[mou] My day of Falconry (long)

[Alt, Mark]

A group of 8 members of the MN Falconer's association went out for a
hunting day and I tagged along. We covered the mile-square sections of
McLeod, Renville, and a corner of Kandiyohi County in 5 cars, centered
around Hector, MN, looking for "digs" made by Hungarian Partridge (Huns)
or Ring - necked Pheasants. =20
When these birds dig to feed, black dust across the snow appears as a
dark smudge in the white blanket of the winter prairie.  Winds whip
along in this place where trees are rare so thousands of black dirt
clods in each plowed field are exposed - each a potential Hun
"round-head" or a pheasant.
 I traveled with my friend Vic this day, yet I never saw a group of
birds before him the whole day.  I did manage to get him to stop for 50
or so unique dirt clods.  He was gracious, saying each time,"Oh yeah,
that is a tricky one".=20
This is a group of hawkers that call themselves "Long-wingers", they use
only large falcons. Half the licensed falcons used to hunt game birds in
the state were around me this day. =20
Standard protocol:
			*	Drive until they spot a game bird or
groups of birds pecking, digging, or sitting. =20
				a.	This is known as a "slip"
				I.	A "flyable slip" if there is no
cover within a quarter mile=20
				ii.	A "tight slip" if the cover is
very near.=20
			*	Position vehicles between the slip and
the nearest cover to try and induce the birds when they flush to move
towards further cover, giving the falcons more room for pursuit if
needed.=20
		=20
At first light we found a pheasant digging near some weed beds, a
somewhat tight slip. The falconer put his bird "up", and it soon climbed
to about 600 feet. When the bird is ready, it flies in a tight pattern
or hovers into the wind, pumping its wings vigorously.  This is the sign
of a bird primed to "Crack one off", compressing its body and dropping
into a steeply pitched stoop that ends in a kill.  This bird stooped,
the Pheasant flushed and crash landed in the grassy field cover nearby
after a narrow miss by the attacking Falcon. More pheasants were seen so
we positioned ourselves to watch the next flight. A young man named Ryan
flew his Gyrfalcon hybrid and got its first kill ever, hitting a
Ring-neck and following it to the ground.
Vic's turn next. His tiercel, Steady Eddie, a Hershey Bar colored hybrid
of a Peale's Peregrine and a Dark Phase Gyr, climbed quickly and held
right overhead, in perfect position.  Ed cracked one off indeed, ending
up sitting astride the Ring Neck about 25 feet from safe cover.  It was
early, so Vic pulled his bird off without a heavy feeding; hinting that
he may get to fly him again that same day if all goes well. Vic referred
to this practice as pinching Eddie off of the bird.
The birds flown this day were hybrids of Gyrfalcon/Peregrine mix,
(Falcons of choice for MN, I was told by Vic) for they stoop like a
Peregrine yet have the strength and size of a Gyr.   A smaller Falcon
flown this day was a Barbary Falcon, an African Peregrine.  The larger
female Gyrs are large enough to take a Pheasant in its grasp and take it
to the ground; the other birds have to strike their prey and pursue to
finish them.  I saw 10 stoops, resulting in 5 kills.=20
The strategy of the hunters appealed to me as much as the birds.
Falconers know the behavior and biology of their prey and their own
Hawks, and it is all about setting up the birds for success.  Pointing
dogs may be used to find birds when they are in cover.  A pointer is
told to hold, "Whoa" until the bird overhead is in position. Flushing
the bird at the right time is critical as the bird has to be in line of
sight and in position to stoop. It takes more than 7 seconds for a
Falcon to drop from near 1500 feet. The time for the prey to fly to safe
cover is what decides if the odds are in favor of the hunter or the
hunted.=20
Vic's other bird is named Ed also, "Special Ed".  It had the same
training schedule as the black bird, is the same age as Steady Eddy, but
had not killed wild game yet.  We found a very tight slip by a farm off
of blacktop and Vic decide to use his "white bird" - Special Ed is a
silver phase Gyr. He tried to put the bird up but Ed flew to the snow
and plopped down 20 feet away.  Vic prompted the bird to fly again and
he went to the top of a nearby barn. Our target was a covey of Huns in a
ditch 75 feet way, out of line of sight. Vic baited up his lure with a
Quail carcass and started swinging it around his head - which means
dinner's on in Falconry sign language.  Ed dropped low and sped towards
the handout, 3 feet off of the blacktop. Vic turned, still spinning the
lure and took off running to the ditch where the Huns lay.  The ditch
was 10 feet down to deep drifts. Vic leapt off the road into
nothingness, flushing the Huns, whirling the lure like a lariat.  Ed was
5 feet behind as Vic dropped out of sight and 8 partridge flushed in
line of sight. One pealed right and flew low over an open field; Ed flew
and hit the bird just as it disappeared into the wooded lot.  We set up
Vic's radio tracker and soon found Ed mantling a Hun at the base of a
tree. Falconer's rig their birds with a radio transmitter so they can
find them after a flight if the stray or perch out of line of sight.=20
Vic alluded that it was a "ratty kill", that when a falcon takes a bird
on the ground inside cover it isn't as in the open before the cover, but
I could tell he was pretty happy with Ed.  We hawked until darkness
fell.   We saw 5 large flocks of Lapland Longspurs, the largest being
over 100 birds, the males are getting their breeding plumage.  Horned
Larks are everywhere, but not in large flocks.  Two flocks of Snow
Buntings were seen, 20- 30 in each one.  These guys see Snowy Owls all
the time out here, but not today. They said they see them sitting in the
fields most of the time, and have seen Snowies take after pheasants.  I
never knew they were so fast, but they assured me that Snowies can take
Huns and Pheasants with ease, in chase or sitting tight to the ground.
I love these hawks. I plan to pass my falconers test and get set up with
a Red-tail next year. Maybe if I can stick with it, I can be a
"Long-winger" in a couple of years, and will be found driving around the
farm fields of rural MN, looking for flyable slips so my bird can crack
one off.  There are worse things that can happen, unless you are a
McLeod county Pheasant.