Post by picman on Mar 16, 2007 21:45:06 GMT -5
It was late in my adventure with the art of falconry.I was almost 18 and I was getting close to entering the army.One of the few local falconers had gotten five Hawk Eagles.They all had been trapped with a strong tree sap and they all needed cleaing.He had sold off three out of five with one left.To cover the cost of shipping by air and to get his own bird.My father agreed to buy the last bird for $160.It was 1971.
This bird was covered with the tree sap and could only move one part of its body.Her feet and tallons!I found this out quickly when I was jessing her in the dark shed I always used.I still have a scar from our first meeting.I'm 53 now.
This bird was pissed and she let me know it with every bit of energy she could give.I had to wash the sap off her with worm water and every touch resulted in a fierce screem on her part and a struggle to break free.I got her cleaned enough and jessed.I left her there in the dark with some fresh beefheart.She had eaten but was still as angry as before the following morning.
I worked with her and tried to man her over the next couple of weeks.She only got to the point of eating on the fist , then start her usual tantrum and attempt to get free.
I returned one day after working some of our fences with my dad. The bow perch she had been on pulled out of nearly a foot of ground and part of her leash still on the ring.She had pulled free from it or eaten her way through.She was gone.I talked with all the families in the area and asked them to call if they thought they had seen her.We searched by foot and car for several miles around,but she was gone.I hoped she had eaten through her jesses and the remainder of her leash.We did not have the electronics of today for locating lost birds.I had never put bells on her because she was not ready.
I was home on leave from the army and out shotgun hunting quail with my brother.We were in an area about 10 miles from our home and we came apon the carcus of that bird hanging from a cottonwood tree.She had gotten tangled in some limbs with the remainder of the leash.It had been over two years.I got her down and put her in the ground.I left the swivel on a limb of that tree.
A sad way to go for her and a sad day for me.
This bird was covered with the tree sap and could only move one part of its body.Her feet and tallons!I found this out quickly when I was jessing her in the dark shed I always used.I still have a scar from our first meeting.I'm 53 now.
This bird was pissed and she let me know it with every bit of energy she could give.I had to wash the sap off her with worm water and every touch resulted in a fierce screem on her part and a struggle to break free.I got her cleaned enough and jessed.I left her there in the dark with some fresh beefheart.She had eaten but was still as angry as before the following morning.
I worked with her and tried to man her over the next couple of weeks.She only got to the point of eating on the fist , then start her usual tantrum and attempt to get free.
I returned one day after working some of our fences with my dad. The bow perch she had been on pulled out of nearly a foot of ground and part of her leash still on the ring.She had pulled free from it or eaten her way through.She was gone.I talked with all the families in the area and asked them to call if they thought they had seen her.We searched by foot and car for several miles around,but she was gone.I hoped she had eaten through her jesses and the remainder of her leash.We did not have the electronics of today for locating lost birds.I had never put bells on her because she was not ready.
I was home on leave from the army and out shotgun hunting quail with my brother.We were in an area about 10 miles from our home and we came apon the carcus of that bird hanging from a cottonwood tree.She had gotten tangled in some limbs with the remainder of the leash.It had been over two years.I got her down and put her in the ground.I left the swivel on a limb of that tree.
A sad way to go for her and a sad day for me.
