re: Teague's Ongoing Hawk /Falconry Thread - renamed for clarity

quote:

---

That isn't the same one you posted the video of a while back, is it?

---

Nope, same back yard, different bird.

quote:

---

That video is badass !! So educate me because I am not sure what you mean by going hunting with this bird. First of all what are you hunting? What keeps the bird from taking off, never to return, during this hunt?

---

Thanks!

Well, "falconry" is a form of hunting that is thousands of years old. All kinds of game are hunted from game birds, ducks, rabbits, squirrels, etc. depending on where you live and what kind of bird you're using. Here in the southeast, the vast majority of falconers hunt rabbits and squirrels and use Red tailed hawks (like my boy, Hawkeye) or Harris hawks. There's also a fair amount of people here that fly other birds, especially cooper's hawks or tiny kestrels.

The only thing that keeps them from taking off is they're trained to rely on the falconer for food. And you have to make sure they're hungry. The birds have to be weighed every day, and their food intake carefully managed so that they're hungry when it's time to go hunting. The learn quickly to come to the glove for food when you call, and you carry that over to make them follow you through the woods or fields. Pretty soon they learn that the falconer is kicking up rabbits or making squirrels move.

They catch the game (they don't bring it back). We trade them a pre-cut piece of meat for what they've caught. In a nutshell.

quote:

---

you carry that over to make them follow you through the woods or fields. Pretty soon they learn that the falconer is kicking up rabbits or making squirrels move.

---

This is when I start beagleing...

quote:

---

Do they growl and hiss and fluff out their neck feathers like a roundhead when you take the squirrel or rabbit away from em? Just wonderin if they act like my old dog used to act when you eased your hand toward his food bowl...

---

You've got to be very careful on how you approach them and how you "trade off" or yes, it can become a problem.

quote:

---

You've got to be very careful on how you approach them and how you "trade off" or yes, it can become a problem.

---

It would be just my luck to beagle up a snake and then you could rest assured I wouldn't try to "trade off".

avatar is normal, thumb nail size here on my end.

That is a cool video. I look forward to more.

I was wondering the same thing. Do you pet him and stuff like that ?

Nice

I would be terrified that thing would rip my face off

Yeah that is cool stuff. Keep the pics and video coming.