Hawking in the snow 雪での狩り

A little thing like snow wasn't going to keep us from hawking this weekend! The roads were miserable but the hawking was great! Ms. Havoc was up first. We followed some tracks to a culvert and a quick glance down the tunnel confirmed that Mr. Bunny was home. I popped the ferret down and soon enough the bunny came shooting out the other end. It was pure speed on speed as the bunny ran about 50 yards down a retaining wall and then cut down into a depression trying to make another culvert. Ms. Havoc snagged him about a foot away! Great flight!
土曜日雪が降ったけどあれだけで狩りに行かない訳ないよ！道が大変だったけど狩りはよかった。１２年目のオオタカでウサギ２匹を捕りました。最初のウサギは７５メテルぐらい走って穴に入った直前捕った！オオタカのスピードは凄い！

It didn't take long to find bunny #2. He was hiding underneath a dumpster, and hiding well at that! It took a minute for us to confirm that it was rabbit ears that we were seeing and not just some brush! The ferret went in again but wandered right past the bunny! Luckily she saw the error of her ways and got the bunny moving. Here's that flight:

２番目はすぐ見つかりました。追いかけたけどミス。その時の映像は撮ったけど遠かったためあんまり見えないです。松の木を回って僕の方に戻ったけどウサギが建物の雨流し穴に入って逃げました。

It was a nice flight around the spruce but the bunny made it into a drain pipe on the side of the building. Luckily another bunny found its way to the same dumpster a few moments later courtesy of the ferrest. A carbon copy of the flight shown above ensued but this time there was no chasing around the tree as Ms. Havoc nailed it on the first stoop from the building.
すぐ後またウサギを見つかりました。全く同じ所に逃げようとしたけど今回松の木まで行かなかった。

Her posture in the above pictures seems to say, "Das right foo!"

“お前捕ったぜ”という感じな立て方。

An absolute beauty of a bird. See the drain pipe on the side of the building in the right of the picture? That's where the first bunny is hiding!

この鷹は凄く綺麗！右後ろの方に見える雨流しの中にビデオで見れるウサギが隠れています！

N.A.F.A. アメリカ全国鷹狩大会

Every year over the week of Thanksgiving the North American Falconers Association (N.A.F.A.) holds a national meet where falconers from all over the nation get together to socialize, listen to speakers, tell stories, and HUNT! This year the meet was held in Alamosa, Colorado, a short 3 hour drive from my apartment. Unfortunately, my family wanted me back in Utah for turkey day so I could only stay a few days but the following are some pics from the meet:

毎年１１月の第３週にアメリカ全国鷹狩協会（N.A.F.A.)が大きいな鷹狩大会を開きます。今年はコロラド州に行われました！鷹匠が全国から集まって，話し合ったりして，狩に行きます。今回の大会は私のアパートからただの３時間なので行ってきました。残念ながら二日間しかいられなかったけどいった間の写真がしたにあります。ご覧ください：

This is the weathering yard...as you can see, there were lots of birds!!

皆の鷹。百羽以上いたかな。

The first day out I hooked up with some falconers from Minnesota that were gracious enough to let me tag along. This gentleman had this 3rd year female coopers but unfortunately wasn't flying her that day. We had a good number of people with us and ended up flying 8 or 9 Harris hawks together. We had a few good slips but only ended up with one white-tailed jack in the bag for our efforts.

最初の日ミンナソータ州からの鷹匠と一緒に狩に出かけました。この人は３年目のクーパを持っていましたけどこの日に飛ばさなかった。結局ハリス７か８羽ぐらいを一緒に飛ばして，何回追いかけたけどウサギ一匹しか捕りませんでした。

Even though we only got one jack the scenery was beautiful!

一匹だけだったけど周りの形式はすごく綺麗でした。

The second day, and my last, I went out with a friend from the Internet to fly his male golden eagle.

