Lucsian : 593 Grams

9/29/09 : 593 Grams

Activity :
3:24 PM 593 Grams
7:28 PM 558 Grams


The wind today was pretty strong but I wasn't going to let that get the better of us as we really are doing great about muscling up and learning the fundamentals on chasing and paying attention to the ski pole and other participants out in the field.

When we first got out we started an area that we have worked a couple times and been successful once. The area is full of cholla and normally we can get some good flushes. Coarse this is from only a couple hunts but today all I could get was jacks to get up and run. Luscian chased after 2 of them and seemed real interested in one of them but eventually pulled off after 60 or so yard. After we had walked most of the area that was full of cholla and found no rabbits I was thinking that once again the wind has kept the cotton tail under and I might go home empty handed. I decided then that we where going to go after a rat and once we found the first nest we worked it with success catching a small rat. I traded off Luscian to a DOC and decided to go walk another area a good 400 yards off. It didn't have the same cover mostly grass with a few cholla. Eventually after no luck I found an area with lots of weeds. These weeds where real poky and not the most comfortable to walk through but A few times I could hear rabbits inside but couldn't get them into sight. Towards the end finally we got a flush. This rabbit ran out into the open grass area towards a prairie dog field going full speed. Fortunately Luscian was of the mind to pump like I have never seen him pump before. He kept with that rabbit not letting it juke him with its zigs and its zags. I was running full speed as well but in no way could I keep up. The chase was a good 70+ yards and as the rabbit got to the Prairie dog town I saw Luscian pump from his 3 feet above ground to the Zero mark and spin that Cotton Tail. As I ran I could see them struggle together but I got there fast enough to grab the back legs as Luscian already had it by the head. I made it a point that I wanted to touch his feet and play with the rabbit a little too which he seemed to not care about at all. After the dispatch I let him pick at the jaw as I put some rabbit meat the size of a racket ball on the lure. Trade off was simple and graceful allowing me to bag the bunny for the following trip back to the truck just in case we got another flush.

First Double- What an honor and privilege.

Lucsian : 587 Grams

9/25/09 : 587 Grams

Activity :
10:42 PM 593 Grams
4:39 PM 587 Grams
8:10 PM 687 Grams

Todays First Jack!

Rick and J came with again today for the hunt and I couldnt have been happier. They really come out with the intent to help and we get the bunnies moving. The weather was pretty warm today and even though we got out before 5 it was pretty easy to get hot. We went to the same place as yesterday as we did not go but a good 30 yards into the field for yesterdays rabbit. Luscian got up and flew after a full sized jack shortly checking off. We only saw one cotton tail but it was far out and Luscian didnt see it.

*

Todays catch was pretty interesting. First of all I was half way up a hill hitting some brush while Rick and J where at the bottom hitting bush there. We where looking for cottontail. All the sudden this rabbit jumped out about 3 feet away from me and started running up hill shortly changing its mind to go down hill when it saw I was there. That was the time needed for Luscian to launch off and latch onto this jacks BUTT! As they tumbled down the hill with the jack kicking and screaming I had a couple seconds in my head that ran like a car accident. I was thinking "What the Heck is going on here? How come this rabbit is kicking and screaming like a baby?" shortly followed by "oh SH** I got to move and get in to help!" I only had to jump down a few feet before I grabbed the Jack by the legs. We had another 15 feet to go down to the bottom of the hill to get to some flat ground. Once we where there I held onto the jacks legs and compressed the heart to dispatch. I let Luscian pluck the face a bit before I traded off to a front quarter of the rabbit from yesterdays kill.

*

Now this Jack is no monster but it is deffinatly bigger than our Cottontails. Holy smokes, How fun was that.

Luscians Second Bunny Video

Lucsian : 593 Grams

9/24/09 : 593 Grams

Activity :
3:32 PM 593 Grams
8:13 PM 634 Grams

Photo of Rick holding the rabbits legs for Luscian.

Well Luscian did it again today showing lots of chase and following. Lets start from the beginning.

