Anybody hunting with a Sharpie?

[Peregrine At Heart]

Was just wondering if there's anyone that hunts with a Sharpie (Sharp-shin) and if so, what they're temperment and ease of handling and training is like. This is just my own personal research; I'm not asking because I want to get one immediately or anything, although I might think about it after I get done with my 2 yr app. I've been reading about Sharpies in the book North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks and they seem to be one of the more easily handled and trained accipiters, the males anyway. Also seems to be a good hawk for Urban hunting of smaller birds, and for people who live in a city with limited access to good country hunting grounds with a larger prey base. I will be training a MRT for my apprenticeship, but I am a city dweller and would like a hawk that takes the kind of prey base around where I live so I don't have to drive miles and miles to get to good hunting ground. Yes, I will be doing this with the RT, and I will be doing it regularly once I enter him, but if my apprenticeship goes well, I would like to pursue a little something closer to home, and there is more than enough sparrows and starlings to have many good, productive hunts. I am one of those people that thinks that having a larger hawk to catch prey items I can eat is nice, but not necessary. I live for the flight, even if it's just an inedible sparrow. So, I'm asking everyone with experience with these little hawks.....how are they? :)

PS I appologize if this was supposed to go into the Accipiter forum.

[Alice68]

Interesting topic and question.
A friend of mine, passionate falconer, flew a male Sharpie.
That small bird was amazing.:rolleyes:
He was gritty, self confident and snappy!
Thought to be a harpie!!
My friend was hunting crows with him. Without a rope, completely free, he was sitting on the backrest in the car beside my friend's head. Detecting crows on a field my friend took him and throw him out of the car's window. While driving!!
The little hunter startet to hunt the crows at once and caught one everytime.
He was not able to kill them of course, but he got them.
My friend put each of the caught crows a neon yellow plastic ring on one foot and set them free again.
After the hunting season, there were a lot of crows on the fields wearing a yellow ring in that area!:lol:

[Tasha55403]

Interesting topic and question.
A friend of mine, passionate falconer, flew a male Sharpie.
That small bird was amazing.:rolleyes:
He was gritty, self confident and snappy!
Thought to be a harpie!!
My friend was hunting crows with him. Without a rope, completely free, he was sitting on the backrest in the car beside my friend's head. Detecting crows on a field my friend took him and throw him out of the car's window. While driving!!
The little hunter startet to hunt the crows at once and caught one everytime.
He was not able to kill them of course, but he got them.
My friend put each of the caught crows a neon yellow plastic ring on one foot and set them free again.
After the hunting season, there were a lot of crows on the fields wearing a yellow ring in that area!:lol:

Errrr...are you sure it was a male sharpshin (accipiter striatus) and not a male sparrowhawk (accipiter nisus)??? I didn't think there were any sharpshins overseas. Males hunt at about 85-95g...I flew one a few years ago-he balked at starlings even. He was fantastic on sparrows, though. My female caught two pigeons last year, though, and I was pretty proud of her:)

[Tasha55403]

Was just wondering if there's anyone that hunts with a Sharpie (Sharp-shin) and if so, what they're temperment and ease of handling and training is like. This is just my own personal research; I'm not asking because I want to get one immediately or anything, although I might think about it after I get done with my 2 yr app. I've been reading about Sharpies in the book North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks and they seem to be one of the more easily handled and trained accipiters, the males anyway. Also seems to be a good hawk for Urban hunting of smaller birds, and for people who live in a city with limited access to good country hunting grounds with a larger prey base. I will be training a MRT for my apprenticeship, but I am a city dweller and would like a hawk that takes the kind of prey base around where I live so I don't have to drive miles and miles to get to good hunting ground. Yes, I will be doing this with the RT, and I will be doing it regularly once I enter him, but if my apprenticeship goes well, I would like to pursue a little something closer to home, and there is more than enough sparrows and starlings to have many good, productive hunts. I am one of those people that thinks that having a larger hawk to catch prey items I can eat is nice, but not necessary. I live for the flight, even if it's just an inedible sparrow. So, I'm asking everyone with experience with these little hawks.....how are they? :)

PS I appologize if this was supposed to go into the Accipiter forum.

