TRADITIONAL "END OF THE SEASON" MEETING

On a nice and sunny February the 17th 2013, friends and clients gathered at the traditional meeting I always organize at the end of the hunting season.

Although it isn´t really over yet, I really think there´s no need to push the limits as in the last few years spring seems to come earlier than it always has, making animals act less elusive, not to say that some of them are in the beginning of the mating season or already pregnant. Now it´s time to go birdwatching, flora identifying, hiking or just enjoying a nice and quiet walk surrounded by nature.

But back to the meeting; I invited 20 good friends to enjoy the last day of wild boar hunting (Sus scrofa ).

Here´s what we usually do:

First I set every hunter in its place, where he has to stay quiet and avoid moving around (that way they make themselves quickly disguised amid the wild and obviously for safety reasons).

Then the hounds are released following a specific and strategic plan and the hunt begins.

Only wild boars and foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) can be shot to, neither roe deer nor ibex for it is more management than hunting in this case; I´ll explain: Wild boar population needs to be controlled for there are no natural predators nowadays (or very few of them) and their breeding success is very high. Same happens to foxes. If they are not controlled or at least "bothered" in some ways, their influence in the environment could be really important as they prey on almost everything (specially boars). On the other hand, you cannot manage a roe deer population by hunting them without knowing if it´s a doe, a buck or a fallow, as they rush to where hunters are giving little time for the hunter to identify what type of animal is coming. That is not a problem with foxes and wild boars due to the big litters they have in contrast to the 1-2 babies deer or ibexes have per season.

But the best part comes after the hunt.

We set a nice fire to warm ourselves up and in that same fire I cook for my guests and we discuss the hunting (lots of lies, jokes and laughs) in the meantime.

This year I made a typical country dish: "rancho", which basically has to have rice, potato, vegetables and some meat on it. There´s plenty of ways of making it, as many as you can imagine. In this case the ingredients where: rice, garlic, onion, red pepper, green pepper, leek, tomato, turnip leaves, carrot, potato, veal, rabbit, chicken, pork, chorizo sausage, longaniza (a typical variety of spicy sausage from this region), black pepper, olive oil and chicken soup.

Heavy dish, hu?!

In the end, hugs, " 'til next season" goodbyes and the last jokes made this meeting one to remember.

Beautiful spring is coming...

ROE DEER AND A SURPRISE GUEST

Roe deer buck to the left, eagle owl to the right!

I was guiding some friend clients who were after the mysterious and beautiful woodcock when in the distance we came across this roe dee buck (Capreolus capreolus). Feeling secure in the distance, he stared at us calculating how dangerous we were until he thought it was about time for him to leave springing as elegantly as always, but this time, nature had left the fireworks for the end, like on the best celebrations: suddenly, a magnificent Eagle Owl(Bubo bubo) came out from the nearby trees and silently flew on to a nearby little forest.  It´s late January, and this owl and it´s couple have been seen around this area quite a few times lately (in fact we had just seen it's couple a few minutes ago) so I guess it's time to stop visiting this area for a few weeks as it seems they have chosen it to nest (if you could call nesting when they lay eggs on the bare floor, as they usualy do). They only have to worry about two neighbours which I know live quite close; Mr. Fox and his probably new born family and Mrs. Golden Eagle, who I saw seven days after searching for prays in the same place.

I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Owl would have loved to find woodcocks too, but at least this morning it was our turn, being able to find five of them thanks to the briliant job the dogs did. After we have captured two of them, the rest were just flushed away from their hiding places in the bushes to fulfill the dogs passion for this bird.  

So, since our winged friends are entering either their crazy love days like the owls, or ready to pack their suitcases to migrate to the cold North like the woodcocks, I have decided to stop woodcocking until next season. Woodcocks need to gain stregth for their migration and owls need tranquility. Always know when to stop bothering and nature will thank you next time, that's for sure!

Being blocked by the pointer dogs, this woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is about to spring after its hiding place has been discovered.



