what bird do you reckon?

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

hi folks im prety new to the forum. ive flown quite a few birds but never had my own as of yet, or at least not a bird of prey anyway. ive got 13 years experiance of keeping cage birds and so i feel i know birds prety well. ive been working with raptors and owl for about 18 months now and i feel im doing rather well, perhaps the experiance working with a variety of other species of bird (around 30 species that i have kept) has helpped me to pick up working with birds of prey easily.
anyway, im hoping to pick up a bird to train myself next year (provided i ahve the time available, il see what kin of situation im in) but i have a limited choice of quarry in my area.
as far as fur goes, tons of grey squirrel ,very few rabbits and the odd hare. so if i was to fly at squirrel i was thinking a femal HH or a male RT (both were recommened for squirrel hawking in "buteos and bushytails" by gary brewer)
as far as fether goes, corvids, the odd pheasant, a few ducks,and the very ODD partridge. there are loads of magpies and rooks about here so mabey some kind of falcon?
folks opinions would be greatly appreciated!:supz:

[Richard]

Well i'm not thw rod of wisdom on your choice of bird, however i will say that the judgin the range and amount of quarry is sometimes tricky buisness? I think its very misleading at time what is available to you, in both good and bad ways....

[Jackson]

tricky one mate!
doesnt sound like youve got to much quarry around you:-|
i personally wouldnt go after squirells - one bite on the leg and your bird could die! lethal things they are! some people use chaps but theres been discussion that they dont always work! mind you other people will probably tell you to go for it!
so i gues the rt and fhh is out unless you have bunnies and pheasies near by so i gues a falcon would be your next choice! now youve got to decide whats the best for you. a lanner is a good beginers bird but is it a good hunting bird?

[Dean]

Magpie Eh!,Lanners will take magpie but you need to find them in sparce open bushes and then the *****s are almost impossible to flush,Now a spar,she,ll do the job for you but these flights are far from exciting and rather simple for her once wedded!

[Trappa]

The majority of my hawking is at grey squirrel. Ive flown them with the RT and the HH. Both excellent birds for this quarry. I prefer the HH myself.

[Ben C]

Have you ever thought of releasing your own game???

[Claire]

I'm surprised at the lack of rabbits? have you thought about using ferrets to flush rabbits.

[GoodFooter]

what are your future falconry asperations? If you want to fly true hawks in the future then RT if you want a bird to progress and stay with long term a harris is hard to beat for sheer versatility. Bens suggestion of releasing game will greatly enhance your sport!
Squirrels are nasty devils and if it is your intention to fly them to a greater extent I would personally go small female RT which has the powerfull thick toes which may take a bite better than a male rt or fHH and really get a squirrel under control. They may not catch as many as they are not quite so agile....and would not be nearly as good on the other quarry you mentioned bar hare of course....
Guess it is a tricky one!
Rob

[NGuruve]

i agree with goodfooter a female red will take squirrel very nice if you want to mainly fly them, i disagree that they wont take as many though because they will, and as for the rabbits and hare the female red will take them just as well as anything and will take the hare better than most so up to you but she wont be very gd for featherd quarry so your choice there all going to make you happy at the end of the day:supz:

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

cheers for all the responses folks. ive quite fancied a lanner for hunting but ive never actualy heard of anyone seriously hunting with them in the uk.

as for the squirrels, im keen on squirrel hawking, i had the odd flight at them with a FHH during the winter and it was rather exciting to say the least!
the book "buteos and bushytails" recomends a male RT or FHH for grey squirrels as FRT have such large feet they find it difficult to grab greys properly. the author of the book (gary brewer) flies FRT at fox squirrel which are twice the size of a grey, and found that they were more likely to get a nip from a grey, whereas the MRT or FHH were better at grabbing hold of the greys properly.
i get the immpression that the reason hawks often end up with nasty bites from squirrel is because thay arent used to squirrels. i think that a hawk that is specificaly trained on squirrel knows how to avoid bites whereas a bird that only encounters them irregularly and is used to quarry that dont turn round and bite will end up in trouble.

the ground i have available to me at the moment dont have much suitable terrain for putting game down, but i could put partridge down i gess.

dont realy have the experiance for a spar yet.

