Bored

[CrowHawker 227]

Not for me gos hawks to highly strung like spars tho:)

Edited June 10, 2013 by CrowHawker

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

love sparrowhawks myself, another on the evergrowing to fly list ha was thinking about one a few months back for next years season but then ive got to factor in my other hawk, there was lamping but i didnt think it fair to lamp him everyday, would much prefer to have him out during the day when i could than lamp him

[CrowHawker 227]

Weight management needs to be spot on with a spar.

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

definitely, reading a thread on the falconry forum about how most of the sudden spar deaths are a result of allowing the bird to crop up but the hawks metabolism isnt fast enough to digest the food so as a result the bird suffers a sour crop and dies.

[pointer 543]

when the bird comes out of the moult i dont usually start hunting until early october as my permissions cover is usually too high to go out with the ferrets any earlier. but before that i just fly the bird to increase fitness and try blag the odd kill by bushing the cover. then finish early march, in that time the birds out 7 days a week except for every so often when i will crop him up and give him a rest day

How did last season go for you?

If your out seven days a week you must have ended up with a good tally.I know kills aren't everything but they are inevitable with regularly flown hawks so I'd be interested to see how you got on.

I think ill end up ferreting next season but its not my preferred method with lurchers or the hawk.

[arcticgun 4,548]

 

when the bird comes out of the moult i dont usually start hunting until early october as my permissions cover is usually too high to go out with the ferrets any earlier. but before that i just fly the bird to increase fitness and try blag the odd kill by bushing the cover. then finish early march, in that time the birds out 7 days a week except for every so often when i will crop him up and give him a rest day

How did last season go for you?

If your out seven days a week you must have ended up with a good tally.I know kills aren't everything but they are inevitable with regularly flown hawks so I'd be interested to see how you got on.

I think ill end up ferreting next season but its not my preferred method with lurchers or the hawk.

 

I doubt you will be wasting much time ferreting next year pal, I got well bigger plans than that for us maybe get em going on a few bolted bunnies just too warm em up and get em fit

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

dont keep numbers mate try to for about a month and then just lose it id say 60+ easy. we averaged around 4/5 rabbits a week at the start the season then dropped to around three or 4. and two hen pheasants aswell, his first pheasants in 5years. we struggled to get those numbers though, at the start we stayed local then as the rabbit numbers go down we end up doing alot of miles to find the numbers. and then some permission i have with plenty of rabbits arnt suitable for the hawk because of fences so you end up searching for new ground with rabbit numbers and suitable ground which takes up most of my time. to be fair we had a decent year last year the season before i probably got just over 30 i really struggled to find much. but by the looks of things this seasons gonna be a cracker my main hawking ground is packed with them so i should be ok ferrets make life alot easier

[arcticgun 4,548]

Not for me gos hawks to highly strung like spars tho:)

 

 

do you think that eventually with most gos being bred from imprinted stock, that eventually they will loose their natural spookiness? and become more stabilised overall, Im talking successful imprints being bred by those whom fulfil the birds mind with hunting as opposed to breeders who simply chamber them breed em? eventually turning out slightly more manfriendly stable hawks of this type?

Edited June 12, 2013 by arcticgun

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

i think so, i know in the US the americans take the lineage of the hawk very seriously like lurcher men do with there dogs. they want to know the heritage of the hawk, and a host of other things, i know this one bloke who wrote articles about harris hawks and he would only buy a harris from this one line as the offspring were notoriously person friendly, even going as far as saying that no formal manning was required with any of his hawks from that lineage

[CrowHawker 227]

That would be good if eventually that happened but it's getting the right breeders who no what they are doing and not some numpty after a quick pound. And breeding from the right birds

[arcticgun 4,548]

it certainly threw me a little just how many breeding birds are proven in the field , when I went on the look for a hare falcon, it amazed me just how many for the right money will simply sell you there soul if needs be , some big names as well, not real interest as to weather you could meet the birds needs adequately, If some of them where to ever try to breed say coursign dogs they would not do very well at it at all, as lads would expect proven hunters bred from proven parents, proven in the fact they bidable and also adept at what they bred for, pretty much inline what the above poist said with regards to fellas harris selection, he know sthey bred killer to killer and also tested for there suitability to work with man, coulson stock Id wwager or offspring of ?

