I have also been told by another master falconer that there is a falconer that has recently moved to Washington from California that has had success flying a Redtail at birds from the waiting on position. One thing they both have in common is they are very experienced flying longwings.
If you would like to see some great soar hawking get the tapes or DVD "Southern California Dirt Hawking", and the CHC "Road to Bakersfield". You may have to turn the sound down but the footage is fantastic. ;D
getting a red tail to wait on involves hunting them on warm days with thermalsas this is how they naturally gain height and yes I've heard and been told that as red tails get older they get better. hunting birds and rabbits from your car is also possible. your hawks attacks from the passanger seat and can be taught to return through the car window if the flight fails . most of this info came directly from Frank Beebe himself.
>I have also been told by another master falconer that there is a falconer that has recently moved to Washington from California that has had success flying a Redtail at birds from the waiting on position. One thing they both have in common is they are very experienced flying longwings.<
this wouldn't happen to be Randy would it? I've been told by a couple other longwingers in my area that I need to get in touch with him but they keep forgetting to give him my # or ask him if I can have his, which makes getting in touch with him a bit difficult.
Waiting on is not all that hard to do but you have to remember that when that bird goes up you had better produce game fast or you'll be tracking down a lost bird. An apprentice I fly with sometimes is soar hawking his male RT and this bird does it like a champ. It will soar over us for at least 15 minutes before it gets bored and goes over to the nearby building to sit. This RT has taken numerous bunnies from a soar and these are some incredible stoops from 100-200 feet up. I just get plain old nervous when my bird goes above the canopy. Ya just don't soar hawk squirrels ;D Noel
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."
Try this link and look at the photos of Red tails on geese. Gaskins and goose. www.georgiafalconryassociation.com/index.htm Please contact the falconers at that site for their training tips.
Those are some good pics, Jim. I still have to wonder about the birds consistency. Are they regularly flown at geese? Waiting on: How is this taught? Kite/baloon training? what have they told you?
RT's can take pheasents occationally, as well as ducks. If you have a bird that thinks its a Gos like mine than it will chase any bird, but never catch anything because its too slow.
Turkey- Hard to find Goose-Faster than they think they are, can outfly a RT
FB, I can find Turkey EVERYWHERE. But that's not really a realistic quarry for a RT, is it? Possibly late spring and if you get a late hatch, early fall and take the small ones but turkeys are beasts. Their feet are bigger than the RTs!
I have soar hawked a redtail in the past. It is not as difficult as you would think. First you have to go out later in the morning when the thermals are brewing. In my area that is about 9:30 in the morning. The second thing is that you have to let your RT fly when it can see the thermal. That sounds wierd, but, once you see it happen you will believe it. They {RT} actually seek out the thermals. You just stand in one spot and hold your glove out until he takes off. When you finally get your bird in a thermal, you need to produce game or the lure the first couple of times before the RT gets too high. The more you soar the RT, the braiver you will get and you will get to the point where you just kick back and wait until the RT is about 800 feet before you even start looking for game to flush. Make sure you have good telemetry,because you are going to need it. When that RT is 800 feet up, he can see game a long way off even in the fields that you are not in. You will get such a thrill out of your RT being so high and watching him stoop at game. Mt Rt did take 2 pheasants at the 1998 CHC falconry meet in Bakersfield. One she took form the soar, the other she ambushed from a pole. She did not take either one in the air, but waited until they flew into the brush and then she crashed in after them. I had a friend who's RT would actually knock the guts right out of jacks from the soar. I was training a falcon this past season and once the falcon was in position, I released a pigeon. Before the falcon could stoop it, a RT came out of the stoop and snatched the pigeon out of the air and kept on going with it. That was such fun, I might just take another RT this season to soar. One last thing, you don't have to teach a RT to soar unless it is an imprint. All passage RT's know how to soar and they do it regularly. You will be the one learning to control the flight as much as you can, but, your still going to be needing that telemetry
I just emailed the guy with the RT on a goose (photos with GA club). I live in MD with LOTS of geese. I would love to try goose hawkin with a RT. I don't expect a gos but it would sure be fun! I don't have many rabbits and squirrels are localized. If I could goose hawk, I could walk out my door and go hawkin!!!!
Post by Falcon Boy on Feb 24, 2006 20:45:45 GMT -5
Not sure if there is one... Never read anything about kite training RT's specifically, especially for pheasents as not too many people hunt them with RT's
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