*

We got out to this new field of mine that realistically holds at least 300 acres. We walked one section today that seemed to have almost no life whats so ever but we did get a real good chase on a dove there that was a hard flying 50 yard flight before he broke off and landed. Luscian seemed today to not want to hunt from the fist. He kept popping off the fist and flying out onto a hill or just on the ground. I gave no reward for the flights only to land on the ground and walked away. He followed well even if it was to the ground. Mostly though he was going to a hill that he was above us most of the time. Giving up on that part of the field, we went to the other side of the hill to the heavy cactus growth area. Lots of Cholla and sage with little amounts of Prickly pear. The first rabbit flush was within 10 yards of the new area and luscian took off after the rabbit before we even saw it. He missed it as it went to a hole but came back to the fist quickly. This part of the field he found it important to ride the fist as it was the highest perch besides the cholla that he doesn't seem to mind. As we walked another 30 yards Luscian busted off the fist with great speed. Just after he left I saw the flash of a cotton tails rear end as it ran to a large Cholla cactus. The rabbit made it to the harbor point before Luscian could get to it but he pitched up and circled the bush before he took perch on another Cholla a good 10 yards away. During all this I ran to the spot. Rick, a buddy falconer of mine (who is actually getting Luscians little brother in November) came with me to the bush. We where a good 10 yards and with the rabbit between Luscian and the rest of the Pack, Luscian took off and slammed the Cholla. He had the rabbit by the but as he held from one side of the cactus and the rabbit trying to escape pointing out the other side. There was a broken piece of cactus branch between them and I properly broke it so that I could pull out the rabbit that seemed to have a good connection to my bird. Rick has brought his girlfriend hunting with us for the past few hunts and she really got a kick out of today's flights. I can imagine her becoming a falconer some day. We let Luscian foot the rabbit for a minute before dispatching which was preformed by Rick. We let him start plucking at the fur. He started acting like he wanted to carry it to the bush so I traded him off to the lure with the front leg of the last rabbit that we caught. The trade off went very well. He tried to drag the rabbit to it once but gave up for the instant gratification of the lure. He ate the whole front leg gone and all, along with the lucky rabbits foot. Pretty sweet for not allot of walking.

Lucsian : 593 Grams A Month and a Day!

9/22/09 : 593 Grams

Activity :
4:03 PM 593 Grams
Immediatly fed Heart and Lungs of a quail for the hunt half hour prior. 4:03 PM

7:48 PM fed up to 720 Grams
Cropped up on cotton tail Rabbit.

Today is not much warmer than yesterday. When we went out to hunt it was not much more than 50 degrees and Luscian is used to hunting in the 80's. I found a field that looks alot like my sponsors best field. Lots of Cholla cactus and sage. In his field you can get rabbits up like they where roaches. Well this field is vacant but there was a for sale sign and a number to the real estate agent. I called her and after talking about what I do she granted me permission to be out there. Guess the owner doesnt even live in Colorado.

I went out and with Luscian on the fist started hitting bushes. There where lots of rat nests but I wanted to wait on them and see how the cotton tail population was first. Within 10 minutes I flushed up a dozen cotton tail and 6 jacks. Luscian flew after all but 5 jacks. A few of the cotton tail where real small and young but knew exactly where the holes where and made it to them before Luscian could make it to them. When he got to the holes it was almost a pain to get him to leave it as he peered to the depths of the black circle. He almost had a little sparrow that flew with the wind but couldnt power as much as Luscian could. That sparrow almost was dinner. Shortly after the first few flushes I had another falconer friend call me and I envited him and his girlfriend to come out and participate. Good thing, I could use the extra flushers and the socialization is great for the bird too. While we waited we went out and flushed some more rabbits. The wind was at a pretty good clip at 20 mph with gusts id say over 30. That really makes luscian work hard to get back when he gets the nerve to fly out for no reason and land on the ground. Muscles are building for sure. Just before Rick and his girlfriend J got to the field I flushed a rabbit and Luscian missed it, Loosing it in a bush as it took off to another. I watched intently as it went down hill to its hide away in another bush. Rick and J showed up and first thing I told them was that I knew where the rabbit was at. After a little work we got the reflush and Luscian took off right away. He missed the first time but with the second attempt he managed to get a hold of the Rabbit by the Head! WOO HOO! I made in quickly to help restrain the rabbit. After a little footing I dispatched and cut the chest open. Well I managed to cut the stomach open so I made the cut longer and got to the chest. With the heart still beating Luscian reached in and snatched it out followed by an eager spell of eating like he had never before. While he ate I cut the rabbit open the rest of the way and pulled the organs south of the liver. He got heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. He also ate to his liking sporting a huge crop. Trading off was pretty easy as he was so full he was almost grumling. Got him home just in time to sit on the perch. Some reason he hasnt wanted to bath in over a week so we might just have to stand in the tub tomorrow morning to get the crud off.

