February 28

I had pretty much decided when I hit the field today that I was going to let Okie go. She snagged #26, and while she was eating, since she was in good shape and a couple ounces over trapped weight, I cut off her jesses and removed her telemetry. I waited until she had a good crop on her, then me and the dogs left her on the rabbit. I felt nothing until just now. How weird. Anyway, she is in her favorite area. I'll return in three or four days and see if she is still around.

Was she a good hawk? I would have had to hawk more RT's in this area to make that determination, but, she surely will survive, assuming she doesn't get hit by a car, electrocuted, or . . . . .

February 27

Okie snagged #25 this morning, but, I forgot my camera at home. So, without any photographic proof, I have to go out tomorrow for #26. Darn!

February 24

Okie snagged #24 yesterday morning. I didn't see the flight, so I had to find her. She was in a gulley with the rabbit. At first, I didn't have any signal, and then I
got an intermittent one but, as it worked out, it was from the wrong direction. I guess the signal was bouncing around out of that gulley? I snapped the photograph just as Kate came on the scene. She wasn't close to Okie at all, but, Okie has never really accepted Kate.

February 19

Okie did it again in some pretty heavy cover. I'm not sure why the big change. The only differences are we are hawking in milder weather and I had to switch to the early AM. Whatever the reason, her success makes her day and mine :-) Two more to go

February 18

It appears we are now on a roll, as Okie did it again yesterday. You can't appreciate it from the photograph, but, this was the first time she was able to snag a rabbit in these rather, somewhat dense, tough bushes that grow in patches, where the rabbits often times find safe haven. She has tried and tried, but, with no success until yesterday :-) She is still flying at 42 ounces-two ounces above trapped weight.

I'm pushing for 25 CT by the end of the month when I will be releasing Okie, as we close on our house in Norman the 26th (finally), and my spare time is going to be consumed with moving, so that we can get her house ready to sell.

I'd better get ready to head out. "Kate, Chase, let's go."

February 17

This morning was a perfect day for hawking; it was 34 degrees, no wind,and not a cloud in the sky, but, I didn't have long to enjoy it, as Okie finally caught a rabbit. We have been on a dry run for awhile, and it felt good to see her on a rabbit again; in fact, I was happy for the rest of the day :-) Again, I never thought I would be this excited about a RT catching a rabbit, but, absence makes the heart grow fonder :-)

February 14

An interesting thing happened in the field today—I have done most of my hawking over the years in the late afternoon, because I think passage hawks are keener to catch something during this period. And, as the sun started to go down, if we were not successful, it has not been unusual for them to come (uninvited) to be fed, having been condition to be fed at a certain time every day. But, I have had to switch from late afternoon to morning hawking because of my new job, yet, despite this change in day, Okie continues her behavior of wanting to be fed after a couple of hours. So, rather than it being a time of day thing (for her), it appears to be the result of conditioning. If I hawked every day for three hours, instead of two, I imagine she would not have been bugging me until later on.

But, the real interesting thing (to me) came in the form of screaming when this happened today; just two or three vocalizations, but, she was, very definitely, begging as she would, and I am sure did, with her parents. Now, understand, she was trapped at 40 ounces (in good weight), with a baseline weight of 38 ounces. Her weight today was 41 ½ ounces. I have experienced this vocal behavior before with a passage hawk above trapped weight; so I found it interesting.

I’ve thought about this a bit, and Okie, as with all my hawks, has received the majority of her food off my fist, even if she catches something. So, they become very condition to me as a the provider of food (if need be) like their parents in the past. It has worked against me with CB HH’s, in terms of screaming, and would definitely work against with an imprinted accipiter, in terms of aggression (IMO) and is the main reason I don’t want to imprint a hawk. I have had to learn most things the hard way, but, the one thing I did not have to learn was—one should stick with what works for them, which means flying those hawks that are most receptive to our form of conditioning; plus, I don’t think imprinting is for every falconer. Anyway, the reason why I mention this is because I think—in Okie’s case—because of my conditioning method, she now views me in a similar light as she did her parents, and is vocalizing as she did then, even though she is well-beyond being a fledgling or a sore-hawk. I suspect that if I were to hawk her much longer, this vocalization would become more pronounced if she didn’t catch something. It also confirms (to me) that screaming for food is probably not related to weight, but, rather an empty stomach.

February 10

I have been hawking her every day, but no luck; however, she keeps trying :-)

February 2

Tomorrow I start my part-time job at OU, which will be in the afternoon, so I had to switch over to morning hawkng. I had to wait for her to caste yesterday, so I couldn't feed her any earlier than noonish, which meant that when I got her up to go hawking this morning, she was heavier than she has ever been, and she was a bit lethargic in the field as a result, but, not lethargic enough to pass up a chance to catch as CT :-) In heavy cover like I hawk in, the snow really helps her to see the rascals.

January 30

Okie caught a rabbit in the snow. It took me awhile to find her.