[GoodFooter]

i agree with goodfooter a female red will take squirrel very nice if you want to mainly fly them, i disagree that they wont take as many though because they will, and as for the rabbits and hare the female red will take them just as well as anything and will take the hare better than most so up to you but she wont be very gd for featherd quarry so your choice there all going to make you happy at the end of the day:supz:
I have to say my fRT was no where near as agile nor quick to turn as my female harris!! nor the many male RTs I have seen. Squirrel hawking is very acrobatic so I would expect mRTs & fHH to connect with more squirrels than a fRT so why would you expect a femanle to catch more??? For a speciallised squirrel hawk I would still go the fRT route though!!!! I personally think harrises make far better rabbit hawks than fRT having flown both for the same reason more agility and better able to cope with the tight turns and jinx of bunnies .

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

the problem for me being i dont have many rabbits in my area. i currently dont drive (i cant afford driving lessons at the moment, hence im waiting till i see what situation im in nxt year b4 getting a bird) so the ground available within walking distace aint that good. im right on the edge if farmland but there are very very few rabbits!

[GoodFooter]

the problem for me being i dont have many rabbits in my area. i currently dont drive (i cant afford driving lessons at the moment, hence im waiting till i see what situation im in nxt year b4 getting a bird) so the ground available within walking distace aint that good. im right on the edge if farmland but there are very very few rabbits!
If there are lots of squirrels I assume you have woodland to hunt over.....and edge of farmland ? that would suit pheasant more than partridge i would have thought. but if squirrels are plentiful and you are happy to hawk them makes sence to get a suitable bird. I had 6 happy years with my fRT though I openly admit I prefer harrises ( as you probably guessed) but prefer Gosses to harrises. Horses for courses.

[Ben C]

Personally speaking I would stay away from squirrels and put some game down....I hate the little friggers. Other than that a RT it is. :supz:

[GoodFooter]

Personally speaking I would stay away from squirrels and put some game down....I hate the little friggers. Other than that a RT it is. :supz:
some wise advise, Ben, they are a pain in the backside .....I like the concept of squirell hawking but dont like the risks....birds seem almost magnetised to them and flights can be outstanding. I catch enough of them trying not to and I respect there... 'zest for life' and hate dispatching them and do they have loads of fleas!!!! And one thing you can guarantee is one will pop up just before a bunny bolts whilst woodland ferreting.

[Wilded]

Gary would recommend the largest female red tailed hawk with the largest feet you can get. :) Put Gary's chaps on your birds feet. ET

[NGuruve]

I have to say my fRT was no where near as agile nor quick to turn as my female harris!! nor the many male RTs I have seen. Squirrel hawking is very acrobatic so I would expect mRTs & fHH to connect with more squirrels than a fRT so why would you expect a femanle to catch more??? For a speciallised squirrel hawk I would still go the fRT route though!!!! I personally think harrises make far better rabbit hawks than fRT having flown both for the same reason more agility and better able to cope with the tight turns and jinx of bunnies .

yes i can see you are a harris man yer they are more manouverable but that doesnt make them catch that much more the female red it s fearless and has a huge drive to kill from what i have seen and will go to mad lenghts to catch its quarry so thats what i like about them suppose they are all very good and i envy you having flown both species and being able to compare them so i aint gunna argue

[Ben C]

Goodfooter: Not until I had actually caught a few did I realise that these arboreal monsters where so BLOODY tough. My god do they fight and struggle and growl and bite and squirm and bite and did I say bite..........they are no better in death and take a while to skin and eat.

I would avoid buying a hawk just for squirreling as in the long run it will just prove to be a dead end. But this is just how I feel......:supz:

[Harrisii]

there are areas all over which is devoid of one quarry but plentiful of another and i feel you are doing the right thing by selecting the right bird for the land you have available. not many newbies think this way and just go getting a harris anyway. i also admire the thinking you have clearly done about this before taking the jump. again, well done.

like most of the guys have mentioned i believe that putting down your own game is a way past this but i wouldnt go for partridge. pheasant may be more suited to the larger broadwings you are thinking on.