Lucsian : 589 Grams

9/21/09 : 589 Grams

Activity :
10:22 AM 589 Grams
8:56 PM 636 Grams

The cold weather coupled with rain and lightning today really made the morning not a great time to get out. I ended up calling it off for the morning. Once the evening came about we did get a chance to get out but Luscian acted like he was cold as he shivered on the fist telling me that 40 degrees was a little chilly at this weight. We only got one chase on a rabbit and lost it as luscian did not seem to put alot of effort into it. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Lucsian : 607 Grams

9/19/09 : 607 Grams

Activity :
7:29 AM 617 Grams
1:26 PM 698 Grams
4:00 PM 607 Grams

Photo- Luscian on the right and Jimmy on the Left.

Pretty fun day today. Luscian suprisingly lost all the weight from yesterday with exception to 10 grams. Went out hawking with Mario and Brandi today and after we flew the redtail we took the harris's out. Luscian did very well and once we decided to change fields things got real fun. Luscian was paired off with another Tiercel and together they chased cottontail and both ganged a rat. We where hoping there was a rabbit in this nest as it looked like it ran into it. No rabbit though. Luscian also grabbed a rabbit that flushed at my feet. It twisted around just right and broke free. Honestly it was so fast that it could have been anything but I like to believe what I saw. We also chased some more bugs. Luscian went to get on the TPerch a couple times but the other tiercel did not like sharing and took off when Luscian came in. The end of the day Luscian took off for a bush that he liked. The other harris came in to land near and when he did was the first crabbing for the day. Luscian facilitated that crabbing and jumped up to foot the other bird just as it was coming in to land. All in all another good day but Im told his keel is still fat and ill need to bring him down more. Not much more, im getting good responce and soon enough we will kill. I want him to hunt as a pack with me and not because he is Desperate. Time will tell and the cooler weather will come soon to save the day. I hear monday is suposed to be pretty chilly.

Luscian Trade Off

Lucsian : 590 Grams

9/18/09 : 590 Grams

Activity :
7:43 AM 590 Grams
11:29 AM 693 Grams.

Today Luscian and I went out about 9 am. We went out to Pueblo West on a property I haevnt been to yet this year. We chased a few cotton tail and one of them almost met its maker. It was a real young rabbit and kept going from bush to bush. The final note for that little one was on the 4th flush and it hit a bush with luscian hitting it right behind it. The little guy came out of the bush and into a hole within 20 feet and luscian didn't even see it happen. Sometimes he hits the bush and seems to think he has the rabbit in his feet only to find out he doesn't. I'm hoping this is not killing his confidence. Ill be getting a baggie soon to help with that.

*

After a while I decided that we needed to leave so I can get ready for work so we hit the last rat nest coming to the truck. Out came a decent sized rat and Luscian was in tow. It ran to the next bush and Luscian was all about moving around like crazy to catch up. I got there and started footing at the bush. I got my new snake Gators yesterday so I feel a little more safe to kick bushes. The rat took off from me and ran right into my hawk. SQUEEK!

*

Luscian wanted to carry today So I had to make it a point right away to get the pole on the rat so that he couldn't. Soon he settled and I removed the pole while he ate in peace with my occasionally touching him and walking around him taking pictures. I felt this time he needed a good crop for his work so we ate almost all the rat. Left the back end for Reign as we traded off beautifully.

*

Now we sit on the perch nice and tall with a silent demeanor.

Lucsian : 580 Grams

9/17/09 : 580 Grams

Activity :
10:20 AM 580 Grams
1:28 PM 630 Grams fed 50 grams.

I have this friend who is a pastor at a church. The past few years he has allowed me on his property, especially his barn to catch pigeons with the occasional rabbit that was in there. No rabbits in there today, it would have been nice to have a baggie. All I need is one.

*

Anyhow, I asked Paul if he was busy and if not how would he like to get out and fly the new bird with me. He gracfully said yes and met me at his house. The barn was bare with nothing in it as his son set up a blind and had been shooting the pigeons for some time now. Sounds like the 410 worked out just fine.

*

So we walked around his 5 acre property. Through the middle of it though there is a strip that is not his. It is a trail for horse riders. Well it is in a little bit of a ditch. Not really a ditch but lower in elevation and I could imagine that in a good rain that it would fill with water. Well there was quite a bit of live tumble weed and sage bush through out the area and we started working it for rabbits.

