How to get started on crows

[Haskins]

looking to get in to hunting crows with a pere/saker.
this would be my first falcon just looking for a bit of infor.

[Matthew Patching]

Look at the thread 'Peanut Crow Falcon In The makining' You wont go far wrong.

If you are serious though I would wait until next year and spend the next 10 months getting permission on about 30-40,000 acres, or a job on a landfill.

Are you thinking of male or female perexsaker?

[Haskins]

i do have alot of land not sure the size but pretty much as far as the eye can see and also on a couple landfill sites. was going to look at a male and female. been adves to go with a female as i will probly switch to gulls.
what do you think.

[Matthew Patching]

Hard one to answer, I have a male here that I have entered onto crows, but feel that he may be a little small, for this area.

I have had a hell of a time, what with weather and harvesting being delayed by rain. I personaly would go for a small female, rather than a large male as a first crow falcon.

If you intend flying on landfill sites you will need public liability insurance, and will have to wear PPE.

The land that you have may stretch as far as the eye can see, but this wont matter unless it is open. small copses, hedges, even a badly placed bush can ruin even the best of land, and then there are the crows themselves, if they are there in good numbers then all is well and good, but if they arnt and they are in small numbers that hang out locally then you may only get 2 or 3 flights at each group of crows before they disappear over the horizon at the flick of a pointy wing.

Also make sure that you know how to use your telem properly because if you know how to use it, but dont interpret it correctly you will be in for some seriously miserable tracking sessions at some point.

[Haskins]

thanks for the infor will take it all in.

[Hacker]

switching a crow hawk to gulls will be hard work and not always works unless you drop the weight right down real low, but is this fair on the bird?
better to get it on gulls and try to keep it there.

[Mark Collins]

switching a crow hawk to gulls will be hard work and not always works unless you drop the weight right down real low, but is this fair on the bird?
better to get it on gulls and try to keep it there.

Hi Richard, sorry mate , but i couldnt ignore your quote, getting a falcon onto gulls is just the same as entering at crows, no differance, one exception might be , that the falcon needs to be a strong one [female] that is flying say around the 2 pound, this is purely so she has to strength to deal with them on the floor, as you no from one of my threads, i have just recently got a falcon going on gulls, her first 4 kills were gulls , she killed 6 in 8 days, and i must say she prefures them to crows[ so do i ] they dont bloody put in for one, i am about to start a thread on both types of hawking , cheers, richard, i hope you and your birds are well, mark.

[Sparrow Hawker]

I'm very new to this but am picking up a lot of info as I go, fortunately I have an experienced friend who's guiding me and have also been given a lot of advice from other friends etc. With regards to bird choice for rook hawking a lot of what was said to me has been to opt for a hybrid as a first bird, anything above tiercel peregrine size should be able to cope, even more so if your intending to fly crows. I finally opted for a female Pere/Saker as a lot of people seem to rate them very highly as good rook hawks. I went for an average sized bird, didn't want anything too big.

IMO the choice of bird should really be one of the last things to think about as land is one if not the most important aspect with regards to Rook/Crow Hawking, you can't have enough IMO. 1,000s of acres may sound a lot but if your hawking that day in and day out and the corvids constantly get pressured then it can make slips increasingly more difficult. Half the battle in rook hawking seems to be knowing when to take on a slip or whether to turn it down. As has been said the amount of cover is a crucial aspect to and can very much spoil what otherwise would be decent slip. Then there's the wind direction which plays a vital role and that's only scratching the surface. I find i'm getting more choosey over which slips i'll take on, am wanting to give the bird the best chance of success. In only a short period flying my falcon I can see how important it is to have decent land and quality help and advice, otherwise I know I'd struggle. Also depending on your terrain etc, a 4x4 may be necessary.

Couple of books which I have found good reading are Roger Upton's Falconry: Principles and Practice and Michael Woodfords A Manual of Falconry both contain really good chapters on Rook/Crow hawking IMO.

Cheers,

SH

[Matthew Patching]

I'm very new to this but am picking up a lot of info as I go, fortunately I have an experienced friend who's guiding me and have also been given a lot of advice from other friends etc. With regards to bird choice for rook hawking a lot of what was said to me has been to opt for a hybrid as a first bird, anything above tiercel peregrine size should be able to cope, even more so if your intending to fly crows. I finally opted for a female Pere/Saker as a lot of people seem to rate them very highly as good rook hawks. I went for an average sized bird, didn't want anything too big.

IMO the choice of bird should really be one of the last things to think about as land is one if not the most important aspect with regards to Rook/Crow Hawking, you can't have enough IMO. 1,000s of acres may sound a lot but if your hawking that day in and day out and the corvids constantly get pressured then it can make slips increasingly more difficult. Half the battle in rook hawking seems to be knowing when to take on a slip or whether to turn it down. As has been said the amount of cover is a crucial aspect to and can very much spoil what otherwise would be decent slip. Then there's the wind direction which plays a vital role and that's only scratching the surface. I find i'm getting more choosey over which slips i'll take on, am wanting to give the bird the best chance of success. In only a short period flying my falcon I can see how important it is to have decent land and quality help and advice, otherwise I know I'd struggle. Also depending on your terrain etc, a 4x4 may be necessary.

Couple of books which I have found good reading are Roger Upton's Falconry: Principles and Practice and Michael Woodfords A Manual of Falconry both contain really good chapters on Rook/Crow hawking IMO.

Cheers,


SH

You are making alot of sense there my freind, just onething to add, after the first few flights I find that wind direction becomes less of an obstacle, (unless its blowing a gale) and cross wind slips teach your bird to climb to boot.

I try to avoid straight downwind slips, not because they are impossible but because they require very precise manouvering from the bird, and as I hawk on foot alot, tend to go a tad to far for a confortable jog. If I had a vehicle, and very very open land I wouldnt care what direction the wind was traveling in (under 20mph) the crows and rooks very rarely go where you think they are going to anyway!

[Haskins]

thanks for your replies il put up a thread when i pick my bird up tomorrow.