" Eric "

[Bluebell h 69]

Should of said I've been struggling so our not on our own ! Bleeding iPad !!!

[Accip74 7,112]

Just read through this whole thread.....mind blowing stuff......this is what happens when goshawks become so cheap!!

[milo 74]

Cheap..you have no idea,ive seen hawks being swoped for bags of speed let alone £400 of my hard earned cash from a hard weeks work,unlike some ...and has for mind blowing stuff would you believe there are now "smack heads" walking around with hawks on their fist..untill they want they next fix..so be very carefull how you judge people over the keyboard has you have no idea who we are or what we do for a living... ...has for my choice in hawk i hate to say it but its not for me... but at least ive been totally honest.

[Accip74 7,112]

I'm not judging what you do for a living mate! We all work hard for what we have & yes £400 is too cheap for a goshawk, but that's the way it's gone unfortunately, if it had been a £1000 you would of thought a lot harder about getting one.

I honestly hope it turns out good for you, cos when it all comes together there is no better in this sport!! Good luck

[milo 74]

Unfortunattly price dont come into it mate,i know someone that has spend 4k on hawks and still not got one doing the job !

 

People wont care about the price has most have the money for sitting on their butts all day.. so easy come easy go,

 

I for one cant afford to buy willy nilly and have an attitude of " its not going chuck it on bird trader and get another"..i tried and tried to get it right and i think many would have given up weeks ago,im going into my 7th week here and im back on 24/7/ call so basically im screw..d this is the last week for me and like it or not i may parting company,i may have failed but have learned some valuable lessons with this hawk..

[Accip74 7,112]

Well that's a shame, if it's any consolation I too have had a disaster this year, but for very different reasons, I spent a lot of money on a Russian male from a 'top' German breeder, money I won't see again.....

Your right it's not just about the money, but when I got my first gos, I basically done 3 jobs over a year, my day job,fir & sat night on another job & Sundays on a mates house just so I could afford to get the bird! After that you make sure you can do it justice....

7 weeks is not a long time, when you consider you could fly it for years

[charlie caller 3,654]

Just read through this whole thread.....mind blowing stuff......this is what happens when goshawks become so cheap!!

I agree that in some cases, hawks are too cheap, but in the case of Milo, I don't see what bearing the price he paid for the bird has on anything, I am sure he thought long and hard before buying it, as he would have done if it was a grand, as I am sure he is thinking hard about parting company with it, the lad may be a Goshawk novice, but he is not a falconry novice, seven weeks is not a long time, BUT if you work during the day, and have used up your holiday, and the nights are drawing in probably there has to be a cut off point, possibly the wrong choice of bird, as it would be for me, because if I did not lamp my birds I would not keep one, as I would be flying at the weekend only, paying a fortune for something does not guarantee success.

[Accip74 7,112]

I agree paying a fortune for a bird doesn't garantee anything, but it's a misconception that a gos can't be flown just on weekends & holidays (excluding imprints) & that they are any harder to train than Harris hawks, you may not be pulling game birds out of the sky on a regular basis, but you can still have a lot of success with full control, you just have keep on top of things, the initial training is the easy part!

ATB

[milo 74]

Ive flown hawks for approx 11 years i started off with a barn owl,reason being i went to this guys house and he had him in a type of "ferret cage" i offerd him cash there and then for it and he said yes,so he cost me £25 quid i had that owl for a good number of years,and since that day that i brought him home i was hooked..

 

Ive flown a common buzzard "just flown"...2 male harris hawks "hunted" and a female "hunted"and a male red tail"flown"...

 

After my female harris turning into a lunatic for no apparent reason this season,i decided to see if the goss was the the hawk that would be for me..

 

I read about them over the years and have lisened to storys and such like regarding these hawks,and also taken advice from some bloody good memebers off this site and other sites and i appericate it very very much,

but the nature of my occupation sometimes makes it awkward,sometimes i dont work for days even weeks but then when my " bat phone" rings i have to leave,i only have an hour to get on the road and if this goss is out on top of a kill or up a tree somewhere and i have to track him im going to be in trouble with the company directors !

 

And yes its totally my fault for thinking i could cope and take the bird on,its a lesson learned,i know a harris or any hawk for that matter can and do get lost for a few hours etc but i need to cut the risk down for myself, and not only that i have to make a desicion and draw the line somewhere with this hawk.

 

How many more weeks/months can i go on i dont know,yestarday he was bang on weight again and i tried all shapes to get him down off a smallish tree,dummy bunny/crow lure/throwing doc in the air....in the end i had to resort to tying a doc to a creance and swing it around then drag it along the floor.. !