二日目は友達と彼のイヌワシ♂と一緒に出かけました。

We had a few good flights but only ended up managing to catch a rat. You'd expect more from such a vicious bird. Look at the fear in those kids eyes!

今回も何回か追いかけたけど結局ネズミしか捕れなかった。享年の４月に捕まえた野生のイヌワシだったのに今子供が触れるほど人間になれています。

I really wanted to stay the whole week but my 104 year old great grandma wanted to meet my son so off we went to Utah. There's always next year...

もっといたかったけど１０４歳のひおばあちゃんが僕の息子を会いたかったので二日目の後ユタ州に行ってきました。また来年行きたいと思います。日本の皆是非来てください！

Good luck to my friends in Japan! 皆頑張れ！

The season opens today for all my friends in Japan. It's a short season running from November 15 thru February 15 and there's a general lack of game there that makes catching anything doubly tough but I know they'll all try their best. Good luck guys!

今日から日本の狩が始まる。日本にいていたらハリスで頑張っていたけどアメリカでは今年は見学だけ。代わりに関西鷹狩倶楽部の皆頑張れ！今週の日曜日からNAFA（アメリカ全国鷹狩協会）の大会がコロラド州の南部で開くので狩に行ってきます！写真は後ほど載せますのでお楽しみに。

Falconers are so WEIRD! 鷹匠って可笑しい！

On Saturday I met up with Richard and his goshawks and we headed to an industrial park where we hooked up with a couple of his apprentices. Billy Bob, the tiercel goshawk from a couple weeks ago was up first. We'd spotted a bunny creeping into some bushes near a building so we thought we'd give that a try to start things off. The bunny bolted out of the bushes and made it to a drain pipe before Billy could get to him but since we knew where the bunny was, and it was a big enough (2.5 ft. in diameter?) drain pipe, I offered to climb in from the other side to scare the bunny out. It was a fairly long pipe, maybe 150 ft. from one side of the road to the other but I could see the bunny sillouetted against the light at the other end. I threw a couple rocks down the pipe to see if I could get it to move that way (and I really didn't want to climb into the pipe) but it wasn't moving so after brushing a few cobwebs out from the entrance I climbed in. The pipe was only slightly larger than my shoulder width, but by commando crawling on my elbows and pushing with my feet I could move pretty steadily so off I went. I was making quite the ruckas as I went pushing a short piece of PVC pipe in front of me that clattered along the dry cement as it went but the bunny just wasn't budging! About half way through the pipe I hear a voice from the other side say, "Isaac? You're in the wrong pipe!" The "bunny" that I could see at the end of the pipe I was in was a rock! I guess 150 ft. of dark pipe obscures vision just a bit! But with no where to go but forward I pushed on and finally emerged from my experience as a ferret with scrapped up elbows, but none the worse for wear and we continued hawking. When I got home I told my wife the story and she says, "You did WHAT? Are you that desperate to catch a bunny? If I saw a bunch of superfreaks climbing thru drain pipes and chasing bunnies in an industrial park I'd laugh at you. Falconers are so WEIRD!!"...and ya know what, in this instance I have to agree!

土曜日近くの鷹匠と一緒に狩に出かけました。今回はオオタカでまたウサギを探しました。車を出たばっかりの時ウサギが出ました。オオタカが捕まえる前に５０ｃｍほどの水道パイプに逃げられた。パイプに見てみると約５０メテル程の長さで反対側の光の中ウサギの影が見えました。石など投げてもなかなか動かなかったので“まぁ，自分で入ろうかな”と思いました。パイプに入って肩より少しだけ大きいだったので肘と足で頑張って進んでみました。それにしてもウサギはなかなか動かない。２５メテル進んだところで反対側から声を聞こえて，“おい！パイプは間違っているよ！ウサギはいない。”ということでした。僕がウサギの影と思ったものは石でした！困った！これ程狭いパイプに入って頑張って進んだのになにもいないだ！さぁ，前に進むしかないから頑張ってパイプ全部取りました。汚いし，クモも蛇もいる可能性もあるところだったのに入っても意味なかった！狩が終わって帰ったら奥さんにパイプの話をしたら，“えっ？ばかか？鷹狩って全くわからない。鷹匠は可笑しい！”今回さんせいします！

Billy ended up catching a bunny coming out of a pipe in a short flight. Richard told the bird he should've let it run a little more and Billy released the bunny! He caught it again in 20 feet but we told Richard he probably shouldn't say that again!