They're awesome little birds, but I would strongly suggest flying a passage male coop before trying a sharpie. Your weight control needs to be EXACT with the little guys and a redtail isn't likely to teach you the fine control you're going to need. It can be done, don't get me wrong, but trial by fire isn't always the best way to go. A passage male coop will give you a gentler intro to the finer weight control and you can chase the same quarry. Personality-wise a good, early-trapped coop will be nearly as sweet as an imprint sharpie (when properly manned) without having to deal with the obnoxious imprint traits:P Oh, and when people talk about coops being aggressive, 99.9% of the time they're talking about imprints not passage birds. If you haven't read it already, here's my thread on my female sharpie, Marker:
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14575

[Peregrine At Heart]

Oh, and when people talk about coops being aggressive, 99.9% of the time they're talking about imprints not passage birds. :
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14575

I actually started out more interested in the Cooper's Hawk, but was discouraged about all the bad things that Frank Beebe had to say about them in general. He recommended that beginners either start with the Goshawk or a Sharp-shin when getting into Accipiters. I am familiar with how difficult weight would be for such a small hawk; same reason I wanted to start out with a Cooper's, not to mention they can take a bit larger prey. Beebe said they were by far the most high-strung Accipiter out there and the most difficult to train and man.....guess I never really have asked actual present day Cooper's Hawk falconers how their Cooper's behave and how their training went. So, anyone reading this, if you have a Cooper's please enlighten me! lol As for trapping a passage Cooper: I've only ever seen two Coopers in my life around the area where I live. How hard do you think it would be to find a passage Coop here in Nebraska?

[FredrickFogg]

You do know that you can fly a red-tail your first year and an American Kestrel your second year, if your sponser approves. You will get the experience of small bird weight management with an AK and will be able to fly the sparrows and starlings you are talking about. After your apprenticeship, you can trap a sharpshin or coops, if that is what you want to fly. I flew red-tails and a couple AK's before I got my coops and the weight management I learned on the AK's was invalueable for flying smaller birds. I still have my coops but am also flying another small bird, a merlin. Just a suggestion!

I just read your prior post that you were typing while I was typing this, so I want to add that I would recommend flying a sharpie before a coops. I have an imprint, but have worked with passage coops and I think the sharpie is an easier bird to work with for a first accipiter. Just my humble opinion! Also, you can see a video of me carhawking my coops, since that is what you are talking about doing later on at this site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCVYIXRQMiw

Good luck with whatever you choose,
Fred

[Peregrine At Heart]

You do know that you can fly a red-tail your first year and an American Kestrel your second year, if your sponser approves.


No, I did not know that. Hmmm.....that opens up a couple of new possibilities. I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks, Fred.

[Zarafia]

Kestrels can be a blast. Give them a thought. But don't expect to fill the freezer. I'm not too proud to say that one of the most beautiful, even breathtaking flights I've ever witnessed was my little male catching a big, brown dragonfly. Good luck with whatever you choose.

[FredrickFogg]

Kestrels can be a blast. Give them a thought. But don't expect to fill the freezer. I'm not too proud to say that one of the most beautiful, even breathtaking flights I've ever witnessed was my little male catching a big, brown dragonfly. Good luck with whatever you choose.

I wouldn't say you can't fill the freezer with a kestrel, be it a small freezer. LOL I caught over 50 head of game in 2 months with mine. And I believe Jeff on here catches over 200 head a year with his. So don't under estimate the capabilities of these little falcons.

Fred

[FrootDog]

I too would recommend starting with a redtail and then moving to a kestrel. You will get the basics learned with a hardy bird and then you can move on to a more delicate one that requires more strenuous weight management, providing you did a good job with the redtail. Try reading American Kestrels in Modern Falconry by Mullinex.

Accipiters are not for everyone. They are very demanding. I fly an imprint female coop and plan to pull a tiercel sharpy this spring. One thing I have found with my coop is that the behavior problems have smoothed out greatly from the first season seemingly on their own. NAFAHH has some basic info on accipiters. McDermott recommends the tiercel sharpy, but in the same book Tuttle warns the falconer to stay away from them. If you are serious about accipiters there are 3 books you need and they wont be cheap. In print still is Acciptrine Behavior Problems by McDermott. You can pick that one up for about 60 bucks. Out of print books you NEED are The Imprint Accipiter by McDermott and Desert Hawking with a Little Help From my Friends by McElroy. Those will run you 200 - 400 a piece if you can find them. Desert Hawking...deals mainly with the passage coop. Also try to find someone in your state that has flown accipiters and get their thoughts on the subject.