2014/15 Season

[CrowHawker 227]

Haha!!!...

[pointer 543]

Ha

There's no way I could have found her, I'd seen most of the flight but I lost sight of her as she flew around the valley. It's not a big area but the terrain made things difficult. In the end she was stood on a big rocky ledge surrounded by cover and trees. I'd been looking at that area from the other side and my mate was above her for some time. With the wind and the river you'd never hear her bell until close up. It's too dangerous to just start scaling up and down the whole valley. I suppose in time or by going back this morning I'd have found her but by then she might have moved, many of the farms around have chickens etc and whilst I'm allowed to fly my hawk on there you don't want a hawk flying around unsupervised near a grouse moor as I'd imagine that could lead to permission to fly Hawks being lost.

I get worried when I don't know where she is but at least when those lights are flashing I know she is somewhere nearby. Without telemetry I don't think I'd feel confident enough to go up there when I only have a short time before it gets dark.

[Accip74 7,112]

Scaling sheer rock faces to find your hawk on a kill.........wow.....I'm jealous!

[pointer 543]

I might have made it sound grander than it was lol. Other parts are just a steep bank down to the river covered in bracken. Just typical she caught something in a dodgy spot.

[Accip74 7,112]

Bit of artistic licence eh? lol.........sounds like good start to your season anyway mate :-)

[pointer 543]

I'm enjoying it but I worry when she's soaring. "Round the doors" it's just tree to tree and little short flights but on open land she can see stuff in the distance. She's always been a headache if she sees a pheasant and her recall can be iffy if she thinks a phessie is about. I don't know why she's only had a couple.

[pointer 543]

I took my pup to work today, it's great for them because they get to see people and used to noise. At lunchtime I took her onto a patch of wasteland where a few rabbits were running around. She spent twenty minutes with her nose to the ground enjoying herself. I find pups hard work but they are fun at times. My hawk seems to be getting used to the sight of her and is screaming less, she takes an age to get used to a new dog.

 

After work I put a telemetry mount on my mates hawk and a bell. With only an hour before it got dark and with my hawk overweight after yesterday's big feed I didn't expect to see much hunting but we still jumped in the car and took the Hawks out for a walk. I figured if nothing else it lets the Hawks see each other. I released Sky and she flew up into a tree and then followed on nicely. She missed a couple of rabbits then had to be tempted back from where half a dozen pheasants had flown into cover. Soon after she flew into the bottom of a bush and caught a rat, I got her off it and she started hunting again but a few minutes later she caught another rat. With light starting to fade my mate put his hawk onto a post and had his hawk fly to him across the waste ground. The response was instant so she was put up into a tree and we started to walk back to the car hoping the hawk would follow, she did until she spotted something and flew over to a hedge where she caught something........yeah another rat. The place is crawling with them, everywhere local is at the moment. I'm not complaining it was three quick kills on a night I expected to do nothing and my mates hawk is entered. We will take her rabbiting soon.

 

Kill number 20

[pointer 543]

We were due to have strong winds today so the idea was to go lamping with lurchers but seeing as it turned out to be still night with not a single gust I put the hawk in the motor as well. She was a touch heavy but flew the first rabbit keenly. It escaped into a wall. With no wind and a clear sky the rabbits weren't out in numbers and what had ventured out were far away. Just when I thought she wouldn't get another flight we spotted a bunny in the middle of a big field, real text book stuff. My mate let me get to the side of it before giving full beam and as the rabbit set off running the hawk was in hot pursuit. It tried to shake her off but she turned with it and caught it by its rump, she was then dragged across the field at a fair speed with me doing my best to catch up. Luckily I did and she was given a feed from it whilst my two mates went and ran a few rabbits with the lurchers. After boxing her up I caught up with the lads for a few runs.

Not a bad day in the end.

[pointer 543]

Double posted.

Edited September 26, 2014 by pointer

[pointer 543]

It was a bit too windy on the land we've been going on. Maybe in time on some spots with a fitter and more experienced hawk I'll give it a go but I didn't want to chance it today. So we went out local, my hawk disappeared on me but when I got out of the wooded, thick undergrowth area my mate told me where she was. She had gone on a bit of a soar before smashing into a tree scattering pigeons. Later on she followed a pheasant into a wood and wouldn't come back so I had to bash around in the cover underneath her until she was convinced nothing was there. I don't know why I bother to try to get her move on from where a pheasant has put in because she just won't until she's convinced it's gone.

We then hit a few hedgerows and a stream, no rabbits were seen and the session ended with the light fading after my hawk had killed two rats and my mates hawk caught one. They missed others, rats aren't easy to catch in cover with dogs and it appears Hawks can have a bit of trouble as well.

[pointer 543]

We went ferreting yesterday with my mates hawk, a few rabbits were bolted but the hawk missed them. It was clear she wasn't trying as hard as she could. My Hawks weight had crept up over the last few days and when I gave her a go she literally ignored rabbits and only attempted a couple of half hearted flights. There was no point carrying on with Hawks that aren't right so we came home. A few hours later I took mine out again where she lazily and reluctantly followed on. She did catch a small rat that ran out from a hedge she was stood on but I think that was only because it was just so easy.

