re: Teague's New Falconry/Hawking Thread

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Is falconing anymore expensive than your run of the mill hunting activities?

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Not really. Just very time-consuming.

This is a really interesting thread - I could never imagine that someone could tame a wild hawk.

The word awesome is thrown around too freely. That said, this is awesome.

And this one as well:

BBC Goshawk in Slo-mo

I still can't get over the fact that you have a real-life attack bird

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webstew

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Cool videos. Goshawks are awesome birds. They're not as powerful as a red tail, but they're much quicker. They usually don't do well in the warm, humid southeast though.

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It's my understanding from friends of mine that training, maintaining and hunting with any of the Accipiters will drive one to drink in short order.

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They certainly have that reputation. I think a lot of it depends on experience and whether you're dealing with a trapped bird or a captive bred one. The cooper's hawk I had was a pain in the arse, for sure. But, even she wasn't as bad as all the cooper's hawk horror stories that are common among falconers. From what I've heard, goshawks are probably a little easier than some of the smaller accipiters.

As I understand it, the Sharp-shins are absolutely batshit crazy and rather challenging with weight control.

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Was she a passage bird?

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Yes, but she was trapped a little later than ideal. So, she had more time to develop fear and get set in her ways.

Hell. After seeing 40+ rabbits the other day riding out to my stand I thought to myself that we could use a good hawk or two in the area. Never seen so many rabbits in my life.