eagles and foxes in britain

[Joey]

i know there is many eagle flyers outside of britain that fly on fox but just wondering how many here do it. i know there must be some risk in hunting foxes with eagles. neil would you fly your eagle on fox mate and if you have flown any of your others what was it like and what was the tally in the season. this has been raking my head because i would love to do this in a few decades lol .


joey

[Berkut]

Joey,
Foxes are well within the capability of the average male goldie ,and females of course. My flights at fox to date have been unplanned but good flights nevertheless. The only one that I have brought to book had been wounded the night before by the keeper.I didn't know this at the time ,but it was obvious once I got in on the kill so I never counted it as a kill.. I will try and set up flights at foxes at some point. It is certainly possible but would take a bit more planning. Injury is always a possibility and one of my eagles did receive a nasty bite to the foot from a fox.The foot was badly swollen by the time I reached the jeep , but I drove direct to the vet and anti-inflammatories ,anti-biotics and pain killers and he was fine in a few days.
Neil,

[TLDWB]

Joey,
Again not planned, but flushed two separate foxes whilst hunting my Goldie(Elsa). She was right up on them, but wasn't sure what to do when she got there, then at the last, she went in but missed!

At the time, half of me wanted her to take it, but the other half of me said no. At this time, all she had caught before, was a single rabbit and as it turned out, she was a few onces from her ideal weight(hunting). With her lack of hunting experience, her footing might not have been good enough to bring a fox to bag safely. But it was very encouraging to see her chase them without any hesitation.

There must be a couple of Eagle falconers on here with some success.:wink:

Tom

[Mac]

i have taken many many foxes with my lurchers, and if im honest fox bites invariably go bad. standard treatment with the dogs face wounds was a good clean with salt water. very ocassionaly a soft tissue injury would occur due to a puncture wound. these would require a trip to the vet.

fox bites tend to sour due to the horrible bacteria present in the vulpine mouth caused by the sheer amount of carrion and junk that foxes eat.

i have a picture of a horrific fox bite, that my old lurcher "cribb" recieved, it missed his eye buy a quarter of an inch. and "cribb" was a 100 fox veteran, an iron hard bull greyhound cross deerhound greyhound standing 28" and weighing some 90 pounds!

though a flight at fox would be some spectacle, the thought of a very expensive bird dying of septacemia would make me think twice. or would it:rolleyes:


all the best

sean

[PitBullOne]

i have taken many many foxes with my lurchers, and if im honest fox bites invariably go bad. standard treatment with the dogs face wounds was a good clean with salt water. very ocassionaly a soft tissue injury would occur due to a puncture wound. these would require a trip to the vet.

fox bites tend to sour due to the horrible bacteria present in the vulpine mouth caused by the sheer amount of carrion and junk that foxes eat.

i have a picture of a horrific fox bite, that my old lurcher "cribb" recieved, it missed his eye buy a quarter of an inch. and "cribb" was a 100 fox veteran, an iron hard bull greyhound cross deerhound greyhound standing 28" and weighing some 90 pounds!

though a flight at fox would be some spectacle, the thought of a very expensive bird dying of septacemia would make me think twice. or would it:rolleyes:


all the best

sean
yeah or would it if you were there/bird on arm,foxbolting,
i bet the hood would be off in a jiffy

[Tim Laycock]

Taken a vixen down cleanly with a female Finnish gos then lost it when the dog fox jumped out of the bushes :evil:

That was a day I was thankfull I had my brown trousers on :supz:

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

there was a pic of a grey fox that a redtail took over the pond on here not that long ago, so a goldie i imagine would have no trouble!:supz:

[Tasha55403]

You mean this pic?:D
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gregmik/IMG_2688casPH.jpg
I certainly wouldn't do it on purpose, but I'm pretty dang proud of it, anyways:lol: He was a good bird (I released him last year).
Here's the thread with the story:
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10540

[Mac]

in a horrible ironic twist, i know a lad who had a fox kill and eat his male redtail.

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

in a horrible ironic twist, i know a lad who had a fox kill and eat his male redtail.

a grey fox is a good bit smaller than a red fox i belive. not saying anyone should start flying redtails at foxes, but just shows that if a redtail can do it, a goldie is more than capable!

[Tasha55403]

a grey fox is a good bit smaller than a red fox i belive. not saying anyone should start flying redtails at foxes, but just shows that if a redtail can do it, a goldie is more than capable!

