Red Tails

[Peregrynne]

Over in the US here, we generally fly our red tails on ground quarry, rabbits, hares, squirrels and the like. Very few if any have flown them on much more and I was wondering what others have flown their red tails on?

I have been told that they can take pheasant if fit and even duck. How common is this?

[Coedhirion]

My friend has just taken on a 10 yr old redtail to fly here in Wales. She saw him hunting with his previous owner & he took all the above plus duck, pheasant and an adder (snake) in typical Redtail fashion. She's only had him 3 weeks, flying free 4 days. He appears slow compared with our Harris, but he has had 5 rabbits, 2 taken today. We put up a hare on day 2 and a pheasant day 3 but he just didnt bother with them, could be he knew he wasnt fit enough yet to catch them.

[Gaz]

Talk to spartheone...his red takes pheasant and duck regulary :mrgreen:

[Jay]

They will take anything they think they can get. Mine has taken rabbit, squirrel, chipmonk, snake, mice/moles/voles, and frogs. He has also hit 2 pheasant this season and 4 ducks, but has not managed to hold any yet.

[Falconer]

Hi,i'm thinking about buying one this season after not much luck with harrises,
are they as bad to man and train as some people say

[Afshimo]

I've trained 2 red tails for display, male and female. For the first part of training with a 5yo female red tail, i had to use an overlay whilst manning for 2 weeks, then she calmed down. She does, although, hit the glove rather hard when flying free (used to) but did stop it.

The male was absolutly perfect. He's a 10yo smoky (ageing) rd tail and a plesure to handle. He was quite footy for a week or so, then he calmed down too.

I think you just have to spend time with them, get them settled and make sure ure glove is thick enough for the first part of training.

The female flew at 2lb 15 mainly, but if she wasnt too responsive, then she went down to 2 lb 14. The male flew at 1lb 10. Lovely birds to handle and look a pretty picture sunning themselves out in the sun.

I'd definatly say, get a red!

[Falconer]

thanx for reply hannah
what is an overlay??

[SparsTheOne]

it makes your glove thicker m8.

jase.

[SparsTheOne]

Over in the US here, we generally fly our red tails on ground quarry, rabbits, hares, squirrels and the like. Very few if any have flown them on much more and I was wondering what others have flown their red tails on?

I have been told that they can take pheasant if fit and even duck. How common is this?

i,ve added you to my msn if you want to chat m8.

cheers jase.

[Afshimo]

Yeah, what SparTheOne said! J
ust covers the thumb, palm, and 18" or so up the arm (I use a little 161/2" cus my arms r too small lol) U can get em in single layers or double layers. Single layer r good 4 red tails, any thicker u cnt feel ure bird. Sometimes, u just need a good glove, elk or that. I was using a rubbish ben long one - so no wonder she goes through lol.

[Peregrynne]

Thanks for all the replies and help.

Thanks also Jase for adding me to your msn. I will look for you, but don't normally get on until around 9pm your time.

This does give me a lot to think about and shoot for. I really like the idea of a hard flying Red Tail. They are one of my favorite birds for looks. I love a really pale chested, dark red backed Red. Totally awesome in my book.

[Falconer]

I've trained 2 red tails for display, male and female. For the first part of training with a 5yo female red tail, i had to use an overlay whilst manning for 2 weeks, then she calmed down. She does, although, hit the glove rather hard when flying free (used to) but did stop it.
Are you saying the older the bird, the easier and better it will train up.
or is it better to start with a young-un fresh out the avery if the latter is better what age would you recommend .
only i have a friend with a harris,who thinks i might be taking to much on with a red.
ALL replies would be appreciated
kev

[Falconer]

I've trained 2 red tails for display, male and female. For the first part of training with a 5yo female red tail, i had to use an overlay whilst manning for 2 weeks, then she calmed down. She does, although, hit the glove rather hard when flying free (used to) but did stop it.
Are you saying the older the bird, the easier and better it will train up.
or is it better to start with a young-un fresh out the avery if the latter is better what age would you recommend .
only i have a friend with a harris,who thinks i might be taking to much on with a red.
ALL replies would be appreciated
kev

SORRY this is how it should have gone in lol

[Shaun Byrne]

Hi,i'm thinking about buying one this season after not much luck with harrises,
are they as bad to man and train as some people say

How come you didn't do any good with the Harris?

Why do you think a Red Tail will be any different?

[Gos212]

Hi Falconer,

Ive had a male and female Redtail, both parent reared which I got around 9wks old. The female was a lot more aggresive than the male at first but soon calmed down. In the five years Ive flown her she has only footed me twice, both times after her first kills. No probs since.