 

I was told time and time again , parents are imprint, breeders only , but out of hunting stock, but to valuable to fly and most by judging there set ups would simply not have enough time to fly em all properly, luckily I found someone who had done just that to buy from and he also evidenced the fact and also queiried my need for such a bird before aggreeing to sell me one, definately a better way of doing it than simply pumping out untested stock year in year out, likesay there are plenty of good breeders like in most sports theres also plenty just happy to take ya money ain't there

[fitchet 788]

 

 

Not for me gos hawks to highly strung like spars tho:)

 

do you think that eventually with most gos being bred from imprinted stock, that eventually they will loose their natural spookiness? and become more stabilised overall, Im talking successful imprints being bred by those whom fulfil the birds mind with hunting as opposed to breeders who simply chamber them breed em? eventually turning out slightly more manfriendly stable hawks of this type?

My knowledge of falconry is very limited but surely thats how it should be with any animal bred for purpose ?

[arcticgun 4,548]

most birds I have had expirience with in the field have been parent reared mate, they simply knwo they are birds, where as most imprints end up part man, part dog, part bird lol simply frustrated in most cases, done correctly imprinting can be amazing to witness, but most make a cackhanded job of it, mostly the hunters so really I dont see the need to imprint at all, thats more for future breeding purpose etc imho or they simply impring to speed up the bonding process or following a trend maybe?

 

I mentioned the goshawk in particular, now i seen a few of em, parent reared very well mannered good hunters easy off kill when rewarded correctly etc but they are known to be 'unstable' and 'difficult' (sort of the way the pure saluki seen in lurcher world) hard to work with etc the point I was trying to make was in this particular species would properly imprinting several generations imprint to imprint, then eventually switching to allowing them to parent rear, would the eventual offsprign become more bidable and mentally physically robust overall?

Edited June 12, 2013 by arcticgun

[pointer 543]

 

 

Not for me gos hawks to highly strung like spars tho:)

 

do you think that eventually with most gos being bred from imprinted stock, that eventually they will loose their natural spookiness? and become more stabilised overall, Im talking successful imprints being bred by those whom fulfil the birds mind with hunting as opposed to breeders who simply chamber them breed em? eventually turning out slightly more manfriendly stable hawks of this type?

My knowledge of falconry is very limited but surely thats how it should be with any animal bred for purpose ?

You'd be suprised at the level of peddling that goes on in falconry, I thought the dog world was bad but I got a real eye opener when I contacted some breeders. They weren't interested if I could house, care for and hunt a hawk adequately. I was told that I sounded sensible so I should get a Harris, off course I was advised to buy from them because there's a lot of backyard breeding going on lol.

 

The falconry world is full of hypocrites, when I started asking questions about how much hunting they do, season tallies etc the replies I got were often vague and sometimes hostile. On another forum a few years ago I was told to stick to dogs when asking about the low head count some people were getting. The standard issue reply was that they only cared about quality flights, that's ok in theory but something is going wrong somewhere if a person says he flys every day but is only taking twenty rabbits a season.Either they are incompetent or the hawk is.We all want quality hunting whatever we do but with every other hunting sport I've participated in with quantity came quality.Its the law of averages.Also as these Harris hawks follow on and it's impossible to know how well a bolted rabbit will run etc the quality of the flight isn't in our control for much of the time.

 

I imagine like it can be in the dog world it's not always the big names or those that post a lot on Internet forums that are out there doing the hunting to a high standard.

[pointer 543]

 

 

when the bird comes out of the moult i dont usually start hunting until early october as my permissions cover is usually too high to go out with the ferrets any earlier. but before that i just fly the bird to increase fitness and try blag the odd kill by bushing the cover. then finish early march, in that time the birds out 7 days a week except for every so often when i will crop him up and give him a rest day

 

How did last season go for you?

If your out seven days a week you must have ended up with a good tally.I know kills aren't everything but they are inevitable with regularly flown hawks so I'd be interested to see how you got on.

I think ill end up ferreting next season but its not my preferred method with lurchers or the hawk.

I doubt you will be wasting much time ferreting next year pal, I got well bigger plans than that for us maybe get em going on a few bolted bunnies just too warm em up and get em fit

I hope so mate, you know that last season was pretty quiet for me and that this summer I've been busy building the aviary and concreting the yard etc which has meant less fishing than normal so I want next season to be full of hunting. Otherwise I'm taking up train spotting at the museum.

There's been a mess up with holidays so I'm going away the first two weeks in September so my season might not start as soon as I'd hoped. I nearly cancelled and stayed at home but I know a lot of lads don't get going until October anyway plus I know you'll look after her for me and have her ready for when I get back lol.