Desert coursing and falconry USA

[dirtwinger 235]

They are good strong dogs to get 9 seasons of coursing from them.

 

What are your thoughts about your friends Tazi's abilities? One of Steves I take it?

 

I'm bringing a dog in from Russia next year under passport, it was frustrating that couldn't bring one back from Kazakhstan 2007 due quarantine.

 

The aussie/grey is 9 the tazi cross is 3. The old dog needed help to get through the season he was very sore at the start of the season he would run a hare for a couple of hundred feet then break off. I started treating him with condritin and glucosamin and after a few weeks he was running strong again. I think mainly his feet were getting arthritic, he has a couple of toes that are swollen. All in all he has been a very sound dog over the years but years of work have taken their toll. He has run 4 to 5 days a week for 6 months of the year all his life. Percy has been the backbone of my team for years and it will be sad to be in the field without him next year. I am looking forward to running one of his pups in 2010, I have very high hopes for this litter.

As to the Tazi's, I only have experience with Steves dogs. They are the smaller type and look very different to my eye to the saluki. Some of the pics I have seen of Tazi's are of a taller type very similar to DB salukis. Steves dogs dont seem hugely fast, but they run forever, seem very tough and have good temperments if well socialized. I have been very impressed with the Tazi crosses. My bitch is the fastest lurcher I have ever had and the only one that has caught multiple hares with little or no rest between courses.

I look forward to seeing pics of the Tazi when you get it.

 

all the best Dirtwinger

 

It's good going for any dog to stay sound beyond 5-6 seasons, I've only had one dog do that and that was my first Saluki so your Percy has done really well and has proven himself a worthy stud.

 

I've 2 Saluki/lurchers here that are 8 and 12yrs old and both have pretty much retired since they were 5.

 

My OH's beddieX has suffered terribly with broken toes from only a couple of years old.

 

It's actually a Taigan that I am importing, it'll not be as fast as my Salukis but very robust and hard wearing and be far better suited to the cold than my salukis.

 

I saw dogs of the same stock as Steves while in Kazakhstan, very strong dogs as you say very different to Saluki's. I was very taken by them, was very tempted to bring a pup back but the thought of a dog having to stay 6 mths in quarantine is just not acceptable to me.

 

You can see the Tazi I saw in My Flick-r

I alread y checked out your pics on flickr, very nice looking dogs looked like a great trip. One of the nice things about the US is all you need is a vet cert from country of origin and you just take the dog home from the airport.

As to Percy, his feet as much as his working ability were why I wanted to breed him. A few weeks a go was a good example, the dogs ended up coursing a hare down a old runway. Percy was off for a few days with bruised pads and a couple of scabbed up pads. Mouse my year old saluki/grey/stag was just destroyed. I had to carry her out of the field, broken toenails, stoppers gone, and her pads worn to a bloody mess. Took a month before she was even close to being fit to run. She is fine now but Percy is just damn unbreakable. He has been hurt real bad a few times but always came back. Two years ago he hit alump of concrete flatout, he lost a 1/4 of his blood internally and had a lump the size of a rugby ball hanging from his chest. He still wanted to run even though he came close to dieing. He was back in action in a month and you wouldn't it happened. i hope his pups come out as tough as him but we will see.

 

all the best Dirtwinger

[inan 841]

Those vids are amazing! Never actually seen a film of dogs and hawk running/flying together before. Did you raise them all together or did you have to train the dogs first, the bird first or what? Does it ever go wrong? Like what happens if the bird takes the hare just as the dogs are going in for the strike? Love to hear some more info on how you train them and hunt..............please!

 

Lot of questions there Skycat but here goes. The dogs I have were all raised with the birds except one. Generally it is easier to get the dogs running before the bird starts hunting with them.

As to things going wrong I have never had a bird hurt by the dogs although the birds will put the boot in on the dogs if they feel the dogs are getting in the way. The birds hit the hare all the time as the dogs are trying for a strike, usually the falcon hits the hare and rolls it and the dogs grab it then the falcon comes down. My gyr/prairie likes to lift the hares 2ft into the air and drop them in front of the dogs which they always seem to appreciate. My gyr/peregrine hybrid will bind to the hare and the dogs grab hold as he tries to hold it. Despite the chaos of a hi speed strike on a hare with a falcon already attached the dogs do a great job of taking the hare without touching a feather on the bird.

One the major benefits of the falcon is when the hare gets into cover and the dogs get unsighted. When they lose the hare they look for the falcon and listen for the bells. Then they run after the bird and reconnect with the chase. The extreme version of this is when the falcon spots a hare hundreds of yards away. He will take off after it, the dogs can tell wether the falcon is chasing or not. They will take off after it and often catch hares that they couldn't even see for the first 400yds of the chase. This greatly increases the number of courses I can get. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a hare sneak off in the distance knowing the dogs cant see it. I hope that gives you a little more understanding of how it works.

 

all the best Dirtwinger

Fine footage and great info!Thanks.

[Guest reload]

Superb :notworthy:

[Guest SJM]

A very informative and interesting topic, keep the pics coming, brilliant

[bird 10,014]

Superb :notworthy:

 

 

Same here,

[UphillDoc 278]

dirtwinger-Very nice. Do you hunt coyotes as well with those dogs?

 

Take care.

[dirtwinger 235]

dirtwinger-Very nice. Do you hunt coyotes as well with those dogs?

 

Take care.

 

No just jacks, although my old dog took one with a deerhound/greyhound I used to have years ago. The brothers to my dogs have taken coyote once. My mate was flying the brother to my gyr/prairie hybrid, the bird took off after a coyote and the dogs joined in. The bird hit the coyote in the head a couple of times then everyone grabbed hold, end of mr coyote!

Where abouts in the states are you and what are you running?

 

all the best Terence

[moonlighter 1,165]

dont take this the wrong way but do any ever get away. it seems a tad unfair on the hare with 2 dog and a bird and prob not many dykes, drains and woods to escape in,

[dirtwinger 235]

dont take this the wrong way but do any ever get away. it seems a tad unfair on the hare with 2 dog and a bird and prob not many dykes, drains and woods to escape in,

 

Good question, i'm not offended at all. There is cover that the hares can get into and escape, it is also not unusual for a hare to go down a hole and escape. Many of the fields that I hunt are very open but bordered by large expanses of sagebrush. I am very lucky if I get a hare once it gets into the sage.Unless the team takes control of the course and keeps the hare in the open it will make cover and escape.

Another factor is natural predation of jackrabbits. By which I mean prairie falcons hunt jacks in the wild, in response the jack has evolved a whole series of ploys to avoid ending up as dinner for a falcon. It is not all sown up when the team gets on the tail of a hare. Which is much of the appeal of hunting a hare, every chase is different, for every easy kill there are two that made it clean away.

 

all the best Dirtwinger

[UphillDoc 278]

dirtwinger-Im in SW Idaho. I hunt coyotes, but let the dogs run jacks every now and then.

 

Take care.