She isnt too keen on strangers though and has had a go at a few of them if they got too close. If I was you I would stay away from older birds unless you know them and get a chance to fly them first.

This aggressive behavior I see as one of their strengths when hunting, she will attempt anything, not with too much success though, but she wont give up.

Down side ? My female will hunt at 3lb 1oz but wont come out of a tree unless she's 2ib 13oz !

If you're not sure, go for a male

[Peregrynne]

From everything I have been told and all that I have read, between here and other publications, my advice would be to go with the harris as a first bird if you can.

Over here in the US we use red tails as our first birds for two reasons and if not for those two reasons we would use other birds instead. The main reason is there ease of aquisition. They are literally everywhere, coast to coast and from north to south. With such wide distribution there is very little problem with destroying the wild population with trapping or falconry use.

The second reason is that they are very forgiving when a novice falconer makes a mistake. Mainly with weight maintainance, but also with other things that might happen. It is a lot easier to keep a bird that is 3+lbs alive while learning flying weight than it is with a bird that weighs just over a pound.

With that being said, they are rather aggressive birds and can intimidate novices. A harris is just a much more sociable bird to begin with. It is also just a little smaller than a red tail and can take the lessons in weight management almost as well. If you can get a good size female she should weigh in around the size of a male RT and be able to hunt almost the exact same game as the RT.

So with the more pleasant temperment and the social qualities of the harris, along with the game possible, I would think the decision should be fairly easy to make.

Just my opinion of course. Food for thought.

[Shaun Byrne]

I have a pair of Rts, bothe very well manned birds and both excellent hunters. Having said that i find hunting with HH far more enjoyable and less stressful. As Graeme says they are prone to sitting in trees ignoring you if the slightest thing upsets them, sometimes for 1/2 hour or more. They will follow on but only if their weight is spot on and it suits them. Females seem to be far more moody than males so as said if you are going to have one I would go for a male. One thing to remember, they are no better hunters than a good HH and no where near as intelligent.

[Falconer]

H4wka
About 2 years ago i aquired a female harris (young one)
started manning straight away and dropping her weight
after a whistle she started screaming and going for dogs.
unfortunately just after her first moult she had a rabbit with salmonella so the vet said anyway.
ALSO about six months ago the I.B.R rang me and asked would i collect a Harris from the rangers who had found her hanging upside down in a tree with all her mews Jesse's and leash fitted.
at the time she should of been down for moult so without wasting any time i put her down.
at the end of the moult i started manning her but noticed she was a very nervous bird,but eventually got her flying 50 yards on the creance so i thought it's time for her to go free.
but when i went to change her Jesse's over she footed me, this was happening every time so i had to pass her on to a more experienced falconer.
who to this day still hasn't maneged to get her out of it .
AS for the red tail i thought it would get me away from the screaming and i don't think i have her of any going for dogs.
I just didn't want the same probes with another Harris so i thought a red might be different.

[Falconer]

HI Graeme
thanks for the advise it was a female i was thinking of but a m8 suggests sticking with a Harris and thinks a red may be to much for me to handle plus i work shifts and Say's they need a lot of work .

[Falconer]

peregrynne
food for thought indeed, both you and H4wka seem to think i should stick with the Harris.
I'm not so much bothered about them with dogs, but the screaming does me ed in lol
How could i best try to stop this happening should i decide to go for another Harris

[Shaun Byrne]

Sounds like you've had some bad luck mate but dont let it put you off HH.
red tails are as bad as anything else when it comes to screaming if not trained correctly. On the dog front, my mate had a female RT that would bate until exhaustion trying to get at dogs, cats, Kids or anything else it fancied nailing. He had her put down because he couldn't risk flying her. This was a guy that is very experienced and a bird that flew for 2 seasons without a problem.

[Falconer]

Thanks all the advise guys
think i probably would be better sticking with the HH
and putting my bad experiences behind me.
I read an article somewhere on here, some people was saying that a settling in period,feeding them right up, and manning them at top weight could help to stop birds screaming.
is there any truth in this, has anybody tried and tested this theory and did it WORK ??

[Hawkmaster]

If the bird already has a problem, yes, if not, don't waste your time.

[Varmint]

:arrow:

[Falconer]

Take the time to think thru your training routine, set out a plan and discuss it with the members on this forum, we've a lot of accumulated knowledge here, so take advantage of it!

