Maryland

[dobman]

congratulations on your bird, bigjay. That's a big mamma. They grow them big in harford county. What is her weight down to as of yesterday. Flying 7 ft. is great. Pelli is on the verge of jumping to the fist. When that happens i'm sure things will take off. I did re-vamp my scale last night. I mounted the scale on a 12x12 inch board and epoxied a wider based perch to the pan. worked good this morning.

[cswann821]

Nov 6, 2018 13:03:22 GMT -5 dobman said:

Good advice for sure. I have been stroking his breast and feet areas during my manning sessions. He doesn't seem to take exception to it. He is quite calm when we are alone in the hawk house or basement. I'm happy with his progress to this point. Still have to be on my guard though. having trouble with my digital scale. I think i bought one that is too narrow/small. It wants to tip over too easily. attaching a perch to the scale is a problem also. Any suggestions? I need some ideas. Thanks!

Got a pic of the scale?

[dobman]

I have a pic of my re-vamped scale but no knowledge on how to get it on the forum yet. I'll have my son walk me through it today. Don't laugh!

[bigjay]

Thanks Dobman! Yea she is a big one! I actually caught her in Howard Co. We have tiny ones in Harford Co.... I have her around 1,200g right now but plan to drop her a little lower to increase her reaction time. She is currently flying over 50yds but her reaction is slow so I am hoping to free fly her by Saturday sometime... Has she jumped yet? Congrats on figuring out the scale! Hope you are able to figure out the Picture! lol...Pelli is a good name... A friend of mine named mine Sheeba... I wasn't thrilled but the name stuck soooo yea...

[dobman]

Been quiet on the forum! It's a busy time of the year - holidays, hawk training/hunting, getting ready for winter. progress with Pelli has been good. Pelli's weight was down to 935 g. for yesterday training on the creance. Best reaction time yet at 100'. That's about a 13% drop from trapped weight. I'm going to try and keep him in that area. Threw down the lure also. he came down pretty quick on it and tried to drag it under my pine tree. I'll make sure i don't give him that chance in the future. So, anyone out hunting yet. cswann, bigjay-- how's training coming along? Any stories to share? Cswann, i'd love to see your kestrel. I'm about 15 min. from the Beckley area. You can check out Pelli also. Bigjay, if your going to be in the frederick area let me know.

[abu]

Feb 20, 2006 11:15:03 GMT -5 MarkT said:

Reisterstown MD here. I've been flying birds as a Maryland resident for 22 years now.

Hey, Mark. I live in Finksburg, and I just took my exam. I would love to go hunting with you and check out your birds sometime. Any other falconers in Carroll or Baltimore county?

[MarkT]

Dec 12, 2018 20:41:20 GMT -5 abu said:

Hey, Mark. I live in Finksburg, and I just took my exam. I would love to go hunting with you and check out your birds sometime. Any other falconers in Carroll or Baltimore county?

Unfortunately, my post was from 2006. I have since moved to Indiana. When I lived in MD, there weren't any other falconers close by. If you aren't already a member of NAFA, you may want to join. I just took a quick look and it appears you may have some falconers in Sykesville.

[abu]

Dec 13, 2018 11:22:45 GMT -5 MarkT said:

Dec 12, 2018 20:41:20 GMT -5 abu said:

Hey, Mark. I live in Finksburg, and I just took my exam. I would love to go hunting with you and check out your birds sometime. Any other falconers in Carroll or Baltimore county?

Unfortunately, my post was from 2006. I have since moved to Indiana. When I lived in MD, there weren't any other falconers close by. If you aren't already a member of NAFA, you may want to join. I just took a quick look and it appears you may have some falconers in Sykesville.

That's awesome! I'll look into that. I know a few in Westminster, but I always want to meet more

[bigjay]

Dec 5, 2018 9:21:43 GMT -5 dobman said:

Been quiet on the forum! It's a busy time of the year - holidays, hawk training/hunting, getting ready for winter. progress with Pelli has been good. Pelli's weight was down to 935 g. for yesterday training on the creance. Best reaction time yet at 100'. That's about a 13% drop from trapped weight. I'm going to try and keep him in that area. Threw down the lure also. he came down pretty quick on it and tried to drag it under my pine tree. I'll make sure i don't give him that chance in the future. So, anyone out hunting yet. cswann, bigjay-- how's training coming along? Any stories to share? Cswann, i'd love to see your kestrel. I'm about 15 min. from the Beckley area. You can check out Pelli also. Bigjay, if your going to be in the frederick area let me know.

I must have never seen this! lol sorry! How did your season go?! compared to some I didn't have a great season but I did better than my sponsor so thats all I care about! I finished my season with 5 rabbits and one squirrel. I only took one squirrel because the fist one got a hold of her toe and bit her pretty good to the point where there was no use of that toe. Hmmmm Other than the squirrel bite, I didn't really have much of an exciting season as far as stories go... You have any good stories to share from the season?! I just let mine go about a week and a half ago.  

[dobman]

Good to hear from you Bigjay. I didn't fare as good as I would have liked to. The rabbit population seems to be down around here these days. Not an excuse! Some minor rookie ( apprentice ) mistakes were made that will be corrected by next hunting season. With my sponsors blessing i will be intermewing Pelli this summer. He's fat and well fed as we speak. He did drop his first feather yesterday.I hear you are gonna go for a Cooper's next season. Good luck.

[bigjay]

Yes, you to dobman! Ah that's a bummer. No but it does make it a little more difficult! It seems like the rabbit population is down alot of places in MD. From what I have heard from some people is that it was because of some of the bad storms we had last year wiped out a lot of rabbit babies last year. Cool! You are well on your way to a long molt! I am! I am currently trying to find some Coop nests! I feel like most of what I have been finding are A) old, no longer used nests and B) RSH nests... well hopefully you get your sponsor's blessing to keep Pelli! Keep me updated! Also I PMed you

[MarkT]

Are you using a recording to help locate the coop nests? Where ever you found the RSH nests, I would go back and look for coops again. When I lived in MD, I found it very common for RSH to nest within a 100 yards of an active coops nest.

[bigjay]

I am trying but haven't been getting too many results. What type of call would you recommend? I am currently using the Kaking one. I went back to one RSH nest and spotted another nest nearby but haven't seen any activity in it yet. I also just found it today sooo...

[Sioranth]

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if these forums are active, but I hope so. I'm hoping to find a mentor in southern MD - PG, Charles, Calvert, or St. Mary's areas. I'm currently a junior majoring in Fisheries & Wildlife and volunteered at Owl Moon before the pandemic restrictions. I still help them with transport right now as well as Calvert Stewards. I would love to get more involved with falconry sporting, but the list on the MD DNR website seems extremely out of date. For instance, there is one person it lists as available for mentoring "statewide," but I found an article from 2008 that said this person was charged with neglect of a bird and the bird was confiscated. Obviously, I wouldn't be comfortable contacting this person out of the blue without finding out more information or having some personal referrals, if indeed they are even still allowed to hold a falconry license. Most of the people listed are also way up north from me which would make it difficult to devote the time necessary as an apprentice because of the driving involved.

If anyone has any information on someone in the area that might be interested in taking on an apprentice, I would really appreciate it! Thanks!