Had a great time at the meet!!

[STait]

I had a wonderful time at the NAFA meet this year and got to meet and hang out with Jeff R, Paul D, Scott M. We had some great fun hawking sage grouse. Also got to finally meet in person Steve Laymen who I spent many hours on the phone with but had never met in person. Didn't get to meet Chris L. in person but had a short phone conversation, sorry Chris for my slopeheadedness. Mario and Richard did a great job at the weathering yard. Had some great fun with some folks from the U.K. as well. I met many other good people from this forum and that was a pleasure.

I was with Steve Jensen and after a great day finding lots of grouse, his truck came up with a serious problem and we decided to limp home Friday.

I heard that finding game was tough for some, but we got lucky each day. Didn't kill anything but saw some good dog work.

I hope all you guys that went had a good time,

[jfseaman]

So glad your truck is ambulatory.

Still in Vernal. Took Rob Palmer out so we could add another Gadwall to the food pile.

Best wishes for everyones safe journeys.

[Ally]

Had an amazing time at my first NAFA meet. Huge thanks to Mario and Rich for their work at the weathering yard and forgiving my ignorance at such events, and to Krys, Michael B, Geoff H, Paul and Simone & Sarah for the hawking. I had so much fun!
It was fantastic to meet you all, and Chris Lynn put on an amazing dinner, thank you. (The bar the night before was lots of fun, too!) Heather, Missy, you are two badass lady hawkers, I'm so glad I met you. Greg Thomas, it was such a pleasure, and hearing Steve Layman speak was fantastic. And Jeff, for all the information you gave me and all the questions I'm sure I'll pester you with in the coming months.
Met some great friends, put names to faces and learned a lot. It was well worth the trip! Got my hawk her first hunts and came close many times. Taking a lot of new information home with me!
(And anyone I left out, forgive me! So many wonderful people)

[Heatherg]

Gotta echo everyones comments so far.....EASILY one of the best meets I have ever been to. Yes the hunting was....well....HUNTING...but the people made it the VERY BEST!....So glad to have met some great new people...the "steve's" ....thanks for the great dog talks!!! Cant wait to see some of them in action...Ally....it was a pleasure.....thanks for everything and for sharing your enthusiasm!!! Cant wait to see the hunting stories...I know you will do well Thanks Roper for the opportunity to get out there.....Krys...thanks again for another great trip....the birds worked well and it paid off....the jack flights were definitely a high point! as well as that whole day!!!!a day I wont soon forget!....Ken(aka..JAKE) thanks for all the laughs....anytime you want to hunt in KS...just let me know ....To the Bristol boys...thanks for EVERYTHING!!!! and giving me the chance to meet Randy and Janie....truely special people!
and to Chris L.......without the forum....I wouldnt have met the people that made this meet so special! I had many people come up and compliment the dinner and say what a great time they had.....Cant say THANK YOU enough!!!!!
Got lots of pics to post as well as a few stories......gotta get some sleep first though...back home in MN....re-living all the great times!!!!

[DirtHawker]

I was sorry to miss the meet, my very first NAFA meet was Vernal, and was and still is some of the most beautiful hawking I have participated in. Does anyone know just what the game totals were for the meet?
Sue

[STait]

Gotta echo everyones comments so far.....EASILY one of the best meets I have ever been to. Yes the hunting was....well....HUNTING...but the people made it the VERY BEST!....So glad to have met some great new people...the "steve's" ....thanks for the great dog talks!!! Cant wait to see some of them in action...Ally....it was a pleasure.....thanks for everything and for sharing your enthusiasm!!! Cant wait to see the hunting stories...I know you will do well Thanks Roper for the opportunity to get out there.....Krys...thanks again for another great trip....the birds worked well and it paid off....the jack flights were definitely a high point! as well as that whole day!!!!a day I wont soon forget!....Ken(aka..JAKE) thanks for all the laughs....anytime you want to hunt in KS...just let me know ....To the Bristol boys...thanks for EVERYTHING!!!! and giving me the chance to meet Randy and Janie....truely special people!
and to Chris L.......without the forum....I wouldnt have met the people that made this meet so special! I had many people come up and compliment the dinner and say what a great time they had.....Cant say THANK YOU enough!!!!!
Got lots of pics to post as well as a few stories......gotta get some sleep first though...back home in MN....re-living all the great times!!!!

Heather, it was great talking with you. Hope to hear more about your field trial prospects and adventures. Thanks for your service.

[Paul Mascuch]

Sue -

I'm sure the meet game totals will be published in Hawk Chalk, but as I remember from the banquet approximately 200 people caught 40 rabbits, 4 jacks, 2 sage grouse (in Wyoming), 23 ducks, and a few misc. I didn't write it down so this is from memory which at my age is fading.

