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：