結局オオタカは一匹を捕まえた。早かったので“もちょっと走らせたら？”と鷹匠が冗談で言ったらオオタカは実際にウサギを放した！１０メテルぐらいにまた捕まったけど二度と言わないようにと皆が笑いながら言った。

Richards apprentice then took his red-tail out for his first real hunt. While the bird didn't catch anything it flew wonderfully, barely missing a couple times and chasing a good while. It'll be a good bird in the near future. Here's some of the flights:

そして一緒に来た初級鷹匠がレッドテールを出して，初めての狩をやって見ました。ウサギは捕まらなかったけど動きが良かった！ご覧ください：

More youtube...Me in February? 近い将来の私？

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll be doing at least an abbreviated apprenticeship. Since my current living situation is rather confined, a red-tail is out of the question. Therefore my choice of birds is limited to the kestrel. Even though Matt Mullenix's book has made many people reconsider the kestrel, and I've heard of them doing some amazing things in the hands of the right falconers, I'll be honest and say that I was a little disappointed to know that I'd be flying a kestrel instead of the merlin or sharpshin that I'd hoped for. My biggest concern was that carhawking (releasing the bird from the window of a moving car), a common practice with kestrels, just isn't appealing to me. I'd much rather be out in a field where the uncertainty of when the slip is going to happen is part of the fun (at least for me). And then I found this clip:

再び一から始まって初級鷹匠免許しか取れないという事を分かった時非常にがっかりしました。アメリカでは初級鷹匠はレッドテールかアメチョウしか持ってはいけないです。今住んでいるアパートは小さいからレッドテールは無理です。アメチョウにするしかないです。最近この本のおかげでアメチョウの人気が増えているけど正直に言うとアメチョウはあんまりやりたくなかった。マーリンかアメリカハイタカは楽しみにしていた。しかし今日このビデオを見つかりました:



A kestrel from a T-perch? How cool is that! And since it's the same thing I was doing with my Harris hawk in Japan and what I'd hoped to do (minus the T-perch) with a merlin or sharpshin my enthusiasm for flying a kestrel is renewed! And just in case there's doubters out there who think that would work for sparrows, check out this next one!

Tパーチからアメチョウか？凄い！日本ではハリスを持ったときに同じように飛ばしていたのでこのやり方の楽しさがよく分かる。しかしアメチョウでできるというのは考えなかった！これを観てアメチョウは楽しみ！アメチョウはこれにしてもスズメを捕まれないと思う人のため次のビデオをご覧ください！



Okay, so at the end of the clip she's eating a grasshopper...I swear that was a sparrow she caught in the slow motion section! Did you see how quick she was? WOW! I'm really looking forward to February now!

まぁ，最後の画像はバタを食べているところだけど最初の所はスズメに見える。しかも早い！凄い！とりあえず２月まで待っていないといけないけど本当に楽しみ！

Industrial Hawking ウサギゲット！！

Saturday was a blast! What else can I say? Things started slow as we checked out some property on speculation. We had a good flight with the Harris hawks at the one jack that we got up but that's all we saw so we headed to another spot to give the Red-tails a try at some cottontails. Had a couple decent flights there but no success. By this point our leader was getting frustrated so he decided to take us to his honey hole...and as honey holes are apt to do, it produced!