*

Luscian earlier in the day, about a half hour before the hunt had gotten about 10 grams of quail meat and must have felt extra energy or a thirst for more because he chased much better today. A couple of the flights produced fast rabbits making it to holes before Luscian could get them. One of the flushes had a rabbit that ran into a bush with luscian stretching out to get it just as it hit the sage. Unfortunatly the rabbit ran out the other side and Luscian held onto the branches thinking he had the rabbit. He wouldnt let go for about 2 minutes. One time also took off the fist and went a good 35 yards and landed on some tumble weed. While he was footing the crap out of it I was thinking COME ON BIRD! Well One should listen to thier bird just like one should listen to thier dog pulling a sled. They know sometimes much better than you ever will. What I did know though was the rabbit ran out of the tumble weeds just behind Luscian and he never saw it go. All in All Luscian chased pretty hard today and flew for a good hour and a half.

*

Normally Ive been feeding Jack rabbit to Luscian. After I decided that I want to bring his weight up I decided to day to feed Quail. 30 Grams of adult with a little fat and 2, 4 day old quail on the lure. Im thinking I want to raise him to 595 grams and see if the quiet screaming goes away. While he is developing the thought of stopping a rabbit I may as well feed him good food to yellow him up and give him lots of energy. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

Lucsian : 578 Grams

9/16/09 : 578 Grams

9:22 AM 578 Grams

3:27 PM 608 Grams

Luscian and I hunted for almost 6 hours today. We hit 3 fields and flew like maniacs. We chased 4 coveys of quail and 7 rabbits coming home empty handed. A few of the chases where pretty good but still not with the heart that I am looking for. I am going to stall at this weight for just a little bit. The responce that I had with Luscian was pretty awesome and pending on the field he followed me every where we went. If there was nothing for him to fly from he would just come to the fist and stay with me till we got something moving. From what my sponsor tells me, Luscian is still in his play mode. Not quite in that killer mode yet. He says dont lower the weight much more and just enjoy the excersize and enjoy the personality while it lasts. Soon Luscian will come into his own and rabbits beware. Harry McElroy has told me the same thing so after this past couple hunts I am going to take the advice of him and my sponsor and just go out and fly our lungs out, building muscle and bond.

Lucsian : 586 Grams

9/15/09 : 586 Grams

Activity :
6:56 AM 586 Grams
12:22 PM 605 Grams

Hunting the same field more than 2-3 times a week is something I normally dont like to do. We have done it this week more than that and Today we saw little to nothing at the Percel Field. We walked around for a little over an hour and only saw 2 rabbits and a covey of quail. I did not have the time like normal to go to another big field so we went to an industrial area that I have. It was only 5 minutes away so that was good. We got a couple more rabbits up and flushed 2 coveys of quail. Luscian chased a little but mostly he was playing. Following and going out and checking out this or that. HMMM..... Oh we did catch a Lizard! Pretty funny.

Lucsian : 586 Grams

9/14/09 : 586 Grams

Activity :
6:57 AM 586 Grams
11:01 AM fed up to 609 grams 23 grams.

Luscian and I went out this morning to the Percel field out in Pueblo West. Normally this field is pretty good for quail but we didnt see any today. Luscians weight was at the lowest we have been and he was a little squaky out in the field for the first 10 minutes or so. He has really figured out when I work a rat nest. Sometimes a rabbit will run out, sometimes quail will bust out but mostly it is a rat. The second nest we worked on produced a rat and we had to get it out 3 times before Luscian got it. It really wasnt that big and Luscian had it killed and partially consumed in a matter of a minute. I got him traded off to the lure beautifully like normal. A 4 day old quail seems to really get his goat. After that we went out and walked the field flushing 3 rabbits. The first 2 made it to prarie dog holes. This also got luscian wanting to go fly and catch a prarie dog with no success. The third rabbit took off and just before it made it to a sage bush Luscian reached out and grabbed it by the butt. Screaming the rabbit finished making it to the bush with the momentum it had and managed to pull Luscian off his butt before I could make it to help out. This all happened within 20 yards of me. We are flying pretty well. Not as hard as id like to see but Im keeping in mind that he is still young and needs to build muscle and after a few kills he will fly with real Heart. He is So nice to come back without me asking and when I do the responce is adoring.

Lucsian : 593 Grams

9/13/09 : 593 Grams

Activity :
7:44 AM 593 Grams
10:50 AM 605 Grams feed weight.

