2013/2014 Fall Days Afield!

[Grange]

Two videos from this evening's run.

This is a relocate on a Grouse. I had a hard time finding her so I had to used her locate beeper.


This is a point on a woodcock. You can hear the woodcock flush and see it fly away.

[Doober]

Nodak roosters



Got my cocker pup out the other day. She is going to be a terror on the roosters.



Fresh out of the smoker

[HansJob]

Those birds look delicious. Is the Caddie just sitting in a field or is that your "go to" vehicle for the field. Nicely done btw.

[pointemstraight]

Man, I need to come to NoDak! Nice birds. Hunted the opener in MN and had a chance to walk some private land that simply never gets hunted. Corn was still in, but about 6:00 we watched birds start to glide over to the habitat across the street. We waited until 6:30 or so (sunset was at 7:00) and started walking - we must have flushed 100 birds, it was incredible. Have never experienced anything like it in my life. Dogs were going crazy with all the scent. All were flushing dogs, so it was just propeller-tails everywhere.

Got out last week for a few hours on a little patch southwest of the twin cities metro. In two hours the dog put up three roosters, two of them being absolute DC-10's. Of course I managed to miss all three and go home empty handed.

In case anyone is interested, I've got a pair of Soundgear Electronic in-ear protection for sale over in the classifieds. They were bundled in an auction with a gun, but I don't need them. If you're interested, link is here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ing-Protection

[The Reverend Floater]

Man, I need to come to NoDak! Nice birds. Hunted the opener in MN and had a chance to walk some private land that simply never gets hunted. Corn was still in, but about 6:00 we watched birds start to glide over to the habitat across the street. We waited until 6:30 or so (sunset was at 7:00) and started walking - we must have flushed 100 birds, it was incredible. Have never experienced anything like it in my life. Dogs were going crazy with all the scent. All were flushing dogs, so it was just propeller-tails everywhere.

Got out last week for a few hours on a little patch southwest of the twin cities metro. In two hours the dog put up three roosters, two of them being absolute DC-10's. Of course I managed to miss all three and go home empty handed.

In case anyone is interested, I've got a pair of Soundgear Electronic in-ear protection for sale over in the classifieds. They were bundled in an auction with a gun, but I don't need them. If you're interested, link is here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ing-Protection

Shit...I'm super interested but can't really spend $400. Any interest in a cash and partial trade for anything you find on www.firstlite.com ? Just throwing it out there....

[2FUNKY]

WY Antelope.

[The Reverend Floater]

Nice buck!

[flyandski365]

Well my peregrine dreams have been dashed. After many days and a few thousand miles on the Runner, I was not able to trap a falcon that I was allowed to keep. Looks like I'll be out in December looking for a redtail. Bunnies beware.

[bushman]

Things will be different tomorrow at sunrise. Run for your life.

[Grange]

Three days of grouse hunting and I had a blast. The weather wasn't the best, but we still found birds. I'm surprised to still be finding woodcock in numbers around where I was hunting. One of our grouse from this weekend:

[FreakofSnow]

First season with a bow and thoroughly loved it as much as I thought I would. I only was able to get out 5 days but 3 of the day were within range, just couldn't put it all together. I also "hunted" with my 6 year twins for a bit, which was more like a 30 minute walk and a picnic, while doing some glassing for the upcoming rifle season.

The first week of October we headed for SW Montana and put up our best yet antelope camp. Complete with a wood burning stove and all the plush accomodations. 5 guys in the party, we took 3 bucks and one doe. Not too bad.

Rifle elk has started and I've had some activity but haven't been able to capitalize yet. I've got a B cow tag burning a hole in my pocket. Come on baby.

[pepperdawg]

Not as impressive as some/most of the stoke above, but here goes....my little new-to-me-this-year 16Ga 26" Ugartechia has been slayin it.

No dogs needed....had a good couple of days out last week...


Rooster and Uggy:




3 Hens and Uggy:

[senior researcher]

FNA!!!None of my pants fit. I got my B,cow elk.

[senior researcher]

Skinny as a wolf, nimble as a lion, hungry as bear. I had trouble putting on socks 2 months ago.

