Well, My sponser flys a cast of Hen Harris hawks on squirrels. They can no doubt catch squirrels but have to be at weight. His birds at higher weights, will let go of squirrels if they have a bad hold on them. He kinda likes flying them at higher weights cause they think about foot placement better. Plus, I really don't think he cares about head count.-Zach
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Post by Master Yarak on Nov 13, 2004 10:44:01 GMT -5
That is one of the differences between Fox squirrels and Grey squirrels. Now if a bite happens which species has the bigger toes to sustain the bite. Now foot strength comes in also with the bigger fox squirrels. If they can break loose from Bane they can also get free from a Harris. Now two Harris' on one fox squirrel might be a different story. Wes the bird you have now is plenty big and has all the tools to be great squirrel hawk. The rest is on you. If I can provide either of you guys assistance let me know. I am helping Bob D and his son get on them also. Melissa's bird is coming along nicely I think she is larger than Bane or Val. I am looking forward to that too. Kill the squirrels! Yarak
Last Edit: Nov 13, 2004 12:06:45 GMT -5 by Master 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
Thanks Yarak, I will take you up on that offer. The biggest problem I had with last bird was following, she did follow, but not as well as I'd like, not shore if it was Her style or my training. Sponsor said she was fine, I just kept an eye on her, but she's gone and starting a new bird, New Rules! any early tips I should know? Zach: How many is His cast. My sponsor and a couple of freinds where flying 6 Harris Hawks in a cast. Scary site for any game animal in woods! Bambi would hide,and so she should, death from above! HO Raa! Wes
Wes The sponser flys a cast of two hen Harris. I'll tell you that two is enough for me, it's takes a lot just to keep track of two. I tell ya squirrels bale the hell out of trees when the Hens team up on them
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Multi by 3, and it took 4 good men to try and stay up with the cast of 6. Nothing was safe, guys lost hats, skin and blood, and they were to big to Eat. Sponsor told me about one outting with 5 of them, Oldest Hen grabbed a young fawn by the nose, OH the commotion trying to get her off !!, As well keeping 4 others from getting in and one scared fawn to boot. Fawn was saved. You've got to be in better shape than the birds are, at lease smarter, to fly a large cast like they use to fly. I'll ask me to post some stories. Later, gone hunting in morningwith kids,
Wow , I can see Jack or cottontail hunting with that many birds. I couldn't fanthom hunting squirrel with all those birds. I have a hard enough time keeping track of my sponser's. I can tell them apart close up but while flying I have know idea who is who. Have to put colored jesses on them. Well, plan on going out with the sponser tomarrow afternoon to see if we can get a couple squirrels.Good luck tomarrow with the kids and take care.-Zach
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Zach: How did you'll do today. Wes 1 rabbit, Kids 0, Birds were flying, Just not mine. Spotted a couple of future prospects , weather front came through, Ce bird did hop to glove for the first time Today, 5 times total- 2to4 feet, I'm tickled , trapped week ago today, Ce bird looking better every day as a squirrel champ. Still can't beleave how much faster this bird is compared to last bird. Squirrel's beware Ce bird is one step closer. Wes
I know tiercels can take squirrels, it was the first kill for my bird... and 1st squirrel for me....although i didn't even know we had ones that looked like this, thought we only had greys...
Aaron: Thanks for sharing photo. I see them like that I my DREAMS, DIED, ha ha, Your making me jealous, my birds not ready yet. Nice Bird, he did his job WELL. Have you any spec on him you would share? What make of glove are you wearing in photo?
My glove is an “Olympic” Full-Cuff Gauntlet from Northwoods.
My Bird is flying between 760-800g; trapped weight was ~840g (empty).
Here is alittle story about the kill. I was working him on following and casting off to high perches from the fist and letting the dog get some exercise. There are some blackberries behind our Fruit Trees/ berry patch that separate the next property from us. It is interspersed with 100+ft tall Douglas Firs, Cedar and smaller alder trees. Heard the sound of bells and looked straight up at the hawk above me as he launched from his perch half way up the tree, his stoop took him 50ft in front of me he slammed into a root ball/ stump form an old downed tree so hard I though he was going to be knocked out! He missed and I put him back up into a Doug Fir.
He laddered up as my dog came over and started to go hyper speed when he caught the scent. He was now crashing through the brush at a furious pace, tail going a mile a minute. Flight! Out across the yard and my bird disappeared below the level of the berries... I saw him pitch up and onto our outbuilding, lost bunny in a mountain beaver hole.
Went back to berries and called hawk over -he looked amped up- (I was teaching him the up command at the time... like before a slip and before tossing out lure to teach him to gain height...) anyways he came over to the very top of a Doug fir (our yard is at a slight angle so he flew from uphill side to tree). Right after he lands I see a squirrel chattering at me, almost trying to attack me, clinging upside down about 20 feet up the trunk. I yell and hit the trunk but he can’t see the prey from where he is. I can see the bird but he only has a small opening between the branches of the cedars. Great I think, right when there is a perfectly good opportunity he is out of position. I try to keep an eye on the squirrel as it climbs a little higher onto a lateral branch.
I move over to try and whistle the bird over and he looks like he will try and drop/Para glide down 100 feet or so but as he came closer his parachute flight turns into a steep dive and I try to find the squirrel directly above me, I find it just as he makes contact, I am at the base of the tree... I hear a loud crack as the branch breaks off and I have to step back and almost get hit on the head by the falling branch (it was a white smooth dead branch about 1-3 of the way up the trunk of the Douglas fir) My bird lands at a lower perch and we try to find the squirrel for about 5 min...
