Out hunting with my sponsor and her female Harris, she employs a 'T bar' rather than trying to hunt off the fist. Albeit the hawk was a little overweight, but the pole seemed to offer only minimal advantage, if any at all, to using either launching from the fist, as other Harris hawkers do, or even letting the hawk take to a tree or other high vantage point. A former apprentice of my sponsor, rather than walking with his Red Tail and watching the prey (namely rabbits and hares) running off into the distance, lets his hawk take to a tree, and then walks slowly in a big circle around her, making the prey run straight towards the perched hawk. As jack rabbits will sometimes, when not terribly spooked, only hop a short distance before stopping, this method seems very productive and has yeilded a number of kills. I am interested in other methods of hunting, whether they be accipitrine, buteoine, or falcon styles, as well as tips or tricks employed by falconers to give their hawks/falcons the greatest chance on a possible slip.
Squirrel hawking....... ;D Oh, and that would be a T perch not a cadge. A cadge is used for transporting multiple birds at once into the field.
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."
Oh yea, who is your sponsor? Judging from the fact that you have a female sponsor (not to many) and are hunting Jacks........In the Lubbock area? Guessing that your sponsor is Debbie? Another method of rabbit hawking that another apprentice here in the Metroplex uses is called soar hawking. He hunts primarily in industrial parks and his bird has adapted to riding the updrafts from the wind going up the side of the building. Very cool to see his little RT stoop a bunny. From another Texas falconer ;D The Weasel
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."
Debbie is a heck of a falconer!!! You have a good sponsor and I hope to meet ya at the Abilene meet in January. Are you flying a bird this year? Cheers, The Weasel ;D
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."
Hey debbie is my sponsur also!! mine first actually. she is great her hh use the pole very well she killed single handedly over 30 jacks last year and like 20 somthing ctails. im going to try to teach mt rt to hunt off a pole as well bc there are not trees over 4ft in west texas
The old lakota was wise he said: "a mans heart away from nature grows cold"
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."
Post by Not So Banned Ooby on Dec 17, 2004 22:04:43 GMT -5
Riker said:
Hey debbie is my sponsur also!! mine first actually. she is great her hh use the pole very well she killed single handedly over 30 jacks last year and like 20 somthing ctails. im going to try to teach mt rt to hunt off a pole as well bc there are not trees over 4ft in west texas
Try telephone poles and power poles. Thats what i do. There are almost no trees to hunt from in san diego. The bird is at much more of an advantage. Plus i have found that (at least in San Diego) bunnies are more likely to hold a tight hold to bush if the hawk is nearby (fist or T Perch). They flush a lot better when the bird is on a pole.
Watch out for poles with transformers on them though, those are the leathal ones.
Post by Falcon Boy on Dec 17, 2004 22:30:21 GMT -5
poles =
A bird wont realize the difference between a transformer pole and a nontransformer pole, i advise staying away from them whenever possible, unless you want the above.
Last Edit: Dec 17, 2004 22:30:44 GMT -5 by Falcon Boy
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Post by Not So Banned Ooby on Dec 18, 2004 0:20:12 GMT -5
No, poles don't = that. Transformers = that. Note the transformer on the pole (trash can/bucket looking thinger)? There ARE fields that have poles with out them. My bird doesn't fly in fields WITH them.
I wasn't even close to this pole when it happened I was about 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile away when she gave chase to a jack.....S**t happens so do be carefull everyone! Another reason why squirrel hawking is better
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."
You wont get much better sport than flying off the fist at Rabbits ferreted out of the earths.......They aint hanging about. I think I read somewhere that ferreting is illegal in most US States though. Cheers.......... Allan. WHC....UK.
Post by grendlesgirl on Apr 1, 2006 17:36:21 GMT -5
here we don't have trees just sage - rabbits can get away before falconer or bird is aware of it. For redtail and harris people use the T-Perches. Goshawks fly off the fist because they are just plain crazy and can seem to get away with it where RTs and HH can't. I caught a lot of cottontails this year off the fist but that was because I was like Elmer Fudd and chased the same rabbits over and over again and we learned where they would run to (very predictable animals). Next year I will have her flying off the T Perch to catch jacks and snowshoe hares. I have heard of some people car-hawking rabbits but I have no idea how that works or if it is legal.
I have been training my mrt to the T-perch mainly because around here where theres rabbits theres nothing but sage brush(same dilemma as grendlesgirl) so I figured the extra hight couldnt hurt