Goshawk For Sale

[jasper65 6]

Hi Tony,

 

I agree with pretty much what you said and would much rather have a pr over a messed up imprint. That said provided I had the both the time and plenty of quarry to fly at during July/ August i would do imprint every time. A good imprint should settle itself very quickly when it is upset and need no carriage to bring it into yarak.

As for casting I have never had any issues, infact last October straight after casting & coping we went out and had some decent flights and killed a couple of pheasants. I will admit to not letting the hawk see ME either prior to or when it is cast.

What i would say is that anyone even contemplating an imprint should have both a thorough knowledge of hawks and a plan of where they are going during those formative weeks.

Screaming and aggression is minimised by one thing - flying at and killing quarry, I aimed from about 7-8 weeks to have the bird out killing most days (6 out of 7) until it is about 15weeks old. That is the way to achieve a well mannered & rounded imprint and is no shortcut.

 

atb

 

Ivan

 

Hows it going Ivan

 

Thats fair comment. Plenty of Kills with any Imprint should be the order of the day! but then again I think this should apply to a P/R bird to acheive high standards. I can't see Ivan why some Falconers have to use a period of Carriage on a P/R bird to bring it into Yarak? perhaps they've been watching the "T H White Gos Video" too much . when in condition they come in on the bow and can be taken out and flown directly at quarry, having said that the bird doesn't need to always be in Yarak to commit itself on to a decent flight. Its fair to say any Imprint is going to be more amicable around strangers or field meet in the earley stages but a well made P/R bird will also be just as calm in any situation.

 

A few lads have been down in the past with Imprints and yep they was steady as expected but I have yet to see one that doesn't drop its wings expecially on a kill or scream! expecially in the earley days, a guy who you also know came over a couple of seasons ago and swore to me he Imprint Gos doesn't scream, on that day there was 3 P/R birds being flown 2 males one of which was mine and a female Finn x Ger bird and this one Imprint! the guy took his female out of the box and within minutes it started calling to another bird, the best part is the guy looked me in the eyes and said "Tony this bird has never screamed before..." f**k me what planet did he think I came off!! to cut a long story short it soon got into a good rythem through the rest of the afternoon! thankfully it didn't start mine or the other two guys birds off but basically it said it all for me.

 

From my point of view I have done a fair few P/R birds and I like doing them, I like their manners and I like the fact they know just what they are! I can also cast them and fly them straight after without a problem even when it was me who did the deed. I enjoy watching any bird perform well on any given day weather it be P/R or Imprint or Creched but what I hate is when I read some guys slateing P/R birds in favour of Impriints when basically they havn't seen let alone flown a decent P/R bird while I have a hole in my arse, you could say the same vice versa about me! but I have flown Imprint Spars from the earley 's - 90's and f****d some up and made some good but would now much prefer flying a creche ledged Spar or P/R bird to a Imprint spar if I was to take one up again.

 

I'm sure you must be aware of to Ivan far to many lads these days jumping in from flying a HH straight to a Imprint Gos and think themselves way up the leagure just cause they fly a Gos! its fair comment that some make decent jobs of their birds which deserves praise but I would like to see a few take up some arsey P/R birds and make them good before I make my mind up, they can't base themselves as experienced until they have flown a few and not just made the one good, an old school Austringer once said to me "You've never made a good Gos until you made one to the Hood" in a way this rings true as any Gos thats made to a Hood is a joy to handle! the Gos's that Hood well generally is sensible all round! the Hood has obviousley helped in the Manning and breaking of the bird to all situations...

 

Its one of them Horses for Courses subjects mate where people will chose their favoured styles everytime, its a good thing and keeps it interesting. I'm probably a Hypocrite as a majority of the breeding Gos's in the Garden are Imprints <7 females and 3 Males> with only the two other P/R Pairs, I also love the Imprint style of breeding them which allows me to be able to enter the aviary and form a bond. I have had this same converstation with Chris Soans in the past on flying Imprints! as you know he likes his Imprints and we've wound each other up a bit in the past on the subject, Now we just take the piss out of each other instead ...

 

Take Care

 

Tony

[jasper65 6]

Just managed to get a fairly decent shot through the spy hole of the Finnish x German sister to the male bird for sale! she's never going to be Huge like the pure Finns but she seems well in proportion with a lovelly shaped head, I'll try and get some pic's of the male when the camera is re-charged....

 

Cheers

 

Jasper

[jasper65 6]

A few pic's of the male as promised with its mother and on its perch....

[Chubs 0]

A few pic's of the male as promised with its mother and on its perch....

 

you tease!