Post by longwing on May 24, 2006 10:32:26 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I hope the moult/breeding season is going well for you all, and you're not all down with ghastly withdrawal symptoms.
Where I currently fly Dusk free, there is a sort of rule that you can't hunt. It's not a very strong rule and there are wild buzzards around, and it's not like she's going to be a terrorist and kill everything. I don't even have a dog or ferrets (although my friend said I could use his ferrets). So I have decided that the rule can sort of be ignored and we can try and hunt.
My plan is as follows:
Get Dusk flying well free, being super-obedient again (she goes off the mark about this time of year, but I can get her back on in a few weeks)
Start dragging the dummy bunny along for her to chase from the trees. When she catches it with gusto and lets me pick her up (she did this well when I used to do it with her, so it should only be a matter of remembering).
Drag the real dead bunny (sitting nicely frozen in my garage) along the ground for her to chase, see if she does...if not, tie a chick to its neck.
When she's catching the real dead bunny nicely, and picking up well, knock her weight down so she's ultra-keen, go out when all is still and quiet (about 5:00 in the morning) and fly her free. Start beating the bushes, if anything hops out, hope she'll catch it. If she catches a rabbit, make in as smoothly but quickly as possible and administer knife tactics to the base of the skull.
Is that roughly what everyone does? The place I intend to fly her is a little patch of land, surrounded by a small pathetic attempt at a wall, with a few trees sticking up from the wall and it's on a slope. I have seen rabbits down there. It doesn't matter if she goes beyond the wall, I fly her all around there but I think that would be the best place to hunt.
Does anyone have any tips?
Longwing ^^
Where I currently fly Dusk free, there is a sort of rule that you can't hunt. It's not a very strong rule and there are wild buzzards around, and it's not like she's going to be a terrorist and kill everything. I don't even have a dog or ferrets (although my friend said I could use his ferrets). So I have decided that the rule can sort of be ignored and we can try and hunt.
My plan is as follows:
Get Dusk flying well free, being super-obedient again (she goes off the mark about this time of year, but I can get her back on in a few weeks)
Start dragging the dummy bunny along for her to chase from the trees. When she catches it with gusto and lets me pick her up (she did this well when I used to do it with her, so it should only be a matter of remembering).
Drag the real dead bunny (sitting nicely frozen in my garage) along the ground for her to chase, see if she does...if not, tie a chick to its neck.
When she's catching the real dead bunny nicely, and picking up well, knock her weight down so she's ultra-keen, go out when all is still and quiet (about 5:00 in the morning) and fly her free. Start beating the bushes, if anything hops out, hope she'll catch it. If she catches a rabbit, make in as smoothly but quickly as possible and administer knife tactics to the base of the skull.
Is that roughly what everyone does? The place I intend to fly her is a little patch of land, surrounded by a small pathetic attempt at a wall, with a few trees sticking up from the wall and it's on a slope. I have seen rabbits down there. It doesn't matter if she goes beyond the wall, I fly her all around there but I think that would be the best place to hunt.
Does anyone have any tips?
Longwing ^^