+/- of “Making in FAST”

[joekoz]

An experience that I had yesterday prompted me to start this new thread. I was out flying Jane my PFRT with my sponsor. Jane’s performance was right on, following well and hunting aggressively with several missed rabbit slips in very heavy cover, and several squirrel encounters before she nailed a squirrel at the top of a tree canopy. When she connected with the squirrel, she was up at least 80 feet maybe higher. She grabs the squirrel on the fly and continues to glide with the squirrel for quite a distance down the side of a hill toward a stream and marshy area. As she grabs the squirrel, both my sponsor and I start running to where we think she is, jumping over downed trees, and busting through briars and underbrush in an effort to get to her. To make a long story short, this all happened at about 4:15pm and we finally found her at 4:55pm. When we did, she was mantling over the squirrel and still hadn’t broken-in. While we were looking for her, her bells were pretty much silent. For me this raised the following question – Should we have taken our time and accurately marked her down location before taking off as soon as we saw her start he decent?

By the way, for those of you who read my “Lost and Happily Found 8 Days Later” thread, since getting her back, in addition to taking squirrel, Jane has also been successful on rabbit.

Also, since losing her I have been very concerned about losing her again despite my sponsor’s assurance that it is highly unlikely since she is now really into the game! As a result, I am anxiously waiting for the R-400 Receiver and Scout Transmitter I ordered last week from Mike’s. If I were alone when this happened yesterday, and without the benefit of my sponsors excellent hearing in all likelihood I would have gone home again without her.

[borderhawk]

Where are her bells attached? Gila has one leg bell and one tail bell and is noisy no matter what she's doing. I would think with cottontails it would not be too horrible to not catch up with her right away, but a squirrel can do permanant damage (ie rendering toes useless from a severed tendon) so it's really a good idea to be able to get in there right away to help her subdue it.

[sparrowhawk]

With squirrels You really need to get to them quick they can do alot of damage with those teeth.You might want to try some different bells if you cant hear them.

[joekoz]

Both Bells are attached to her legs. Your suggestion regarding placing one bell on her tail, and the other on her leg is much appreciated. There is no debate here about the fact that time is of the essence in getting to her and dispatching the squirrel. In this particular situation, I'm convinced that if we had taken the 10 seconds to mark where she went down we most likely would have gotten to her within several minutes instead of the 40 minutes it took us to find her. It would have resulted in our searching in a smaller footprint area with a higher probability of hearing the bells and finding her sooner.

[borderhawk]

Ya, it just seems like even when she's holding it down with both feet she's still bobbing her tail as she's tugging with her beak. And, I already don't like having anything more than the anklets on the legs as it is, I'm waiting for a transmitter tailmount wire I ordered from Western Sporting that'll convert my legmount transmitter to work with the tail mount clip so I can get that off her leg too.

[Tiercel78]

You Have the right idea about marking the bird before you run off after it. Or at least moving slower so toward the bird untill it lands. Red tails will carry when they start feeling comfortable with squirrels. If caught high in the tree you better bet they are going to carry at least a little ways. Telemetry is the absolute best thing you can buy to help find your bird. I have seen RTs and HHs remain perfectly still so that the falconer cannot locate them. That is why you didn't hear the bells. They usaully start this after you have transfered them off a few times. They are in fact hiding from you so u don't take thier squirrels. This habit also maybe a weight issue thing. If the bird is hiding and sitting still and/or upon approach flying off (which happens with small squirrels) the bird is too heavy.

[joekoz]

Jane has taken her 3rd squirrel since I started this thread last week. The second squirrel which she took 2 days ago was also very high at the top of the hardwood tree canopy. She hit it on the fly and this time before I started to run after her, I watched her carry it for over 100 yards across a field to a hedge row. Despite waiting to mark where she landed, I was able to get to her in under a minute.

She took her third squirrel today. We were in thick rabbit cover and she had 3 unsuccessful flights in 15 minutes on cotton-tail. In each case she crashed hard into the briars. She likes the bunnies, but the briars are brutal. Then, as I was working the edge of this area I flushed a squirrel on the ground in a relatively opened area, and she pounced on it from about 60 feet away.

What I noticed with these last 2 squirrels was that in both cases she had at least 1 foot firmly planted on the back of the squirrel's head making it almost impossible for the squirrel to bite her. When I mentioned this to my sponsor, he reminded me that when we trapped Jane we found squirrel hair on her foot. My thinking is that prior to trapping her, this gal had a lot experience with squirrels.

My understanding is that most red tails quickly drop to the ground when they take a squirrel. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens the next time Jane takes a squirrel high up.

[AMY]

I would personally would suggest high anklets when taken squirrels my male Red-Tail's are 2inches high with the top and bottoms flared,but they have saved him from many bites,they diffidently show the war marks from the squirrels bites...Time is essential when taken squirrels they can really do damage in a matter of seconds ..sometimes when the bird snatches the squirrel out the tree he might not have it by the head but quickly drops the squirrel and grabs it again for the head , before this they could of taken a bite and with out closely looking you would not know.Ele caught one Saturday in the head but right in the squirrels face the squirrel got him on is toe right above the talon he was holding the squirrel with. BEST OF LUCK

[UTLongWinger]

My Passage Male Harris Hawk just caught his first rabbit, a very small one, and he stood there for a few moments, and I tried to make in slowly, and he carried about 100 yds before diving into some brush. I caught up with him there, and got him tethered, and let him eat.

I am not too excited about him carrying game, but I don't know how to avoid it other than catching things he can't carry.

[raptrlvr]

Your passage HH caught a very small bunny which allowed him to carry it. Once he starts catching full grown cottontails, he will be able to drag the game, but, not carry it. I don't use bells on my birds mainly because after working 31 years in the diesel trucking industry, I am a little hard of hearing. I just watch where the bird goes down and head that way. Used to be I would run towards the bird, but, since I had my heart attack, I walk quickly. If the bird can't handle the game or if she gets bit, chances are it was going to happen wether I ran over there or not. Just my opinion.

[dirthawker]

getting them to not carry is basically having food on the glove ready for them when you get there from my experience. do it over and over and over and they learn real quick he gets here I get to eat sooner. I have even seen a few that would drag game to the falconer as they where walking up for just a tid bit. time is all it takes and showing them that you are help not there to take the food away. what I usually in the early stages do is when they catch is let them eat as much as they want till they start to get bored and step off. then I throw out the lure. they usually get fired up on that lure again for a min till they figure out that they are full