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Various shots of hunting and jump-downs in the field.

It's amazing to me how fast and "snappy" he is. We're back to having fun now!
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I prefer to use a backpack on my birds too, but with the issues he was having with fear (and maybe some of that was dispersal-related?) I didn't want to risk upsetting him by installing it.

He's...

I figured if I'd get him catching stuff everything would work out though, so I kept heading out, always having the quail to fall back on if I couldn't get at least one chase in.

He'd start out...

I began to work on hooding, but within a few days he was freaking out every time I picked him up so I backed off with it. I also had to travel to Ohio for work for the better part of a week, and...

Glad you guys are enjoying it!

Tame hack went very well. I never saw him catch anything, but I really suspect he may have. He was really chasing hard and was a strong flyer at the end.

He was...

More tame hack

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Tame hack...

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Tame hack started, and I let it go on for three and a half weeks. I'd sneak in and place a quail near his perch in the early morning (still dark) so he'd have it there when he woke up. A little...

Frustrating... Not sure why these keep posting on their sides...

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As he started to get more active and take bigger hops around the living room, I decided it was getting close to tame hack time. I started switching him over to two meals/day (still all he could...

I don't think it would have been all that great for falconry back in the early 90's when I was there either. At least not the areas I frequented.

There were some good pheasant spots around ("Lee...

Far fewer cell phone pics from here forward...

He's soooo tired... But when you need to preen, you need to preen...
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One month after take, watching tv on my lap.

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A few days later, and starting to get around the house with his new...

Five days later, it's time for a trip to Madison for a cooler full of quail and some live ones for baggies. He gets to sit up where he can see the road, and gets to take toys in case he gets bored....

Still taking him to the games!

This is only three days later and look at the feather growth! Roughly 28-30 days old here.
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Three weeks after take he's standing up and tearing at his food. I've been cutting his quail open, mincing the meat, and using the layed-out skin and feathers as a kind of "plate" at times hoping...

He's getting bigger...

I'm also getting exposed to all sorts of things. My day job is in a factory / office setting, so he gets to have the tv on all day. My wife and kids are in and out all day...

So, basically I decided to try to keep food association out of the picture. More or less like Mcdermott's book recommends, but I'm not one to follow things too stringently. I prefer to get started...

That would be fantastic Bryant! It was nice seeing you too! Are you going to be at the winter meet?

Glad you're enjoying them Ally! Most of the pictures are by my wife or son. I never seem to have time to bother with the camera, so it's really nice that they like to follow me around and snap...

Thanks Vinnie!

I was pretty shocked to find that many myself. I'd expected to have one or two, but certainly not as many as I ended up removing.

My wife actually thought I was pulling her leg...

Once back to the vehicle I placed him in the "nest" basket, and placed a dish of food in front of him. I twig-fed him a tidbit or two, but he took over from there...
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Here's what Aaron found in the nest...

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Having checked-in on few of the active nests, and getting an idea of approximate hatch-dates, etc, we decided on who was going to pull from the various nests, and made arrangements to do so.

Aaron...