2014/15 Season

[pointer 543]

Another nice hunt about but again the cover made things difficult and she couldn't connect with anything. Not wanting to blank without giving her every chance we walked a hedge and she was able to catch a rat feeding too far out from safety.

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

Remind me to never come to your place mate, rats galore with the sound of it aha

[Accip74 7,112]

..that is a healthy population of rats you've got up there pointer,......I think the only rats my hawks ever saw were white & came in packs of 10! Lol

Edited September 14, 2014 by Accip74

[pointer 543]

I found it really strange when reading diaries on IFF that rats weren't a regular quarry for any bird of prey as they are just so numerous. All hedges around fields once cut will have rats in them and most farms have a few around the buildings. I've bolted rats high up on the north York moors and last season in Teesdale miles away from a farm building. Pheasant pens and game crop usually have a good rat population as do flight ponds. Every fishing lake I've been on has rats as does every water course.

 

I know that last season my hawk became obsessed with rats and it is hard to get her to move on from standing in a tree above a rat set but I think this may be down to using ratting dogs which dug out and bolted rats for her regularly. A lot of lads run dogs over the land I go on locally but most won't get the amount of rats I do, yet my mates young lurcher has caught them and actively hunts them now after following my Pointer about lol. They will get harder to catch now though and yesterday whilst we saw a dozen or so only one was brave enough to be far enough out for my hawk and even then was caught inches from its set.

 

If it wasn't for the risk of her being bit I think I'd concentrate a lot more on rat hawking as only squirrels give that sort of exciting quick flights and battles. Thinking about it as I only go on the same type of land as everybody else and nowhere that wouldn't have a bigger population of rats if I do take a bigger average of rats than others with my hawk it would simply come down to the fact I've always been an addicted rat hunter, I wouldn't keep any dog regardless of breed that wasn't a good ratter and I guess my hawk just fits in nicely with it all.

 

One thing I have found Is that on a set as the rats dash to ground my hawk will often miss one or two before going into a tree. Then she may miss another and by this point after missing so much in so short a time she is absolutely furious, I mean she is just like a coiled spring ready to explode, rabbits don't get her like this that's for sure.

[Accip74 7,112]

Well said pointer........now you've said all that, I'm really wondering why I never caught a rat with the Harris hawk? as I frequented all those places you mentioned, apart from the moors....

Interesting point of view though, for me it would of been a nuisance & something to avoid, maybe subconsciously that's why we didn't catch any? I also came to view moorhens as a nuisance quarry, so much so when I flew the gos I held on to his jeeses whenever he saw one, after a while he didn't even bait at them anymore.....so maybe in some ways they tune in to what you want as well....

Or am I talking nonsense? Lol

[pointer 543]

There's been a few lads on the Facebook sites getting rats this week, one with a goshawk was trying to get magpies but his hawk has been nailing rats instead. I think having ratting dogs will increase the chance of my hawk catching a few herself, there were a few times last season when the hawk and dog were catching rats at the same time. As for moorhens they came in handy for me last year with such a low rabbit population. They might be easy to catch at times but I found that with them diving into the water or hiding in reeds they could also give some sport and usually got away. My pointer had to tread water and has to really persist to keep finding them, it makes for good water work with a dog if nothing else.

I've been out this morning with the dogs to get a few rats.

[Accip74 7,112]

I didn't see the moorhen as too lowly to hunt, In fact I enjoyed many a hunt with my Harris on them....up & down tree lined ditches, them seemingly disappear into thin air! But I ended up with a wet, muddy hawk on many occasion, sometimes cutting short a mornings sport, plus my male was mad for them & like your female on rats would ignore everything else around when there was a hint of one around. So when I got the goshawk, I decided they just weren't gonna be on the menu if I could help it :-)

The main thing is, if you enjoy what you're doing, stick at it!

[pointer 543]

Yeah I lost a few days when my hawk got soaked after moorhens last season. For the record I don't go looking for rats we are just running into them and the vast majority get away. I can see how much my hawk has improved, she couldn't seem to catch anything last season. She just seemed to have so many near misses. I've seen a massive improvement this week with how she isn't overshooting rabbits and seems to turn with them back uphill. She looks way more persistent. The trouble with not having experience with other peoples hawks and basically just doing it all from scratch is I don't know what a good hawk is. What I mean is its impossible for me to know if my hawk is doing as well as a Harris hawk can. I've nothing to gauge her progress on. Either way I'm loving it. I think I should get out with other people to see where I can make improvements etc.

