Intro post & Shaelyn picspam
Hello, peoples!! Welcome to all the noObs on my flist, lol. Thanks for friending me, hope you don't live to regret it. :)
I haven't done one of these thingies in a while, so here goes. My name is Ginger, I'm a Zookeeper-turned Vet tech, and so clearly an animal fanatic, and I love cosplay, reading, writing, and of course, Show. I am a self-proclaimed Sam girl and always have been, but bash Dean in my lj and I'll cut you, are we clear?
I run an etsy store with blacklid and we sometimes post Show-themed things. I rarely make a post without mentioning blacklid or lotr_lemmy , because we share a brainz. Besides Show I also love Big Bang Theory and Castle, right now.
All fanfic, meta, picspams, vids, and other Show related things are located in my sticky post at the top of my lj.
This morning I got to do something really cool. A friend of mine is a new falconer, and he's been working his first hawk for a few months. Her name is Shaelyn, and she's a red-tailed hawk. He caught her himself - apparently you have to catch your first bird, it's the rules.
My hubby and I went with Rick and Shaelyn this morning on a hunt. If you can handle a little gore and you'd like to learn a little bit about this ancient sport, click the cut for super pretty pictures! I may add a video as well if youtube will stop being a tardface. Up. :)
Firstly, this is me. I had to throw on a pair of Rick's chaps because it was FREEZING, DUDE.
I know all you folks that are experiencing snowaggedon are wondering where the white stuff is - but this is FLORIDA, and it's BELOW 40 AND THAT MAKES IT FREEZING. *shivers*
Rick has found a sizable field with a decent rabbit population to use for one of his spots. When I used to work with raptors, we never hunted with them but we did take them out on longe lines and simulate hunts so that they could get exercise. Instead of hitting live prey, they come and hit the lure when you're ready to call them down, and then you give them a chick or a mouse or something to make them feel accomplished. This was just like that except it was a real hunt, and Shaelyn wasn't on a lead line.
Any time the hawk is in transport, it wears a hood. This is to keep it from becoming distressed during travel.
They've hunted this field before, so when Rick removed the hood and unsnapped the jesses, Shaelyn went right to her spot in the tree to wait. You can see her watching the guys in this picture. Sometimes the hunts take an hour or two, but this time the guys flushed a rabbit within 5 minutes. You go through the field with a big stick and beat the bushes until something moves. Then you call out for the hawk and she swoops down and catches the rabbit.
By the time my hubby finished the call, she was already on the rabbit, SO FAST. If I want a good picture of her in a dive, I'm going to need a really fast camera, and Neo-like reflexes. I walked out to meet them in time to see Rick pick her up. She was NOT letting go of that rabbit.
When you first start hunting a hawk, you let it eat the kills. Eventually he'll get her to where he can take the kill from her, give her a portion of a meal, like a chick, and turn her out to hunt again. They'll hunt until they are full.
Sometimes they don't kill the rabbit on the first hit, so instead of letting her kill it by ripping it's brain open, Rick always makes sure to snap it's neck before he lets her start in. This can be dangerous with an unmannerly hawk, because if they think you are taking their kill they can foot you, and it HURTS. But Shaelyn is a lady, and she let him - but she didn't let go of her piece. :)
A raptor will mantle over a kill to keep other birds from seeing them from the air. Blends in pretty good, doesn't she?
Ah, dinner time.
When you take on a raptor, you become it's personal trainer and chef. Rick has to know Shaelyn 's weights at all times so that he can gauge when she needs to eat and if she's in good enough flying trim to hunt. Falconers have a season, and in the off season the birds are grounded and go out of flying trim. Then towards season again, the falconer has to start slimming down the bird.
The bird spends most of hunting season right on the edge of being hungry. She only gets the Good Stuff, like the liver and heart, and he doesn't let her eat the extras like the fur and bones. That's like potato chips for a raptor.
*omnomnom*
When she's got the Good Stuff from the rabbit, Rick subs in a squirrel that he brought from home to distract her so he can take the rabbit away. He makes sure she eats the liver on this one, too. Mmmmmm, liver.
I think he likes her. :)
The last part of the meal is a baby chick. The yolk in the chick is good for calcium without having the extra weight of eating bones.
Hey, Shae? You got egg on yer face.
You can see in this picture that she's had a good meal, because her crop is REALLY full. Right after a good meal, a raptor will go take a loooong nap to digest. Kind of how I always want to do, lol.
Rick puts the hood back on, and it's time to go home.
A lot of manipulations on the jesses and ties are done one-handed. I remember it was tricky to learn how to tie off the jesses to the glove with only 2 fingers when I learned how to do it. You get quicker at it the more you practice.
To be a falconer you have to apprentice with a master, log a lot of hours, spend a lot of money, and have a LOT of time to pay attention to your bird, and to make sure you get them out to hunt. It's pretty darn near a full time job, but it's really freaking fun. :)
And now it's time for me to head in to work and torture kittens and puppies. Have a good day, everybody!
