OUT WITH THE TEAM!

[Garypco 2]

Had a stroll with the birds and the dog today,my good friend steve came up foer the afternoon the plan was to fly the cast on some ground i have on the coast,started the morning got all the kit together got my spare glove for steve to use,couldnt find my glove anywhere i looked all over the only thing i can think of is it fell out of my van whilst finishing the day on thurs,anyway though no worries il call in the hardware shop get myself a welding glove,all shops shut and one had sold out lol,anyway not wanting to ruin the day i said sod it share the glove we have and il fly with out one,ouch! ouch and loads of ouches later we managed to have a good day some cracking flights a nd a few kills,anyhow heres a few pics of me steve and the day should of taken a few more but its surprising while ur out you dont think about what you should be doing!

 

 

 

[SeanTheHawker 0]

great to see such a well bonded cast, my bird wouldnt be that steady lol

[skycat 6,173]

How do you mean Sean? That they wouldn't sit on the wrist together like that?

Garypco: cracking birds: do tell a few more details on how you train them to work together.........or is it just in them?

[SeanTheHawker 0]

yes skycat, ive only seen 2 harrises on the same fist once. never seen a properly bonded pair. instead of working together, the compete for the rabbit, and then start fightign on the kill, while the rabbit legs it lol. happened to my bird twice now, so ive stopped flying together

[Moby 0]

me and my pal fly a pair most of the time with no problems,each birds respect each others quarry if it has it by the head,sitting close by just incase.we have had a couple of hares over the last couple of week.

[Garypco 2]

How do you mean Sean? That they wouldn't sit on the wrist together like that?

Garypco: cracking birds: do tell a few more details on how you train them to work together.........or is it just in them?

initially i had a bit of a problem with the female over dominating the male,shed just whack im out of a tree it came to a head one day and she hit him right next to me as they hit the floor i pounced on her grbbed her and domonated her for a change wether it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do at the time i did it because i was so pissed off,she never touched him from that day on,since then theyve moulted out together and are very well bonded together,biggest problem i have is she doesnt follow on as well as id like but as a cast it works the males upfront and the female covers the rear so to speak!

[skycat 6,173]

Fascinating: just how do you show dominance over a hawk? Obviously with a dog you can put it on its back and hold it down: surely not the same with a hawk!

[Garypco 2]

Fascinating: just how do you show dominance over a hawk? Obviously with a dog you can put it on its back and hold it down: surely not the same with a hawk!

rightly or wrongly its what i did,but from then on she never bound to the male!!! it was an everyday occurance my male was to scared to fly in the end!

[Garypco 2]

Had a quick hour out in the wet melting snow had a good flight on a tree rat she worked it hard,but it made its escape into a stone wall(phew) missed a rabbit in cover then i went down the valley to a corner that sometimes holds the odd rabbit.nothing on the way down but going back to the van the other side lil went on point as i sent her into flush a woodcock got up and i called the bird as i heard it before i saw it!

 

then i heard the tell tail sign as the bells went away,as i looked behind me keira was going away and pumping her wings heavily then as she was almost out of sight throught the trees i saw her going down,as i ran over i cud hear the rabbit squealing and the bell jingling,took me a while to find her in the heavy cover but thanks to lil it made the job slightly easyer,heres a couple of pics once i despatched the rabbit,shed only just taken it on the arse and was unable to get to its head,thankfully she waited for me to help her out!