 

We were out this afternoon on a mates land. It took forty minutes to get there and within half an hour she had caught three ferreted rabbits. It was hard to not keep going but I let her have a big feed off the last rabbit. We then did an hour with the lurchers. It's been a canny week. I keep forgetting to take photos, they all look the same anyway.

[Accip74 7,112]

What a result! 3 rabbits in the bag is good enough for any hawk......they get better all the time mate & comparing to other hawks is unimportant, there is no gauge really, as long as you are serving that bird & providing regular kills....the numbers are immaterial.

The great thing about falconry is that you may be in the game for 5 mins, but if you've got the quarry & land, getting the weight & handling right, you can be doing just as well as someone who's been doing it for 20 years!

[pointer 543]

Thanks mate, I remember you said a while ago that they get better every season. I stood on top of a dry stone wall today and a couple of rabbits poked there heads out of holes but she didn't try and get them, she just gripped the glove tighter in anticipation. Then when they were clear and running she was away after them. It was a new thing for me to experience........ A hawk waiting for a rabbit to bolt even though it could see its quarry. It's something the best of ferreting dogs learn but some dogs never have the patience so to see a bird do it was great.

 

Although I didn't want to stop hunting once she's having a good feed and letting me help her break into the rabbit there's no better feeling.

[charlie caller 3,654]

Yeah I lost a few days when my hawk got soaked after moorhens last season. For the record I don't go looking for rats we are just running into them and the vast majority get away. I can see how much my hawk has improved, she couldn't seem to catch anything last season. She just seemed to have so many near misses. I've seen a massive improvement this week with how she isn't overshooting rabbits and seems to turn with them back uphill. She looks way more persistent. The trouble with not having experience with other peoples hawks and basically just doing it all from scratch is I don't know what a good hawk is. What I mean is its impossible for me to know if my hawk is doing as well as a Harris hawk can. I've nothing to gauge her progress on. Either way I'm loving it. I think I should get out with other people to see where I can make improvements etc.

 

We were out this afternoon on a mates land. It took forty minutes to get there and within half an hour she had caught three ferreted rabbits. It was hard to not keep going but I let her have a big feed off the last rabbit. We then did an hour with the lurchers. It's been a canny week. I keep forgetting to take photos, they all look the same anyway.

Let me tell you pal, if your Harris is chasing like that, she IS a good one, some people never seem to be able to tune into that special Harris mentality (as Martin Hollinshead puts it) and their birds never seem to really try, keep it up mate, as said they get better and better

Edited September 16, 2014 by charlie caller

[pointer 543]

Thanks mate.

I've been suffering with a cold the last two days ( man flu ) but she got to kill another rat yesterday and she caught another two rabbits this evening. She was a bit overweight today and it showed as she gave up on a rabbit that she maybe would have caught if she was bang on weight. I was with her on kills when more rabbits were bolting as often happens which is annoying as many sets weren't occupied.

[pointer 543]

I was late getting back from work today and by the time I'd grabbed my hawk and gear it was almost 7 pm. With the light starting to fade in an area of heavy cover I wasn't expecting much but she was keen to be off and flying. She circled around before crashing into cover, she had the rabbit by its back end and was struggling a bit but I got to her in time to secure her quarry. She is very calm on a kill now.

[pointer 543]

The plan was to go Lamping last night but fog made that impossible, these things happen but it meant I didn't hunt her yesterday. With more mist and fog due tonight we went ferreting for an hour but although she had some good flights she didn't catch anything. One bunny towed her across the field before breaking free and then managing to get to ground before she made contact again. She then missed another one and three more bolted before she returned to us, after that we had to dig the ferret out. By then the light was fading so we had to stop. Just one of those days when things don't go right.

[pointer 543]

My hawk caught her first rabbit in the lamp last night. It was only half grown and it was easily flown down. It was a very clear night so the bunnies weren't far from safety so I fed her from her kill and boxed her up.

 

We then got the lurchers out for a few runs. My bitch is clearly too old now for work and although I had a vet check her eyes a few weeks ago her sight seems to be failing. I should be buzzing about getting my hawk started on the lamp but I'm feeling depressed about my dog. So sad they have to get old.