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."
Sorry Bob i haven't been logging on here because I've been getting ready for ground squirrel and with a limited time to surf I haven't read this thread. As far as importing an HH yes i believe I can But I have to get an import permit, clear with CITES or something the regs aren't completely clear and the what ever duties they may impose, OR I can go to a friend in Victoria ,John HItchmough, He 's in the back of the Northwoods catalog,. He has some HH's plus golden eagles ,gyrs, peregrines, ferugenuos,sakers, gos's,had some RTs but traded them away, plus some others so it would be easier to buy local. As for food colour.The baggies I gave Marry where whites we had no problem but then we have snow shoe hare here and they go white in the winter. Plus being from a rehab she was acustom to all kinds of irrugular prey, mostly guinea pigs.
A kick worked fro the one I used. It almost out ran the hawk once it got going. ;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."
Zach fasted his bird for a day, then slipped her on a baggy. We tried your food coloring idea. It wasn't meant to be pretty. We sorta splashed the color asymetrically. WOW did that work! Volo Stapled that rabbit to the ground!! Wing over... Crash... bunny scream!! I wish i had gotten that on film. What a flight! Now, Zach is feeling better about releasing his bird. At least he knows she can catch red dyed bunnies! ;D Thanks for the tip!
WOOOHOOO!!!! I love it when a plan comes together!!!! ;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."
He's leaning toward releasing her. He thinks that would be best for her. Furthermore, he thinks Spring would be the best time to set her free: Younger (slower and easier to catch) game, less energy needed to survive, time to build her strength before the winter and she'll go through the molt in her natural surroundings. Now he has to fight the emotional attachment we all know so well. Another falconer has a tiercel RT and has offered to give it to Zach. It was a successful game hawk this past season and he really doesnt want to let it go. But the bird wont hunt over dogs, and that's what this man likes to do. Zach is mulling that over. The only problem is, that if he adds this bird to his license, then he traps a nice young hen this fall, he wont be able to keep it. He would have already had his one rplacement bird for the year. He's got a big decision to make... Proven gamehawk, or take a chance on the unknown (if you'll remember, the hawk migration didn't hit us very hard this past season... who knows what this season will bring?)
I'd personaly go fro trapping a new bird as that's part of the fun, training a new bird, the unknown if you will. Taking a transfered RT is kind of a moot point if you ask me as I think any RT can be trained just as well as the last, mental issues of the bird aside. ;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."
I know what you mean. I've trained hags before. It really isn't that much more difficult. But, this is his bird, his decision. I think he'll make the right move. He's one of those slow deliberate ppl. He has a few nationally recognized falconers giving him benefit of their advice, but that won't rush him. I kinda admire that in Zach. When he does make a decision, it's one that he can live with. You can rest assured that he's considered it from every angle. IMHO, the smart money is on Volo being free very soon, and Zach trapping an immy this fall.
Volo finally got a rabbit! It was an accident, but she tagged it. The sad thing is that the bunny was one of this years bigger young ones and Volo held on to it with one foot only and the bunny still drug her around. She let her bad foot sort of drag behind her. That leg is injured more seriously than we thought. Now we know why she hasn't been able to catch the bigger bunnies all winter. We let her crop up, left the remainder of the carcass lying there and took her back to the muse. Zach is going to take her out "snaking" for the next week, then he plans to slip the leather and watch her fly! At least we know that she can get a rabbit if she needs one.