Jan 6, 2003)

Hi Everyone, 

My thanks to L80rider for tipping me off to this forum. Hopefully, I won't spend too much time on it 

I'm new to hunting, was actually a vegetarian/anti-hunter just a few years ago. Now I've come over to the dark side. lol

My primary hunting is as a falconer. I fly a redtail hawk, Choctaw, and we hunt mostly rabbits and squirrels. Through him, I'm made many friends who've turned me on to hunting deer, turkey, and shooting rabbits over beagles. I'm having so much fun! I'm looking forward to even more adventures, hopefully with some of you! Right now, though, let me tell you about my holiday...

Beginning Dec. 26, Choctaw, my redtail hawk, has put in quite a week. On Thursday, I took out my uncle from Alaska, my cousin home from Albion College, and my friend Jessica. None of them have ever been out with the bird. I took them to my favorite tree nursery and put them through quite a slog in pursuit of pheasants. Well, we kicked up three, but the bird was out of position for all of them. I promised them a good rabbit hunt on the other side of the road. Looking cold and slightly dubious, but game, they agreed. Sure enough, we put one in the bag almost immediately, and went looking for a second. Jessica and I were working one side of a line of fifteen foot pines and the guys were working the other side. Then Jessica, not five yards away says, "there's a rabbit sitting here. Should I kick it?" To my surprise, she was standing just a yard away from a rabbit holding tight under a baby spruce tree. Calling the guys toward us, we tried to flush the rabbit into the open, but it ignored our threatening stomps and ran between my cousin's legs into cover. However, our noise flushed another rabbit nearby into the open and Choc slammed it. When we got to Choc, all we could see was a pair of wings sticking out of a rustling baby juniper. No longer feeling the cold, they wanted to go after that third rabbit. What we found was the hole he ran to, so called it a day. 

On Friday, I went out to Battle Creek to hunt with friends, Steve and Del. Del runs the Outdoor Education Center, formerly the Kellogg brothers summer lodge, and the place is crawling with dozens of grey squirrels of every color and combination of colors. Not willing to get up too early, I arrived at eleven. My buddies were concerned the squirrels wouldn't be out around noon, but I had faith Choc would find one. We were barely out the door of Del's cabin when Choc spotted one, solid black. After only a few strikes, Choc knocked it out of the tree and it fell nearly thirty feet to the ground with the bird hot on its tail. Then the squirrel hit the ground and vanished. I stood a few yards away, stupified. Choc sat on the ground looking intently puzzled. I soon found my voice and yelled, "Where the hell did it go?" Del replied "It tunneled into the snow and is staying still." Wow. Balancing the likelihood of Choc's reperching and missing the squirrel with his objecting to my stick beating around his feet, I began probing the area. I needn't have worried. Choc knew exactly what I was about and watched intently. I quickly found the right spot and out popped Mr. Bushytail but the snow was too powdery for him to get any speed and Choc got him in one hop. Awesome. 
We paused for lunch, squirrel casserole (from squirrels Del shot the week before), wild turkey soup and fresh bread--yum!, and took shotguns and Steve's beagles out to a nearby spot. Unfortunately, we could only get one rabbit to run a short distance before he holed up. The snow was too deep and soft for them to run. We went back to the camp and put up the bird. Del used his squirrel call and I discovered why grey squirrels are coloquially known as "cat squirrels." Their evening call is very feline-sounding. Anyway, we chased a half dozen squirrels until dusk, one for nearly an hour, but all evaded the bird. 

On Saturday, I went to a new piece of property near me, bringing a potential falconer, from Lake Orion, Sue, who'd called me that day. It was quite a slog, the undergrowth being thick and full of briars, but both Sue and the landowner, Misty, kept up. We flushed and pushed several bunnies, but Choc missed them all. I was meeting family for dinner, so we headed back toward the house. Nearly there, we encountered a nice brushpile. As I was bouncing on it, saying that I almost never got a bunny out of a brushpile, sure enough, one squirted out. Choc dove, and Mr. Rabbit ran under a bush just as Choc arrived. That was one frustrated bird. I tracked the rabbit to a pile of neatly stacked fence panels, and bounced on that while my two comrades kicked adjoining brushpiles. I'm not sure which one the bunny finally came out of, but Choc made sure he wouldn't get to another. 

On Sunday, the weather was inviting, but chores were calling. I hemmed and hawed, but finally decided to go out for a "quick" squirrel hunt. The parking lot of the park I wanted to hunt already held three cars, likely people running their dogs or skiing, so I moved 1/2 mile east where the woods end at an industrial park. I had never hunted this spot before, but I saw squirrel nests and no cars. In less than five minutes, I sensed Choc was stalking something, but, as it often happens, I couldn't see the squirrel nor even figure out which tree it might be in. Suddenly, Choc struck, snaring a fox squirrel in the top crotch of a shagbark hickory. I watched as he fought for control balanced in the tree top for over five minutes. He skiied the squirrel down the tree a little ways, and finally glided down with his still struggling prize, landing fifty yards away, and me running after him. I quickly dispatched the squirrel, checked Choc for bites, and decided to try my luck again. First, though I had to go back and retrieve my stick, following my running footprints. I was quite surprised at the length of my stride. 
Less than ten minutes into the second hunt, I again sensed Choc stalking something, and shook the nearby saplings waiting for Choc to strike and give me Mr. Bushytail's position. He dove at the top of a nearby oak, and parachuted down with another fox squirrel! When I arrived, the tree rat had a lock on the grommet and jess knot of Choc's chaps and was gnawing away. I grinned and dispatched him. I cropped Choc up on the previous day's rabbit organs, and almost skipped to the car. Monday's weather looks bad, but Tuesday... 

