pointer
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Everything posted by pointer
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Thanks mate. The beauty of the dales is that the cover doesn't really change and flushing a rabbit from a dry stone wall or from a nice little set in the middle of a field is an all season long option that comes in very handy lol.
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Yeah mate I've got access to more land through mates that have helped me out and got a couple of biggish bits of mixed land near home for when I can't get to the Dales. I didn't get going last season until October and by then mixy had decimated what had looked like a good rabbit population. This time round I'll make the most of The early season and there's a lot more rabbits about just now (though still very low compared to years back ). More land, more quarry and a more experienced hawk...........yeah I'm looking forward to it, I should have gone fishing today but all I can think about is h
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It's nearly time to start hunting again, my hawks about two weeks away from being brought out again. I'll try and keep an updated diary of how the season goes for us. I've started getting the pointer out to get some fat off him and get him a little fitter ready for when he is needed lol. Here he is marking two rabbits that were in the dry stone wall.
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What do they offer the person who only wants to hunt with hawks, my experience of them wasn't positive.
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As with ALL hunting EVERYTHING ultimately rests on having enough quarry to hunt. There were times last season when I was out with my hawk plenty but on land with little to nothing to actually hunt. My bird was ready, I was keen, the dog was trying to find stuff but on many occasions I might as well of been walking around with a parrot. It's easy with young daft rabbits around but harder after Christmas with much lower quarry numbers and what's left is wiser and around here will have survived encounters from countless dogs and hawks and shooting men. Also hunting on the same land day after da
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Good post mate, sums it all up nicely. I think with a good knowledge of keeping stock and of general hunting with a dash of common sense the mentor thing isn't essential with a Harris hawk but in saying that it's still the way to go if its an option.
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I hadn't even thought about the season and planned to just start at the beginning of September but after seeing all those young daft bunnies darting around and using those nice earths on the riverbanks..........yeah that got me thinking about hunting with the hawk again. My mates got his first Harris so a few easyish kills will do us all good lol. I think he enjoyed the little trip out with us after work yesterday on the Durham Dales. His young dog at times was glued to my GWP in the cover which will do it no harm at all. Just a really enjoyable stroll in good company......... And for the fi
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It's a great hunting sport to get into, I'm looking forward to next season because I think I learnt about it last season but never really got a good run at it. This time round with more land, more rabbits on the land and getting to know a lad who has a Harris as well it should go better. The lad has a young lurcher which we took out for an hour yesterday up the dales to let it see a few bunnies. It was hunting away like a good un by the end so even if the wind stops us hawking we can always go out with his lurcher to pass the time lol. Really looking forward to next season, my hawks just d
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Good luck with it, I plan on spending a few days out with a lad and his goshawk but I know I only have the time for one hawk. I'm only getting in another pointer because I didn't train the one I have. I'll end up with three dogs which is one too many really but it seems unavoidable when the first two are getting on a bit and it takes time to get a replacement trained and ready.
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I've told Steve I go out as much as possible weather permitting and I've almost begged him to tag along if he wants. With a couple of hawk friendly dales keepers within a forty minute drive we might get some hunting done. With a new ferret team and hopefully a GWP pup coming I'll need a hand. Next time you see Steve tell him not to be shy, all he'll have to do is ring me and were away. I'm not allowing myself to think about next season yet because whenever I do I get a bit excited about the possibilities this time round lol.
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I've been too busy to think about my hawks moult. She's dropping feathers but apart from looking at her twice her day to see she's ok and keeping her aviary reasonably clean I don't think about it. She will be ready by September. Summer is a very busy time for me anyway but this year I decided to get a lot more work done on my property, sheds, greenhouse, new roof on the garage, new chicken shed and run, small pheasant pen, ferret court, finish the stable, new locks on everything, new fence around the garden, etc etc. I still have CCTV to install and a load of other stuff which will easily kee
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Hawks get bit now and then, mines had a few nips from squirrel and rats. It had nothing to do with bad technique or inexperience just a matter of her grabbing whatever part of her prey that she could. Squirrel are dodgy but I've found rats trickier to cope with due to where a hawk tends to catch them like muddy banks next to streams etc etc and rats have the habit of pausing before slipping to ground which gives the hawk a chance to grab its back end. I reckon most of the real horror stories are the result of the owners not being prepared to instantly cope with a very aggressive hard biting q
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The thing is if there's plenty of squirrels can they be avoided without flying only from the glove?