Luscian and I went out this morning to the college. I wanted to take him out to the stomping ground. It rained a good portion of the night so it was quite wet most everywhere. We got a couple flushes but luscian didn't really have a sence of urgency today. I may attribute that to not weathering him this morning. Luscian did chase a couple rabbits but missed them to holes. He also seems to be a straight shooter and hasn't figured out that he can turn hard durring a flight to continue the chase. One real positive today was lusians following. Luscian flew to a tree and I decided to continue on and if I flushed something I wanted to know how he would chase. Well as I walked away he followed to the next tree and so on. I may just have a natural follower. The Mosquitos where the real issue. They came at me feeling like the hundreds. I just couldn't keep them off me. I'm thinking that I won't hunt the college till the bugs are gone as they really make for a frusterating hunt. The rest of the week we have to hunt mornings and I'll do that out in the praries. I think I could use a baggie.

Lucsian : 607 Grams

9/11/09 : 615 Grams

Activity :
12:56 PM 615 Grams
3:02 PM 607 Grams
7:02 PM 625 Grams.

Today Luscian was a little heavy from yesterdays feeding off his first kill, that and it was a little windy but we flew anyhow. Not within 10 minutes did he catch a sparrow. He took it to a bush and ate it right away followed by a return to the fist. I had another falconer from out of town with me today. Bill Favreau is pretty cool and all he wanted to do was flush bunnies for me. Well we saw lots of doves and a covey of quail but only 4 rabbits and one of them was a Jack. Honestly that jack flight was super cool. The jack was young and Luscian caught up fast and overshot the rabbit when it stoped to turn. Luscian then got right back up and got juked again!. It was kind of funny to see how he responded. Almost sulking. He also chased a cotton tail that was a good 30 yards in front of us. We had no idea that it was there so I am proud of this little bird for taking the initiative to take it on his own. 2 more flushes of rabbits did not produce any chase. Im thinking the tidbitting along with the sparrow he ate may have taken the greed away. Bill says I can for sure stand to take a little more off the keel of this bird. He says that he likes the responce I am getting from my hawk. Both to the fist and the lure. He also loved how fast he was off the fist and asked me what kind of conditioning I did durring training. Oh luscian also caught a moth. He kept knocking it to the ground. He could not foot it but chased it till he could get it with his beak. That was comical and produced a great conversation about how young hawks manage to survive thier first year. LOTS OF BUGS! We also got our new Marshall Scout Transmitter in today. I like it so far. Great signal.

Luscians First Kill Video

Lucsian : 601 Grams

9/10/09 : 601 Grams

Activity :
6:47 AM 601 Grams
1:12 PM 591 Grams
8:13 PM 650.Grams fed 59 grams

Luscians Second Hunt was really a bit of fun. Unfortunatly unlike yesterday we didnt get a chance at birds but we did chase a rabbit though we lost it to a hole. Luscian doesnt have that sence of urgency yet with them but after today he might just change his tune. I had a friend from work come out. He is a Photographer too and Ill work on getting some photos from the hunt to put up on the blog. I also had another falconer friend and His girlfriend with for the hunt. Luscian was a bit vocal and that may have been due to other people out in the field too or it may just be that he was hungry and giving me the Feed me call. Towards the end of the hunt we decided to start hitting some rat nests and found one that I knew we would get something out of. It just looked right as my sponsor would tell me. Well we worked the nest and luscian payed mostly attention but would look around from time to time as to almost be bored. Once we got the rat out the first time though He took off after it right away. He missed it as it ran to another bush but was in hot persuit hitting the bush to get the furry guy. Luscian scared the rat back to its nest so back to the fist we went but now he was paying full attention to the work being done. It ended up taking 4 flushes but on the last one Luscian took off from the fist and made a laser line to the rat grabbing it by the head right away! I took my Ski pole and pinned the rat down so that it couldnt bite and also to dispatch. Luscian didnt show any attempts to carry at first but I think all the comotion with the talking hunters Luscian took the rat from me and the pole and moved a couple feet over. I repined the rat down and let him foot and pluck for a minute till I came in and started touching and cut the rats chest open so that Luscian could start eating and get a real good association with hunting and eating. I let him feed up on the heart and lungs and liver before I did the trade off which came perfectly. I had a 4 day old quail on the lure. With the rat pinned down I threw the lure out 3 feet with a perfect hop from the rat to the lure for our first real tradeoff! Bagged up the rat before he was done and called to the fist. We went to the truck and shot some trophy photos after I hooded and jessed up my hawk. When I got home I weighed the rat at 367grams minus the guts. WOW what a stout rat! All photos with exception to the one in this post will be credited to Shayne. I also have a little video of Luscian eating his first kill. Too much fun!

Luscian First Hunt Photos

Luscian's First Hunt!