On New Year's Eve I went squirrel hawking in that park I'd mentioned earlier. With me were Sue, the previously mentioned potential falconer, and her daughter Jessica. I can't find the words to describe that hunt, there just aren't enough superlatives. Ultimately, I think we engaged 6-8 squirrels, but the hunt was pretty nonstop for three hours, so I lost track. We did bring two home, but that number doesn't begin to describe my joy in the day. I'm going to try to get together with Sue and Jessica and see if I can't sort it out into a coherent story. It won't be easy, but it will be fun to relive that hunt.

Michelle Wilkinson


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Michelle welcome to the dark side.


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## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

Sounds like your having fun!
I'm sure that many here will be intersted in the sport.
Looking forawrd to some more posts and pics in the future.

Oh yeah welcome to the dark side!


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Dam, a pet hawk. Have you been able to take it to school for show-and-tell ?
L & O


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## Hawker (Jan 6, 2003)

L & O,

Redtails, like most raptors, are solitary hunters. In the wild, they barely tolerate their own mates. They don't look for affection. It's not in their nature. 
My bird is my hunting partner. He hunts with me because I flush game for him. If I didn't do my job adequately, he'd fly away. He is one awesome predator. If fact, he would eat me if he thought he could hold me down.

Michelle


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## Aspen Hill Adventures (Feb 25, 2001)

Michelle, that is sooo cool! When I was in my late teens I bought a book on falconry. It wa ssomething I always wanted to do. I know doing what you do with the bird must be awesome but a lot of responsibility. Way to go for keepiong such an ancient sport alive.

How about some photos?


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Hawker,
You've piqued my interest in this hobby. I think I'll stop at the library and checkout a book or two about this subject. Do you know of a website that you could suggest ?
L & O


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## Hawker (Jan 6, 2003)

Libraries books on falconry are nearly always by British writers about UK falconry. You're better off looking for info online. The Michigan Hawking Club maintains a pretty good website with links to other good websites.

http://www.geocities.com/michhawkingclub/frame.html

I've got one good picture of my bird at my website,

http://www.wilkinson-consulting.com/michelle/falconry/On_rabbit_in_snow_fierce_med.jpg


Enjoy,
Michelle


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## Engsetter (Nov 30, 2002)

Hawker: Hunting with a Red Tail was something I did with a Manchester bird rehabilitator at the Ann Arbor airport about 10 years ago. After getting there I had a tour of all the paraphernalia a Falconer/Hawker uses, the Q&A of how and why they are used. When the bird was released to hunt, it flew up into a high tree and perched. That day I was the one that had the honor of kicking up the rabbit from the brush piles. Awesome I tell ya, as I watched the rabbit run I looked to see the Hawk drop out of the tree. Fast is how they drop, bird flying, rabbit running for the brush, you knew the rabbit saw it, perfect intersecting strike, rabbit squealing (second time Ive ever heard that), spine tingling, fur tearing, AWESOME is the only way to describe it. One of the best rabbit hunts I have been on as short as it was. It is definitely a memorable experience.


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## Neal (Mar 20, 2001)

Michelle~ Welcome to the site. Your method of hunting has always intrigued me. I have stopped by the Michigan hawking Clubs Booth every year at the Outdoorama seeking info. My goal was to become a hawker myself, until I was educated on the commitment necessary to do so. There is a lot more to keeping and hunting with birds than most people know. I look forward to more of your posts.

Neal


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## QueenSalmon (Feb 23, 2001)

Michelle,

Welcome to the site!!! Thanks for sharing your hunting experiences with us. I'm looking forward to hearing more of your hunting stories with Choctaw!!!! I love to see hawks while I'm hunting and driving! They are so beautiful. I had a hawk ( I think) come out of nowhere while hunting last year, he swooped down trying to pick up a small bird. He/she missed it and the little bird got away. The hawk was only on the ground for a second and went back to the air. It was the most exciting thing that I got to see that day.


A couple weeks ago I got into my truck to leave for work, and there was a cotton ball on my windsheild wiper. I thought my hubby and stepson were playing a trick on me. So I reached out and pulled it off....to my surprise it wasn't a cottonball but a bunnytail. My hubby and stepson where out getting rabbits a couple days before and I thought they thought it would be funny to put it's tail on my windsheild. So I call up the hubby and tell him that was gross. He swears that they didn't do that!! So when I got home I looked at my truck and in front of where I parked. There was blood on my truck and more bunny hair and blood the ground. We have a hawk that lives in the smalll woods by our house ( I guess cause he's always around the house) and a pair of screech owls that I call to a night sometimes that come in. We figured that one on them caught one on the hundreds of bunnys that also live behind our house, and a killed it on my truck then took off to eat it else where. It was pretty cool!


QS


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