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Be good to meet up mate. To be honest I've been doing a fair bit of work on our yard, garage, garden etc so haven't had time to do much fishing. For me the season is too close and I could have done with another couple of months more. Whatever happens beginning of September the hawk will be back out and the fishing will have to wait until next summer.
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I'm in Co.Durham. If you don't find someone local to you I'm not that far away if you wanted a look out sometime. There should be plenty of lads in your area that would jump at the chance to fly on your land.
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Steve's done me a few good favours lately so in turn I will help him out any way I can when its time to start hunting them again. I'll be flying the same Harris as last season. With more local dales land to go on and a few more woods to hunt through I'm fairly confident of getting a full seasons hunting done. Impossible to say though, I lost over a month last season to injuries, however I should be able to go out and see other hawks if mines laid up after getting in touch with a couple of local falconers lately. It would be great to see gosses and falcons if only for a few days. If the bi
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Why Do Coursing Men Go Through So Many Pups?
pointer replied to nans pat's topic in Lurchers & Running Dogs
I have zero experience with coursing dogs but if a person wants the absolute best they will go through a few dogs. Terriermen are always running on young stock, many of which won't make the grade. I've spent time out with about fifty packs of hounds, a few of the best huntsmen I know have told me they have only had three or four exceptional hounds. Plenty of good ones but our of hundreds of dogs only a few stand out, it will be the same in gundogs, greyhounds etc etc. So I would imagine the lad who can only keep a few dogs and wants something damned good may go through a few dogs. The flip si -
It seems to me that a hare is a big enough animal for a hawk to try and take and a squirrel or a rat is as dangerous a quarry as any hawk needs to face. There will always be those that try and do something different for bragging rights or just because they are idiotic. Normal hunting with a hawk has all the excitement, fun, sport etc etc that I'll ever need and it can be dangerous enough for our birds without making it riskier.
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I'd have to see it done to believe it, I don't believe anything I read on the Internet and a picture means absolutely nothing. My own hawk has been ready to strike down at something in cover several times only to fly back up and start screaming, sometimes I see the fox sneak away, other times the pointer hits the line and I know he's hunting a fox. I wouldn't want my hawk attacking fox.
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Phil's a real character as you'll know. I've been out with other fell hound packs around the country that don't like there foxes getting knocked about either so it's not just him lol.
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Phil Fish is a good huntsman that likes his terriers. For a few years I would spend a couple of weeks a season out with his pack but he didn't have them then. However he had good things to say about the plummers he had kept, they have good numbers of foxes down down so they must have seen some work. Also went out a couple of times with Curtis with another gunpack, that huntsman also liked the plummers he had worked in the past. Both of these huntsman told me they would have kept more if they could have got them. Both still had terriers bred down from those plummers put to other types. The las
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I was told to take a look at this thread by a few lads, its been an interesting read. I had a few enjoyable years with a couple of plummers.
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Well that's me done for the season, the cut on her foot is still an issue and i was back at the vets on Monday for more medication. The plan is to see what another few more days does on the antibiotics and metacam and then if needed she needs to be sedated and given more treatment. It's not good having to treat her when ideally she would be put away to moult but there's no choice. The season didn't go to plan. We didn't get out as early as I'd have liked so lost a few weeks there and her injury has cost her most of this month. I've been flying her the odd time where I didn't expect to see
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My hawks foot is healing nicely but I didn't want to risk her opening up the cut again or getting bit so I've had to turn down the invite to fly her through woods where squirrels live. So I've been flying her on scrappy bits of land where nothing much is ever seen just to get her out and about. The hawk though had other ideas and caught a rat on Thursday and another this morning. Thankfully she wasn't bitten by either, I'd give Usain Bolt a good race when I see her fly at squirrel or rat. Mind seeing as I need to kill something upon arrival I'm more like Oscar Pistorius.
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That was my experience until I started getting onto better land, or rather onto land containing more rabbits anyway. I won't be making the same mistakes next season...........hopefully not.
