Page 11 - Palm City Spotlight - May '22

Palm City Spotlight, Page 11

Book review

The Hawk’s Way: Encounters And that is the rule – the
With Fierce Beauty key to success – that Sy
must learn very quickly, as
the following statements
By Nils A. Shapiro from an opening chapter
“Inches from my face, I make clear:
hold a living dinosaur. “Hawks do not play by
“Like his ancestors, the our rules. You can never
creature I hold on my fist is assume that a hawk, even
a hunter, an eater of meat. one you raised from a chick,
His forebears, the theropod will forgive your mistakes
dinosaurs, included some – sometimes a single error
of the most fearsome ruptures the relationship
creatures to walk the earth: forever. A hawk will not come
Allosaurus, Velociraptor, and to your rescue if you’re in trouble. A hawk will not comfort In one of the book’s few black-and-white photos (most are
Tyrannosaurus. Like them, you if you are sad. What a falconry hawk will do, if you do in color), author Sy Montgomery is shown with a Harris’s
he is a bipedal predator. Like them, he possesses large finger everything right, is allow you to be their hunting partner – hawk named Jazz on her leather-gloved hand. The photo
bones, and forward-facing eyes bestowing excellent binocular ‘the junior partner’… for the hawk, with its exquisite vision appears just below text that reads, “Though Jazz has done
vision. Like them, when he hatched out of the egg, he was and lightning responses, is always the superior hunter ... If nothing more than land on my hand, I feel she has given me
covered with down. As with many of them, his baby down then you do everything right, the hawk will allow you to be its a great gift.”
gave way to feathers. servant. And for this, the falconer is profoundly grateful.”
“The difference is, unlike the other dinosaurs, the one With long, sharp talons, such raptors as hawks, falcons Whether to become a falconer is not a decision Sy
before me can fly.” and eagles are capable of easily ripping through flesh and makes lightly. You will have to read the book to find out
These are the opening words of Sy Montgomery’s 34th bone, and if angered by a mistake on the part of the human – but you won’t need a raptor to hunt down a copy. This
book – some of which have become bestsellers in 25 countries with whom a hunting bird is “working,” it has been known to month is the official publication date and, with the Sy
– an award-winning author whom The Boston Globe has attack even the eyes. For that reason, while the basic hunting Montgomery name, The Hawk’s Way should be available
described as “a combination of Indiana Jones and Emily techniques of falconry call for wearing a large leather glove everywhere.
Dickinson” because of her remarkable adventures facing some on which the bird perches before it takes off on the hunt, *****
of the world’s most dangerous wildlife around the globe – and there are also detailed procedures for the human’s positioning Only an author with the skill and heart of Sy
then telling her stories to readers in an informative, sensitive every step of the way – for example, at one point to keep Montgomery can relate all of this in a slim, 80-page,
writing style that reflects her deep understanding of, and caring one’s back toward the bird in order to protect one’s own eyes. compact (5-1/4” by 7-1/2”) volume, the same charming
for, all the creatures with whom we share this world. Sy is immediately taken with the wonder of these format as her recently published The Hummingbirds’ Gift.
But The Hawk’s Way is very significantly different from extraordinary birds of prey. We learn in her absorbing book
most of Sy Montgomery’s other books in two respects: many fascinating facts about the various kinds of hawks and
While Sy has been chased by a silverback gorilla in Zaire; other birds of prey, and there are 16 pages of beautiful color Treasure Coast
hunted by man-eating tigers in India (which was the subject photographs accompanying the text.
of a National Geographic TV special); studied octopuses in Gradually, Sy’s awe and respect for these raptors grows
their natural habitat; was bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica; falconer herself. She has fallen under the same spell that Outdoors
to a level near obsession, and she considers becoming a
tracked the elusive snow leopards in the Altai Mountains of
Mongolia’s Gobi; worked in a pit with 18,000 crawling snakes has captivated humans as far back as 2000 B.C. when men
in Manitoba; swam with eels, dolphins and piranhas in the on the Mongolian steppes first partnered with these hunters By Jim Weix
Amazon; was undressed by an orangutan in Borneo; hiked the because of their killer instincts, blazing speed, hooked beaks Summer fishing
trackless cloud forest of Papua New Guinea to radio collar tree and razor-sharp talons that enabled them to attack their prey is finally happening.
kangaroos ... and more, all as research for her books – when it – other birds or such small mammals as rabbits, squirrels, Cobia are being caught
came to The Hawk’s Way she had only to turn to a friend and voles or even small dogs larger than themselves, in the air around the reefs and
New Hampshire neighbor, Nancy Cowan, one of the world’s or on the ground – and rip them to pieces. wrecks in 60 feet of
most expert falconers, who introduced Sy to what turned out For a lifelong vegan whose own home life includes a water. Sandpile Hill
to be an experience so profound that it challenged Sy’s own wonderful border collie and a roost of “little ladies” – the five and Bull Shark Barge
life-long belief systems! hens that she and her author/historian husband have raised are favorites, but often
Under Nancy Cowan’s tutelage, Sy spent several years and care for as protected pets – it is a decision that would crowded.
learning the art of hunting with birds of prey and, most have to be reconciled with an acceptance of the law of wild At these sites, some
importantly, about the intensely fascinating and magnificent nature: anglers try hanging a
raptors that one must work with. (No, not work with – rather, “Hunt hard. Kill swiftly. Waste nothing. Offer no dead bonito over the side of the boat to attract the
that one must work for!) apologies.” bull sharks and then sight cast at any cobia following
them. This can work, but all too often you will lose
any hooked cobia to the sharks.
Since the bull sharks are already there, it is
important to get any hooked cobia in the boat
quickly. I use 80-pound braided line with a 30-pound
fluorocarbon leader. It may not sound sporty, but I’d
rather eat the cobia than feed it to the bull sharks.
NoN-Toxic cancer immunotherapy If this hook and haul them type of fishing doesn’t
appeal to you, try sight casting a cobia jig to them
when they are following rays, sharks or turtles. This
Available NoW will get you away from the crowds and you are likely
to pick up some dolphin while you are searching.
The mutton snapper bite is great. Work reefs in
Safe and Effective! depths of 70 to 90 feet, off Stuart and the Loran
Tower. Live baits fished with long leaders work best,
but anchoring and using hunks of bonito fished on the
This is the Original Immunotherapy that bottom is also a favorite.
balances and optimizes your immune system to Lane and vermilion snapper are being taken using
chicken rigs around the six- and eight-mile reefs as
fight almost any type of cancer. well as the Loran Tower reef. Be sure to also put out a
couple of flat lines with live bait, as the kingfish bite
is good.
Hundreds of successes over the years. The catch and release snook bite in the St. Lucie
River continues to be good. Some huge fish are being
Continuously available since 1977 found along the docks and bridges. They are mostly
being caught on live baits in these areas.
in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island Anglers are catching flounder at the Stuart
Causeway. Shrimp on a jig head or small, live pilchards
on a knocker rig seem to be a favorite.
See our website for more info: Editor’s note: Jim Weix is an avid hunter, angler,

www.Quantumimmunotherapy.net conservationist, as well as an outdoor writer.
Jim is included in the Wisconsin Waterfowl
Association’s Hall of Fame, for his work in helping
or call for more information: Toll-free number (561) 766-0878 restore thousands of acres of wetlands. Jim is a broker
associate with The Keyes Company. He can be reached
Email: Quantimmuno@gmail.com at (772) 341-2941 or by email: jimweix@jimweix.com.