[2FUNKY]

Waterfowl action.

[Grange]

Went out with my father to the game farm to run the dogs and shoot a few pheasant.

First pheasant.


The retrieve.


Another point by Tico. Two of my parent's brittanies backing.


I like this picture. After my father shot I released the dogs and snapped a picture.

[wendigo]

We got on a poorly attended flight for this hunt.


Heading deep into the North Pacific islands.


Some interesting volcanic features.

More to come...

[TNKen]

Daughter's first deer. A three point. She was a little disappointed it wasn't a bigger buck, but excited nontheless.

[flyandski365]

Well I'm getting a late start but it's better than nothing. I'm hoping to have a somewhat good hawking season this year after a couple of busted seasons and my failure to trap a peregrine. Got a redtail that's in need of some evaluation. She came to our center acting funny and her bloodwork showed positive for WNV which can cause brain damage. Other than being abnormally calm and tolerant for this species which are normally a bit rowdy, she seems pretty normal.

We'll see if she still has enough going on upstairs to catch rabbits.

This chicken has large talons.



Ok, I have no fucking clue why it keeps displaying it sideways. It's right side up on my pc and on the hosting site. Whatever, you get the idea.

[13]

Flyandski how did you get into hawking? Is the learning curve pretty steep?

[flyandski365]

Flyandski how did you get into hawking? Is the learning curve pretty steep?

I got started at a fairly young age, being obsessed with birds of prey. I met a falconer when I was seven who took me hunting with him and let me hang out at his house while he took care of his birds. Lost touch with him but eventually got serious about it again and looked him up about 7 yrs ago. He ended up sponsoring me. Great dude.

Now I work at a raptor center where we do education, rehab and research. I manage a Bald Eagle nest monitoring and research program and also do some education stuff when they corner me.

The hardest thing is often finding a sponsor. It's a two year commitment to train an apprentice, and not everyone is willing to spend the time. Beyond that there is some studying and government red tape, but nothing too arduous.

You're in Michigan right? Looks like the Michigan Hawking Club has their winter meet coming up in Feb. Good chance to get to know some people and learn. Linky: http://www.michiganhawkingclub.com/

NAFEX.net is also a good resource. Basically the TGR of falconry, so take everything you read there with a grain of salt.

[wendigo]

Adak map-Way out in the Aleutian Islands

Barren ground caribou were introduced to Adak Island in the 1950s to provide hunting opportunities and emergency food for the Naval Air Station. There used to be ~6,000 deployed to the station in the 1980s. It closed in the 1990s and there are now about 100 residents on Adak. The initial 23 caribou released on the island have expanded in abundance to 2,600-2,800 animals and have a limit of 2 bulls, but no limit on the number of cows that can be taken (trying to reduce the population). The largest caribou on record was taken on Adak, it was over 700 lbs.




No bou in there.


Survival shelters for when the weather gets bad. It would have to be really bad to want to crawl into that barrel, unfortunately that weather happens a lot on Adak. Fortunately we didn't get such weather, much.




Some tall grass and bogs, but generally excellent hiking.





Big country demands lots of binocular time




















My wife seems to draw all of the game tags and she reminded me that this was the first bou I’ve ever taken. Nice little bull, taken on the second day.


Eagles coming in to clean up the gut pile


A couple others in our group were successful as well.



We kept hunting and having fun for the rest of the week, averaged about 9 hours of hiking a day.

A cold morning, but the weather was generally decent.


A fog-bow


Sea stacks in the North Pacific Ocean


The great Ptarmigan stalk of 2013. We saw thousands of ptarmigan, often in groups of a few hundred.



Last day out I lucked onto bou # 2, a somewhat larger bull.


The ever present eagles.


My wife got a single antler cow out of the same group.




The eagles move in as soon as we are 10' away.


Evening light, got back to the truck a few hours after sunset.


Back home the real work began, happily I have a helpful brother.

[Ccard257]

wow. nice work.

[MakersTeleMark]

Awesome hunt, congrats! I'd love to do that one day.

This picture above reminds me of a very happy place that I feel privileged to have been in.

[snoqpass]