i cannot see past the harris to be honest as its versatility is fantastic.
it will hunt in woodland or open hill, slope soar or follow on for miles, or off the fist and are as game as they come.
however, having had a few encounters with greys last season and loosing 2 - 1, i want to avoid them. any bird can take a bite and will, be it female HH or FRT or MRT.

dont get me wrong, some guys here do concentrate on greys and fair play to them, they would be able to advise better on this style.

personally i feel a MRT or FRT would be more suited to greys but by all accounts some squirrel hawkers prefer the FHH to the RTs. but if you have hare also then the FRT is best for both hare and greys.

what you also have to remember is that you may not be a non driver forever and sooner or later you will be driving and have better ground.
also, you must know folks with a car who would do anything to see your bird chase quarry etc.
if and when you are more mobile what quarry would you then concentrate on and what bird will adapt to this.

good luck with it GSH.

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

again guys thanks for the advice. the woodland available to me is mostly beech, there is very little winter cover for pheasants, the only decent woodland (and the only decent rabbit warrens) are in a nature reserve. there are the odd pheasant here and there but not enough to be able tohunt them regularly, and i would think that this is due to the fact there is little cover for them.

perhaps then a falcon for corvids is better as there are plenty of rooks and magpies around. il just have to wait and see what situation im in i suppose but i realy just wanted to get some opinions first.

[Tasha55403]

I'd go for a redtail, male or female. But that's me-you just can't beat a good redtail:lol: Given the right setups they can do ducks and pheasants. They aren't a gos, but they can do it so long as you're not too worried about style. Of course, that depends on what you consider style. I thought my red's 8 second hover and vertical dive into the cattails on his rooster pheasant was spectacular, but that's me:lol: I'm not into the long gos on pheasant tailchases-takes way to much energy and you frequently don't even get to see the catch. And redtails CRASH! Don't get me wrong, I like harrises. They're very nice birds, very aerial, but they just don't crash the brush like a redtail. And a small to medium redtail is nearly as aerial as a harris. Done right they're just as sweet and gentle as any harris. Of course, don't ask me how to do a chamber-raised bird right-all my experience is with passage birds:-D

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

ive always quite fancies a RT. they have always appealed to me. although ive never seen many working, and even fewer working well! ive heard mixed reports about them, but the imression i get is they need time to get going well, and alot of the guys who say they are **** have never flown a good one, and are too used to the harris, which picks thing up alot quicker.
but again it comes down to available quarry!

[Tasha55403]

Check out our website under Reppa Hunting Photos and Reppa Hunting Pics 2 and you'll see some nice pics I took with my bird this season:) I love redtails:)

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

lol, il have a look at those pics when i get on another computer, this one is running out of coal and wont load the pics!:rolleyes: :roll:

[Tasha55403]

:lol: It does take a bit of juice, doesn't it:) If you're bored (really bored-I tend to get a bit wordy online:P ) and want to read some hunting stories (there's some pics, too) here are a few from this season:)
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10540
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11032
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10378
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9884
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11431

[Ben C]

ive always quite fancies a RT. they have always appealed to me. although ive never seen many working, and even fewer working well! ive heard mixed reports about them, but the imression i get is they need time to get going well, and alot of the guys who say they are **** have never flown a good one, and are too used to the harris, which picks thing up alot quicker.
but again it comes down to available quarry!


I fly a HH but a RT is an absolutely stunning hawk.

[Harrisii]

I fly a HH but a RT is an absolutely stunning hawk.

are you thinking of defecting Ben?

[Ben C]

Nope.....but you gotta pay your respects to such a fine raptor.

[Harrisii]

Nope.....but you gotta pay your respects to such a fine raptor.

indeed you have, they are stunning. (and awesome hunters).
still, if looks mattered so much then the harris wouldnt be so popular.
apparently they are ugly. i cant see it though.

[Tasha55403]

I think it's the kinda "naked" face. Personally, it doesn't bother me. I really like the way the harris looks, colorwise, esp. juvies, but I know some just can't get past the face:lol: Plus, they mostly look alike-there's a huge amount of variation in the redtails that make them interesting. Especially when you're waiting for the first red tail feathers:D You never really know exactly what you're redtail's going to look like as an adult until they do it. Adds a bit of spice to it:lol: