ANOTHER ONE BITING THE DUST

[manok]

Took my male inter-mewed red tail to a local WMA this evening.
He flew last season at 1000 gms, his weight was low today, 980 gms.
So far this season I've tried flying him above last years weight, he's been hunted at anywhere from 1000 gms to 1075 gms.
1075 he pursued a squirrel in the treetops, we both lost it.
It was actually in my back yard & during that chase, I was called to work, so a single chase was all we had time for.
His second kill of the season was at 1065, that day he chased five & held the sixth, during that hunt he had hold of the third squirrel & was coming to the ground with it ( helicopter style ), got bit & dropped it.
I was running through the woods to assist him but he dropped it before I was close.
Todays hunt was high in the treetops again, were most of the squirrels are.
I got into the WMA woods at 05:00 p.m. with the bird hooded.
Found a ravine to walk down, put the bird up & proceeded to shake trees.
The bird ( Solomon, who doesn't know or respond to his name ) followed for fifty feet, then veered off ahead of me to a higher elevation some fifty foot to my left.
I don't like following/chasing the bird, but if I am not putting quarry up for him, especially at today's weight I am not over concerned with him " self hunting " this early in the season, as there are still plenty of leaves on the trees & all the squirrel he has chased so far were seen by the bird before I did.
They seem to get to the highest tip of the tree.
Last season he didn't hit squirrel nests, he's done this 1/2 dozen times already, probably saw the squirrel go in.
I saw him perched but he wasn't looking at anything .
I headed back toward the ravine, shaking trees as I moved, he moved ahead & not toward me so I knew he was hunting.
I heard him hit a tree, & saw him reposition himself, as I ran to his location he flew over me as the squirrel had moved through four trees in a quick a moment.
The squirrel jumped from a high limb to another hardwood & made it to a fork in the tree as the bird came in & struck, he missed & flew through the fork & on to the tree in front of the squirrel.
Next thing I knew the squirrel, with me behind it, got out on a limb & bailed forty feet to the forest floor & hit the ground running.
It didn't get six feet before the bird struck where I last saw it.
He mantled with a fluttering of his wings & as I approached, I saw he had, " Another one biting the dust ".
Solomon had it by the head & behind the shoulders, it was trying vainly to bite his feet.
I pulled out my spike & secured the squirrel to the ground. Traded the bird off, then offered him the glove & fed him up.
In the woods at 5:00 p.m. in my vehicle driving home with one in the bag at 5:30 p.m.
It doesn't always work this way, but I could handle the rest of the season like that, especially with my work schedule.
Man, that was a long post for such a short piece of information.

[HawkingRage]

awesome story. we have some squirels here but they are all on parks land and i cant hunt there. my sponsors friend flies a coopers hawk and he told me his normal quail area is prettty much dry now but there are some squirels there, its by the colorado springs airport. sunday we are going there so it will be interesting to see what happens. Do you fly with chaps? and what does 1000 grams equal out to in ounces?

[Ryan]

35. There is a converter under the quick reply box.

Congrats on the kill! Sounds like an awesome flight.

[manok]

Two more squirrels today.
Flew the bird at the same location this a.m.
1020 gms.
He followed initially, but again flew over me & perched 40' up a tree, I moved down a sloping ravine, with a creek at the bottom.
Solomon, launched himself at a 45 degree angle towards the creek bank & I visualized were he was heading.
Before he got to his target I saw a squirrel on the ground running toward a brush pile, Solomon struck/landed & missed, the squirrel continued out of my view, Solomon got back in the air, turned & renewed his pursuit.
I moved toward the last seen location of the squirrel, the bird by now had taken a perch some 10' up a small tree & was craning his neck looking for his lost quarry.
He laddered up by flying zig-zag from one tree to another & repositioned himself, still craning his neck in all directions looking for the squirrel.
I had no idea of the whereabouts of the squirrel, so I started shaking trees to try & get it moving again, hoping it hadn't made it to a knot in a tree.
Solomon took a higher elevation in a tree close by me, I hadn't seen the squirrel.
I watched him fly to a neighboring tree, briefly losing sight of him, he didn't land but continued through the limbs of this large oak.
Suddenly I noticed he had it in his talons & was flying into the woods with the squirrel in a fetal position.
It reminded me of " old women clutching their handbags with two hands,whilst in an unfamiliar environment '.
Solomon took the squirrel to the ground at the side of the creek, I ran over to assess the situation, he had it by the head & front leg.
It wasn't in a position to bite him, I spiked it to secure it & also ' put the squeeze " on it.
Traded him off with 1/2 a rabbit head, then fed him up on the glove.
Got home his weight was now 1070 at around 11.00 a.m.

I weighed him at 4:00 p.m. he was 1045 gms so I headed back out to the same WMA, this time going in the opposite direction, it was 5:05 p.m. when we got in the woods.
The usual shaking of trees to see if I could get something to stir.
Same behavior from Solomon as earlier, initially following then flying ahead of me to high perches.
I headed down a creek bed & got ahead of him unintentionally, he began following but stopped five/six trees behind me, I figured he was looking at something ?
" Thwack " I heard, he struck at some leafy branches in a fork of the tree, I heard the " wallop " & then silence.
As I came around for a better look,he had hold of a squirrel with both feet, his body supported by his outstretched wings, less than a minute later he came gliding through the woods to the floor, again landing at the side of the creek.
Before he left the tree i could see the squirrel hanging limply in his talons.
I ran to him, he was mantling over the squirrel.
I noticed the squirrel wasn't dead ( close, but not dead ).
The squirrel was locked on to a chap & was biting the stud in the center of it.
It had caught sight of the shiny stud & was holding on with it's last breath.
Again the spike was administered & the squeeze applied.
This time I traded Solomon off & left him with a whole rabbits head, after he devoured that I gave him a squirrel head on the glove whilst heading to the car.
Final weight 1240 gms, have put him up for two days due to work commitments.
Will try again soon, weather permitting.