 

Tonight after work we took both Hawks out but not ferrets as we only had an hour before dark. My mates hawk was a different bird and flew after a rabbit just missing it as it went to ground, she ended up in the hole she hit the ground that hard. A few minutes later after a twisting flight up and down the hill she caught a rabbit. After feeding up from its kill this hawk was put away and I let mine off. She missed a couple of rabbits then flew from a tree onto a fence post. She was looking down into nettles so thinking it was a rabbit I jumped the fence and nearly landed on a pheasant. It took off across the field then over the river and across the next hill. My hawk was never close to it but followed it all the way and out of sight. I found her stood on a wall looking pretty exhausted. After that she tried to catch another rabbit and looked to be trying her hardest but the pheasant chase had taken it out of her. She isn't fit yet so I need to work on that. The pheasant season isn't far away but I find them a mixed blessing. They drag my hawk too far away and it always results in losing time as I track her down. On this land it's not like it's a short distance and I always end up having to prove to her it's gone and coax her back to me.

 

It was great to see my mates hawk catch a rabbit especially as it wasn't an easy catch. I can't fault the effort mine put in so can't complain and whilst I find phessies a headache I can't knock her for pursuing one so far even if it means she wastes time and effort on these short sessions just before dusk.

[pointer 543]

My mates hawk was real keen today and soon had a rabbit in the bag, we were ferreting the bottom of a steep bank and whilst we bolted a few rabbits they used the rushes and numerous sets to escape. Not having much time before dark we then bolted a couple of rabbits for my hawk but she just couldn't catch them. The sport was good but I wanted my hawk to catch something after some good long flights over the last two days. With the light starting to fade I tried one more set and this time the rabbit that bolted was caught. The relief was huge, I felt my hawk needed a rabbit.

[pointer 543]

We stayed local today. It started well with my hawk soaring around above us before gliding away over the field and landing on the hedge. I went jogging over to try and get her back over to where I wanted to go but it was hopeless. She was trying to get at a rat in the hedge which was looking at her a bit worried, I got it moving and into its set. I moved my glove for her to jump on to but she flew further down the hedge and this went on around three edges of the field until she tried for a rat that was running back a bit further out. The rat got into the hedge but the hawk caught it. She didn't have a good hold and ratty was about to start fighting back. I was able to make sure it couldn't bite her but it pulled free. Better that than a bit up foot. Unfortunately the hawk was also free and flew over to the other side of the field where my mate was stood holding his hawk. She went into a tree and before I was half way back across to them she jumped down and nailed another rat. She killed this one dead in a couple of seconds.

We then gave my mates hawk a look around a rough grass and tree area and she was unlucky not to make a kill. We ran out of daylight so had to go home where we could check my hawk over. No bites just a graze on her leg which I've treated with F10. The rats will go soon and we might be able to get some flights at the rabbits instead.

[pointer 543]

We saw a mixi rabbit near where we go hunting the other night, it's a bad sign but the rabbits today weren't affected. Three rabbits were caught and a couple missed. We let both Hawks have their fill from the final kill as we are due a few days of strong winds and rain so we won't get out for a day or two. These bunnies don't give in easily and weighing much more than the hawk why would they.

[pointer 543]

On Friday I had my hawk out in a wooded area and she was following on nicely, or rather keeping ahead. She looked keen and I'm fairly confident that after some experimenting I've found her ideal hunting weight which is slightly up on last season. My mates hawk has been out with us a while now and they have been getting along great. If anything mine seems to hang back from other Hawks and definately seems to ease off at the last seconds to let the other hawk make the catch and a few days ago she caught a rabbit and when we let them feed from it together mine stepped off and waited her turn. I thought this was fine as its a pack thing and whilst I'm not a big fan of cast flying I can the benefits in some situations. As we only had half an hour my mate let his hawk loose and it landed in the tree beside mine as it has before, this time they started fighting and it took us some effort to get them down to the ground. What followed was a difficult separation as my hawk was beat up and was giving nothing back. I honestly thought she was going to die as she went still as if in shock like all animals seem to do when it's game over.

My mate went to get the car whilst I sat with a hawk looking pretty bad. After a minute though she came back to life and grabbed the dummy bunny that had fallen out of my pocket. As I walked up the field to the pick up she started bating towards the trees. This made me feel a little less worried but I still rushed her up to my vet once I'd confirmed that I would indeed be willing to pay the emergency out of hours fee. She was checked over and not a scratch could be found, I can't see how but nothing seemed damaged except for a few ruffled wing feathers and a couple of tipped tail ones. She was given anti-biotics and good old metacam once I'd signed the disclaimer to use it. I kept a close eye on her but she seemed perfectly fine, I'm aware that injuries can take time to show themselves so I'm not 100% relaxed yet.

 

That's me done with cast flying though, she's been bashed up twice and it doesn't do me or her any good. It's not like I need to risk her either she seems capable of catching stuff on her own and I'd rather catch less than lose my hawk. So from now on we fly our Hawks seperately and I'll leave the cast flying to others.

 

Yesterday we had some fairly strong winds but nothing like what the Met Office had predicted. I had to spend the morning moving our Welsh pony from livery to our own house. My hawk looked fine after her ordeal and I wanted to see if she could fly ok so I took her out on the afternoon. She darted after something in a tall hedge but missed and then started to soar.......and she just kept on going round and higher using the wind. She loves the wind now. It has me panacking as at that height she can see way over to other farms. The last I saw of her was as she went into a dive and out of sight. A few minutes later after struggling over and through some rickety fences and hedges I found her up against the mesh on a low fence with a moorhen.

 

Kill 30