jasper65 6 Posted December 21, 2008 Report Share Posted December 21, 2008 Does anyone still fly these birds? It would be nice to here that they do as apposed to always choseing the Finnish race. I have a real soft spot for the these smaller gamey birds! I know alot has been said about them being difficult and more highly strung compared to the Finns but like anything! "You get what you put in" and BIG certainly isn't the best as some Big Willy falconers seem to beleive..... I have a old German 1998 male Imported in by Steve Tolly which I breed from, he's a absolute pocket rocket and without doubt a killing machine in his own right, He's certainly not big by any means but I can Gurantee whenever I do into that aviary in Preperation for the on going breeding season I will always find Blue Tit feathers, Blackbird Feathers and what have you, he wants to kill anything with feathers within striking range hungary or not. On one occasion I looked on the camera Monitor to see him hanging from the netting flapping downwards, I ran down the garden thinking he was caught only to find he had caught a Woodpigeon through the net but was unable to drag it through the mesh, I put the step ladder up the side of the aviary and just peered over as he let it go! white feathers littered the garden .... It would be nice to here people gave these birds a go instead of the larger Finish birds, Personaly I like the fire and tenacity of the German birds plus the females fly at the perfect weight for my personal likeing. Unfortunately I don't breed any of these now but the closed to them is the Finn x Hungarian and Finn x Germans I have here one of which I kept back last year, looking at them I'm sure they are or of a simular race although I will say the Hungarian female I have here which belongs to Chris Soans weighs a tad over 2lb 5 tops aviary weight.... This little P/R male in the pic's bred in 2003 I named "Delboy" he was a diamond, he sat in the aviary for 16 weeks because nobody wanted him so I flew him , he was Gamey with a capital G and on one occasion being a inquisitive youngster attached himself to a Egyption Goose while out flying with my son, My only gripe with the little fella was he lost more than he kept hold of! this was no fault of his but the bird insisted taking on quarry far larger than himself, I finally sold him to a guy in Lincolnshire who managed to lose him after just a few flights, I would like to think he is still out and about there somewhere , this was the little fella flying to my lad who was 8 then.... Jasper Quote Link to post
david901 162 Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Hi Jasper, i fly an '08 3/4 german 1/4 finn tiercel. I only picked him up in November, he has a high prey drive, he wants to kill anything with feather on it. Still not sure about rabbit yet. Dave Quote Link to post
gsi2000stokie 5 Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 i think the BIG thing everybody is obsessed with needs to be chilled out. the guy i had my harris off said she hunted at 2lb 2oz. WRONG! try bang on 2lb! a nice size for a female in my eye's. some cracking pics there mate. bet he loves dunt he! Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted December 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 some cracking pics there mate. bet he loves dunt he! He used to GSi but now I think he hates them with a vengance. all his life he was always told he can't play football or whatever out the back when the birds was breeding or weathering, he was moaned at too for making too much noise and basicaly kept in the smallest part of the garden away from the birds, I think now as he has got older he's a bit recentful of them taking over his space.... Mind you he does like to come out and do the ferrets for me now and again when I can ween him off his Xbox ..... Cheers Jasper Quote Link to post
gsi2000stokie 5 Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 that whoLe xbox thing a is addictive. my little lad is 5 and guess whats wrapped up under the tree. although my little girl keeps askin for an owl. Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted December 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 Hi Jasper, i fly an '08 3/4 german 1/4 finn tiercel. I only picked him up in November, he has a high prey drive, he wants to kill anything with feather on it. Still not sure about rabbit yet.Dave Nice one Dave he sounds a cracker . the bird in the picture above "Del Boy" was basically the same cross! at that time I had my German male in with a Finn x German female, he didn't seem to retain much Finnish genes into him except perhaps he was a lovely sensible bird and tolerated anything like alot of Finns, he was pale like his mother and came out around 1lb 8 1/2 at 16 weeks..... He would take Rabbits and was entered on them Bolting them with Ferrets. at one time he was dragged near arms length down a Rabbit hole! the last I saw of him was him arse ending a Rabbit under a hawthorn, when I got over there was nothing not even a chink of a bell, I got the old faithfull MN10 out and was getting signals in all the Hawthorns around me but still couldn't see him, thankfully the lad who was with me found him! when I looked down the hole he was crammed in to my Elbow looking back at me bent backwards with his chin on the ceiling of hole but boy he wasn't letting go of his prize, to be honest Dave I don't think he would have got out of that one and probably would have died if he wasn't found.... ATB Jasper Quote Link to post
fireash123 1 Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 my first gos that i struggled with to be honest. weather thatw as cose it was hand reared then put under an imprint buzzard i dont know, but he was from 3/4 fin male with fin female i think from a roger pyle. but he was the runt and came out smaller. when i did get him flying and hunting well his top weight before he died was 1lb9 but that was with avery slow recall and loads of meet on him. he was the fastes gos i have seen and only had a few slips on pheasant with him but he caught most of them. i caught one pigeon and from then on he would go stupid distnaces after them feeding in the fields. id do anything to have a bird like him again. im new to goshawks but have a big fin from mick kane and he is not a bad bird by anymeans but just doesnt seem to have the drive as my last one did. hopefully he will change in the next few years. still doesnt give up on game. but if something happened to him id deffo go for either a midsize 50/50 cross or even try a small male if i could find one. ha tony do you know tim sparford? whats his birds like? they seem a nice smallish size. Quote Link to post
