Post by Falcon Boy on Mar 11, 2004 15:37:23 GMT -5
There are some squirrel hawkers here too. The worst injury i have heard of is 2 toes bit off by the same squirrel (female harris, luckily the owner is a vet, and knew how to take care of it). i have never seen squirrel chaps here, but i have seen Gary Brewer's Video Intro. To Squirrel Hawking.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Post by Chris Foster on Mar 11, 2004 21:18:27 GMT -5
Well this is a risk and this is one of the reasons forgetting out early to give her a chance at the young pups. As for risks there is risk i9nmost of our game we chase as for rabbits I'm not sure of the risks but pheasants are hard to kill and have dangerous spurse.Large hare tend to kick and can crush a rib cage of a hawk, the risks are many and to ignore them is asking for trouble. Now this said I have a compatent vet that knows what I'm doing and the risk to the bird. I also carry a bite kit that contains an antiseptive sauve and a clotting agent to stop bleeding. As for more savior bites I hope for the best. Chris Foster
Zack has been flying Volo at 44 ounces. She is flying hard and strong at the bunnies we flush. Yesterday, she really went for the first two bunnies that ran out. She got close to the first one and even closer to the second one. She was still interested too! Zach just knew that this was going to be the day. As we were trying to flush the third bunny a hag came in. Zach called Volo down before the inevitable fight started. He was one disappointed young man. So this comes back to an even older subject: What can we do about this hag problem?
The Crude But Effective Approach To Hag Control: By Robert E. Dale
Call your bird out of the tree. Send the hawker out of harms way. Hood the bird (preferably). Grab sticks, rocks, dirt clods and anything else you can find. Throw them at the hag (don't worry, you can't hit her). Follow her to the next tree. Repeat.
Zachary and I went rabbit Hawking, last Sunday. He put his hawk up into a tree . We started beating the bushes to flush some rabbits. The hawk followed dutifully. It wasn't long before we flushed a rabbit.The rabbit took off running through an open field . Volo shot after it like a bullet . Alas, she missed. We didn't have much luck flushing anymore rabbits from that particular spot, so Zachary decidedly that we should head somewhere else. He attempted to call Volo to the fist. Volo wouldn't come. I turned my back, while, Zachary faced this challenge .When I turned back i saw Volo flying to Zachary's fist very directly and very hard. We headed to a new place. Again no luck flushing rabbits. By this time Volo was sitting high in a tree, but wasn't following at all. Zachary attempted to call Volo to the fist, but this time, she wasn't responding . We walked about a quarter of a mile from the tree where she was perched hoping that she would follow. She didn't. Finally, Zachary pulled the lure. Volo made a dramatic flight and hit the lure like a ton of bricks. That's when Zach told me that he had to use the lure to get the bird out of the tree at our last location. So it seems we have a lure bound bird our hands. Looks like we have more work to do.
I've thought about that. However, she will fly to the fist, do jump ups, fly to a lure all day long. Could it be as simple as getting bored when she only sees two or three bunnies flushed?
Another thought: She could be smart enough to realize that Zach isn't going to abandon her. He will eventually pull the lure and let her crop up... so why work when you can eat for free? If that's the case it coulbe fixed by working the bird on the lure using an intermittent reward schedule.
please try the following link. squirrelhawking.homestead.com/home.html squirrelhawking.homestead.com/luretraining.html read every inch, really good info! my two cents is put ears to the lure line end and tie the garnish near the ear or head area. when the hawk grasps the head area it is rewarded by you letting go of the lure line and allowing the hawk to feed up. the eagle hunters would use a wolf lure with the garnish in the eye socket, the eagle would then bind to the head and start feeding on the eye. "yummie"
We're going to the clubs last meet this weekend. They have lots of bunnies there. If she doesn't fly after the second or third flush, we'll have at least one question answered. Cross your fingers.