Good luck with your new HH mate! Wink

thanks m8 will do :oops:
p.s thought it might be a good idea to change the avatar lol

[Varmint]

:arrow:

[Falconer]

so kind m8
found it in the avatar's on the site in falconry

[Varmint]

:arrow:

[Shaun Byrne]

Thanks all the advise guys
think i probably would be better sticking with the HH
and putting my bad experiences behind me.
I read an article somewhere on here, some people was saying that a settling in period,feeding them right up, and manning them at top weight could help to stop birds screaming.
is there any truth in this, has anybody tried and tested this theory and did it WORK ??

Be careful with the manning at high weight idea mate, WW will tell you about it I'm sure!

[Falconer]

Be careful with the manning at high weight idea mate, WW will tell you about it I'm sure!
thanks h4wka ill pm him as soon as i can m8

[Shaun Byrne]

I would say he will post on here mate, save you the trouble. It might be interesting for others to read as well.

[Falconer]

H4WKA WHAT YA FLYING @ MO

[Shaun Byrne]

Loads of stuff mate HH, RTs (on and off), Longwings. Mainly hunting with HH.

[Falconer]

all silent i hope m8
and what is ya harris's weight

[Shaun Byrne]

Not silent but not screamers! All birds will vocalise at some point, in fact I love to hear longwings getting excited at flying time when they get a flash of the lure.
The main Harris I'm flying at the minute is a Female at 1lb 12 1/2.

I've just sold one I've been flying for 5 seasons at around 2lb 7. After flying this female the big one started to look clumsy.

I'm a big male, small female convert lol!!

[Shaun Byrne]

Sorry Peregrynne, we seem to have gone way off thread.

[Peregrynne]

This is a forum for discussing falonry yes?

no worries from my end.... :D

[Falconer]

Me too m8
After all this is supposed to be a red tail section,
i,m thinking of starting a new thread and calling it manning and training of a harris hawk.

[Coedhirion]

My friend had a red tail a couple of weeks ago, she knew it from a few years ago & it was real good but it is so laid back it spends most of its time with one foot up its jumper so 15 misses before it kills, but if these pics work, it did have one real clever kill

[Austin]

WE just had a hunt with that situation on Sat. The bird actually grabbed the rabbit about six feet before the fence and as the hawk was working it's feet up the body of the rabbit it put through a woven wire fence, lucky for the rabbit he slipped away just as I got there.
Some red tails do very well at a variety of game, a large female with the strenght and weight seems to to better on prey such as ducks and phesants. I guess it's all in the early stages of training what lure you use or like some do, whatever baggie you present to the hawk. Sometimes RT's dpend just on the indiviual bird itself.

[Colohen]

I can't knock RT's . After working with HH's , Gos , and a couple others (no long wings ) to include several owls, I still keep returning to RT's .

[Austin]

I think the thing I like about them is when you have a really socialable bird it makes for a great day out, espically when she has flown on several rabbits and the hunt has gone on for an hour or more, she is following up and getting ahead and crossing fields nice sight to see. It's just a great time to enjoy everything around you.
Sometimes it's not a long hunt at all. One day I had just light one up after putting her in a tree, I crossed the fence out went a rabbit ,down came the hawk, and the hunt was over before I got half a smoke done.

[Shaun Byrne]

Know what you mean Austin, how many times have we took the bird from its box, removed its furniture and cast it into a tree, just to watch it detour and whack a bunny hiding in grass not 20ft away??

[ShushiBasher]

hi folks long season over again and my rt's have taken pheasants,ducks,magpies rabbits rats grass snakes two hares and scared the bejesus outta a yorkshire terrier

[Colohen]

Great SB!!!!!

[Hosehead]

I've been working my FRT for a couple of weeks now trying to get her to hunt off a T-perch so I can take her out to Kansas to hunt Jackrabbits. It's been slow but she's to the point where she'll stay put while I walk around. She's been very successful out of trees so I'm looking forward to going west after the big bunnies. Have many of you tried to T-perch RTs after the hares in the UK? Kurt

[Colohen]

A aprintice friend trained his MRT to hunt from a T-perch , every one thought it funny at first, till he showed all other RT's up !

[Colohen]

Think I'll try it my self with this new MRT I gust started !!

[Anton Deja]

Hey ,

My name is Anton Deja From Belgium .
I work with birds of prey for 26 years now .
I think i have a good tip for training HH without them screaming .

Take your bird out of the avery at 20 weeks .
Start manning the bird without the use of meat .
Let the bird drop 10 % of his Full weight .
Put the bird under a hood or in a giant hood .
Prepare food close by his ore her perch or block.
Cover the meat with a towel en fix the towel to a long and fine rope.
Take the bird to his sitting place and go to the end of the string.
Make sore that the bird cant see you and pull the towel away .
Make sore that the bird can not see you when you make the action .
When the bird is on the meat , go closer and speak to your bird and let hem feed on the meat .
You can do this 3 times a day .
Try to do this every time until you can fly the bird at the creance .
Do the same thing with some game you like to hunt later and make every time the distant a bit bigger .
Once the bird takes the game, you can fly her loose .
From now on, you can go hunting .
And from now on, you can call the bird to the fist .
With that system you will never have a screaming Harris because the bird was hunting before coming to the fist .
Adjust the HH weight till the bird is coming good to the fist .

Hope this will help you all .

Anton Deja
www.kunstdervalkerij.be

Regards .

[Redtail]

cos red is best ha ha hhaaa mind you i only court a frog up to now. :oops:

[SparsTheOne]

forgs taste nice with some garlic m8 lol.

jase.

ps. good luck with the red,i cant wait to get mine out and start hunting again.

[SparsTheOne]

i just had a look in the my falconry diary from last season this is what i caught.

11 rabbits
7 pheasants
2 squirrels
1 hare
1 guinea fowl
1 pigeon
1 chicken (ooops)
5 voles

total 29 all without a dog or a ferret.

this was my first season with this bird.

jase.

[BrianM]

where did you get the guineu fowl mate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[SparsTheOne]

there all over my mates farm but there wild as hell.

it was a good slip out of the top of a 60 foot tree.

jase.

[Ben C]

They have very small heads, how the hell did a RT get that. :)

[SparsTheOne]

hes very good with his feet m8,

when i got there he had both feet nailed to its head.

what more can i say m8.

jase.

[Ben C]

No need to say a thing......:) :) :) I bet they tasted bloody lovely. Knowing my harris he would have ridden on its back for half an hour then grabbed its head. :) :)

The Masi Mara beieved that when god made the world and all the animals, that when he finished he had spare parts left over. So he joined em all together and came up with the Guinea Fowl. :)

[SparsTheOne]

i never new that,i will have another go at them this year because there not staying by the farm as much ,and there spending more time in the woods where we go hunting.
so will see what happens,ill keep you informed.

jase.

[Gaz]

The Masi Mara beieved that when god made the world and all the animals, that when he finished he had spare parts left over. So he joined em all together and came up with the Guinea Fowl.
That is sooo strange.. :? ..we got a similar theory round this way about Jase :!: :!: :!: .... :mrgreen:

[SparsTheOne]

lmfao
cheers m8.


jase.

[Ben C]

So Gaz.......which bits did he get then? :)

[TSunman]

I apologise in advance if this has already been covered earlier in this (or other) threads. Could anyone comment on the suitability of the Redtail in colder climates and is it realistic to keep a Redtail at flying weight and hunting over extended periods during winter?

Many thanks

Tony

[LadyHawk40]

hi.
my male redtail hawk nails roocks & seagulls.

[Falcon Girl]

You've gotta love Red-Tails!!

This is my third Red-Tail's second season. She's a wild-trapped female- trapped as a passage in September of 2008- and at the moment she's flying around 43 to 44 oz and this is our heatcount so far for the 2009-2010 season:

16 kills (woooot!), consisting of:

3 Cottontail Rabbits
4 Fox Squirrels
2 Grey Squirrels
3 Mice
2 Garter Snakes
1 Frog
1 Crawdad

Oh, and her last kill was a cottontail rabbit taken off the fist, and the flight was only 10 feet!! She also took a sparrow out of mid-air last season! Talk about one proud falconer! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Hawkula]

i fly a male rt and he dose very well

[LadyHawk40]

hi.
love the 3 pics of yr redtail.

[SakerYZF]

i fly a male rt and he dose very well

Are you carhawking this bird?

Chris.

[Hawkula]

where i am you cant he has taken most from a high pitch or soar sometimes he will dive for 1/4 of a mile i think he has taken to this as there are no rabbits here just hare but i wont risk him at them but he tried to take one the other day off the soar i wont slip him at them unless he really wants to do it and as we have good snow he can see targets very easily from high up he has caught magpie crow rook gull and a few duck had a duck yesterday but need to get pics off the phone since i had him free he wanted to soar so i let him and he is fine started him off at 1/12 now he goes 1/15 he is still only 9 months but he seems to be a a good one i like him alot he has not had lots and i think its just there are lots of buzzards here and they dont bother with crows and alike and the ground here is so flat and open i wuold like to find some bunnies to fly as i could keep him closer to me then i did alot of c hawking with harrises in the uk on private ground and had alot of good results but this is new for me and its good