..

To send a group email to all THA Officers, use:
officers "at" texashawking.org
(please use the @ sign where you see "at")
.

Krys Langevin, Officer, Rafflemeister
rafflemeister "at" texashawking.org

My first season was a total bust taking a whopping zero (yes zero) head of game. Anyone who knows me now might find that hard to believe. In retrospect, my bird was being flown a bit too heavy. I released her after the season and trapped a new bird in 2004. Goose too was scoring an impressive zero head count and that's when it happened. Certain things changed in my life and I was compensating (as some have said). I rededicated my life to falconry and mostly falconry. Goose took her first head of game at the 2005 THA meet and though she caught a giant wood rat, it was my first head of game as a falconer. Later that month, with Sheldon Nicolle's help, Goose took her first cottontail. She finished with 16 head of game for the season.

Goose had an excellent second season. She scored over 100 head of game that second season and was well on her way to 100 cottontails. We attended our first NAFA meet in Vernal, Utah thanks in large part to Steve Boyd. I was named THA Apprentice of the Year at the 2006 field meet. I also took over as THA Rafflemeister, but at the end of the 2005/2006 season, tragedy struck. I flew Goose in a field with some odd-looking power poles (but no transformers). We were doing well. She had caught a rat and we were trying to get a cottontail, when she flew up to the same pole she had been hunting from and was electrocuted.

I made plans to upgrade to general and pull an eyas Cooper's hawk after Goose was killed. Turbo Dog has become the mainstay of my falconry. I still have her and she has taken over 1000 head of game in two short years. In the interim, I have become quite addicted to accipiters. Shortly after Minnesota opened up non-resident take, I took a passage female sharp-shinned hawk in November of 2007. I flew Boo until early 2008 when she died from trichomoniasis (frounce). Shortly after Boo died, I accepted a captive-bred tiercel Harris' hawk that had sustained a serious wing fracture. After some rehab and conditioning, Dingus went on to take over 100 head of game in about one month at the end of last season.

I have been to every THA meet since 2003, and every NAFA meet since 2005. I am a member of THA, NAFA, WRTC, and IEAA. This year I will serve as both THA and NAFA Rafflemeister.