News & Notes

Nebraska Falconers' Association

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Tri-Cities area

Bob Noble is flying his Harris' hawk, Hannibal, at rabbits and other game in and around Grand Island.
Chris Podraza, also in Grand Island, now has a passage Krider's redtail.
Donna Vorce picked up a new passage redtail on her way from Davenport to the autumn field meet. Literally.
Doyle Daiss is making progress in his negotiations with Hastings officials for more reasonable regulations, and should be able to begin his apprenticeship in the autumn of 2010.

In Stapleton, Art Graves is hunting sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie-chickens with two hybrid gyrkins, one a peregrine cross and the other a saker cross.

Eric & Anita Johnson in Taylor are also chasing sharps and chickens with GxPs.

November '09

Always a popular locale, Burwell was once again the site for our autumn field meet. We experienced warmer weather than usual for this time of year, but it didn't seem to hurt the performance of our hawks, and of course it was great to be back in the Sandhills.

Some of us rolled into town on Friday evening, but the meet proper started early (pre-dawn) Saturday morning. Eric Johnson's GxP hybrid falcon, River, took a prairie chicken in good style—at a location that usually produces sharp-tailed grouse. Jim Ingram's peregrine, Lucy, later took a duck (species not reported) from a pond just outside of town.

An afternoon of shortwinging with Harris' hawks and redtails followed. Karl Linderholm's Clarice and Mark Churchill's Stekoa both took cottontails at Calamus Reservoir, the latter after a long and grueling hunt through dense cedar tangles and lakeside willow thickets. Bob Noble flew Hannibal, but the Harris' caught three voles before seeing a single rabbit and so Bob wisely called it a day. We didn't flush many rabbits for Scott Backlund's passage redtail, either, but she acquitted herself very well in front of a large crowd—especially considering she was trapped just 18 days earlier! Meanwhile, in a smaller breakaway party, first-year apprentice Nick Morris caught a rabbit with his redtail—their first, so congratulations to Nick.

The day was a memorable experience for two of our guests, prospective apprentices from Stapleton. Only time will tell if either of these 15-year-olds can sustain their interest in falconry, but they beat their share of brush, conducted themselves like gentlemen in the field, and asked good questions. We hope to see them again.

Those rising early on Sunday got to see Anita Johnson's hybrid gyrkin, Riddick, hit a prairie chicken from a thousand-foot-plus pitch. As so often happens, though, the chicken was able to absorb the strike and keep going: these are tough birds to put in the bag!

After Sunday breakfast, the meet adjourned to Davis Creek Reservoir for a last bit of bunny hawking. Both Clarice and Stekoa took rabbits, and some of Mike Cox's ashes were scattered there—Mike loved the place and had taken quite a few rabbits there with his Harris' hawk.

Incidentally, plans are being made to have Mike's name added to the Wall of Remembrance at The Peregrine Fund/Archives of Falconry in Boise, Idaho. Donations will be accepted from now until the February field meet; they can be mailed to the address at the very bottom of this page.

Photos from the meet can be found here and here.

Our late-winter meet, once again held in Grand Island, was a slightly unusual one. Although a few members were unable to attend due to work, other commitments, or poor road conditions resulting from a Friday snowstorm, plenty of falconers were in attendance for the business/policy meeting on Saturday—but very few hawks came along for the ride.

We flew two Harris' hawks (Mike Cox's Hannibal, now flown by Bob Noble, and Karl Linderholm's Clarice) and a redtail (Mark Churchill's Stekoa). All three took cottontails on Saturday. On Sunday morning, Karl called Clarice to the fist (for the first time in a month) after several good but unsuccessful bunny flights, and then Hannibal and Stekoa each took another rabbit. With no other hawks to fly, the meet broke up early Sunday afternoon.

We did, however, enjoy the company of several guests, including three charming young ladies from Kearney who were writing a paper on falconry for their English class. Most of their research was done already, which is fortunate since the paper was due the day after the meet. They did seem to enjoy themselves, and hopefully their academic efforts won't suffer too much from the direct exposure to the sport!

Some photos from the field can be found at Flyover Country.

Our now-traditional raffle, coordinated by Anita Johnson, was once again a great fundraiser for the club and a nice opportunity for our members to score some near-freebies. We'd like to thank all of the vendors who donated items (see listing below) for supporting Nebraska falconry.

HAWK FOOD/SUPPLEMENTS

Our fall meet was held in the Grand Island area. Extremely windy weather limited our success, although one of Eric Johnson's hybrid falcons did take a green-winged teal. New apprentice Eric Hansen's redtail flew well; it's good to see Eric off to a promising start. Other birds flown included a Cooper's hawk (Chris Podraza's D.B.), an aplomado falcon (flown by Jim Ingram), and several Harris' hawks: Mike Cox's Hannibal (flown by Bob Noble), Karl Linderholm's Clarice, and Donna Vorce's Hawkeye. Unfortunately, Hawkeye may have been a bit overweight and was lost on a long downwind flight; as of yet, he has not been recovered, and could be in Oklahoma or Texas by now. This was not the only bad luck to befall us: Mark Churchill missed the meet owing to the death of his father, Paul (who had illustrated a couple issues of Flatwater Falconry); and Anita Johnson's truck blew an engine at the meet. Here's hoping the next get-together will be smoother...

Thanks, by the way, to the following:

February '08

Our late-winter meet took place in the Sandhills, with Burwell as meet HQ. We had fewer hawks in attendance than usual, but those present got plenty of flying time.

Rabbit hawks included two Harris hawks, Hannibal and Clarice, and one redtail, Stekoa. All three took multiple head of game over the weekend, at a variety of locations including Davis Creek Reservoir, Calamus Reservior, and some private land northwest of Taylor.

We also saw some good upland longwinging. Jim Ingram's peregrine, Lucy, flew at prairie chickens on Saturday morning, and Eric Johnson's hybrid falcon, River, took a slip at sharp-tailed grouse on Sunday morning. No game in the bag, but some very nice flying. Jim also flew his aplomado falcon, Penny, each day of the meet but we were unable to produce any quail for her.

Photos here and here.

Thanks to Eric & Anita Johnson for guide services. They know where the game is, and graciously shared their fields. Anita also coordinated our raffle.

Nebraska Falconers' Association
4921 Spruce Street
Lincoln, Nebraska 68516