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Falcon Kill In Mid Air


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ive been looking threw some videos on youtube of falconers flying various falcons and on almost all of them the falcon stoops onto the prey in midair and hits the head of the animal. they rarely bind to the prey, the birds almost drop as if hit with a shotgun, the falcon then stoops down and lands on its prey. my question is when they hit them is it the force of the hit that kills them or does this just daze them then the force of hitting the ground finishes them off and how do they hit them do they just foot then in midair or actually run into them because that's what it looks like. the biggest prey to be taken like this what ive seen was a grey heron, looked massive compared to the little falcon

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like Grovesey says fly a falcon and never look back, even simply the fun of a good lure session is such a buzz, the bird really makes you work to make him fit, its a justification for owning a falcon

I flew a little F. AK at Starling. That was great fun. Saw a youtube clip of someone doing it, so I had to get hold of one. They do make you work hard and especially with something as small as an AK

Are you saying a falcon stooping at 200mph, suddenly stops an inch from its target and gives it a love bite, so quick its almost invisible? What a lot of peeeesh!

Falcons and Hawks normally pierce the spine by generating speed, then with either talon or beak, disable the quarry. Depending on the quarry size some can and will die before they hit the ground although usually a bop will outstretch its wings slightly when landed and guard its kill. Falconers sometimes use a blanket to cover the quarry because it can be a task to get the bird off.

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so the falcon is pulling at the spine with the talons or beak when they are diving into the prey? causing the prey to be paralyzed and die when they hit the ground. i dont mean when they bind to the prey and fall with it down to the ground then pull at the neck with there tooth, i mean when they hit the prey in midair and it just seems to die as if its been shot then falls to the ground which the falcon then follows then binds to the lifeless prey, sorry if that wast clear

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In mid air falcons pierce the neck vertebrae with the beak tooth. It happens in a split second so it looks as though the impact does the damage when really it's a calculated kill. Hawks are different and can be a little messier as they go for whatever chance available. I've seen Goshawks drag maggies to the ground from flight and do the job with force.

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I take my hat off to peregrine trainers. They begin their flight so high. Id be bricking it with every session because they can easily move off course. Im sure a peregrine trainer would modestly say that great falconry and husbandry will do the job but me personally have to say that without extensive experience a person would be mental to attempt to hunt with them.

 

Have you thought about getting a falcon mate?

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thought about getting one quite a few years down the line but i enjoy my rabbit hawking too much, mate, i would rather put all my efforts into one bird getting him super fit than fly two birds. during the season my male harris is out 7 days a week most weeks with an absolute minimum of 5 days a week and i love the result and watch how his performance improves with each week. im not in a position with land or time to fly a falcon and wouldnt even know where to start theres so many hybrids. for me id like to have a falcon for crow hawking and also the occasional rabbit so mainly for off the fist work as i would only want to have the one bird but then i wouldnt see the need for a falcon when a gos can do that and still catch partridge and pheasant. i dont know if a falcon would be able to do all that as people who fly them seem to have 3-4 birds each with there own job so i dont know if they would be adaptable enough for what i would want if i flew one

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get a falcon you will never look bad ,it all depends what you want a crow hawk or game falcon mate if you got the land for a game hawk then you will love the buzz as long as you can serve the bird when its at pitch you should have a lot of success .they tend to do one a lot if your not providing the slips or there is easier kills to be had .what you don't want is a game hawk taking crows as once they start doing it ur cream crackered with the game hawking ,a lot train them on kites to get them upto high and its bloody hard work winding the kits back in when there at 700ft plus lol,

the big plus side with falcons is there gready buggers and love there food so I find them so much easier to train

Edited by grovsey
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i wouldnt be too into game hawking i dont think i just havent got the number of gamebirds to sustain a seasons hunting but what were not short on numbers of are crows, so if i was to ever fly one thats what i would be using it for, out of interest what falcon lends itself to that type hunting?

 

but before i ever fly a falcon i want to fly a male gos, a female red and a harris x redtail but as i am i could only ever have one bird at a time. if i was to have two i would definitely use one just on the lamp whilst flying another through the day.

Edited by youcanthide...BANG
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I fly a gyrsaker hybrid on hares and rabbits mainly, he flys out the hood from the fist, and works the hares along with a running/flushing dog or two on occaison depending on the terrain conditions etc he also takes to them if he sees them when he is free flying or follwing me over fields we hunt, he also watches the dogs as they scan ground scents and bush whilst on the wing, not so much waiting on as hanging around looking for opportunity, plent of tail chases etc , not classical falconry but that was never the aim, just simple fun hunting, if he did not enjoy it I doubt he would entertain doing it, cannot sned him in toothe fray too light so food not overiding factor, too light he less likely to show inclination, mix of desire, religious lure work and carcass feeding, work and installing self belief and good rewards for efforts.By product is a bird that can also tail chase and occaisionaly catch a fair ranges of feather, maybe more good luck than management but it all tastes the same to the bird, I always end every session feeding crop from hare carcass even on days we fail so the bird rarely tatstes real defeat (in his mind)

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like Grovesey says fly a falcon and never look back, even simply the fun of a good lure session is such a buzz, the bird really makes you work to make him fit, its a justification for owning a falcon in itself, well a better one than simply owning it too breed from,

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I flew a little F. AK at Starling. That was great fun. Saw a youtube clip of someone doing it, so I had to get hold of one. They do make you work hard and especially with something as small as an AK dropping the weight was a steady careful process. Once I found that I moved onto lure flying using Starling wings. She soon got the bug for it. Such a fierce little thing. Great little hunter for me..!!

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thats strange just yesterday i was searching all over the falconry forum for people using american kestrels for hunting, but the general opinion was that they were useless and youve got a 1/100 chance of having one that hunts. once ive flown the hawks i listed earlier i would definitely like to fly something smaller for the fun and excitement of the flight probably a spar but maybe the female ak could be an option. only thing im thinking is that nothing a kestrel can catch is edible wheras a spar that can catch partridge will provide a nice meal

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just watched a few vids of female ak hunting and all they just seem to keep catching worms and grasshoppers , that would do my f****n nut in, plus with a kestrel you just look a little poncey especially with the little white or yellow driving gloves they seem to wear ha. so when i do move onto something different from a rabbiting hawk it will probably be a spar as the flights are amazing, not as good as a falcon flight but exciting all the same. but as far as me flying a falcon im years away from that as i love my rabbit hawking and have too long a list of hawks im wanting to fly.

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