Okay the picture of the Hawk is spot on. I will end that thought there.
The flight pen is in the middle of the woods. We built it on a clearing that the logging company created when we had the ground selectively harvested several years ago. What cover there was we had to remove and then the old man put metal rings around the remaining trees because we have a coon problem and no way to run electricity out there.
The pen is 7 foot at the peak (the pen roof is made of PVC rounded with netting) We have reinforced the sides with chicken wire and then put a 4 foot piece of tarp around the whole thing so they will not get comfortable seeing us on the fourwheeler or walking (this trail is also the way to the tree stands and food plot access) We also work the dog on the clearing past the flight pen. If we have any birds left after the Quail Unlimited people come I will put some pine branches or something so they have cover during the winter.
The birds up at the house have metal roofs on their pens and we put up black plastic in the winter to keep out the snow.
The old man is feeding scratch grain for the past two weeks and now that they are comfortable with the "bath" they have been using it regularly. They are plenty fat and starting to get their butt feathers back, maybe the stress caused by the hawk took its toll. He was around for a while, that is the fastest bird I have ever witnessed.
The live trap is out again because a coon had the audacity to take a dump on my deck, right by the table.
Anyway...by the time we wake up enough to grab the 22 the damn things are running away. I have faith in the old man tho...
Lori