My hunting buddy Taka is starting a new Life

Today was finally the day that I released Taka back into the wild. I have had her since Oct 14th of 08. I trapped her along the highway as she was perched on a utility pole hunting over a field. From that day when we both met our relationship grew into one of trust and admiration. It is a bitter sweet moment for me right now, knowing that when I head to the backyard past the garden to feed the chickens I won't hear her bells as she turns towards the sound of my footsteps, I will miss the inquisitive look she gives me as I enter her mews to feed her each day, I can still hear the soft chirps she lets out when she is feeding from my fist. The beauty of her flight and the power of her glide as she closes in on her prey. Taka was special to me for many reasons; the most notable reason is that several years ago when I started falconry I trapped a similar hawk, who had the same grace and powerful stare that only a red tail hawk could give, her name was cova and cova was an awesome hawk. I trapped Cova on Sept 26 2001, approx two weeks after 911 on Pennsylvania's most popular Hawk mountain, but do to my negligence, cova died and it happened a day before Christmas. It was the saddest day of my life. As I started to learn the art and practice of falconry I developed an ethos that I would follow, and that would be to trap a wild hawk, train her to hunt with me and at the end of the season return the hawk back to the wild in a much better physical state when I trapped her. I failed to do that with Cova, she died of a terrible disease called aspergillosis and it was because her condition was low for to long. When Cova died I vowed that I will never lose another hawk to my negligence again. And so sometime went by and after a few tours of duty I finally found some time to pursue the sport again and on that sunny mid afternoon of Oct 14th of 2008, I found Taka and committed myself to training her effectively and to one day release her back into the wild physically fit and mentally strong to deal with the harsh environment that nature will throw upon her, and here we were today on top of Pine mountain overlooking the valley with the breeze in my face and streaming through her feathers. She is looking at the mountain tops and in an instant she crouches back and leaps forward. Today there would be no whistle to call her back, there would be no fist full of food to entice her to return, because today she is finally free and as she flies of into the mountain side I see her turn her head to look back at me and all I could say is "thank you." "Thank you Taka for giving me another chance to make this right and thank you for gracing me with your presence, for you will truly be missed." Happy Hawking

Oct-14-08 thru Apr-3-09

We Got One!!!!

Well finally after several days of hunting, I finally took an Ol Bushytail with Taka. Up until now it has been a bad game of chess with trying to figure out the best way to ambush a squirrel on top a canopy with heavy leaves. Nevertheless, she endured and figured out that if she stays close to me she would have a better chance at a reflush. Todays hunt was quite long. It took several game flights and repositioning for Taka to put herself in the zone to deliver a fatal strike. Which resulted in her flying some distance to where she could have a better view. I was wondering why she flew so far across the canopy from where I and the squirrel was positioned. But when she found her perch she did an immediate about-face and had at her disposal every square inch of the kill zone to strike. From that position the squirrel knew he was in trouble and freaked and Taka went into a game flight crashing through leave and branches striking the squirrel as it tryed to flee in dense foliage. It was amazing. Our first official head of game.

Taka has been trying to Fool Me

Taka was an amazing 1110g today; Wow thats the lowest she has ever been. Her response at 1145g was amazing but after she got the hang of flying free she was in lala land and forgot about me. So I figured I bring her weight down. Its been warm down here in the Durty. So I can experiment with her weight at a lower weight.

So we were out hunting and her response was excellent, she turned around to follow me and flew to the fist when asked. And then she saw her first Squirrell and I saw her head boobing and weaving and she went into a game flight at a squirrel and just missed it by milliseconds. She is getting the hang of hunting with me And I need to challenge her some more. So we will see what she does tomorrow.

Taka is too Fat

Days light saving time hit today and Taka weighed in at 1142g. I thought this was a great weight for her today to hunt some squirrels. She seemed really keen; However, she wasn't we went to the field today and i called her to the fist twice and then she gave up she wasn't interested at all. If she is not hungry she will not follow me. So I suspect that I need to get her down into the 1120s and than see how she responds. This tiny dragon has alot of heart and is cabaple of killing some game. I just have to find that happy medium for her and I to join this union. More to follow

Takas First Free flight

A few days ago I finally cut the creance on Taka and allowed her to fly free. It was a nerving moment and I was absolutely cautious of any behaviour that would indicate she is about to go lone wolf on me. I trapped her at 1260g and at 1148-50g I was flying her free.

All in all she did absolutely amazing she followed and pitched high into the canopy looking for anything that I may stir up as I moved through the big Piney woods. We were hunting rabbits and although I wasn't able to flush a rabbit for her. I was pleased to see her participate in the hunt as if she knew instincutally what I was doing.

Urban Falconer- Taka flew to the fist

Today was a great day. I dropped Takas' weight to 1168g and I took her to the park. It was her first time in an area that had alot of things going on. I called her to the fist and she flew at some distance. 1168 seems like a call for her. I killed another Quail today and placed it in the freezer. I am going to use it in a few days for lure training. All is looking good with Taka and she is responding pretty well

Urban Falconer- Weight control

Taka is finally coming down in weight. Today I got her to 1177g and she flew to the fist before I could pull out the meat. I suspect that I almost there. I trapped her on the 14th of Oct and it is exactly 10 days today that her weight has come down enough to where she is flying and looking keen. I think she is going to be a great hawk to hunt with. She has some personality. I want to give her the utmost respect and take care of her so that she can be a killer in the woods. I suspect that If I bring her weight down 7 more grams than she is going to be just right. Now she still is a bit all over the place. I just need her attention. More to follow......