9/9/09 : 594 Grams

Activity :
4:54 PM 594 Grams
8:38 PM 618 Grams fed 24 grams

Today was more fun than I could have imagined! Our first hunt was in the evening after 530pm. We spent the last 2 hours of daylight flying, chasing and coming back home together.

First Ill start at the beginning. We got to the field and the anxioty of the first flight was really getting to my head. We did a couple flights to the fist on the creance and I decided I was going to GO FOR IT!. We put on the new flight Jesses and did a couple flights to the fist and I was ready to get knee deep in it. As we walked to the field Luscian couldnt resist the urge to go catch some grass hoppers that where jumping all over the place. A couple bouts at that and back to the fist we went. Then He took off after a butterfly and caught it and ate it quickly. First Catch? Ill count that as a MISC. Once we got into the part of the field that I wanted to be in Luscian noticed that there where little sparrows and that he wanted a go at them. He flew a good 40 yards for them. Not getting them after he crashed the bush he flew back to the fist without being called or offered a tidbit. Couple more sparrow chases incured before we got our first Chase at a Mourning Dove. Luscian flew for a good 60 yards before giving up on that and when I saw him turn off the burners I whistled and he started towards me. Well he was coming with the wind and ended up coming at me at MACH 1 so he overshot me and turned around without touching the ground and came to the fist. The first Bout with Scaled Quail was pretty fun. I busted a covey and Luscian took off after them right away. He chased one to a sage bush and crashed the bush in almost redtail style. I cant believe how hard he crashes on his first time out! Anyhow, I didnt see the quail come out so I came over for a reflush. Luscian got to the fist instantly and I hit the bush for the flush. Quail bailing at a blur of a speed, Luscian chased only to be burned in the long run. Im not to worried though as he doesnt have the muscle or lungs to deal with that yet. But he will soon enough. Our second bout with quail was when I was walking and noticed Luscian bend over straight and start cocking his head. I looked to see what he was looking at and noticed a covey running and jumping up into a cholla cactus. Luscian left the fist and gained speed. Now I watched him hit the sage a few times earlier but I was not ready to see him crash a huge cactus. It was just the right shape as Luscian busted through the other side of the bush he hit it so hard. His footing will eventually get better and his cordination will grow but I was scared about how much Cactus I was going to have to pull out of him. Ended up not finding any. So whew.. The third covey of quail just took off and left Luscian in thier dust. He was deffinatly working for his money today.

Now Rabbits. 30 minutes before dark the rabbits started to come out. Luscian saw a Jack that I flushed but didnt go after it, Im glad for that. The first cotton tail that he saw he didnt go after either and it really wasnt that big. The third one though was interesting. When this rabbit flushed it ran pretty quick but stopped as luscian wasnt in tow. Well luscian watched it as it took off the second time and went into a small pile of broked up tumble weed. Off the fist and cruising pretty quickly he Slammed into the brush. I heard a scream from the rabbit and it feels like just as I took my first step to run to them the rabbit busted out the other side and Luscian was empty handed. I say he grabbed but not good enough. WOW!

Walking back to the truck I decided that we would do a small lure. I flicked out a piece of meat and Luscian was off to get it. While he was doing that I pulled the lure and walked back 15 or so feet. For the first time when I swung the lure Luscian came in Hot and took the Lure in the air. He got to eat his 4 day old quail and came to the fist for his tidbit.

Now the scary part. Not 20 feet from there I take the wrong step and I hear Rattle snake! I jumped back and instantly grabbed Luscians Jesses. Good thing as he bated towards the snakes. There ended up being 2. I took a photo just after the first one went into a hole not 10 inches away. The flash must have freaked the other one and he was aggressive as hell and we will leave what happened to him at that.

Put Luscian back in the truck and off to Home Sweet Home.

The Diversity of things chased to day was so much fun. Who could have asked for a better first free flight!

Lucsian : 591 Grams

9/8/09 : 591 Grams

Activity :
4:35 AM 591 Grams
5:36 AM 601 Grams fed 10 grams on lure
5:10 PM. 595 Grams
8:42 PM fed to 620 grams

Yes, Thats right. I woke up at 4am to go to work but I didnt have to be there till 6 so Luscian and I did a lure session in the living room. Todays responce was completly instant, the best I have seen so far with the lure. Fed him up on that 10 grams of 4 day old baby quail and I was off to work.