If anybody has better numbers please let us know.

It was tough hunting, but I for one had a great time. I especially want to thank Chris for organizing the NAFEX dinner. It was a good time. I enjoyed meeting Chris for the first time. He is truly a fine gentleman.

Paul

[Ken S.]

...
a day I wont soon forget!....Ken(aka..JAKE) thanks for all the laughs....anytime you want to hunt in KS...just let me know .

HA HA HA! You crack me up H-Bomb, my side still hurts from laughing most of the day. It was fun hawking with you guys.

My original plan for this meet was to spend most of the time hawking alone in the vast BLM land, hopefully in a game rich environment, to put in some real quality time with my Hawk and hopefully catch a jackrabbit on my own... and maybe try to meet some of the Nafex members and see a few vendors in the evenings if there was time. And I generally like hawking alone, blocking out all of the stresses that surround work and the rest of my life while engaged in quiet pursuit of game with my hawk. That plan went out the window when I started hanging out with some of the fun folks from Nafex, and it was then that I realized it was foolish to go to a meet with the intention of not really hanging out with anyone. These are some fun people to hang out with, and good falconers too. So we combined our efforts searching for game, hung out in the evenings to share stories and unwind, and became fast friends. This wasn't my first NAFA meet (maybe my fourth?) but it was this new element of friendship and comraderie that made the trip so special this year. Finding game was very tough, and the slips were difficult when you got them... but the many hours of walking and driving, scouting and hawking, were rewarded with new friendships and laughs we shared (usually at each other's expense). And I was able to eventually catch a rabbit, get several flights at jackrabbits, witness a jackrabbit caught by a cast of HH's, see a wild prairie put in a jaw dropping effort while stooping and climbing repeatedly at ducks we had flushed, and hunted some very beautiful and remote places. I made some memories that I will never forget, and a few I will never remember.

Hope to see everyone next year in Nebraska!

[Heatherg]

HA HA HA! You crack me up H-Bomb, my side still hurts from laughing most of the day. It was fun hawking with you guys.

My original plan for this meet was to spend most of the time hawking alone in the vast BLM land, hopefully in a game rich environment, to put in some real quality time with my Hawk and hopefully catch a jackrabbit on my own... and maybe try to meet some of the Nafex members and see a few vendors in the evenings if there was time. And I generally like hawking alone, blocking out all of the stresses that surround work and the rest of my life while engaged in quiet pursuit of game with my hawk. That plan went out the window when I started hanging out with some of the fun folks from Nafex, and it was then that I realized it was foolish to go to a meet with the intention of not really hanging out with anyone. These are some fun people to hang out with, and good falconers too. So we combined our efforts searching for game, hung out in the evenings to share stories and unwind, and became fast friends. This wasn't my first NAFA meet (maybe my fourth?) but it was this new element of friendship and comraderie that made the trip so special this year. Finding game was very tough, and the slips were difficult when you got them... but the many hours of walking and driving, scouting and hawking, were rewarded with new friendships and laughs we shared (usually at each other's expense). And I was able to eventually catch a rabbit, get several flights at jackrabbits, witness a jackrabbit caught by a cast of HH's, see a wild prairie put in a jaw dropping effort while stooping and climbing repeatedly at ducks we had flushed, and hunted some very beautiful and remote places. I made some memories that I will never forget, and a few I will never remember.

Hope to see everyone next year in Nebraska!

all I can say to that is THANK YOU!!!!!

[JRedig]

Now i'm repeating myself, but it was just fantastic.

Great to see everyone and meet new people. Thank you to the Steve's for the grouse hawking and Chris L. for putting the dinner together, along with the NAFEX members who attended. This site really is something wonderful when everyone can get together and have a lot of fun, thanks to all of you for that.

[frootdog]

Ken(aka..JAKE)

I wish I knew how to quit you! Loved meeting Brokeback Ken! Funny guy. Great times. 2 words. Little B's!

[Ally]

The available game wasn't great...and when we did find it, there was no easy slip. The one we had that SHOULD have been a piece of cake (Thanks Krys and crew for finding that bunny under the pallet) my young redtail got the bejeezus scared out of her by 8 or 9 people standing in a semi circle around her all yelling "HO HO HO!" when the rabbit was flushed. Silly bird.

Regardless, I had more fun than I could have hoped for. And Geoff, it was an exchange. It was a pleasure watching Angel fly...although I think she found her own kill and we had nothing to do with it!

Thanks everyone again for a fantastic time.

Oh, and Rich(Lowachi), congratulations again on the award! Well-deserved!

[goshawkr]

And Geoff, it was an exchange. It was a pleasure watching Angel fly...although I think she found her own kill and we had nothing to do with it!

Possibly, but thanks anyway.