Post by dirthawker on Apr 20, 2009 18:18:51 GMT -5
well if you are looking for a good personality then I would say a HH. they are one of the most easy going birds out there. but if you are looking at some really awesome flights and up to the challenge then I would say one of the accips. again I personally am partial to the coops. they are just balls to the wall at all times and can take any thing from sparrows to mountain CTs.
There is a falconer in New Mexico {Terrance} who uses a peregrine to catch jack rabbits from the fist. He uses dogs to chase the rabbit with the peregrine gaining ground on the dogs and the jack until the peregrine catches up to the jack. Then the dogs back off while the peregrine slams the jack. He also uses gyr sakers to do the same thing. I watched one of the flights that went for about a mile before the falcon caught the jack. If I remember correctly, he was going to try and move the peregrine to another falconer because he had no time to fly it.
More efforts should be directed towards New Zealand Falcons. Fascinatining, beautiful falcons whose behavior is a little complex. Great potential for fist falcons, the one female I had (imprint)was a sweet heart to handle but wasn't very aggressive on game. A passage female would be cool, Any Kiwi's out there? A couple of guys in the east have taken pheasant and CT with them.
There is no single 'best falcon for off the fist flights'. Each bird is an individual with potential. It is up to you the falconer to exploit that potential to accomplish your goals and satisfy the bird with a kill where and how you want it.
I would think any falcon in the 750g plus range given proper training, slips, and the right fields with time would do very well with C.T.s Keep in mind its not traditional falconry, so expect some crap for it.
A notable hybrid that is being made this year i believe for the first time is the Saker Merlin hybrid. That definatly sounds like an aggressive combo. We will have to wait and hear back from those who go this route this year.
I saw the babies this weekend when I went to pull my prairie. Danny Ertsgaard is the guy mentoring me through my first long-wing and helped me pull my prairie. After pulling my bird we went back to his house and were checking out the babies. It will be interesting to see how they end up looking because he only breeds black merlins. Saker/black merlin, interesting croos, should look different. He said as far as he can tell this is the first time this hybrid has ever been made. He had the bird abatement guys in mind with this hybrid
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Post by dirthawker on Jun 10, 2009 18:30:41 GMT -5
I seem to remember someone doing this cross yrs ago across the pond but dont remember any more about it. if you are interested in longwings I guess it would be interesting to try one and that is why I didnt really keep track of what came of it.
I seem to remember someone doing this cross yrs ago across the pond but dont remember any more about it. if you are interested in longwings I guess it would be interesting to try one and that is why I didnt really keep track of what came of it.
There seems to be a difference between European merlins and American merlins which will have an impact on the hybrids.
I'd love to hear from the person who gets the Saker/merlin from Danny.
Post by harrishawker on Oct 6, 2009 13:53:34 GMT -5
If the question was the best persuit falconry bird i would say a very fit HH. I have seen very fit HH take incredible slips on quarry. train it very hard and super fit it will knock the socks off any BOP.
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