pointer
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Everything posted by pointer
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Cheers mate, yeah he's a big strong dog. A bit of a handful at times but he likes his hunting out with lurchers or hawks or a bit of ratting like this.
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I'm not sure when I'll be back out but as long as we're going by mid September it will be a long enough season. Mines only got a couple of tail feathers left to drop so I could be out soon but I might keep fishing for a while longer. She would probably just be dropping on baby rabbits in heavy cover anyway before mid September.
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I feel the fish are there they are just late, I'd be suprised if they don't turn up soon in big numbers. I get to crew sometimes which makes it more affordable.
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I pay between 20 and 40 quid. I don't do that much as I like my carp fishing but on days when your losing gear boat fishing can become expensive. On cats like the Famous and Ali- cat you have plenty of room and they handle the waves better than other boats. The fish just aren't there, I've been out with competent anglers and skippers and nobodies getting much.
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Female Harris hawk. Rabbit will be my main quarry but expect her to take the odd pheasant and squirrel plus the inevitable moorhens and probably a few rats. I would like to try her at hare but not until she is going well with the bunnies and is fit. I went to see a grouse keeper this evening with my mate Half and Half off here to collect some dead Larsen caught rooks to feed to my hawk and a hare skipped across the road infront of us. The keeper said he will sort me out some days up there so we may bump into one on a rabbiting day anyway and then its up to the hawk what she does. As long
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I've had four trips as well out of Hartlepool and its been hard going, I haven't even caught a ling yet just a few codling. Even the daft whiting don't bite all day for those fishing hokkaiis and feathers. I only had two codling yesterday and my mate only had one, at least his was just over 8 pound so a reasonable fish if nothing special. We landed big mackeral on Wednesday I just hope the cod are following. I haven't seen a pollack yet this summer but a couple of nice haddock came up.
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Everything hooks up fish on its day but all we do is use a shad or baited hook on a three or four foot trace. I like boat fishing but getting tangled up with others when we used to all be on hokkaii and pirk rigs was a nightmare. We had plenty of big mackeral on Wednesday evening off Hartlepool and the boats are starting to get the usual numbers of cod and ling, a few haddock are showing up as well. I'm out tomorrow on a bigger tide so we will see what happens, I haven't had a pollack yet so I'll spend much of my day up and down the depths trying to find one, at slack water I'll drop a macker
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I agree, working animals face injury and death every time they go out. I've had my own terrier die to ground and a lurcher break its neck plus other fairly nasty accidents. All we can do are minimise the risks by being able to control the biting squirrel ASAP.
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I would have thought that if a hawk caught enough squirrels it would eventually get bitten. At times they will not be able to grab the head and at other times will land on soft or uneven ground. I imagine it would be pure luck for a hawk to do a lot of squirrelling and not get bit at all. Every now and then one of my dogs would take a few bites getting a rat out of a tight spot etc but would kill its next twenty with not a scratch. There are several factors that play their part when hunting quarry that can bite back. It might be different with hawks than dogs but I can't see how, the totally
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It's an interesting question, I waited to get a Harris knowing it may live for years and I may still be flying it a decade or more from now.Frightening really as nobody knows what the future holds. China might have decided to change its nature and go imperialistic and we will all be their slaves lol
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Yeah the threads put me off, but then i thought about the lurchers I've seen injured out lamping and the three terriers I've dug out dead. I'm undecided if it is as risky as some say or if we only hear about the times it's gone wrong. The vast majority of squirrels must be killed clean, off course that's no help if its yours that gets bitten badly. The flip side is without experience a hawk might make a bad job of it bit with experience may go on to do it without problems. I do remember reading an American web page where they started there's on small rats and then big rats then squirrel
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Chaps seem to split opinion as well, the toes are exposed either way and if there's a chance of the chap hindering the bird it's not ideal. Can a hawk catch leptospirosis from a rat bite like people and dogs can? Or do they have some natural resistance to it.
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The squirrel hunts I saw last season with mine were by far the most exciting. I can understand you wanting to get different things as I'm exactly the same, especially with my fishing. My hawk took rabbit, squirrel, pigeon, pheasant and moorhen last season. I expect her species list will rise next season.
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Out with a hawk i saw squirrels where I'd never seen them in a decade of going on the same land with dogs. They would be impossible to avoid.However I do very little hunting in woodland so I won't run into many.
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I'll probably run into more rats than squirrels next season which whilst aren't as big a danger can bite back.
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Mine caught one in deep snow last season, or rather she caught it on a branch and landed in the snow.Due to her not being able to get a proper grip she was bitten on both feet. I panicked a bit but cleaned her up and treat the wounds like I would do on any animal. I kept a close eye on her and she was fine though some of the scabs remained for the rest of the season. She flew two more but didn't catch them, great to watch,,,,,,, terrifying when it goes a bit wrong. It's something that seems to create big debates when it crops up on forums but I can't see how it can be avoided if hunting
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I would think even the thickest of braid would tangle as the lure bounced up, and you would struggle to undo it. Would a Scarborough reel design not be better?
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I had one which was 8 hours non stop Harris and goshawks hunting a variety of quarry but lent it out and never got it back. The trouble with falconry DVDs and books is they are a mix of how to do things plus hunting, I only want to watch or read about hunting not how to tie the falconers knot ha.
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There would be a demand for a Harris hawk DVD I would have thought, the you tube clips are nothing special and the bob dalton one is forgettable. 90 minutes of edited hawking would be worth a watch if only once.
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I've got loads of footage of lurchers and terriers ratting and rabbiting and I think it's better to look back on than any photos.
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All I got was mine sat on dead stuff and they are out of focus.Certainly nothing worth posting.Action shots are what's needed but as you say someone else needs to be taking them.I must have a hundred pics of dogs stood behind a pile of dead things and I did put some of them on here but looking back they were part of the most boring threads on this forum.
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Yeah it sounds like its gone to far. That's why I don't believe anything on the Internet, I know how easy it would have been for me to convince everybody on these forums that I had done more with my hawk last season,so if I could do it anybody can. Even pictures mean nothing. But I love the Internet and i am addicted to it lol
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Yeah, as I said its good for the genuine, committed individual but it means anybody can obtain one on a whim but then that's the same for dogs, horses etc. As crow hawker said the other day anybody can read a book and talk the talk. It would be easy for anybody to obtain a few birds, put up a few pictures and convince everybody they are the real mc coy falconer. Then the breeding starts and the young birds are easily sold because they are bred by a name from the Internet.Its easy to fool people on the net, I could go out next season and take game by other means and just stick the hawk on top
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Yeah I heard they used to bring a fair price. Even then a grand is nothing for something as long lived as a hawk and most people will only require one or two. When I finally decided I was in a position to fly a Harris I was surprised that the initial set up costs were low.So low that the majority of people could take up falconry/ hawking and if they realised its not for them could just give it up as quickly as they got into it without any real financial loss. That can't be good for many birds though its good for someone like me who isn't wealthy by any means.
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It's good for genuine lads that falcons are very cheap now and just about everybody can afford to get one, but that must lead to some people owning them without the land and resources to actually fly one properly.