hawkman1975 0 Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 (edited) i fly a germanx gos flys at 1.6 and will have ago at anything that moves and he is a lot easier to carry all day than a 3lb+ female finnish and apart from hares will take anything the female will and quicker cant beat small males i once had a male harris flew at 1.3 and would take rabbits and cock phesants with ease great bird anyway better shut up Edited January 31, 2009 by hawkman1975 Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 ha tony do you know tim sparford? whats his birds like? they seem a nice smallish size. last time I saw Tim was at the end of season Dinner dinner for the 2006 season! we had a chat over dinner mainly about breeding aswel as Gary Almeida but I get the impresion they are on the small side, he flew a male a few seasons ago at a meet at Elevedon Hall but by all accounts the weather was a bit crap mate so nowt much was caught.... Another lad at the dinner Giles Morris fly a small Finnsh Imprint male bred by Mat K which has done fairly well over the seasons its been flown, don't quote me on this but I'm sure its flying well under the 1lb 10 mark but provideing plenty of good sport... Don't it kill ya when people do their utmost to seek out the biggest birds possible . over the years I have been lucky enough to have a choice of birds to fly here, a couple of years ago I kept back a P/R Finn x Hungarian female which at her very top would fly at 2lb 6 but you won't get the best out of her, but get her down a bit and she'll do everything I want and more when I manage to get out, I had her out just over a week ago and due to her fittness obviousley through lack of flying she was out at 2lb 4 1/2 and nice and responsive, I'll have a final few flick with her and then I need to tie myself down to get birds ready and conditioned for breeding.... Jasper Quote Link to post
david901 162 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hi Jasper i also think it funny that most people go for the size of the hawks rather than their ability.My 3/4 german male will take anything from sparrows upwards. He's also taken a couple of rabbits now. Dave Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hi Jasper i also think it funny that most people go for the size of the hawks rather than their ability.My 3/4 german male will take anything from sparrows upwards. He's also taken a couple of rabbits now. Dave Its refreshing to read a post like this mate these days . for some reason there's far to many people suffering with "Big Willy Syndrome" in this country...... cheers Jasper Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hi jasper ,I got a large male because I wanted to take rabbits and cock pheasats regular , I know smaller males can and do catch them but I thought they would be easier to handle with a big male , who has took about 50 cocks and 30 rabbits no problem last season and never refused a flight ....Johnps I think all goshawks are good birds it depends on the falconer and the land you fly them on Hello John No mate don't get me wrong I would feel the same! I can't be a hypocrite as I said many times I like "Big Lads and Small Girls" when taking up a Hawk/Falcon.... The small Male "Del" above although probably one of the most gamey hawks I have owned did struggle with the Cock birds and Large Bunnies which is why I passed him on, having said that Patience is something I lack in these days! I just generaly got fed up with him loseing quarry, perhaps in his second year if I made the effort and when he had gained a bit of footing experience things could have been slightly different. Some Rabbits stop in theit tracks when caught and lay down and some go for it big time expecially when they've nearly made it to cover, the little fella would then be rideing piggy back and end up being dragged down some holes.... The one thing with these smaller males is they may lack the weight and size of their Finn cousins but once they master getting Game birds by the head and holding on its all over, a bird of this standard will compete with the biggest of males in the field on feather at any level... this is not good sales pitch mate. but I can't understand why people want to fly these bloody great females when a female a good few Oz's less will perform just aswel if not better , there's been a few threads I have read in the past from falconers talking about weights, some guys will be saying their hawks are flying at 2lb 12 or higher talking like their birds are some sort of beast and will mow everything down in their path . I think people like this should go back to the drawing board and do some more homework.... cheers Jasper Quote Link to post
fireash123 1 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 so tony whats your view on the smaller males keeping up on the longer chasses on game, or having the stamina to keep pumping are they the same as the fins, was told that the bigger fins are abit brouder and are better suited to the longer chases. weather its true or not i dont know. Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted February 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Surley stamina has nothing to do with size . a sparrowhawk can chase until the bitter end over some seriouse distances, we're talking about a bird averageing 10oz's tops here but they keep going when they need too! I'm pretty sure a German male Gos in any sort of condition is more than capable of the same feat should it be needed?.... whats your own view on the subject? Quote Link to post
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