During a hunting trip with the birds you have bad days, good days, better days and TOP days. In austria, it was such a TOP day! I saw probably one of the most impressive flights of my life.... in 1 word WOW!
We arrived from slovenia with a good feeling, a feeling of doing good..... birds at a reasonable level for spectacularly achieving a hunting flight. That feeling was quickly over, after arriving in Austria!
With admiration we watched the flights and tactics of the Austrian falconers, Marko Groß and Gernot. It was impressive how they tried to outwit the wild pheasants. You clearly do not achieve success without strategy and well-trained birds.
When you see how thoughtfully they approach the situation, how they devise a plan of action to give the falcon the best chance of success. You begin to understand "why" their birds develop so well. It is clearly 1 big team. The dogs, the trackers, the falconer and the bird. And of course, despite the good approach and top falcons, the pheasants still often manage to escape into their habitat.
But today the team was smarter, bringing in meat for the kitchen table in an impressive and handsome way. A way to remember.
The falcon, Lotte, Peregrine falcon female who has been hunting impressively for over 12 years.... popped out of the sky again today from almost 400m high! She visually disappeared into the stoop due to her speed, also I had widely underestimated the speed with the camera and unfortunately could not capture the stoop. But I did capture the last seconds before impact! WHAT A SOUND..... it heard identical to an F-16 aircraft. Also the impact on the pheasant was like a bullet.
Huge THANKS Marko Groß and Gernot for letting us have this experience and pure form of falconry at a very high level.
I can again with great courage strive for a higher level to build my own falconry.... I have seen what is possible!