土曜日はすごかった！鷹四羽（ハリス雌二羽，レードテール雄と雌一羽ずつ）を連れていてウサギを探しに出かけました。最初の所はあんまりいなくって一回だけ追いかけて，捕まったけど大きい強いウサギの種類だから戦った結果ハリス達が負けまして，ウサギが逃げられた。次のところレードテールが２回小さい種類のウサギを追いかけたけどなかなか捕まらない。上司の鷹匠ががっがりしていて一番いい所に連れてあげると言ってウサギだらけのところに行きました。最初レードテール雌が一匹ゲット。そしてレードテール雄が２匹。そしてハリスの２羽が一緒に５羽（！！）をドンドン捕りました。

Bunny #1

(Mario's female Red on her 2nd of the season)

Bunny #2

(Lucky's first bunny of the day)

Bunny #2 for Lucky

(Congrats to Lara on her first double!)

The little things that can make your day... 小さいな出来事

Yesterday my wife and I headed out to CostCo to do some shopping. As we pulled onto one of the main roads something in the field to our right caught my eye. I caught the tail end of a merlin stooping and missing a sparrow, throwing up again and rolling into a second pass. Since the car was moving and it was a busy road I couldn't stop to watch how the chase proceeded but that sparrow looked to be in deep trouble the way that merlin was flying. Non-falconers (my wife included) don't understand how something like that can get a person so excited but I had a smile on my face the rest of the day! If I had been able to get my license this season I wanted to fly a merlin but the way things are shaping up it looks like I'll have to settle for rare moments like those, hawking with others, and of course...youtube videos!

昨日奥さんと買い物に出た時道の横の広場の上に何かが目にかかりました。見てみるとマーリンがスズメを追いかけたところでした。車が走っていたから数秒しか見えなかったけどあれだけでも一日笑顔でした。いつかマーリンやりたいな。

Billy Bob ウサギゲット！

I had the opportunity to go hawking again last Saturday with Richard and Becky Brunoette (see my first post from Colorado...). We took their little male gos "Billy Bob" out to an industrial park to scare some bunnies and after a shaky start (Billy decided he liked the top of buildings better than Richard's fist) we got down to business. Billy caught this bunny as it ran out from under a hole in the sidewalk. I meant to take video but my camera was still on picture mode when I snapped the grab:

土曜日再び狩に出かけました。コロラド州に着いたばかりの時の人たちと一緒にオオタカを連れていてウサギを追いかけました。始めにオオタカは何かを気にして建物の上からなかなか降りて来なかったけどちょっとしてから手に戻ってこのウサギを捕りました。ビデオで撮ろうと思ったけど間違って写真だけが移りました。捕るところです：

And then of course, the victory shot:

そして勝利の写真：　:-)

Pawnee Grasslands ウサギを追いかける

This past weekend the Colorado Hawking Club held a small meet at the Pawnee Grasslands in the Northeast corner of Colorado. There were about a dozen falconers there, lots of red-tails, a few Harris hawks, and a Praire falcon (that wasn't flown this time around). I had to choose between going out with a cast of Harris hawks to chase jacks or a couple of red-tails to chase cottontails...Tough choice!!! I ended up going with the Harris hawks just because I like to watch the jacks run. We ended up taking about 10 boyscouts who were up there help build nest platforms for Ferruginous Hawks but the service project ran into some trouble so we all went hawking instead. As you can see below, we had quite the line going to scare up jacks!

先週の金，土, コロラド鷹狩倶楽部が狩の大会を開きました。鷹匠１２人が集まりました。レードテールが３，４羽，ハリス３羽，プレリー隼とスウィンソンが一羽ずつ。ハリスを観るかレードテールを観るか迷っていて，結局朝からハリス昼からレードテールという形で出かけました。朝から人数が見えるように多かった！

There were PLENTY of jacks, both black and white tailed and we had a few decent flights (one where fur was pulled) but being early in the season and having that sort of crowd out threw the birds off and about 45 minutes into it we could tell that the birds were done. We headed back to camp for lunch.