My little Eden

My little Eden

Let me tell you about my little piece of Heaven;

For more than 60 years, my family has been the managing a private land near Zaragoza.

It´s a very important place ecologically speaking for it has a diversity of micro climates, soils and landscapes which allow the steppe fauna and flora to mix with other  species which aren't common in these surroundings.

It has been my best nature teacher, my place of joy, my baby son and the most special place on Earth for me.

I have lived so many beautiful experiences in this 1,500 Ha that I wouldn´t be able to express the totality of them.

Meny of those memories have in them the greatest character there could be: my grandfather.

He taught me many things about wildlife living in that magical place, stories that had happened there, where and when to pick up mushrooms or wild asparagus or wild spinach, how to call a fox in hard winter days, ... I could go on forever. 

Other memories refer to my own experiences through so many hours spent there, but still, I could go on forever.

When the moment arrives, I will tell you  some of those memories, til then, let´s continue with other kind of stuff.

Great Hawking Day!!!

On the 19th of February I took a couple of clients for a hawking day trip. The weather was cloudy, with alternate rain and wind, not the best day for the hawks to fly after preys!.

Anyway, thanks to the dogs job we were able to see a few flights after some rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a hare (Lepus granatensis) and some red legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) which were, by far, much quicker than the harris hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus ).

One of the hawks caught a rabbit in a beautiful and dramatic chase which I couldn't catch on film but in the video you can watch the aftermath of it. Notice how the hawk claims the property of the catch and does not allow other than her master to come close.

This time, the brave rabbit was overpowered by the hen hawk, but it took her 5 flights to be successful (without counting the hare or the partridges).

This hen Harris hawk did a great job

You might like it or not, but it's definitely a sustainable way of hunting to which you have to add the teaming of three different species to have success over another.
Plus, and I think anyone would agree, there are very few things as beautiful and powerful as a bird of pray hunting.

Hot summer afternoons...

Mamma roe deer with fawn.

In July, temperatures reach up to 35º Celsius, so get ready as dusk gets closer for nature is starting to wake up!

I was on my way to see how the Spanish Ibexes were doing under these extreme conditions and these two fellows showed up and we stared at each other for about five minutes until they decided that staring at the worse predator species on Earth wasn't like the safest thing to do and fled away.

I never get tired of watching them almost flying as they leave. There's always something magical in their way of behaving and, at least for me, seeing them is a sign of good luck; whenever I find them, I know my day is going to be full of animal sightings, don't ask me why, but up til now it's been that way!

I wish my grandpa would have been able to see these beauties roaming free in the place where he taught me so many things about nature and wildlife. At that time, there weren't any in these surroundings, but since 1995, when I saw the first one in a not so far away place, their numbers have been increasing.

Since then, I've been working hard managing the populations and searching for good and healthy animals, that meaning hunting old and "strange" deer (remember: nowadays they have no natural predators and populations are not naturally regulated) in order to help the best and healthier ones to reproduce and transfer their genes.

I can now proudly say that the population roaming our property is very healthy; proof that a good management is necessary if you want a balanced enviroment.

See ya soon!!

Everything has got a start... please be welcomed.

Welcome to my blog.

As you may have noticed, I've just started blogging, so please excuse the lack of pictures or other mistakes you might find for this is a testing period.

In a short time I'll put this whole thing the way it should be put, but until then, sorry for the primitiveness of it!!!

In this space I will try and show you how we enjoy nature and wildlife in Spain, mostly focusing our activities in Aragón, one of the biggest regions in Spain and one of the less populated ones, what combined with the different landscapes, soils and climates we have, makes our region one of the richest for nature and outdoor lovers.

I have been organizing activities for more than 18 years, being the outdoor and the gastronomic ones the biggest piece of the cake!

If you love hiking, birdwatching, true "know the place" tourism, fishing, steppe flora and entomology, true local gastronomic discoveries, sustainable hunting, mushroom picking, falconry, country people, dog training or whichever outdoor activities you can think of, I think we´ll get along!!

Thanks for visiting and reading!