She was located on a post in Willard, Mo. A friend of mine had seen her the previous evening in the same general vicinity, and said she was vigilant on game in the field. A fierce hunter he said, and if he could have trapped her, he would have liked to! When we saw her we drove on and made a U-turn and decided where to drop our trap. We pulled in to a street in the undeveloped area she was watching, but far enough not to bump her. I got out and laid the trap baited with a starling and a mouse. We drove on, turned around and stopped to watch her reactions.
She was facing in the other direction for a while, and at least once I thought that she might just fly away. But after the longest 3 or 4 minutes ever, she turned in the direction we had laid the trap, and like a radar sensing an enemy plane, she honed in on the movement of the bait animals. She dove down steeply, and coasted over the field, across the road to my trap. Nailed it hard and fast and was snagged. We waited an eternity, or a minute, and looked through binoculars to ensure she was snared. Yep! She spread he wings, laying back, but not without some distress to why she wasn't eating her meal, yet! :)
We came in to greet her, gloved hands holding nail clippers to release her snares, tape to secure her, and a hood to deny her sight to sink a foot into my flesh. We decided, being such a short drive to our friend's place, to sock her later, and just secure her well and I held her until we arrived. My hood was meant for a male RT, and a small one at that, it was sliding slowly off her head as we drove and I prayed she didn't freak out. Traveling with a freshly trapped, unhooded, unsocked bird of prey was obviously asking for it, but we made it with no major issues.
We got out and weighed her, she came in steady at 1613 grams, or NEARLY 57 ounces, if you can believe it! 3.5 lbs of mayhem, waiting to tear me a new one!
My friend loaned me one of his hoods, and we were on our way. I sprayed her down for mites and feather lice, and once home, I feebly and amatuerishly put her anklets and jesses on. I leashed her to a perch, hooded, and all seemed well and good. I backed out and went inside to bombard friends and family with text message pictures of her and give them all the news of the morning.
A few minutes later, I went out to check on her. As I walked to the weathering I noticed she was no longer hooded. SHEESH! How am I going to get that back on?? As I approach the weathering she bates, and then lands on the ground. I look at her, and notice her jesses are completely ripped out at the slits! NO!!!!NOW WHAT????
I have always been warned of Murphy's Law, and especially since beginning in Falconry. But this is ridiculous. With the aid of my husband, we carefully wrap her in a towel, encasing her wings so she doesn't frightfully fly into the walls, or our face! And we rehood her. We get her perched again and frantically find materials for emergency Jesses. As I curse my lack of preparation (this never happens in the rest of my life!) And my husband eagerly cuts me a few eagle sized jesses and I teach him how to roll the button. trimmed and ready, we go back out and I re-Jess her. Noticing, she has yet again, unhooded herself. Now the anklets seem not quite right to me...the same leather as the jesses, I assume that they too, are too weak for this monster bird. I decide the best bet is the GH. She can't keep a hood on, for they have been either too big or too small, so into the GH, for now, while I take a breath and figure out how I did so much wrong in such a short time, and what I am going to do about it.
I get her safe and secure in a dark place and decide to call my sponsor, my falconer friends and anyone else who can give me advise in a time like this. I am told it's OK, she is bound to be fiesty trapped this late in the season. Just keep her safe...well, she is now! But we had a moment of worry .....
So training proceeded after dark.....
I brought her in the house, in the Giant Hood for a few hours of manning. I had a dinner to go to with family for New Year's Eve, but called to let them know I would be fashionably late, I had things to do.
I got her out of her Giant hood with a lot less issues than I would have thought. She had already stood on my glove earlier in the day while I was having so many problems with my furniture, out in the weathering. Normally you really wouldn't mess with the freshly trapped bird until after dark. But I was left without a choice, and I am still unsure which of us came out more frazzled, but I am pretty sure it was me.
The indoor manning was new to me. All my contact with CL last year was outdoors, so having her inside was new for us both. I stood in the middle of the living room floor, left arm holding her as long as I could, my elbow shaking ever so slightly from her beastly weight, and my pansy arm muscles. She bated some, but was pretty well mannered. We watched Tv, for some time, at least 3 full sit coms and a little of the evening news. My husband kept the cats out, and would walk around a bit. I noticed that she seemed to bate in the direction of light, and my daughters room. But the amazing thing was how she could regain the fist. She is not a "dangler" at all. She doesn't flop and act like a dead chicken tied to a string. She intently looks the direction she wants to fly, squats down, and then jumps. as she realizes she can go no further than a few inches she stomps back down on my glove, footing and mad! She glares at me, but stands, slowly bringing her wings in tighter. I offered her a mouse over and over. she chomped down so hard I could hear the skull crack...but she didn't eat it. As I decide to call it a night, I hood her...actually not too badly, just long enough to get her in the GH again...or so I thought! as I back her in, she begins to lean on my arm...she has nearly gotten her footing on the inner perch, and I am gingerly trying to slide the hood from her head. As I do this, she nips at the hood, but instead bites my arm!OH well! It hurt, but it wasn't so bad. I had to leave and we were done for the day, but I realized that I wasn't doing that part right either! I spent the evening recapping the events of the day, and mulling over my many mistakes. deciding what would need to be done in the morning, and in out next session of manning.....
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