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All NAFA members can now give their input on a survey of the NAFA meets. Please go to the NAFA website and then to Breaking News for Members and click on Particpate in the NAFA Meet Survey. If there is something you would like to see differently or something you currently like now, now is the time to voice your opinion! The survey will be available until March 6th and then the results will be posted on the NAFA website.
Received mine via an e-mail message I received from NAFA this morning. Filled it out and expressed my strong view in the need for Regional Annual Meets, and the organizational value associated with holding Regional meeting that are supported by state clubs.
My view is that the Regional Annual Meet could be a collaborative effort with local state clubs rotating hosting the Annual Regional Meet. Most clubs hold Annual Meets anyway that are opened to other then their members attending anyway. Every 3rd or 4th year the state club could host a Regional Level Meet that offers a much more robust agenda then their normal Annual Meet.
Fred:
I just filled mine out and replied. Great that NAFA is asking its members for there imput.
Is this a new survey? I just went on and when I clicked on it, I got the message " Sorry you have already taken this survey". I do not recall taking one resently.
I'm getting the same message. There are some bugs that need to be worked out I guess.Quote:
Originally Posted by beldinrt
Try it now folks, I think the link on the website was messed up, I changed it. Let me know!
Thanks for asking............Quote:
Originally Posted by FredFogg
Works now just fine Fred.
Worked for me. One point though...questions were kind of vague. Were they designed to be that way in general? Or about the last meet attended? NAFA should send one of these out within 30 days of every meet.
i think i got my point across in the survey that i am not gonna drive 25+ hours to hawk rabbits when i can drive under an hour from home and do the same thing. Plus, i get to sleep in my own bed......i will stick to meets close to home.
If it did not detract from the annual NAFA Meet, would you like NAFA to consider co-hosting regional meets with state clubs?
Answer0%100%
Number of Responses
Response Ratio
Yes
Yes 107 73.2%
No
No 32 21.9%
Totals 146 100%
I also noted that overwhelmingly Falconers like NAFA meets where there is an over abundance of prey to catch, which means someone needs to be watching quarry cycles and adjust locations accordingly.
Michael:Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelberan
I am just wondering, what is the advantage of NAFA co-hosting meets with several state clubs around the U.S.?
Quote:
Originally Posted by everetkhorton
It will help the states that need help in boosting their own attendance at their state level. Some states really do need the help. NAFA will help with that.
The problem with this is that planning a NAFA meet takes about 24 months and in that time a lot can change in regards to the quarry cycles. Take for instance my area of TX. We had a crash about 5 years ago. You could not find a rabbit to save your life. They were on the upswing the past couple years and then we had a very wet winter-summer in 2010. The population is still decent but it has noticeably suffered this season. One did not know the full effect of those rains until hunting season started up. So in theory if the NAFA meet were scheduled here would you propose trying to move it in 2 short months?Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelberan
At what cost to NAFA? Like is says "if it does not detract from the NAFA meet". Many here myself included have tried to organize regional meets and met with resounding roadblocks. It boils down to the fact that a majority are going to say yes they want regional meet, but they don't want to help make it happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by dirthawking
Ev, I think the biggest advantage to having regional meets is the number of NAFA members that don't ever attend the annual NAFA meet but would if it were closer. By pairing up with a different state in each region each year, NAFA could help host a regional meet and members wouldn't have to travel so far to attend. Ask Bill, he is one that will never attend a NAFA meet due to the drive but I bet he would if there was a regional meet in MD.Quote:
Originally Posted by everetkhorton
Krys, I think the key to regional meets is just have it along with a state meet. We have 3 or 4 meets here in NC, I am sure one year we could arrange to have a regional meet. It isn't like a state would have to do it every year. Each state in a region could take turns. NAFA could pair up and in our instance, we would have a NAFA Southeastern Regional Meet co hosted by NC (fill in which state is helping that year). Sure, it would take some work, but it could be done. I know of a lot of falconers that would attend a regional meet but have never gone to and never will go to a NAFA meet due to the drive.Quote:
Originally Posted by frootdog
Check out post 19 on this thread. http://www.nafex.net/showthread.php?t=8112
You said it yourself. You have state meets. Do you really think the attendance would boost if you attached the name NAFA to it? And then how do you split the funds? This has been tried time and time again without the NAFA name attached and has failed miserably. FUN (Falconers Unite Now) started by Mike Dupuy, not very united now. I recently extended an invite to NM and OK falconers to attend the THA meet (NM has no state meet and the OK meet was in Oct) and a whopping one OK falconer attended. The AFC meet only draws about 40 - 50 people (granted it's one heck of a group to be around).Quote:
Originally Posted by FredFogg
I think you are missing the point. A NAFA regional meet isn't about boosting the states meet attendence. Or about where the funds go, it is about giving everyone in that region an opportunity to attend a meet that is co-hosted by NAFA. Why does everyone go to the NAFA meet every year, to see folks, to hunt, to attend a national meet. Well, break down to a regional level and if folks go, they go, if they don't, well, the same amount of folks are going to attend our state meet no matter if anyone else from the region comes or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by frootdog
No I get the point. I just don't think that putting the NAFA name on it is going to make the meet any different. The regional idea has been around for a while now and if it was such a great idea why has it never happened with or without NAFA's help.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredFogg
It has probably never happened because no one has organized it and maybe with NAFA's help, it could be done.Quote:
Originally Posted by frootdog
clappclappclappQuote:
Originally Posted by FredFogg
The New Jersey Falconry Club had its Winter Meet this past weekend. Even though the weather was miserable we had falconers in attendance from New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland!