ウサギがいっぱいいたけど猟期が始まったばっかりし人数が多かったため数回追いかけってから鷹たちが疲れって追いかけなくなった。残念でしたがそれにしても一回ウサギの髪を捕りました。惜しかった！車に戻って昼を食べてからレードテールと一緒に行きました。

After driving for hours around the grasslands looking for a spot that wasn't being used by shooters, we ended up at a spot back near camp. We got up a cottontail almost instantly...so fast even that the bird wasn't looking! A light rain began falling but we pushed ahead hoping to scare up another bunny. The bird was following along well and in perfect position, even came crashing out of the tree onto something at one point, but just as we were getting to the spot where our "guide" said the bunnies would be thick the falconer whose red-tail we were flying slipped on a wet log twisting the knee that he'd had reconstructive surgery on only two weeks before! Yikes. That ended the day pretty quickly as we collected his bird for him and worked to get him back to camp in one piece. So no bunny in the bag for us but the meet wasn't a total bust, another falconers red-tail took a cottontail in what was described as a nice flight. I headed home shortly after as the heavens opened and the rain really began to pour. There's another meet at the beginning of November. Hopefully we'll get to see some more action then!

遠いところを見にいって銃を使っている人があちこちいたのでキャンプに戻って近くのところでレー度テールを飛ばしました。草に入ってすぐにウサギが出ましたけど早過ぎって準備ができていなかった。少雨が降り出して，塗れたけど頑張ってウサギを探しました。鷹が木の上で待っていて一回何かを追いかけましたけどミス。そして鷹の鷹匠が塗れた草に滑って手術したばかりの膝を改めて痛めた（内村さんぽいに...鷹匠がなかなか止まらないね！）。それで狩が終わりました。鷹を回収してキャンプに戻りました。その後大雨が降り出したので帰宅しました。今回僕がウサギを捕まえるところが見えなかった（他の鷹匠のレードテールが一匹を捕ったけど僕がいなかった）けど１１月の始めにまた大会があるのでその時を期待しています。

Rocky Mtn. National Park ロッキー山脈国立公園

It's not falconry but my wife and I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday and WOW! It was so beautiful I just had to share some of the highlights. God bless America!

鷹狩ではないけど昨日ロッキー山脈国立公園に行ってきました。すごくよかった！なので写真を載せよと思いました。こういう所に住んでいるよ！

Sparrow Traps スズメのわな

Just to feel like I've got some connection to the falconry world I've been making some equipment. I'm trying out some designs for sparrow traps that I've seen around and since sparrows and starling are legal to trap year round with or without residency I can make sure my designs will provide some food once I finally do get a bird.

何とかの方法で鷹狩とのつながりがあるようにしょうとしています。今週スズメのわなを沢山作った。それぞれのディザインを試して，鷹が持っているときに餌はちゃんと手に入れられるようにする。スズメが入ってくれるかな？

The spiral trap on the left was posted on the kestrelfans yahoo group by Matt Mullenix, the multi-chamber may have been too. The drop in trap is kind of a variation on one that a lot of people say is effective but we'll just have to see if my design quirks work or not.

So far the only one that's proven itself is the multi-chamber. I caught a sparrow and an oriole type bird (which I didn't even think could fit in the trap!). Both birds were released unharmed, but in two weeks the Colorado Hawking Club is having a field meet and I'm hoping to tag along with some people trapping to see if the sparrow harnesses I've been making work. The next sparrows will have some work to do!

今まで間中のわなしかスズメを捕れていないけどまだまだ秋だから餌がいっぱいでわなに入れなくても食べれる。でも今朝山の方で雪が降ったみたいので近い内に後の二つを本気で試してみます。

Cool pic! クーパの写真

A falconer from Texas posted this picture of a friend's female Cooper's Hawk (Turbo Dog) chasing a grackle on another site and I just thought it was a cool picture so I'm posting it here. Someday I'll get to fly a Coopers...someday.