I haven't done one of these thingies in a while, so here goes. My name is Ginger, I'm a Zookeeper-turned Vet tech, and so clearly an animal fanatic, and I love cosplay, reading, writing, and of course, Show. I am a self-proclaimed Sam girl and always have been, but bash Dean in my lj and I'll cut you, are we clear?
I run an etsy store with blacklid and we sometimes post Show-themed things. I rarely make a post without mentioning blacklid or lotr_lemmy , because we share a brainz. Besides Show I also love Big Bang Theory and Castle, right now.
All fanfic, meta, picspams, vids, and other Show related things are located in my sticky post at the top of my lj.
This morning I got to do something really cool. A friend of mine is a new falconer, and he's been working his first hawk for a few months. Her name is Shaelyn, and she's a red-tailed hawk. He caught her himself - apparently you have to catch your first bird, it's the rules.
My hubby and I went with Rick and Shaelyn this morning on a hunt. If you can handle a little gore and you'd like to learn a little bit about this ancient sport, click the cut for super pretty pictures! I may add a video as well if youtube will stop being a tardface. Up. :)
Firstly, this is me. I had to throw on a pair of Rick's chaps because it was FREEZING, DUDE.
I know all you folks that are experiencing snowaggedon are wondering where the white stuff is - but this is FLORIDA, and it's BELOW 40 AND THAT MAKES IT FREEZING. *shivers*
Rick has found a sizable field with a decent rabbit population to use for one of his spots. When I used to work with raptors, we never hunted with them but we did take them out on longe lines and simulate hunts so that they could get exercise. Instead of hitting live prey, they come and hit the lure when you're ready to call them down, and then you give them a chick or a mouse or something to make them feel accomplished. This was just like that except it was a real hunt, and Shaelyn wasn't on a lead line.
Any time the hawk is in transport, it wears a hood. This is to keep it from becoming distressed during travel.
They've hunted this field before, so when Rick removed the hood and unsnapped the jesses, Shaelyn went right to her spot in the tree to wait. You can see her watching the guys in this picture. Sometimes the hunts take an hour or two, but this time the guys flushed a rabbit within 5 minutes. You go through the field with a big stick and beat the bushes until something moves. Then you call out for the hawk and she swoops down and catches the rabbit.
By the time my hubby finished the call, she was already on the rabbit, SO FAST. If I want a good picture of her in a dive, I'm going to need a really fast camera, and Neo-like reflexes. I walked out to meet them in time to see Rick pick her up. She was NOT letting go of that rabbit.
When you first start hunting a hawk, you let it eat the kills. Eventually he'll get her to where he can take the kill from her, give her a portion of a meal, like a chick, and turn her out to hunt again. They'll hunt until they are full.
Sometimes they don't kill the rabbit on the first hit, so instead of letting her kill it by ripping it's brain open, Rick always makes sure to snap it's neck before he lets her start in. This can be dangerous with an unmannerly hawk, because if they think you are taking their kill they can foot you, and it HURTS. But Shaelyn is a lady, and she let him - but she didn't let go of her piece. :)
A raptor will mantle over a kill to keep other birds from seeing them from the air. Blends in pretty good, doesn't she?
Ah, dinner time.
Click to view
When you take on a raptor, you become it's personal trainer and chef. Rick has to know Shaelyn 's weights at all times so that he can gauge when she needs to eat and if she's in good enough flying trim to hunt. Falconers have a season, and in the off season the birds are grounded and go out of flying trim. Then towards season again, the falconer has to start slimming down the bird.
The bird spends most of hunting season right on the edge of being hungry. She only gets the Good Stuff, like the liver and heart, and he doesn't let her eat the extras like the fur and bones. That's like potato chips for a raptor.
*omnomnom*
When she's got the Good Stuff from the rabbit, Rick subs in a squirrel that he brought from home to distract her so he can take the rabbit away. He makes sure she eats the liver on this one, too. Mmmmmm, liver.
I think he likes her. :)
The last part of the meal is a baby chick. The yolk in the chick is good for calcium without having the extra weight of eating bones.
Hey, Shae? You got egg on yer face.
You can see in this picture that she's had a good meal, because her crop is REALLY full. Right after a good meal, a raptor will go take a loooong nap to digest. Kind of how I always want to do, lol.
Rick puts the hood back on, and it's time to go home.
A lot of manipulations on the jesses and ties are done one-handed. I remember it was tricky to learn how to tie off the jesses to the glove with only 2 fingers when I learned how to do it. You get quicker at it the more you practice.
To be a falconer you have to apprentice with a master, log a lot of hours, spend a lot of money, and have a LOT of time to pay attention to your bird, and to make sure you get them out to hunt. It's pretty darn near a full time job, but it's really freaking fun. :)
And now it's time for me to head in to work and torture kittens and puppies. Have a good day, everybody!