2011 NAFA Meet in Vernal, Utah

[FredFogg]

Registration for the 2011 NAFA Meet in Vernal, Utah is now available. You may register online or you can fill out the registration form and mail it in. Go to the Meets page on the NAFA website for the announcement from Mark Holmes, Meet Chairman and follow the links to register. There will also be a registration form in your April Hawk Chalk that you should be recieving shortly.

[Chris L.]

Thanks Fred for the update. I'm looking forward to it. Never hunted in Utah before. It should be a blast

Are you going? Any idea about out of state hunting fees?

Thanks for doing such a great job with keeping the NAFA site up to date. It's great to see The NAFA site with all the online abilities. Great work!

[Joby]

Don't forget to check out the site below to ensure that you don't bring any "unwanted" visitors home with you!

http://www.bedbugreports.com/city/ut-vernal

[FredFogg]

Chris, not going this year unless I win the lottery. LOL
The Hawk Chalk has a more complete announcement by Mark Holmes, the meet chairman. If anyone hasn't received their HC, you can view it on the NAFA website. But he says a hotel price will be announced in the August HC and gives some other hotels in the area. He also says they are working on a 5 day hunting license and a health certificate is required.

[FredFogg]

Wow! The mad rush to register for the meet has been unbelievable. 1 person so far. I guess being the first 100 to register to get a commemorative gift isn't a big enough deal to get folks to register early. LOL

[outhawkn]

Born and raised 30 miles east of Vernal...I am excited to be going home!

[Lowachi]

Wow! The mad rush to register for the meet has been unbelievable. 1 person so far. I guess being the first 100 to register to get a commemorative gift isn't a big enough deal to get folks to register early. LOL

I registered along time ago ...but then I'm workin' it again, so it probably doesn't count.

[jfseaman]

... a health certificate is required.

Is the hcert required for every animal or just the raptors?

[Saluqi]

I asked Mark Holmes, and it's just for raptors.

[joekoz]

not going this year

Fred:

Just checked distances and it looks like with are both approximately 2,000 miles and a 30 hour car drive from Vernal, but only 500 miles and 8 hours from each other.

I think it's about time that some of us here on the East Coast pool resources and organize an East Coast Meet.

WHO's IN????

[michaelberan]

I loved hunting in Vernal last time we were there, awesome game, awesome scenery, can't wait to get back there!

[DirtHawker]

I know it is hard to break from the field, seminars and bird talk, but how about an update on the hunting? Is there much quarry? Weather?
Sue

[frootdog]

I know it is hard to break from the field, seminars and bird talk, but how about an update on the hunting? Is there much quarry? Weather?
Sue

Rabbits are hard hard hard to find. Been here 6 days now. Caught 5 cts and today FINALLY saw out first jack and caught it. Saw only 2 more after that. What no one bothered to tell anyone was that according to the DNR the pop crashed 4 years ago and then 2 years ago a tuleremia outbreak nearly finished them off.

Weather is great. Snowed Sat/Sun/Mon. Now the highs are in the 40's.

Having a blast. Great friends and great scenery!

[Ally]

Here's the Meet Itinerary I had from my email:
Sunday, 11/20/2011
1:00—6:00 PM Registration (Weston Plaza)
7:00 PM Orientation Meeting (Weston Plaza)

Monday, 11/21
1:00—3:00 PM Old Timers Meet & Greet
1:00—3:00 PM Registration
7:00—8:30 PM Aspergillosis Findings—Steve Layman

Tuesday, 11/22
8:00—Noon NAFA Open Board Meeting
1:00—3:00 PM Registration
1:30—5:00 PM NAFA Strategic Planning Meeting
7:00—8:00 PM Annual NAFA Business Meeting

Wednesday, 11/23
Noon—? Marshall Telemetry Fox Hunt
1:00—3:00 PM Registration
7:00—8:30 PM NAFA Meets in Review—Cliff Kellogg

Thursday, 11/24
At your Leisure Thanksgiving Dinner
7:00—8:30 Accipiter Food Relations— Steve Layman

Friday, 11/25
9:00 AM—Noon Sky Trials Demonstration Flights
7:00—8:30 PM NAFA Banquet

Saturday, 11/26 Collapse on couch and dream of that Goshawk I just haven’t been able to trap.




****


My passage RT got her first and second hunts, and had a great wingover and crash on a CT this afternoon but just barely missed.
The most slips I've seen was when I was out with Krys and Michael on Monday morning, since then it's been kind of hit and miss. We got about 5 CT slips for Geoff's goshawk this morning, 2 for my RT in the afternoon, and 2 for an ornate hawk eagle yesterday. I'm with Krys...bunnies are suuuupppeeerrr hard to find. I think he may be the only person to take a jack so far, yes? (congrats by the way!!!)

[Ken S.]

Happy Thanksgiving Nafex friends!!!

I just got home from the meet, and had a great time! I was glad I got to hang out with some other Nafex folks this time. Yes, it was tough finding game this year, you had to really work for it and put in a lot of walking, driving, scouting, walk some more, etc. It reminds me of something one of my duck hunting friends used to say, if it were easy we'd have to call it "killing and catching" instead of "hunting and fishing" ... But the scenery was fantastic and so were the fine friends to spend it with. I only caught one rabbit on my own out there, was hoping to catch a jack on this trip... but I did get to see Krys and Heather get one and that was awesome too. I think we must have been at least 2 miles from the truck or more with nothing else in sight in any direction. You gotta realize how cool that is for an east coast hawker like me where it's rare to hunt anywhere so remote and peaceful. I spent a bit of time hawking alone with just my HH, probably 20 miles or more from the closest blacktop, and it's cool how quiet it is... no cars, houses, or people for miles and miles in any direction. At one point I was walking up a rocky canyon alone to scout out a spot where I had seen a roadkilled jack, and I realized that if I fell or something, I could't even explain on the phone to someone where I was. Maybe not too smart in hindsight. But yeah, there were jacks out there if you worked for it. Chris and I got at least 3 or 4 flights on jacks, you really had to put in some miles walking for them. Although we did bump one 10 feet from the truck at one point before we even unloaded the hawks... that's how it works sometimes.

Maybe I will post some pics later.

I really enjoyed meeting everyone! Hope to see everyone next year!

(... And I hope everyone has a safe trip home. )

[rhall]

Ken, glad to hear you returned home safely. I really appreciated your time, freindship and advice while you were here in Vernal. I am also glad that you enjoyed our area so much. I know how you feel about being out in the open space with the quite. There were many times I would just sit and listen to the sounds of those wetlands we hunted that day. To bad the Rabbit pop's are so far down. Look forward to seeing you next year in Nebraska