テクサス州の鷹匠が別のウェブサイトにこの写真を貼っていました。クーパの雌がカラスを追いかけています。かっこいからここでも貼ろうと思っただけです。いつかクーパもやりたいな。。。

Praire falcon プレリー隼

With no job yet and school only on Tuesdays and Thursdays we took advantage of some free time on Wednesday and went down to a National Park called "Garden of the Gods" near Colorado Springs.

仕事はまだなくって，学校は火，木だけなので暇を使って近くの国立公園“神の庭”に出かけました。

The above picture is at the visitors center near the entrance of the park. The red rock ridge sticking up in the back ground is called "Kissing Camels". If you look closely you can see why:

上の写真入れ口だけど後ろの岩は“キシングラクダ”と言います。なぜかというと良く見たらなんとなく分かると思う。

Anyway, we headed over toward these 'kissing camels' to take a short hike through the heart of the park. As we got to the trail head I noticed this sign:

とにかくその近くにハイキングの道があったからそこに向かいました。ハイキングの所に着いたらこの知らせがありました：

I don't know if you can read the letters in red that I've highlighted but it says that the formation is closed to rock climbing from February to August due to nesting Praire falcons. "Cool!" I thought and I started looking closer at the cliffs hoping to spot one even though it is September...Just then I hear "kyaaa kya kya kya", the distict voice of a praire falcon!! Now I was really excited. I remembered I had binoculars in the car so I ran back and grabbed them. As soon as I got back to the the sign I could hear the falcon again. I'm guessing it was a juvenile, recently fledged and still trying to beg food off it's parents. And then, there it was, gliding near the cliff edge screaming away!

赤で書いてる字では，“２月から８月までプレリー隼の巣のために岩登りは禁止”と書いていました。“プレリーだ！”と思って９月だけどがきに目を傾いた。その時“キャーキャキャキャ”というプレリーの声が聞こえてきました。車に望遠鏡があったので車に走り戻って取って来ました。

My wife thought it was hilarious because I was pointing and yelling, "Look there she is, do you see her? Do you see her?!" What can I say, I was excited. And then she landed on the cliffs and I got a really good view of her with the binoculars. Unfortunately our camera isn't as good as the binoculars. As you can see, she was a ways away:

戻ったら飛んでいる姿が見えました。そしてがきに降りてくれました！あんまりいいカメラではないので良く見えないけど写真を撮りました。やっぱり遠い！

Here he is using digital zoom AND photoshop to sharpen the image...still not the greatest pic:

ディジカメのズームを使ってここまで見えるけどまだまだ綺麗ではない。

I could've spent the rest of the day watching her but the wife said there was hiking to be done so I finally had to put the binoculars away and go hiking. When we came back an hour later though she took off from the ledge she had been on and circled the kissing camels once before settling back on the cliff. I really wish I had a better camera!

私ならずーと見たかったけど奥さんはハイキングしたいと言ったので望遠鏡を固唾けってハイキングに行きました。しかし一時間後戻ってきたらまだ飛んでくれて別のところに降りました。まだまだ遠い！いいカメラを持っていたらいいな！

And again with the digital zoom and photoshop:

またディジカメのズーム：

The pics don't do her justice. She was a pretty bird!

このカメラでは良く見えないけどすごく綺麗でした！

History

Apprentice Seminar 初級鷹匠講座

On Saturday I headed down to Colorado Springs to attend an apprentice seminar put on by the Colorado Hawking Club. The seminar covered Colorado regs, field identification, trapping, suggestions for success in the first 2 years, and a coping demonstration...The coping demonstration is the only thing I got pics of!

I went mainly for the networking, I wanted to meet some more local falconers and talk to the President of the club about getting my license here. He says he'll vouch for my experience as far as an upgrade to general but there's really no way around the 6 month residency thing. I think I'm pretty much sunk as far as getting my own bird this season goes. It'll be a watch and learn kinda year, and let's be honest, it could be worse.