 

Even if the hawk does take in the next few days im still saying its not for me,the risk of getting bother from work,and then walking around with him on my fist is something i dont think oi can handle yeh i tried it but no im missing the way the harris flies/hunts and the style suits me more,im in no way knocking the goss at all but its just a personell choice nothing else..

 

Has for prices on bop i think they are cheap and ive noticed in the past 5 years they totaly mean nothing to people,ive seen guys swop them for anything and everything,and some of these people shouldnt be allowed birds at all let alone loose in a field with them ! i like to fly my hawk every single day i get piss...d off if i cant get out,but some i know dont even fly them for 1 week to the next ! they have no idea on the usuall husbandry like coping tallons/beeks or cleaning feet etc etc..or the need to give good food to their hawks these are the people that need to be governed.

 

.i remember a while back my male took a rabbit and tumbled with him,i knew there was something wrong straight away,i was 100 miles away so i boxed him up and drove 125 miles to get him to a vet there and then,turned out he strained himself,but i know some would have just slung him in their crappy shit ridden box and waited to see what he was like in a few days..i just couldnt do it.

 

.So ive tried my best with a goss hawk and it dindt work out my mistake my fault.

[charlie caller 3,654]

Why have an very ordinary,unfit gos that is flown at the weekend,when you can have a super fit, commited, more versatile, Harris, that lamps 4 nights a week, and flys 1 or two days at the weekend? Unless you want to risk lamping your goss that is, in my opinion, the gos is a bird for the man with plenty of daylight time on his hands, something few of us are lucky enough to have, think about it this way, ok you do your best to maintain fitness some jump ups, maybe even a little rope training, it is a week since your bored gos came out of its mews, then the day comes, yipeeeee its Saturday,you open the curtains, filled with expectations of the day ahead, and its pissing down, and sunday is the same, poor old gos gets another week looking out of his window bars. No thanks.

[milo 74]

I love flying my hawk every single day even just flying gives me the buzz,im lucky because i take my hawks either 2min from my house and im in the fields or i go flying on an estate right next to our main office in the countyside !

 

I totally agree if you got a hawk get it out has much as possible and get it fit naturally by just flying and not by jump ups and ropes !

 

i know each to thier own and what works for one wont work for another,i honestly think a harris is the all rounder in the hawking field ( my opinion)

they hunt off fist,out of trees,on the soar,over ferrets,dogs,and even on the lamp what else could you possibly ask from our hawks !

 

Just wish id had had a very good think about the goss before i decided to go for it..like i say im not knocking them but they just not for me..( if i was on the dole maybe)..JOKE

[charlie caller 3,654]

So this begs the question Milo what you going to do with him? At the risk of asking a question with perhaps an obvious answer.

[Bluebell h 69]

Milo u bloody tried hard mate ! Get a Harris mate get ur self out and enjoy falconry no need to explain ur self fella . Atb lee

[Bluebell h 69]

That's not aimed at u Charlie we posted same time

[Accip74 7,112]

 

Why have an very ordinary,unfit gos that is flown at the weekend,when you can have a super fit, commited, more versatile, Harris, that lamps 4 nights a week, and flys 1 or two days at the weekend? Unless you want to risk lamping your goss that is, in my opinion, the gos is a bird for the man with plenty of daylight time on his hands, something few of us are lucky enough to have, think about it this way, ok you do your best to maintain fitness some jump ups, maybe even a little rope training, it is a week since your bored gos came out of its mews, then the day comes, yipeeeee its Saturday,you open the curtains, filled with expectations of the day ahead, and its pissing down, and sunday is the same, poor old gos gets another week looking out of his window bars. No thanks.

Believe me it doesn't have to be ordinary & unfit, goshawks can be lamped just as easily & if it's raining mate head to the woods and do some ferreting! I've never stayed at home cos it was raining or windy lol

If you stayed at home every time the weather wasn't perfect in England you would'nt be out much!

Why have an very ordinary,unfit gos that is flown at the weekend,when you can have a super fit, commited, more versatile, Harris, that lamps 4 nights a week, and flys 1 or two days at the weekend? Unless you want to risk lamping your goss that is, in my opinion, the gos is a bird for the man with plenty of daylight time on his hands, something few of us are lucky enough to have, think about it this way, ok you do your best to maintain fitness some jump ups, maybe even a little rope training, it is a week since your bored gos came out of its mews, then the day comes, yipeeeee its Saturday,you open the curtains, filled with expectations of the day ahead, and its pissing down, and sunday is the same, poor old gos gets another week looking out of his window bars. No thanks.

Believe me it doesn't have to be ordinary & unfit, goshawks can be lamped just as easily & if it's raining mate head to the woods and do some ferreting! I've never stayed at home cos it was raining or windy lol

If you stayed at home every time the weather wasn't perfect in England you would be out much!

Edited October 16, 2013 by Accip74