The afternoon came and when I got home Luscian was pretty vocal. Nothing like my Goshawk but chirping more at me than normal. He was also more interested in getting to me. Bates where more than normal as he did that. Weathered for an hour or so outside before hooding up and in the truck we went. I actually had plans on flying free for the first time today but as I got out to my hunting ground the storm that looked far away before was right on my heels. Well, we ended up sitting in the truck for an hour as it rained and blew at 30+ MPH gusts. Sometime durring the rain I fell asleep in the truck and woke up about and hour before sunset. I spent the next thirty Minutes walking a portion of the field. Walking about 500 yards I got up 6 rabbits, bugged a rat out of his nest and busted a covey of Scaled Quail. When I got back to the truck I got Luscian out of the Hood, Creanced him up as it was still too windy and getting dark and we where off to a bare part of the field for more jump ups into the wind.

This was Luscians first time to a hunting field and to be honest, he didnt seem to pay any mind to the difference. As we where walking to the spot He was looking around intent like id like to see in an experienced Hunter. 10 grams of tidbits where used in jump ups right into the wind followed by a 10 gram 4 day old quail on the lure which was a great show of interest and exactly what I want to see. We did the trade off from the lure with the remaining 3 grams of food for the day. More than Id like to feed him for the day but I wanted to make sure the lure was good.

I think I may want to drop him another 5-10 grams and I think we may be on fire. Field respect will tell me more as we get to hunting. Ill be following Direction from Harry McElroy and waiting till Friday to continue my lessions and refining weight and responce. Talking on the phone with him this evening was great and from my descriptions to him he says that Luscian is showing everything he would be looking for in a passage before flying free. Thank You Harry for your Time.

Lucsian : 605 Grams

9/6/09 : 605 Grams

Activity :
3:05 PM 605 Grams
9:07 PM 630 Grams

Todays Session was involved with another Harris Hawker. He told me that Luscians Keel was still very fat but was impressed as to his responce in the creance. We flew Luscian from falconer to falconer with instant flights followed by Jump ups that I have never been one for. Really the Jump ups where pretty cool as I stood on a Park Table with Luscian flying straight up to me at about 10 feet. He got pretty winded after a good 20 or so jump ups.

I was advised that as though I may be able to fly Luscian and get him back, His weight was still too high to want to go after anything and that I may need to drop him at least another 20 grams. This may take a week and thats ok. I was also told that even as tame as he is, he is still a little spooky in child hawk terms. So ill work on getting him out and see people just a little bit more and all should be ok..

Maybe Friday?

Lucsian : 612 Grams

9/5/09 : 612 Grams

Activity :
8:12 AM 612 Grams
11:20 AM 632 Grams fed 20 grams

I think we may be ready to fly free. Tomorrow I have another Harris Hawker coming to town and we may just fly the 3 boys together if we dont just fly Luscian by himself. Im kind of the idea to fly by our self for the first couple flights then break in with friends.

Todays session was out at the baseball field. I had the perch in the middle with 50 feet of creance connected to the ring. Put Luscian on the perch and walked 20 feet before he was on his way to me and I threw out a piece of meat for him to go get. While he was on the ground I walked the other way and put 60 feet between us. Instantly he came for the fist even with nothing on it. As he hit the glove I threw out another piece of meat followed by me walking the other direction again. We did this easily 20 times today and he was interested each and every time. The wind was coming in one direction and half the time he would fly into it and the other with it. When he was flying with it the first time he overshot and landed at my Neck. OUCH .. ok.. No more glove in front of the face. Changed that Idea and now he is landing much better after a few tries. This harris will be fun to watch learn how to fly. He is so eager to do it now and im glad I have changed up the training for the past week and kept him from getting bored.

Tomorrow the new telemetry will be here and Im interested in seeing how things. go. Luscian should be around the 600 mark tomorrow.

Lucsian : 642 Grams

9/4/09 : 626 Grams

Activity :
8:14 AM 626 Grams
11:09 AM 642 Grams fed 16 grams

Todays Session was pretty fun. Luscian weathered on the glove for 10 minutes or so before I put out the perch and prepped for the lesson.

Todays lesson was when he went to the perch the first time, I tossed out a piece of food. He then came to the fist for a small piece of food at which I would Toss food out once again. Sometimes food would be tossed 5 feet and another would be tossed 10. Luscian went for it instantly and came back to the fist completly ignoring the perch. Other than the first flight to the fist from the ground there where no tidbits at the fist. Luscian had to go get the food and come back to me. He did really well. When we where done, we sat in the sun and relaxed for a good 30 minutes before coming back home. Not as much as one bate today out durring training. The next couple of days Ill keep doing this.

