Post by Master Yarak on Jul 16, 2004 14:06:16 GMT -5
Squirrels are not normally taken with any regularity. Some birds need help IDing them as food and to "ENTER" the bird to a specific quarry. ITs purpose is not intended to make the bird a better hunter. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
The whole purpose of using baggies is to have controll over the hunting conditions. One of the most important issues of falconry is that you need to supply your hawk with game to hunt. Also you dont nessarly have to have a pissed off squrriel you can have a very very dizzy squirrel or slightly disabled somehow
How is having a disabled squirrel helping your hawk other than as food
P.S. im still buying squirrel traps i like to watch baggies its quite funny.
Post by Master Yarak on Jul 17, 2004 19:48:07 GMT -5
Web, I just don't think you get exactly. Entering teaches the bird what you want it to hunt. Kills= confidence. The hawk thinks: gee that was not too hard, squirrel on ground , grab squirrel, human comes in to kill said squirrel I eat said squirrel. So now take the bird to the squirrel infested woods and he begins to look for them and pursue them. Now however they are much harder to catch. After several really close attacks he gives up for something easier. Repeat step one, kills=confidence. At some point he will catch one in the trees. Then he will chase them from then on. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
OK... Zach finally broke down and decided to slip Volo on a baggy. He got her weight right, set the baggie up in the field and had his friend out of sight holding the string to release said baggy. He put Volo up in a tree. She climbed high, like she was ready to hunt. She also had that "lean and hungry look". Let me stop here and interject something that i found out after the fact: the baggy he was given was a white domestic rabbit about 10 weeks old So, Volo was in place, the trip line was ready and Zach was in position. He signalled his friend to release the rabbit and waited with bated breath for the inevitable fire of deadly fury that would most assuredly rain down on the unsuspecting rabbit. The rabbit walked out of the open door and began to graze in one spot with out so much as a sign of simple nervousness. It didn't move more that six inches. Volo was monumentally unimpressed. She sat in the tree and waited for zach to beat the shrubs for a slip. She spotted a snake and took it instead. Disgusted, Zach called his hawk to the glove and headed back to the mews. Our eight year old neighbor girl has a nice new fuzzy pet
One thing i remember from my readings is that when you are serving baggies to your bird, you should have the baggy as closely resemble the prey you are hunting as possible. Your sons bird may have ignored the baggy because it didn't know that rabbits come in white also. I would be willing to bet thats the first white bunny the bird has seen.
The best bunny baggies are trapped bunnies. Im sure if you research it you can find some bunny trap designs. Also when the bunny is served (flushed) it should be near the falconer (your son) but not from his hand. That way the bird will associate quarry originating from the falconer and stay close, but will not see it come from the hand and hence ignore all flushed game unless it comes from your sons hand. And lastly, many people suggest a spring loaded release box. The idea being if the bunny is kind of given a push out of the box by a little bump or jump, it is more likely to break into a run, than if a door is simply opened, or a shrowd removed.