January 23

Okie caught another CT amongst the cedars in a new field I found. I was unable to see her catch it. Weight: 42 1/2

January 22

I had to wait a few days for Okie’s weight to come down, but, since the 18th, I have been hawking her every day. She has had a number of catchable slips and missed, and if given the opportunity, she has made a couple of tries on the same rabbit without success. I have been flying her around 43 ounces, which is almost three ounces over her trapped weight, so it could be weight related, but, her behavior in the field doesn’t suggest a lack of interest. She appears very attentive, follows nicely, and flies on every rabbit we can get up for her. It’s not easy hawking in this terrain, but, I really think she could/should have had most of these rabbits. I am wondering if the rabbits out there now are the “survivors,” and Okie might not up to the challenge.

I had been waiting for her to fly on a rabbit close enough for me to get a nice action shot, which was the case today—she caught the rabbit about ten yards away, while I stood and watched without taking a photograph until all was said and done.

January 15

Since Okie has missed on a number of attempts yesterday, I decided to take her to the "killing field" where she would have a better shot at catching one. We had just started hawking and she caught a rabbit without me seeing where she went, which, normally would have been no problems, except I could only get a weak signal and it kept going in and out. I searched the field until it got dark and the batteries on my receiver got really low, and went home.

The next day, bright and early, with new batteries, I went back to the field. I picked up a signal right away, but, again, it kept fading in and out, causing me to do a lot of footwork and driving around. I was driving down one side of the field and saw a RT in a tree, so I parked as soon as I could and started walking calling it to the fist; it flew off. So, I turned the receiver back on and got a signal; it seemed to be close by, but, the way my signals had been acting I wasn’t sure. I got out a rabbit leg and began whistling. Low and behold, out of a tree nearby, here shame came. She landed on the fist, and started eating the leg. She still had a sizeable crop from the day before—Greed is good!

I’m not sure what happened. Perhaps my batteries were weak, or I cut the new antenna too short (7 ½ inches). Whatever the reason, I’m, of course, pleased that she is back in the mews. Whew!

January 14

Okie missed a half dozen slips. She even had a hold of one, and lost it. I'm not sure what this is about, unless it is the weight--42 ounces

January 11

Yesterday's hawking started with a bang-I noticed that Okie was paying close attention to Chase. She even winnowed over her a couple of times. I thought maybe Chase was pushing a vole or something, but to my surprise Okie nailed Chase. By the time I got to them, she had let go, but, I was, of course, worried about chase because she only weight 7.5 pounds (the size of a jack), so Okie could do some serious damage. But, Chase seemed to be okay, and while she stayed close to me for awhile, she eventually got back to her normal self. Okie didn't mess with her anymore. I wasn't quite sure why she did this, as she has never should any aggression towards Chase in the past. I did have a new red collar on Chase, so, I'm thinking that may have been the reason??? Anyway we continued on our way.

Eventually, the dogs pushed a CT away from the cedar tree into a field covered with bottle brush (I guess). This stuff is great cover for rabbits, as it is hard to see into, even for a hawk. But Okie made her move and caught #14. Even with telemetry it took me awhile to find her, as I, literally, had to be right next to her to see her (see photo). Weight 42 ounces.

January 9

I finally was able to get a few photographs of Okie in a semi-stoop on CT.

January 6

Okie snagged another CT. I didn’t see the flight and had to find her. When I did, she had drug it under a cedar tree and was busily eating away. Weight: 42 ounces (four ounces over baseline weight)

January 5

Okie took #12, and in the process we have found another good hawking field (I think). Weight 41

January 3

I decided to bag her with a road kill I had frozen in the freezer. Yesterday, with temps in the low 20's, I got to the field, tied a string on one of the squirrel's legs and threw it over a branch about ten feet up. I tied it off and got Okie out and started hawking. We hawked for about an hour and by then had made it back to the squirrel. As fate would have it, she landed in the tree next to the squirrel, and was only about ten feet away from it. When I began moving the squirrel with the cord. She just sat there and watched. I really had to get it going before she would commit to it. It was obvious (to me) that she had never caught a squirrel before in her life. I, of course, let her feed up on the critter, and am hopeful that we will now be able to do some squirrel hawking. I suspect that she has seen them in the past, even though I didn't, but wasn't interested, so we didn't have any chases. She is still pushing 42 ounces.

January 2

Okie, again, refused to fly on a squirrel I flushed out of a nest. I kept it in the tress for sometime, and she was above it, but, would not commit to it. So, I am going to bag her on a dead squirrel and see if this helps.

Jaunuary 1

Okie celebrates the new year with #11. We were in the killing field, and once again, she had a long flight (around 150 yards) before she got to the critter.

December 31

I took Okie and the gang out to a field that I mentioned was
normally a sure thing. It was a wet and muddy mess, but, we got up three
rabbits for Okie and she missed all three. She is still a couple ounces
over trapped weight, so I suspect it has something to do with her weight.
There is a pile of concrete in the field that harbored CT. Chase decided to
explore.