土曜日コロラド州の鷹狩倶楽部が初級鷹匠講座を開きました。コロラド州の法律，トラピング，初級鷹匠へのアドバイスなどをテーマにして３時間ほど話しました。最後に２４歳のレードテールの口をきれいにしました（上の写真）。 トラピングの時期が９月５日から始めましたので２日前に捕まえたレードテールもいました。すごくうらやましい！倶楽部の会長に話したら中級レベルで始められるようにしてくれると言ってくれましたが６ヶ月以上コロラド州に住まないとどうせ免許が取れないと言っていたので今年はやっぱり無理です。残念！春から雛を捕って頑張ろうと思っています。それまでに他の鷹匠に頼って狩を見学します。

WANTED: HAWK TO CHASE BUNNIES! 鷹が欲しい！

Look at this! Just look! This is in the parking lot of a computer store, similar scenes are 200 yards from my door. They're EVERYWHERE! I really need to figure this license thing out!

見てよ！こう何ウサギがいます。これは市内の店の駐車場，同じようにアパートの周りにいる。今日アパートから２００メールのところにウサギを７匹見ました。鷹狩免許くれ！！！

And in the meantime, the hawks are everywhere as well. Spotted this Cooper's just a few hundred yards down a walking path near my apartment.

毎日鷹も見ています。アパートの近くの散歩者道からこのクーパを見つけました。

Hawks EVERYWHERE! 鷹だらけ！！

This not having a license and not being able to trap thing is going to drive me nuts. Running some errands this afternoon I saw 3 kestrels and 2 red-tails within about a mile stretch of each other! And that's not to mention all the other red-tails and kestrels that weren't in that mile stretch!

最近寒くなったからのせいかも分からないけどコロラド州は鷹だらけ！！今日用事をしながら一キロ以内にレードテールを２羽，アメチョウ３羽を見ました。。。一キロ以内ですよ！そして一昨日ぐらいアパートの前にクーパが飛んでいました。免許なくってトラピングできないのは非常に残念！アメリカの法律は嫌い！ウサギもアパートの周りに住んでいるから早めに鷹を手に入れないと頭がおかしくなる！

Picture found at: http://www.birdersworld.com/objects/images/brdpw040307.jpg

Relicensing woes...and a bit of hawking 免許が取れないけど狩が始まる

I'm finally back in the States! After a couple weeks in Hawaii (where I did a bit of spearfishing, my second love), we flew to Utah to spend a couple weeks with the folks and then on August 30th we drove over to Colorado where we'll start life all over.

Shortly after we arrived in Utah I began calling around to see what I'd need to do to get going on this whole "relicensing" thing...It's gonna be an uphill battle to say the least. I first called Colorado and they said that they won't recognize any of my falconry experience in Japan because there isn't a government license there to prove I was a falconer. A letter from the President of our local hawking club, pictures and video isn't enough apparently (rolls eyes). But they did say that they'd recognize my apprenticeship from 10 years ago if I had copies of my licenses etc. So I call up the folks at the Utah FWS...They say they have NO RECORD of me ever being a falconer there! Wha...?!? So to make a long story short, I've asked my sponsor to write a letter stating that I was his apprentice and that I'm qualified to be upgraded to a general. Whether or not it works is yet to be determined *Sigh*. But we'll see.