We walk through the woods carpeted with blackberry at the base of the trees towards my drive way and work more on following while trying to kick up a rabbit, I see 'em all the time at night when I drive up my drive way. We make our way down to the end of my driveway and I stop to get the mail (my bird takes a perch in a deciduous tree overhead), I head back up the hill on the uphill side of the driveway towards my house.
I wait to see if he will follow and I see him head bob and take off down the street, first at a shallow glide and the rapidly turning into a steep dive. The road gets really steep coming off the main arterial and he picks up a lot of speed, He slams into a tree trunk about 300 yards down the road 3ft off the ground, I drop the mail and run as fast as I can down the hill... As I get closer I see he caught something.... Then I see it is a squirrel and I help him dispatch it... and trade him off for most of a quail.
As he is eating I catch my breath and take a look at the mark in the bark of the tree where he ripped the squirrel right off the tree. When he snatched the squirrel he didn't keep flying off to either side of the tree but rather hit it square on and bird and prey dropped down to the ground it looked like the squirrel had tried to run across the ground and up the tree, not fast enough... he jumps up to the fist with a tiring and I walk up the road to get my camera and let him crop up on his kill.
I learned that squirrel meat is really dark red, way darker than even jackrabbit! And the skin is really hard to cut into... you can gut a rabbit w/ your hands but the squirrel presented me with a little challenge
Anyways, afterwards I go to eat some dinner and my mom tells me that there is a lunar eclipse tonight and it just started... So he was named Eclipse.
$%#&*#$ I know I'm ready Now, nice pics, Thanks alot you got my blood boiling, But Ce bird is hopping better every day. She'll be flying soon ;D Had some friends coming down this weekend to fly their birds over some rice fields and they cancel last night . I'll take the kids out to deer lease Sunday and get my attiude adjusted. Maybe l'll get a bushy tail with my rifle That will show them!!!! Good job Aaron Wes
Size Matters...? Im the only person,as far as I know,in the Welsh Hawking Club,who hunts Squirrels full time.The quarry over here is the smaller grey which I,m taking with a female Harris at 2lb1/2oz or thereabouts. I,ll be honest and say that I,ve never seen a female redtail on greys,but I,d imagine that there was no way on earth that they could compete with the aerial speed and technique of the smaller Harris.I,ve converted the weight(we werent taught metric when I was in school) and shes in yarak at 920gms. This season shes had 16 greys,5 rabbits,two Corgi sized mice and unfortuneatly nailed my Jill Ferret when it got out of its cage a couple of weeks ago... Shes had one bite this season.I,ve had two!!! By the way,I flew a cast(that is two) of Harrises four years ago and would not reccomend it for anyone,like me,who hawks alone.Its a bloody nightmare..... I must agree with the smaller foot size.My female has lost half a dozen or so greys this season.It always seems to happen if shes nailed one out of a tree and landed on the floor badly and lost grip. Anyway........Thats Hawking!!!!! Good Hunting.. Allan. Any replies,good or bad,appreciated. Its nice to talk to people who get the same buzz as me.They all regard me as a bit barmy over here.... You can keep your Gosses on Pheasant.I,m happy up the wood with the squirrels.
Allan Glad to hear that there is squirrel hawkers over in the U.K. Most of the replys are kinda smug when it comes to hunting squirrels. Well,what the females lack in speed and technique they make up in shock power and strength. The Greys squirrels aren't huge but the Fox squirrel are and can break loose even from Hen RTs. I would not recommend flying a tiercel harris on those. I'm training a new tiercel RT for hawking Grey squirrels(cause we have no fox squirrels).He is almost ready to fly free and get into the hammocks hunting. The tiercel RT seems to move a lot quicker than HH's (smaller wing load). On your commit about flying a cast of harris. Was that on Squirrels? My sponser flys a cast of Harris(hens) and I know what you mean about hard to keep track of (but they are so good at it). 920gram tiercel Harris is a huge tiercel. How long have you had him? My tiercel RT flys around that weight. Well,I hope you enjoy the site and lets keep talking squirrel-Zach
Last Edit: Nov 20, 2004 15:47:30 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Thanks for the reply.......... Its a female Harris at 920. hatched out April 1st last year that is a direct bloodline of the Harrises that came to this country in the late 1960s I believe.Obviously,you know we cant trap in this country so I believe that with an eyass youve got a blank canvas to work with.Because shes known no different,shes pretty much been wedded to squirrel since day one.She took a half dozen or so before she even saw her first Rabbit. In my capacity as the idiot who flies squirrels,Ive been asked to be guest speaker at the Welsh Hawking Clubs January meet....... Keep the squirrel talk going,as Id like to make part of my presentation a piece on what I know about US squirrel hawking....Which is not a lot...... But I think that will all change now that,by pure accident,Ive found this site.The cast of Harrises I flew were a brother and sister on Rabbit.The male went out at 1lb7ozs and I wouldnt put him near a squirrel. A daft question....What is hammocks? Good luck and Good Hawking. Allan.
Alan: Happy to hear about your bird's doing so well. Hawking in USA, ask Gary L. Brewer author of Buteos and Bushytails, most knowledgable, I can think of, also Try talking to Yarak, Weasel, and Bobdale on this forum, they have been helpfull in pass, and are very knowledgable. Good luck with your speech. Wes