pointer
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Everything posted by pointer
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About Books And The New Authors Nowadays.
pointer replied to Lutra Lutra's topic in Earthdogs & Working Terriers
Pointer, I see you have an interest in Falconry? Well Harris Hawks yes, there's a lack of good falconry/hawking books. The terrier and lurcher world has several new titles coming out every year whereas few Falconry books are produced. Thankfully the Americans seem keen to post up blogs, diaries and books on the Internet. I've always been surprised more hunting books haven't been written in the "diary of a hunter", "hunting year" format. -
About Books And The New Authors Nowadays.
pointer replied to Lutra Lutra's topic in Earthdogs & Working Terriers
I haven't read many of the newer books but it's sort of nice that books are still published these days when there is so much stuff on the Internet. Over the years there's always been issues about weather or not some people should have wrote a book and questions about the authors experience etc. but I think it has to be remembered that many of us on these forums have typed more words and shared more pictures than any of the published authors like Plummer. Different times I suppose but thinking about it putting an opinion or a write up of a days hunting on the Internet is no different than the s -
They can be flown just about anywhere, I don't know how many acres we can walk over but it's a lot. The thing is if rabbits are scarce the acres aren't the issue. I used to go ferreting in North Yorkshire where we could have a good day bolting rabbits for the lurchers and the landrover was still in sight all day because every set had rabbits in. I like the long flights on big rabbits on the sloping dales covered in rushes but I need to find more woodland for when the wind makes it hard to fly on the open land.
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I must stress that flying a harris hawk takes up no more time and requires no more money or dedication than any other hobby does.( If that hobby is done to a good level anyway). You have to think about things more and plan ahead and the weather plays a bigger part than it does in other hunting. I have the advantage of working a ten minute drive from my home and have somewhere to fly my hawk close by. This allows me to fly my hawk for between twenty minutes to two hours after work for much of the season. My local spots have low rabbit numbers and if I'd been flying a hawk five years ago I recko
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Cheers mate, I started reading falconry books eighteen years before I bought a hawk. That's a long time to want to do something, some years I didn't think about it much as I was busy doing other hunting but it was always there like an itch you can't scratch. I think I put too much pressure on myself last season as I didn't want to fail at something I'd waited so long to try. I'd also built an aviary where I used to have kennels and for the first time in eighteen years I didn't have a terrier so it was a big sort of life changing time for me.
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Thanks mate, I'll add video clips next season.
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It's been too windy to do anything this week and my season is over. I power washed her aviary out and changed the window bars and AstroTurf. It feels strange putting her away after a seven month season when Ive been thinking about weight, weather and what and where to fly her every day. This season has gone OK and I feel I've done enough to justify keeping a Harris Hawk. Last season was terrible but this time around mates have gone out of their way to get us onto good land. I said at the end of last season that if things didn't improve for us I would give it up. Whilst I know we can get bett
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Brilliant post Lee.
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Lol To be honest I was ready to stop a month ago but I thought I might as well potter about until the end of the month because the carp won't be feeding hard yet and the boats I go on aren't catching anything I'm bothered about yet. She's getting put away on Sunday and believe me I won't give hunting with Hawks a second thought until August because I'll be too busy fishing, which I probably enjoy more than hunting.
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I was dying over the weekend after going to a charity thing on Friday night so didn't do anything except fly her around a few fields. She missed a rabbit and a rat just before dark yesterday but flew into a patch of cover and after a bit of stabbing about with her feet lunged forward and caught a vole.
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It's best to learn a bit first but I'd only been out with Articguns hawk a few times before getting one and my mate has just finished his first season and didn't need any help from me. I struggled in my first season due to a lack of good hunting ground and a serious lack of quarry. I took my mate out with me this season and guess what!!!! his hawk has caught a good tally of rabbits for him. Good populations of rabbits makes hunting and having some success with these Hawks pretty easy. I think if someone has access to good land then only a pure idiot could completely fail. If you can't pr
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We went out on Thursday night but she was heavy and didn't try hard for rabbits. She did get to catch two feral pigeons so we didn't blank. Yesterday she was back on weight and caught a rabbit.
