" Eric "

[CrowHawker 227]

That is quite right mate plus if you fly the gos from trees when he misses slips he will fly to trees you want him looking for the fist when he does not trees. I'm not being funny but surly you should no this?

[milo 74]

I know this is a diff breed of hawk but all my harris hawks even if flown out of trees and missed would return to my fist if i held it up for them ! if they missed near a post or hedge they would pull up to what ever near to them then i would call them back to my fist.

 

Im sure i did read somewhere in one of " Glasiers" articles/book that it was down to personal preferance and it would be a waste if not flown out of trees ! not wanting to cause a typical iff argument or anything but it would be nice to see you guys views on it all,it is good to share the experiences of hunting hawks/falcons..

 

A mate of mine in the malvern area had a small male gos and he had him following on like a harris ! what i would want ideally is an a typical days hawking woould be..

 

Me leaving the hawk off the fist and walk to the burries then when we eventully get there and the ferrets are ready to work is to call the hawk down to my fist then wait for a bolt ! thats al i basically want,if i am walking a field i would have the gos on my fist because i know how often ive put up a cock bird and my harris is either on a tree just behind me or he has not seen it and flown up in front and the cock bird has gone behind and taken on the wing...

[charlie caller 3,654]

Just stick to the fist dude, the first time I flew a gos at ferreted rabbits, I remember thinking that I doubt I would have got on them and killed them a lot quicker with the shotgun, he will get plenty fit enough chasing mate no need to bugger about with jump ups, although if you really want to muscle him up rope training is a surefire way to have a very fit muscular hawk, you are going to have bags of fun with him, just get Harris mentality out of your head pal, two distinct flying styles indeed, not that you cant fly a Harris from the glove of course, and my mate the gos man advocates only glove flights even for a Harris, I am somewhere in the middle, as I think trees ect can be a useful launching pad in some environments.

[milo 74]

Thanks charlie,you right i have to realise ive not got a harris anymore ! but i do want to get him up trees "now & again" like you state in some places it could be used to an advantage for them and us,i will definatly give it a good go and see if the gos is the hawk for me im not going to give up im going to get him free and off into the hunting fields soon has..Thanks again

[charlie caller 3,654]

No sweat dude, you are going to love him I promise you that and when he is going properly,he will bate at leaves blowing on the floor lol, if he misses a bunny, and goes up a tree, then fair enough, leave him if you think another may bolt,but I think if you start casting him up trees you will start to lose some glove control as he starts to self hunt, then you will drop his weight to try and regain a bit of control, IT WONT he will merely search further and harder because he is hungrier,you will get all the sport you want with him from the fist mate, especially when you are catching partridges and pheasants on the rise, and believe me you will be

[milo 74]

If you was a salesman you have done a good job on me.."im sold" and im busting to get him out to see what its all about..Thanks again

[charlie caller 3,654]

I thank you sir, once you get your head round the idea, (I know after flying a Harris walking round with a hawk on the glove appears boring) you will love it, you see Milo he wont be on the glove very much, he will be sat plucking fur or feather, best of luck pal you are about to discover why the term wizard of the woods, is such a fitting name for your giant sparrowhawk

[milo 74]

HA Ha ....I took him back out today on the creance and he weighed the lowest since i had him at 1lb 4.3 and still a rubbish response,well not even rubbish..."just no response" ! how low can these hawks fly at surely he will have no strength left if i keep droping him... he will come 5 ft but when i increase the distance the eagerness just goes and he just looks around and takes no notice of me the glove the whistle nothing !..the manning is there hes calm on the glove etc etc and ive easy put in 30+ hours on the glove since ive had him ....his weight is getting silly now

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

HA Ha ....I took him back out today on the creance and he weighed the lowest since i had him at 1lb 4.3 and still a rubbish response,well not even rubbish..."just no response" ! how low can these hawks fly at surely he will have no strength left if i keep droping him... he will come 5 ft but when i increase the distance the eagerness just goes and he just looks around and takes no notice of me the glove the whistle nothing !..the manning is there hes calm on the glove etc etc and ive easy put in 30+ hours on the glove since ive had him ....his weight is getting silly now

Just keep taking weight off wont get a result, maybe hold him at a certain weight for a few days and see what response you get, obviously im no expert with gosses but thats only the same with what i do with my harris. You could do with trying to find someone who flies gosses to give you hand maybe

[charlie caller 3,654]

I think it would be best to put his weight back up mate (your bird I am not trying to tell you what to do pal) to 1lb6oz where you seemed to get a good response,then do maybe just 3 or 4 recalls for a big reward everytime finishing with perhaps a whole chick ect on the last one, don't worry too much about the distance, just get the response,then get him on the recall lure, and stepping/hopping off when he has finished his feed on it, I think if you give big rewards for his work you will see a marked change in him, remember mate he is not like a Harris, and that is when people get frustrated by other species, after the quick sharp recall of a Harris, its better to get 4 quick recalls @10 yards than 10 slow ones @ 25, but get that recall lure into play as soon as you see fit, and get him addicted to it, then when you have got his weight you can introduce the dummy bunny/carcass,and then its fireworks time, he will switch on and then there will be no stopping him,I think in respect of weight they are like redtails, take em too low and they go into fasting mode and lose intrest, good luck and keep us updated.

[milo 74]

Ive just checked back in the diary on him and on tues i weighed him at 9am and he was 1lb 6,8 he flew 10 times at approx 13 ft and gave a first class response... wed i droped him slightly to 1lb 6,3 to see if he would come further on the creance and at approx 50ft he did come but the response was very vewry slow....you think i should keep him around the 1lb 6 mk for a few days and see what the outcome is with a shorter distance on the creance ?

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

Ive just checked back in the diary on him and on tues i weighed him at 9am and he was 1lb 6,8 he flew 10 times at approx 13 ft and gave a first class response... wed i droped him slightly to 1lb 6,3 to see if he would come further on the creance and at approx 50ft he did come but the response was very vewry slow....you think i should keep him around the 1lb 6 mk for a few days and see what the outcome is with a shorter distance on the creance ?

I would mate, to keep reducing weight to get a response is bad with any bird, better to hold a steady weight for a couple of days and then adjust accordingly

[milo 74]

Ive read back further in my hawk diary and on thurs 12th he weighed in at 1lb9,3 and he response was ok he jumped the full length of the leash to the glove ! but it started to go down hill from there,maybe ive been trying to get him to come too far on the creance too quickly !

 

Il take everything you guys have said on board,and from tomorrw i will be upping his weight to around the 1lb 6.5 and il keep it there for a few days and see how it goes..

 

Thanks to you all for the little advice it means alot guys "THANK YOU!

[charlie caller 3,654]

Good man, I think that is a sound plan yes mate just 3 or 4 recalls with BIG rewards is the way forwards, he will remember it and act accordingly, and as I said make him a slave to that leather recall lure, you never know when it will be needed to get you out of trouble, and it is getting him chasing, no matter that it does not look like a bird or rabbit, he wont care, once he is comitted to that I will bet you several pints that as soon as you show him a bunny carcass he will be on it like a flash, feed him up on it then get him on the real thing, there will be no stopping him then.

Oh and you might want to invest in a pair of good running shoes, for when he takes off after his first long tail

Edited September 20, 2013 by charlie caller

[milo 74]

My plan is to up his weight to the 1,6 mk then keep him there for a good few days and just get him to come 10-15 ft on the creance and feed him up after each session,then on his response to that il introduce the lure pad and see how it goes..so come next week say wed/thur he should be starting to act like a diff hawk.."FINGERS CROSSED"