It was a great meet, even with 20 mph winds. Zach but Volo up about eight in the morning. She hit a garter snake and black snake. There were about thirty ppl there and i think the crowd kinda freaked her out a bit. Zach put her up again about 3:00 p.m. the same day. She was fly stronger than ever before. She hit the second rabbit and literally knocked it for a loop but it escaped. She was following Zach and watching for the flushes. Then we heard thar the club president's bird got blown over the Missouri river and every one went to help find it. Zach called Volo to the fist and we left too. We found the Lost bird several miles away about two hours later. By then it was time eat. We still have until the last of March to hunt rabbits. I doubt that Zach will stop until then.
Sorry I didn't get in on the conversation earlier about the hawks missing rabbits.My friend and I both have passage birds and we have had the same problems. Aftewr checking with some of the other more experienced falconers this is what we came up with. Bird too heavy. Bird not condition. Talons too dull. Bird not perched high enough in the tree. Weather not cold enough. Most passage birds miss 9 out of ten rabbits anyway/ unless it is an exceptional bird.
What I found was true is. Not perched high enough. Too heavy. Bird misses rabbits 9 out of 10 anyway.
You know, that nine out of ten thing is comforting. I hope you mean 9/10 flights and not 9/10 slips. If we're talking about flights then Zach's bird is still in the ball park. If we're talking about slips she's way over the mark. I personally think he's flying her to heavy...38 ozs. Her trapping wt. was 42 ozs, but that really doesn't mean much. Zach let her get down to 36 ozs once before. He was afraid that she became catabolic. She was slow to respond. The flights she did make were weak. Overall, she just didn't look good. It scared him. He started doing jump ups with her on a nightly basis, making sure that she ended with a full crop. She got back up to 40 ozs., started flying stronger and he's been flying her there (38-40 ozs) ever since. I still think he should drop her down a few more ounces. Now that he has her condition up it could make a difference.
I think the easiest way to sum this up is that the bird is a first year immature bird that is still in the" crash it till ya get one " mentality. Time will teach the bird to take a higher perch and seek a better line of attack so I wouldn't be to worried about the bird missing as long as it's trying. As for the weight, have an experienced falconer feel the keel and he will quickly tell you if she/he is fat. If the bird is checking off of quarry then she is either too fat or she is not sure of the quarry. You might want to give her a baggie to let her know that they can be caught and they sure do taste good. ;D Noel
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
That's probably 90% of it. I used to feel the keel on the parrots i bred and the birds at the rehab ctr. I got pretty good at that. But that was a looong time ago. Our sponsor checked her for us a while back. He thought the bird was light and in low condition then. That's when my son started doing jump ups with the bird, got her up to 40 ozs. and worked her hard. Now she doesn't have a prominent keel, she perches high (and getting hirer every hunt) and she flies hard at the bunnies when they're flushed... she just get's them with one foot on the butt! The inexperienced passage hawk sounds about right. Zach, for some reason is resistant to using a baggy but i think he may be coming around.
question ; did Zack read or watch any British books or videos on falconry because they tend to look down on baggies. or at least give the impression that only inferior falconers use baggies when the fact is they don't allow baggies in the UK. Just a question and a pondery as to why Zack doesn't like baggies. But then hey i still use traditional jesses. I'm not one to pass judgement. Chris Foster
Truthfully, i think he wants to get this bird to kill on it's own. He's convinced that she will make a great game bird and giving her the easy kill might just work against her. Until yesterday, that is. We went hunting about 2:00 p.m. after he got home from class. Volo flew to a tree and kept flying higher and higher until she was near the very top. Zach remarked that she was ready to kill something! She was right at 36 ozs. The wind started blowing just as we flushed the first bunny. Naturally the darn thing ran with the wind forcing Volo to fly into it. She went after it but that storm blew in fast and hard. By the time Zach got her out of the tree, we were all soaked! The bird had trouble flying to the fist! Now, Zachary is thinking that if he had provided a baggy instead of relying on wild game, that little bit of time could have been more productive. We're fighting hags and March winds, so he's ready to maximize the use of his time.
Please check your state or countries regulations. The reason for not using the traditional jesses is for the safety of the birds. Most falconers put the safety of their bird above all else. As for me I live in the state of Texas and the regulation for jesses is as follows. Texas Administrative Code TITLE 31 NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION PART 2 TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT CHAPTER 65 WILDLIFE SUBCHAPTER K RAPTOR PROCLAMATION RULE ยง65.266 General Facility Standards (a) Permit holders shall comply with the applicable facilities and equipment standards of this subchapter in addition to any specific requirements stated in their permits. All facilities and equipment are subject to inspection by the department. (d) Permittees shall have at least one each of the following items: (2) one pair of alymeri jesses or similar type constructed of pliable, high-quality leather or suitable synthetic material to be used when any raptor is flown free (traditional one piece jesses may not be used at any time);
Please remember that if it has to do with falconry it is being monitored by the authorities. Anything you say will be used against you.
Post by birdguy888 on Apr 24, 2004 20:33:58 GMT -5
The advice in North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks is kind of good on the "keep pulling" the lure.....but the hawk usually just latches its talons deeper into it for a long ride. When that happens, stop pulling it for a couple of seconds and when you do the bird relaxes it's talons a bit and then jerk it hard like your trying to jerk it out from under the hawk. This usualy throw the hawk off balance and help instill in it's head to attack higher.
The other good thing is to get some live rabbits from a rabbit farm, bind the hind legs together as mentioned previously but instead of trying to cover the body do this instead.......what color stimulates hunger and food for raptors....yep, RED! Take the bunny rabbit out into a field and if it is light colored, use some red food coloring to paint the fur on the neck and some on the head. When the hawk sees this it "thinks" the bunny is already injured and seeing the "red" it will attack that spot. If the rabbit is dark colored and the food coloring won't show, use some of the really dark red blood from some liver. If you can't get enough squeezed out, put it into a blender and then use a wide paint brush and paint it on the rabbits fur. Food coloring is vegetable based so if the bird eats it, it will not harm the bird. If you use the "liver puree", it is obviously edible too!!!
The advice in North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks is kind of good on the "keep pulling" the lure.....but the hawk usually just latches its talons deeper into it for a long ride. When that happens, stop pulling it for a couple of seconds and when you do the bird relaxes it's talons a bit and then jerk it hard like your trying to jerk it out from under the hawk. This usualy throw the hawk off balance and help instill in it's head to attack higher.
The other good thing is to get some live rabbits from a rabbit farm, bind the hind legs together as mentioned previously but instead of trying to cover the body do this instead.......what color stimulates hunger and food for raptors....yep, RED! Take the bunny rabbit out into a field and if it is light colored, use some red food coloring to paint the fur on the neck and some on the head. When the hawk sees this it "thinks" the bunny is already injured and seeing the "red" it will attack that spot. If the rabbit is dark colored and the food coloring won't show, use some of the really dark red blood from some liver. If you can't get enough squeezed out, put it into a blender and then use a wide paint brush and paint it on the rabbits fur. Food coloring is vegetable based so if the bird eats it, it will not harm the bird. If you use the "liver puree", it is obviously edible too!!!
Wow this sounds like an awsome idea! I cant belive I over looked that part. I'll have to try it oO( in 6 months..)
So, is that why Volo wasn't hitting the domestic baggies that Zach finally tried to slip her on? ? ? One other thing; about half of the farm raised rabbits were young (fryer age) and they had a tendency to slowly hop around the field and graze, or worse yet, stand still and stare. Obviously they didn't catch the hawks eye and there was no stoop. Would the food coloring trick help intice the hawk to hit a rabbit that is relatively inactive?