Not much smaller, really, at least in the US. The one we caught was a very healthy 12 lb vixen. Looking online they average 7-13lb. Red fox are about 8-14lb. Keep in mind-he didn't know what he was going after...the cattails were very thick and the grey head probably looked like a rabbit. I know of two other redtails that have caught fox in the US-both grey fox. I don't know what the situation was with one, but the other was a redtail that pulled one out of a hole in a tree (probably mistook for a squirrel!). Reppa had seen a red fox in the open the year before and didn't even bat an eye, so I think I'm safe in saying it probably wasn't on purpose.

[Salty]

lad was on here before called kasach his used to gert 2 at once one in each claw pmsl:lol:

[Grey_Squirrel_Hawker]

Not much smaller, really, at least in the US. The one we caught was a very healthy 12 lb vixen. Looking online they average 7-13lb. Red fox are about 8-14lb. Keep in mind-he didn't know what he was going after...the cattails were very thick and the grey head probably looked like a rabbit. I know of two other redtails that have caught fox in the US-both grey fox. I don't know what the situation was with one, but the other was a redtail that pulled one out of a hole in a tree (probably mistook for a squirrel!). Reppa had seen a red fox in the open the year before and didn't even bat an eye, so I think I'm safe in saying it probably wasn't on purpose.

lol, kinda went "aha rabbit" *pounce* "**** not a rabbit, but if i let go it will eat me, better hang on!!"

[Tasha55403]

lol, kinda went "aha rabbit" *pounce* "**** not a rabbit, but if i let go it will eat me, better hang on!!"

:lol: Exactly:D Luckily he hit it pretty hard smack in the head-it didn't move even after I got there and went down without a fight. After my bird hit me in the face last season I understand that a bit better now:roll:

[Taffwall]

[QUOTE=Tasha55403;585999]Not much smaller, really, at least in the US. The one we caught was a very healthy 12 lb vixen. Looking online they average 7-13lb. Red fox are about 8-14lb. QUOTE]


not uncommon for a good dog fox to average well into the 20lbs in these parts. i heard of one being dug out by some terrier boys weighing 26lbs!

[Vernon]

[QUOTE=Tasha55403;585999]Not much smaller, really, at least in the US. The one we caught was a very healthy 12 lb vixen. Looking online they average 7-13lb. Red fox are about 8-14lb. QUOTE]


not uncommon for a good dog fox to average well into the 20lbs in these parts. i heard of one being dug out by some terrier boys weighing 26lbs!

dug one myself a few years back and that weighed 23lbs

[Tasha55403]

I thought yours might be bigger-they sure looked bigger (a bit darker, leggier and shorter-furred, too) when we flushed some at the Welsh Hawking Club meet a couple years ago.

[Mac]

i just cant get my head round the whole concept of catchin foxes with a redtail.

i flew a big female redtail, and i have also had some big old longdogs.

if i had to chose between being bitten with intent by a stifle biting lurcher or being footed by a female redtail i would chose the redtail.

the biting power of a big bull cross lurcher is phenomenal, yet foxes dont just give up without a scrap.

the thought of a male redtail catching one is down right bizzare.

[Tasha55403]

:) This one did. Did you read the story? It was perfectly healthy (I skinned it out and it had plenty of fat, the fur was in perfect condition, the eyes were bright and healthy). I would guess it was stunned by the force of Reppa hitting it in the head. I was only about 15-20 feet away so it took me less than a minute to get to them. After having a redtail hit me in the head, I have a better understanding of why it didn't put up a fight-ouch! :rolleyes:

[Mac]

:) This one did. Did you read the story? It was perfectly healthy (I skinned it out and it had plenty of fat, the fur was in perfect condition, the eyes were bright and healthy). I would guess it was stunned by the force of Reppa hitting it in the head. I was only about 15-20 feet away so it took me less than a minute to get to them. After having a redtail hit me in the head, I have a better understanding of why it didn't put up a fight-ouch! :rolleyes:


tasha its an amazing tale!

and certainly one for the pub archives!

all the best

sean

[Tasha55403]

tasha its an amazing tale!

and certainly one for the pub archives!

all the best

sean

:D I've got the pic up in my locker at work:lol: There's not many girls, even falconers, that could/would take out a fox with just a screwdriver:)

[Mac]

:D I've got the pic up in my locker at work:lol: There's not many girls, even falconers, that could/would take out a fox with just a screwdriver:)


your not wrong lol

i myself, being old school, use a terrier, a lurcher or two, or even a footlong length of scaffold bar! or on occasion a mixture of all three!!!

roughly the same end result though!


all the best


sean

[Tasha55403]

:lol: :supz: