Restart

It's been a while, to say the least.

     Here's this season's hunting partner. Her name is Bellatrix (raise ya hands Potterheads).She was absolutely amazing to watch hit the trap. I was actually going for a young male. I laid the trap out underneath him, but he was paying no attention. Suddenly the rest of the trapping party jumped and someone shouted "Wow!". I looked back at the trap to see her raining her fury upon my trap. I ran up to get her with my sponsor - side note, I'm a second year apprentice now... that feels weird - and I picked her up with the trap. Even when I had my hand around her she was still staring at the bait sparrow and trying to foot it. I was so excited to see her this tenacious! The top quality I wanted in a bird was to see her totally ready to annihilate the bait sparrow, and that's what Bellatrix did. To get her off the trap, I had to hold her and the Bal-Chatri while a comrade untangled her feet. She was caught on five or six different nooses! He untangled her feet and she tried to foot him while he did it. She was just fantastic. We hooded her and socked her; even all straightjacketed she shook every once-in-a-while to make sure that she was truly stuck and there was no way of getting out. It was amazing.
     She was super sweet back at home. She took the hood so easily; she regained the glove and perches after a bate so quickly and the was hopping to the fist on day two. On day three we found out why: she had frounce and she was starving. Luckily, a falconer friend happened to have to miracle powder that got rid of it in one dose, but this seriously set training back.
     We found several other complications with her resulting in the fist three weeks being a stress-free time for her. No training, no bating, no light unless she was eating. But finally, three weeks later, she was healthy.
     Her training is taking much longer than I expected. In part, it's because she's a later-trapped bird, she was sick for the first three weeks, and honestly it's partially because I'm scared to take her off the creance. I don't trust her well enough yet.
     The next step in training her is to bag her on game. She understands that she comes to me for food and the lure for meals, but she's reluctant to do so because she just wants to hunt. And I would be more than happy to hunt with her if I had a transmitter, but I won't be getting one for at least another month.
    So wish us luck. We wish you the same.

Me and Bellatrix after a couple hours of manning, Day 1.

Bellatrix in her tapping attire.

   

Bellatrix, just being plain beautiful.