Thread: Hunting with Hawks

Originally Posted by kiwijames

No. I it is probably not that family friendly!

I may have to give my sisters pet rabbit a run in the sanctuary fields then

Sent from my MT27i using Tapatalk 2

Just saw on the news 10 falcon chicks have been released from on top of the museum, missed the town/city cos the kids were yelling.

About 40 years ago, I was given an owl nestling that had fallen on the road from where ever the nest was located (it arrived in a brown paper bag). I fed it up and it grew up and I flew in around the house from my hand. It was quite affectionate. Even such a small bird was quite difficult to keep well. I had to get up in the middle of the night to feed it and fly it which was always a bit of a problem when getting up for work the next morning. I did read of others flying owls around the house - the idea is to breed mice and set them in the bath tub until the owl gets the idea of catching them. I suppose the next step is to set mice free in the house and fly the owl at them - I'm sure that would go down well with the wife. Later, I applied to the department of internal affairs to take a hawk or falcon for training but the answer was a definite no.

They are hard work alright. If the bird is not at the correct hunting weight, it will usually just sit in the nearest tree and look at you. Therefore you have to make sure that diet is strictly controlled.
I used to help out at a well known falconry centre in the uk, and from my limited experience there, I concluded that Owls are anything but wise
On the subject of height, the bird will often use the cloud base as concelement, and therefore fly up above it till ready to stoop on prey. A mates Feruginous buzzard used to often do this in training, and it was an amazing sight watching her go from a tiny black spot up in the gods, to hitting a bunny or the lure. Or as she did on one occasion, a poor passer byes Foxy terrier Whoops. No harm was done though.

Pm sent @Pointer

Beautiful portrait!!

A couple of vids...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA64msYDgTQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?annota...&v=A1f1kvKAsKM

Have a look on "the field sports channel" on youtube, there's a guy in there called Roy Lupton who hunts Hare's with Golden eagles. Brilliant fun but training and flying birds of prey takes some serious dedication.