What is simply remarkable about this is that information about this years meet was only released 4 weeks in advance of the meet.
There are many here in our area that are looking for opportunities to get together regularly for all the reasons already mentioned.
WI & MI had meets this weekend as well, tho I haven't heard of out of state turn out.
Is that really a fair comparison given the close proximity of those states to each other?Quote:
Originally Posted by joekoz
I'm not sure that it really matters.Quote:
Originally Posted by JRedig
What I do know is that you are not going to find a lot of falconers here on the east coast traveling to the locations where Annual Meets are traditionally held.
I am also convinced that a Regional NAFA meet held here in the North-East, or Mid-Atlantic States would play well with those of us located in this part of the country.
Fred:Quote:
Originally Posted by FredFogg
I go to NAFA meets for several reason, one I have never seen a Jack rabbit in Mi. also chickens, mule deer, antelope. I have not seen a pheasant in many years in Mi. A great deal of the hunting is done in open country and you see the action. I also go to meet up with old friends. It does not matter if NAFA put its name on the meet in your State or not, you will have the same game you had last week. It take people to put on a good meet, lots of them that are willing to work. A foot ball game is a foot ball game, but there is only one Super Bowl. JMO.
There was a regional NAFA meet held in Washington in the late 90's. It was planned, promoted and run by then NorthPacific Director Dave Knutson. Attendees were primarily form the directorate - but included peopl from Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and I believe we had a couple BC people stop by.Quote:
Originally Posted by frootdog
Sadly, the idea didnt catch on - either in our region or throughout NAFA.
Well, Ev, if the first place, you wouldn't be going to my regional meet. In the second place, are you saying that all falconry has to be done in wide open spaces. Sure, I like going out to the midwest and chasing jacks and seeing all the rabbits, but like a bunch of other folks, I sure don't like the drive. I think folks going to a regional meet will be made aware of what game there is and can decide if they want to go. Just here in the southeast, we have very different terrain, heck, in NC we have mtns, woodlands, flat farm land and coastal area. NAFA can still have its annual meet, but what would it hurt to have regional meets? And you can go see old friends from nearby states in your region, does it always have to be an old friend from another region.Quote:
Originally Posted by everetkhorton
Like I said before, and most folks aren't getting it, one of the states in the region host the meet with NAFA's help. Most of the work will be done by the state hosting the meet. If you don't want to go to your regional meet, don't go, but if there are others in your region that would like to go to a regional meet but don't want to drive all the way to Vernal, Utah, then they could go to a regional meet. Folks, this isn't rocket science. It can only be tried and if it doesn't work, they can quit doing it. But I have never seen it tried yet and all I hear are complaints about doing it. Let the members vote, if they don't want to have regional meets, then we don't have them, if they do, then we give it a try.
Whew, I was starting to have withdrawl symptoms! I was too sick to go out one day and then the past 2 days Sally has had a bunch of squirrels make it to holes and each day had a hold of a squirrel but lost it on the way down and then it made it to a hole. So I got home from work today and she was too heavy at 51.5 oz so I had to wait untilt his afternoon. By then, she was down to 49.1 oz and I had the shakes, if I didn't see her catch something soon, I think I was going to have a break down.
We headed into the woods and after about 10 minutes Sally did one of those long slow glides that looks like a snake flight but I knew it wasn't because it was too cold for a snake to be out. I walked over to her and she was holding a big bunch of leaves in both feet with a stick. I thought to myself, silly bird, that isn't a snake, it is a stick. She finally let go with one foot and then I saw her reach down and pluck out of the leaves the vole she had squeezed to death. One gulp and it was gone and off we went.
We worked our way through the woods and I went to a leaning dead tree that had a squirrel nest right where the tree met another small tree. I shook the leaning tree and out popped a squirrel but instead of it dropping to the ground, it jumped over to another tree. Sally dropped out of a tree and tried to scrape it off the tree but missed and then it dropped out of the tree and I was waiting for it to take off running and for Sally to slam it but nothing happened. Well, it must be hiding in the limbs on the ground where it landed. I walked over and made sure Sally was looking our way and stepped on the limbs and my foot went down and there was huge hole that went back under a tree. I poked around in there with a stick but couldn't get it to come out.
We kept working our way through the woods and Sally flew over into a tree and was looking hard down into an area so I headed over that way. When I almost got there, Sally dropped out of the tree and smacked a squirrel off the side of a tree but didn't hang on. She pumped over through the woods into a tree while I was chasing the squirrel. She must have really whacked it because it wasn't moving too fast and I was keeping up with it. I could hear Sally's bells and I knew she was on the way, she passed me and right when she was about to grab it, it jumped on the side of a tree and ran around to the other side. Sally was on the ground and I ran over to the other side of the tree. The squirrel was too weak to go up the tree and ran down the tree and jumped on the ground and was off running through the woods again. Sally jumped up and we did the same thing on 2 more trees and finally it took off down through the woods and Sally flew it down on the ground. When I reached in to give it the big squeeze, Sally was really huffing and puffing. She really worked for her squirrel today and I finally had this soothing feeling over me. Ahhh, nothing like getting your falconry fix!
I think that regional NAFA meets are a great idea and would provide a lot more opportunity for all of the thing that meets are about.
Folks can already attend meets in other 'regional' states. If they aren't attending them now, why would they attend them just because NAFA was attached to it?
clappclappQuote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy
p.s.
''Death flies an outlaw''...yep..but he fears an Austringer Mews Gos...toungeoutmooon
Only 5 more days to reply to the NAFA survey!