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2014/15 Season


pointer

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We were out yesterday but she was a touch over weight and wasn't responding very well. However she was looking for stuff which had me following her through a wooded area with chest high nettles to contend with. It was hard to keep an eye on her and feeling I was only along for the ride with little influence over what was happening I cut the session short.

After work today we went out but I had to pick up a couple of ferrets first which meant we didn't get onto the land until later than planned. A rabbit was bolted which the hawk caught and although I wanted to carry on I let her have a good feed from it. She was then put away and my mates young lurcher was given her first ferreting experience. This dog impresses me every time I see her and tonight was no different. A rabbit bolted and headed for the stock fence, it got down the steep bank and should have got away but the lurcher launched herself at it and caught it before bringing it back to her owner with a good retrieve. It would have been a good capture by any lurcher never mind a pup.

A short session but we can't complain with a rabbit for the hawk and a pup catching its first bolted rabbit.

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Nice afternoon mate.....that's another skill that develops with hawking.....knowing when to stop, depending on weight, conditions & time of day etc.....1 kill is often sufficient & good enough.....worst case scenario is carrying on & not killing!

I once drove 50 mins to Rendlesham forest, waited in the car for it to get light, got out & killed within ten minutes, fed-up & went home lol

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Thanks lads,

Last season was pretty rubbish until the very end when we got on to better land and started getting regular flights and kills. However I pushed her too much some days trying to get one more rabbit, I was trying to make up for lost time I suppose but I was robbing her too much at times and it had a bad affect on her. I won't do that again, if she's happy I'm happy.

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We were out for a couple of hours yesterday and my hawk was smashing down into reeds and cover which was growing out of small pools of water and marshy ground. I could hear Moorhens and saw a couple of rats but she just couldn't catch something. She tried hard and I really wanted her to be rewarded for it but it wasn't to be and eventually we ran out of daylight.

 

This afternoon after work we went ferreting, the rabbits weren't bolting which resulted in several three foot digs through rocky ground which slowed us down. She missed a couple but did get to catch two rabbits one of which turned on the bank and ran uphill into a big patch of nettles. My hawk was able to stay with it before throwing herself in the air and then diving onto it. I love seeing that move lol. I let her have a good feed from the rabbit whilst my mate got his lurcher out to give her some work in the reeds. Not a bad couple of hours even if I do hate digging out dead rabbits.

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Got the redtail out on fri, weighed him 2lb91/4 he has been freelofted all the time during the moult, but I have taken him out and fed him on the glove and bowed him out all the way through, apart from being a little bit skittish, he is taking very little manning at all, anyway, I decided to put him on the creance and test his reaction, first flight, 10 yards, whistle, instant onto the glove for a whole chick, then 3 more full creance length again full chick each time, again instant as soon as I whistle and show him the food, I am well pleased to say the least, I am going to hold him around his current weight and try to build a little fitness, a little dummy/carcass training, and a tweak of his weight and we should be away :yes:

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I have no idea, as I did not hunt him last year, I took him on as a sort of rescue, most of his primaries and deck feathers broken, his history is a bit of a mystery to be honest, I got him at almost the end of the season, so put him down to moult, and he is a stunner now, so I will see what I can make of him after I find his killing weight, I suspect he will make a good bird, but time will tell :yes:

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Ah I see....although I'm an accipiter fan, I think the red tail is the most impressive hawk that's readily available to us......there's something primeval about them...

Good luck with him, sounds like he'll make a robust flying weight :-)

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Cheers, I agree there is something very primeval about the reds, on a kill they look awesome, he is a big male with huge feet, I would imagine he will kill at around 2lb7 or there abouts, but as you know with reds its not all about the weight, find a weight they will respond at and work them at that before trying to tweak things, the mistake people make is to keep dropping the weight to get a good response, then they go into fasting mode, then drop them any more and you can get ready for some stitches :yes: they have got to be the most dangerous hawk, pound for pound when taken too low, I am kind of enjoying his being an unknown quantity, I suspect he has been lamped judging by his recall in the dark to a chick lit by headtorch, when I tried him after I got him, which will suit me as 70% of my hawking has to be lamping to fit in with work, I will put some graft into him and hopefully end up with a good hawk :thumbs:

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Cheers, I agree there is something very primeval about the reds, on a kill they look awesome, he is a big male with huge feet, I would imagine he will kill at around 2lb7 or there abouts, but as you know with reds its not all about the weight, find a weight they will respond at and work them at that before trying to tweak things, the mistake people make is to keep dropping the weight to get a good response, then they go into fasting mode, then drop them any more and you can get ready for some stitches :yes: they have got to be the most dangerous hawk, pound for pound when taken too low, I am kind of enjoying his being an unknown quantity, I suspect he has been lamped judging by his recall in the dark to a chick lit by headtorch, when I tried him after I got him, which will suit me as 70% of my hawking has to be lamping to fit in with work, I will put some graft into him and hopefully end up with a good hawk :thumbs:

I'm sure you will, as you know....you only get back what you put in!.......exiting times ahead I reckon..;-)

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Just started to get into falconry, my mate has a Harris and another has a Gos, I'm going to do a season with them to learn as much as possible before getting my first bird, but I'm definately swaying towards a red tail!

Could be a good shout longers......widely regarded as a sound education for beginning in falconry, if I could go back, I may of gone that route.....

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