I had the opportunity to follow Greg Pinkston and his Harris Hawk, Skeeter out hunting last week. This is what I hope to be the first of at least a handful of shoots if not more. I had never been around hunting birds before and certainly did not know what to expect.
Right out the gate I knew no flash. At least not till I had talked with Greg regarding Skeeter's possible reaction. I never got that far. Greg pulled Skeeter from his truck and I started shooting. There was no standing around either. Skeeter was ready to hunt and Greg was off into the brush. I was just trying to keep up and remember if I locked my truck.
They were hunting Jack Rabbits. Well, Skeeter was... Her eyesight is magnificent. Obviously designed to see things at far distances. We would be walking along in the brush and Skeeter would launch from the perch after her quarry. So I have no pictures of Skeeter leaving the perch. Returning, yes.
Finally Skeeter got her rabbit.
After that it was time to head to the truck, mission accomplished. But Skeeter was reluctant.
Once we were within 50ft of Greg's pick up Skeeter flew over and commenced the final "routine."
We were then greeted by Mike Sayamontry, another avid hawk hunter and his Harris Hawk Zing. Before we took off to hunt he did show me his Goshawk that he planed to let hunt later.
Mike and Zing actually ended up getting a quail in the end. It had hid in a hole under some brush but Zing did not let that deter him.
Not being a hunter I wasn't sure how I would react to "the kill" but interestingly I had no real feeling either way. I was once told, regarding a nude photo shoot, that looking through the camera, the photographer was distanced from the actual subject matter, but as soon as he pulled his head from the camera the reality of the situation was staring him directly in the face. So maybe I just held my camera tight to my face and kept my "filter" up.
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