今年鷹狩免許が取れなさそう！：-（　免許を渡す政府の人たちが日本の経験を認めてくれないと言っています。ばか！残念ながら前のアメリカの免許を持っていたら何とかできるかもと言っているのに１０年前の免許がやっぱり見つからない！困った！まぁ，まだまだ終わっていない色んな面が戦います。最悪の場合春から一から始まってレードテールかアメチョウで頑張る。最悪の場合にならないように努力します。

In the meantime, I'm not letting MY lack of a license keep me from going out with other falconers. We'd been in Colorado less than 72 hours before I hooked up with Richard and Becky Brunoette (sp?), goshawkers who live about 45 minutes away from my new apartment. They were gracious enough to let me tag along for a training run with a young gos. There were plenty of bunnies to go around but the brown bird hasn't quite got it's head wrapped around those bouncing furballs yet. It won't be long though I'm sure. I'm looking forward to the season whether or not I have a bird (although, let's be honest, I'd rather have my own bird...;-).

免許なくても狩に行かない訳じゃないです。コロラド州に着いて７２時間以内鷹匠を連絡して今年生まれのオオタカの訓練を手伝いに行きました。ウサギが山ほどいったけどウサギを始めて見たオオタカはなかなか行かなかった。残念だったけど近い内にそこにいるウサギの心にオオタカの怖さが届くでしょう。楽しみ！免許が取れなくても今年は楽しみ！

Becky Brunoette and Lil Ms. looking for bunnies in Colorado

コロラド州は広い！！こういう所でウサギを探す。

Farewell party

Last night the local (and some not-so-local) falconers got together to have a farewell dinner for me. Not exactly the steak and potatoes affair that it would be in the States. Lots of raw fish, eel, raw beef mixed with raw egg (!?!), and a lot of stuff that I don't even know what animal it came from. I'm gonna miss that kind of stuff. Japan has a tendancy to make foreigners feel pretty alienated. It's awfully hard to feel part of the group when you're so obviously not. But hanging out with this group of falconers has made me feel more at home in Japan than just about anything else I've done here. It's been a great three years. Thanks guys.

昨日関西鷹匠たちが私のために別れ会を開いてくださいました。アメリカの別れ会だったらステーキとフライポテトだけど日本では生物が多かった。刺身，うなぎ，生肉と卵など，よく分からない食べ物もあった！アメリカではなかなか経験しないような食事でした。外国人として日本人と交わるといつも“あの外国人”と見られるけど関西鷹匠たちが私を仲間に入れてくれて，本当の友達という気がします。皆さんありがとうございます！

Of course we talked a lot about what everyone will be flying this year and I told everyone that there's a good chance, what with all the red tape I'll have to wade through when I get to Colorado, that I won't be able to fly anything this year. They all thought it was rather wacky that I could be out shooting stuff with a high powered rifle within a week of landing in the States but it will more than likely take me months to be able to fly a bird again. I think they have a point! It'll be interesting to see how things work out on the falconry front when I get home. Wish me luck!

もちろん今年皆が何を飛ばすかという話がよくありました。帰ってから銃をすぐに手に入れるのに鷹狩免許を取るのは難しいという話をしたときに皆が驚いた。やっぱりアメリカはその面でおかしい！まぁ，全てがうまく行くように期待しています！応援してね！

Starting again...

The Falconers of the Kansai Hawking Club

We'll try this blogging thing one more time...

There's nothing going on in my falconry world at the moment. My 3 years as a falconer in Japan are over and I'm packing up and getting ready to move back to the U.S. next week. I'll be trying to get re-licenced and see if flying a bird is even a possibility this season and if all goes as hoped I'd like to fly a merlin this fall but for now I'll just be happy if re-licencing goes okay. Wish me luck and hopefully I can post more often from here on out! Watch this space...

ブログ復活！これからアメリカに帰って皆がアメリカの鷹狩を味わえるようにこのブログを復活しょうと思っています。皆が読めるように英語と日本語両方書きます。帰ってから鷹狩免許を取らなきゃいけないのでそれはどうなるか分からないです。今年は鷹飛ばせない可能性が高いけど頑張ります！飛ばせなくっても他の鷹匠と一緒に行くつもりのでいろいろ書いてみますね。和歌山に行った３年間いろいろお世話になりました本当にありがとうございます。これからもよろしくお願いします！