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Thanks lads. I'm not done quite yet and had a look out tonight with fourtrak73. She caught a rabbit but it dragged her around the field and then pulled her into a wall. It was kicking her when I got to them but I couldn't grab it before it pulled free. She then flew a few rabbits half heartedly and I think she had got banged up a bit on the wall. After a rest she seemed to pull round and look keen again. She got to take a few feral pigeons in a barn and I was pleased to see her looking up into the beams so that's another thing she's learned. Back at the car we tried one last field and she g
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Cheers mate
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Our season is over but until I get around to fully cleaning the aviary, replacing window bars and AstroTurf I'll mess about flying her around local fields. Just short sessions and not serious hunting, my mates Harris has already dropped a few feathers and I'll put mine away by the end of the week. She's been having a few more hunts on rat but most get away in the cover. She missed eight over the last few outings catching two. At least it gives her sonething to do as the rabbit population is almost zero where I'm going. The pointer pup has started to hunt going on a sort of point all the t
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The weather has stopped us doing much but I've managed to get out for a few short sessions. The hunting has actually been very enjoyable with enough action but no kills. Her weight had crept up on Sunday and whilst she looked keen she was suffering from near miss syndrome missing a squirrel and several rabbits. Yesterday was going well and we had a good hunt on a rat as it ran along the inside of a hedge. It eventually got to ground. We were walking back towards the car when my pointer stopped dead and whipped around on point. My hawk then flew out of a tree and hovered above a bush before tak
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The Wind has stopped us doing much this week but she's had two kills. One was a biggish rat that was jumping up lifting my hawk a few inches of the ground until she killed it. It was a lump and I thought it might have gone 18 inches long which is what I consider to be a big rat so I brought it home with us but it was only about 17 inches so just a normal sized one. I don't catch many big rats and haven't had one all season so I got a bit excited when I saw this one jumping around under the bird lol. Also had three good hunts on squirrel this week but they all escaped. The hawk tried hard
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It's good to hear she will be ok, around this time last year my hawk was laid up with a bad cut and an infected toe which was a worrying time.
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I'm about ready to stop hunting but we went to a local spot on Saturday as it was too windy up the dales. The Hawks missed a few things but it was a good session. My mate had walked ahead whilst I checked out another bit of cover. My hawk ended up having a superb hunt on a squirrel which had her getting stuck in a bush, crashing into a stream and at one point hawk and squirrel were running towards each other on the ground which was an unusual thing to witness. My hawk would have more success at times if she was to fly back up and attack again from height but she loves a bit of running and bush
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She caught two rabbits tonight out lamping and couldn't hold another plus a few more good flights. She also grabbed a feral pigeons leg but didn't hold on as they tumbled down, it was her first time on the Ferals but like everything else i'm sure she would learn the game with more practise. Really enjoyable night.
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I'm going to stop flying mine after next weekend. I'm about finished now but I don't start fishing until April so I'll mess about for another week or so. I'll power wash her aviary and put her away with a big lump of food. I won't think about hunting until mid August because I'll be too occupied with fishing or in my case I'll be too busy losing fish or blanking but either way hunting will be forgotten.
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I don't think I could fly a hawk through the moult. We can't hunt on the dales areas due to ground nesting birds and nobody wants to disturb game birds. Even on local land stuff is breeding and the cover is bad enough in September/October never mind in the summer. Then there's nests full of young birds and squirrels will have young in drays. It must be a nightmare to be standing underneath a hawk that's eating it's fill of chicks in a high nest. There can't be many harris hawkers whose birds don't take the odd accidental bird out of season. It would be impossible to avoid this happening if t
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The wind this week stopped us from going lamping on good ground and there was nothing to fly at when I checked out local fields. She did follow on reasonably well out with the dog on two occasions and got to catch another rat. Yesterday we went ferreting with both Hawks but the wind made it very difficult for them to fly at the bolting rabbits but we didn't blank. I had mine back out on the afternoon where she had a flight over the pointer but went out of sight and I couldn't find her. I wasn't getting a good reading on the receiver but after getting out of the dip onto higher ground I located
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She's had 108 kills. I keep a note of what she gets but I don't have it to hand, mostly rabbit with about twenty rats and a few various. Quarry numbers on my local bits of land have been very low this season, if I didn't travel to better hunting grounds she would catch nothing.
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I had her out for half an hour before dark today and I was pleased to see her following the dog. Nothing was found and then she took off to a hedge where she knows from experience usually has a rat or two running along it. She dived down into the cover and I expected to find her on a rat but instead she was plucking away at a long dead bird. It had clearly been dead for a few days and showed signs of having been partly eaten by rats. I eventually got her off it, I hate it when she lands on dead stuff, thankfully it dosent happen very often.
