NAFA Meet at Woodward, Ok

[Roper]

My take on the Nafa Meet in Woodward..
1st and Formost I want to extend a Huge, Huge thank you to Rich Borquist, Mario and Brandi for their tireless efforts in watching the weathering yard.
I view this as one of the most thankless jobs and one of the most unapreciated jobs of this meet. I feel it worth mentioning that it is our responsibility to make sure our perches are safe and secure.
They have made rules that we have to have perches that stick in the ground for a reason. They made the effort to install a fencing ( around the yard, mark off the spots with an 8 ft distance between birds, complete with a gate. this also with providing bow perches if you did not have one. The trailor was equiped with equipment and supplies to make any and all changes necessary to provide a safe enviorment for all. All of this takes time and effort free of charge.... CUDOS to you guys.

As a lot of you guys know I usually bring my horses with me to try and find a place to go roping, I usually am able to find the rodeo grounds and or fair grounds to put my horses .I was able to find a place just up the road to go team roping. These guys could not have been nicer. Gary Wren and Guy whitmarsh joined me and the owner let them chase cattle on horse back and try there hand at roping.. We really had a good time.

IF you guys missed the NAFEX dinner, you missed a fun evening..
The owner was most accomidating concidering that the place closed at 9:00 am and we were there till at least 10:00 pm the staff was most accomidating .. I believe everyone walked out of there with a door price with Noel winning the Grand prize of Telemetry from Marshall. Hats off to the Crys's for putting this together.

Game, Game is where you find it.. and basically it was not in Woodward.
You did have the oppertunity to fly ducks in small ponds especially by the stock yards.
Quite a few guys were driving to the panhandle on a regular basis. There we found jacks, bunnies and pheasants. and quail..
We had two gals from washington join us and we were caught a bunny with their birds within two minutes of being in the field.
I made the treck and was rewarded with some ausome flights with one of our gang "Arnaud" flew his Merlin on quail and with guys from MN that we all flew are redtails in a cast of 3 birds and only had one squawble with my redtail and Grant Andersons bird. Grant quickly seperated the two and that was that.. We had some really qreat flights with the two tails after the jacks. Grant Anderson ended with a jack in the bag.
We then flew our harris's and again we were successful with John Arnt catching a jack with his Tercel Harris.
I did not stay to watch the gal from Washington to fly her tercel Gos , I had a 14 hour drive ahead of me and needed to be at my daughters dinner talbe for Thanksgiving on 1 pm on Thursday .. I made it with only being 1/2 hour late .. All was good
The people of the hotel were most accomidating..I got to talk and visit with people that I only get to see once a year. Two guys from England Gary Wren and Guy Whitmarsh were a blast to see as usuall.
looking forward to next year already...
Hope all you guys made it home safe and sound..

[kvc]

The falconers at the nafa meet need to thank rich mario and brandi for their hard work I also want to thank mario and brandi for helping me sell my blocks and platforms . I was able to spend thanksgiving with my 90 yr old mom.they are really good people, thanks again guys see ya in denver.

kurt

[frootdog]

IF you guys missed the NAFEX dinner, you missed a fun evening..
The owner was most accomidating concidering that the place closed at 9:00 am and we were there till at least 10:00 pm the staff was most accomidating .. I believe everyone walked out of there with a door price with Noel winning the Grand prize of Telemetry from Marshall. Hats off to the Crys's for putting this together.

It was fun and there are a lot of pictures but it will take me a while to sort and post them. Give me time.

Game, Game is where you find it.. and basically it was not in Woodward.

The rumors were true. Game WAS hard to find. But as with any NAFA meet by the end of the week you know were to go. The last 2 days were the most successful for me anyway. Prior to that I had one jack and one rat. In the last 2 days I caught 2 cotton tails 1 jack 4 packrats 3 mice and a kangaroo rat. Granted today we flushed 3 cotton tails and 2 jacks and caught 2 cotton tails and one jack so it was not abundant by any means but we were only hawking 15 minutes outside Woodward in Fargo.

[jfseaman]

I had a wonderful time. Thank you Rich, Mario, Rob H, the OFA crew, Woodward and the land owners and everyone else who helped out for another NAFA well done.

Everyone who was there knows because I wouldn't shut up, I got my first NAFA duck. A drake golden eye. Thanks to my sponsor redtailnut for a solid foundation, Chris Comeaux, Brad Felger, and Karl for additional knowledge and support.

Chris, despite all appearances, I was watching and listening. How to find, setup and fly, knowledge that is passed from falconer to falconer and that would have taken years to learn on my own. Most of the art that is passed on is an oral and by example tradition.

so

While I am busting with joy, this is as much the accomplishment of those that support new falconers my own.

Here is Mel, tiercel Barbary (370 grams/13 oz) with a drake Golden Eye in 'Eclipse' plumage (995 grams/35 oz). I wish I had more/better pics but I was too excited. I'll see what the land owner has today.

[sharptail]

Great day Fred,
Accompanyed with the 'none truer' comment, no added pictures could make it any better of post. I enjoyed the words as much as the picture, they are both priceless!

[wyodjm]

That is a beautiful bird Fred. It was great meeting you and the bird in person. Congrats on the duck.

ATB,

Dan

[frootdog]

I will add more whan I have time but the OK fish and game deserves a huge round of thanks. Several people thought there was no out of state take or did not fully understand the rules, but the head guy was there on Sun night and explained it and told those interested in trapping that he would get them the permits needed on an expedited basis Monday by noon and several people took him up on the offer and I know a few birds that were trapped in OK at the meet. I think it was $26 dollars extra for the out of state falconry permit they needed.