The best-flying birds can be difficult to handle, but they usually settle down their second year. So Im always being told.
Roach is a pain in the ass. At the moment, I dislike him a lot - he doesnt sit still, he throws constant tantrums, freaks out at dumb stuff. He was like this last season - difficult to get going - and, though he is 'better' this year, he is still a constant headache.
Im sure my feeling are going to change once he is airborne starting tomorrow. He was an incredible flier last season, and this should be an improvement. The change in focus and exertion of some of that energy will certainly help things, too. A little behind schedule - like last season - so we will probably miss opening day as far as hunting goes, but he will certainly be ready to but over gamebird in 7-10 days.
If you were to ask me whether I prefer a 'nice' bird - as many peregrines are, absolute sweethearts - that didnt fly quite the way I wanted versus a high flying, hard hunting falcon that is a total dick, like, Roach, Id be hard pressed to decide. Right now, Id probably say Id like a nice bird, but in a few weeks that answer is probably going to be different.
At least the little shit is pretty.
Ive been running Greta Grouse in the mornings the past couple weeks to see what bird conditions are like. My usual early season spots have held literally nothing. Its been a wet year and everything is still really green with good grass conditions so the birds have more options.
My valley isnt the best for bird numbers. The hun numbers, especially, are extremely cyclical. Ive had 3 seasons of progressively good numbers of huns culminating in last winter's exceptional numbers. The couple seasons prior, youd have thought there were no huns in the entire valley - there were two seasons where I could (probably) count on 2 hands the number of points on coveys I found, all of them on private and the same couple coveys. I am hoping
my prediction isnt entirely accurate - with the sheer number of huns around at the end of winter, there are bound to be some coveys around. Also of note, the gun hunting pressure usually lags a season behind the peak of the birds - Id expect more gun hinters out in the fields - public fields, anyway - than last season which was most certainly a peak in numbers.
The grouse are a little hardier. There used to be a wonderful early season grouse field - especially on wet years like this one - that would be absolutely loaded with birds in the early season. That changed a couple years ago when the adjacent ranch was sold -- the new owners who also own the grazing lease now graze the ever-living F out of the section. The grouse will start using it once snow start flying -- the contours of the field give good snow and wind relief and there is enough sparse sage and grass for the birds. Other grouse fields should start holding birds, too, once its gets colder and the sharptail move out of the hills where its difficult to get goods flight on them. Then there are the sage grouse which I see fewer of each year as leks are demolished for new hay fields and whatever else -- its sad to see but c'est la vie.
I was able to get my first point this morning -- two young sharptail in a field that usually doesnt have them. Perfect targets for Roach were he flying. They - of course - were up against a fence line and crossed to public land when flushed. I only note that because they may be dead come Friday, the only potential saving grace being that there are a crapload of cattle out grazing the public that arent usually there so the guys that go clean up on the one at the opener may be leary of running dogs.
So thats the update. Im excited to get going and see what the season brings. Hopefully the birds appear once the weather cools, but if not there are always pigeons to fly and excitement to be had!