Weight Management with this bird may take a little bit of some talking to another harris hawker. Seems I have a 30gram window that ill get good responce but My thoughts ask me what the real first free flight weight will be and what exactly I need to see with a harris to get the idea that it is ok to go out free and maybe get a chance to chase for the first time.

Lucsian : 599 Grams

9/3/09 : 599 Grams

Activity :
10:43 AM 599 Grams
11:32 AM 660 Grams fed 61 grams

Session today was nice. After weathering on the fist out in the yard for half an hour or so we went to the city park. The baseball field was being used so I drove till I found a clearing in the trees but with nice grass. Perch out and beeped up we unhooded ready to get started. I had Luscian sit on the fist till he was ready, From Rousing, and put him to the perch. Instant responce and the story gets kind of interesting. Seems every time I come to the park lately Im seeing Coopers hawks. Well this particular bird I believe ive seen for 2 days in a row. Right after my third tidbit, Luscian takes off back to the perch and instantly hits the perch , pushes off right back my direction. Inside my head Im thinking, WOW man give me a chance to put some food on the glove. Turns out he hit the fist just as we got buzzed by this Large Hen Passage Coopers. She came close enough that if I took a step foreward I could have grabbed her. From there Luscian wanted to stay on the fist and wouldnt go back to the perch. We waited a few minutes as I watched this coopers and soon 3 crows that came in too. Soon enough Luscian took back to the perch. Then the coopers took off after one of the crows, not binding but buzzing the black murder member. 2 of the crows took off and one stayed. The coops came back and perched in a tree above us as we finished our session. Luscian came for a good 20 small tidbits.

The Lure was introduced today as well. I had a day old chick tied to it. Luscian didnt seem to recognize what this was and payed no attention to the Lure. Once I put a tidbit on the chick he hopped down and claimed both prizes. He really seemed to enjoy the DOC as he tore it to shreds and ate it very quickly. Im hoping to have a couple more lure sessions with a good responce before we fly free. Honestly I cant imagine that taking much longer. Not till the new transmitter comes in, thats for sure.

Lucsian : 636 Grams

9/2/09 : 636 Grams

Activity :
8:03 AM 612 Grams
10:32 AM 610 Grams
11:16 AM 636 Grams Fed 26 Grams.

This morning I took him to the baseball field. First time away from home and I wanted more of a 360 degree view with some distractions to guage my weight management. Well at 610 he did ok for a little bit but once the lawn mowers at the park accross the street got working he wanted nothing to do with food or coming to the fist. The Lure was loaded with a DOC for some casting but I decided that we would save it for another day. I did try to tidbit him while the scary lawn mowers was working just to ease his mind about the situation but that didnt work. More time away from home and maybe another 10-15 grams I hope. So we packed up and went home.

I also have a dummy transmitter on him that he got just this morning. Playing with it a bit, tugging but only for a few times and short times at that. Seems my Back pack fit must be right on.
Luscian does Great on the perch inside, he gets the TV to watch for some noise and movement. He doesnt like Bonnie though. Im thinking ill do some flights to the fist involving her very soon. Fly from me to her and back. Could be fun and who knows, maybe Bonnie will want to go hunting with me more if she feels a connection.

Lucsian : 624 Grams

9/1/09 : 605 Grams

Activity :
10:16 AM 618 Grams
8:36 PM 605 Grams
8:49 PM 624 Grams Fed 17 grams



Today I went Dove Hunting after work with a buddie of mine so I didnt get to do an outdoor session with Luscian flying to the fist. I am off tomorrow so today we did jumpups for just enough food to tide her over till then.

Jump ups went well. Complete virticle jump ups for 17grams of food and every single one was instant. He actually was doing them so fast that a couple of them I did not have food at the glove yet. He also seemed to want to be on the glove today as he bated towards me. When I went to him with the gloved fist he instantly hopped to the fist. Today was also the first day that he would hop onto the scale. Pretty awesome I thought. Tomorrow my plans are to fly to the fist between 25 and 50 feet followed with our first introduction to the lure garnished with some casting material. Im thinking a DOC will work for that just fine.

This bird is by far the easiest and funnest bird I have trained. Watching him as he clicks inside his own head really has me thinking this will be a fun bird to get out with and hunt. I have ordered last saturday a new Scout Transmitter and wait for that to get here before we fly free. Part of me wants to fly as soon as possible and get some kills under the belt but at the same time I want to make sure that I have all the socialization done needed to assure I never loose this bird. Time and responce will tell me for sure. I have also ordered for my birthday the new Harry McElroy book in hopes that it will give me more insite into what I am getting myself into. Its going to be a Fun Ride for sure!