Hello from NW Arkansas

[michael skvarla]

Finally getting around to introducing myself on here.

I've wanted to get into falconry since I was 12 and 15 years later am finally in a place I can. I met some great people through the Arkansas Hawking Association over the summer, took my test last fall, and (with some help) caught a male RT (hunting weight between 740-755g) in late November. Training went relatively smoothly; I learned a lot and made some mistakes but nothing that ruined him as a hunting hawk.



We still haven't connected on a rabbit yet, though not for lack of trying. Ogedei follows along great but I've never hunted rabbits before and am still learning how to find and flush them for him. He did catch his first live prey last weekend: a large crayfish he found at the edge of a puddle The AHA field meet is coming up in two weeks so I'm hoping we get a rabbit before then.

[MrBill]

Michael,

Better late than never :-) Good luck on the rabbits.

Bill Boni

[michael skvarla]

Bill, I finished "Cooper's Hawks and Those Who Fly 'Em" a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it.

Actually, I wrote a blog post about it.

http://skvarlafalconry.wordpress.com...se-who-fly-em/

I posted images of the front cover and the photo of you and your coop's in the back. I can take them down if want but I didn't figure it would be a problem.

[MrBill]

Not a problem at all, Michael, and thanks for your kind words.

Bill Boni

[christopher.vly]

Nice looking bird Michael. Keep at those bunnies! Like you I never hunted rabbits before falconry, so It took me a while to figure out where they like to hang out and exactly how to put all the pieces together to put them in the bag. Keep him in the field as much as possible and you'll connect soon.

Good luck!