Falconry injuries

[Gary.B]

Just been reading 'What do you most dislike about falconry' theres a couple of great injuries :shock: , got anymore?

[Falconry Equipment International]

yup F GTos ,hind talon under the chin,, inside front talon top of nose, eybrow and other 2 talons on eyebrow/ eylid. Also all talons in the nose! :roll: not as bad as a mate few years back lost his gos,on edge of pine plantation, was taken short, gos sees 'bechin' & nails it :oops: I & others could'nt help for fsallinfg about laughing :twisted: :lol: :twisted: :lol:

[Jiff]

after only one season in falconry my biggest disslike is the season is too short,nowt to be done about that i suppose,i was like a teenager again now i'm back to an ould fart what a comedown :(

[IAmTheWeasel]

Halux talon through and through the palm of my hand on a big female RT

[ColdZero]

i have had no serious injuries, but once a talon went in deep on the inside of my elbow and it bled like crazy, and the scar never goes away.

[Shaun Byrne]

Halux Talon through the back of my hand last Sunday. My own fault, messing around trying to put bullet jesses on a big FHH while she massaged the last bunny of her season.

[Barn Owl]

Just started helping out at a falconry centre and got footed for the first (and last) time by a Common Buzzard, although it was only a tap I felt it. You guys that heve been hit bad must have been in agony?

[Goldie]

Out one day with the eagles, a mates bird was being a right stroppy cow. After a waiting on flight she nailed a small rabbit. Now, rabbits are generally not enough of a challenge to allow the eagle to get rid of the adrenilin which means they can be pretty pumped up for a while. My mate made in and removed the rabbit a little sloppily, and bang she nailed him on the hand and as she was in hyper mode, she was not for letting go. Now this guy has been flying Goldies for 15 yrs and knows the game, but wether it was a rush of blood to the head :lol: or sheer panick,
he shook off his glove to enable him to pry the talons off his other hand :roll: yep you guessed it, bang now she had that one too. So there we were, four grown men with tears running down our faces, three had tears of laughter and one had a different sort of tears :lol: :lol:
The moral of this true story is, if your going to be handcuffed, make sure it's the cops or the wife :wink: who does the cuffing, large BOP should be avoided at all costs.

[Miguel]

The moral of this true story is, if your going to be handcuffed, make sure it's the cops or the wife :wink: who does the cuffing, large BOP should be avoided at all costs.

Just like your friend with the eagle, that had happened to me once... with a female eurasian eagle owl! I think it was the most terrible pain I ever felt in my life!
That one and a griffon vulture bite in the arm were the worst injuries I had, while working with BOP... Small scratches and bites, I don't even count... :shock:

[MickeyDredd]

Three of us took one female guest out hawking with a couple of FHH in Perthshire on a freezing winters day with 4 inches of frozen snow on the ground.

The ferret (typically) laid up so we all stood about freezing til we retrieved it. The second ferret then laid up in the next hole, so again hanging around on the verge of hypothermia - still no flights at game, only a bit of following on for the guest to see.

One guy decides to try to cheer the by now very bored guest up by playing around with ferret no. 1 and rubs his nose against it.

The ferret grabbed hold of his nose and wouldn't let go. The snow around him started to turn red and as seems to be a common theme in other posts, the rest of us ****ed ourselves laughing at him. :lol: :lol:

[Shaun Byrne]

One of the worst ones I've heard about was Martin Hollinshead. He had a large vulture of some sort on his arm at a demo. He turned to talk to a member of the public and when he turned back he felt a big "thump" in his mouth.

It turns out the vulture had grabbed his bottom lip and ripped straight through it. Ouch!!

[Gary.B]

That one and a griffon vulture bite in the arm were the worst injuries I had, while working with BOP... Small scratches and bites, I don't even count...
Yep me too Griffon vulture nailed me on the leg, at a display, but I wasn't working I was a spectator! I was proud of that bruise. :rolleyes:

[Afshimo]

I've been lucky (so far) But a F red tail gripped me pretty hard through the glove, didnt go through - just a nasty bruise for a few days. I've had a Jackal buzzard go for my head, but i put my hand up just in time to stop any major damage, she got a front talon in, small bleed but nothing worth crying over lol. We're friends again now!

[Shaun Byrne]

I've been lucky (so far) But a F red tail gripped me pretty hard through the glove, didnt go through - just a nasty bruise for a few days. I've had a Jackal buzzard go for my head, but i put my hand up just in time to stop any major damage, she got a front talon in, small bleed but nothing worth crying over lol. We're friends again now!

Thats one lucky Buzzard! If it had tried to nail ME in the head it would have instantly turned into 2 Buzzards :twisted: Well, 2 halves :twisted:

[MickeyDredd]

Had a female Steppe eagle climb up my arm and on to my back!

Never believe a guy who tells you "no need to secure the jesses, just turn her around and she'll fly back to me"

[Claire]

well I've had my hand grabbed not too badly though, but my worst one was a male Harris who smacked my face while i was changing his equipment luckily he didn't grab but he caught my lower eyelid. my fault though lack of experience on my part i got too close

[Mary Quite Contrary]

this reminds me of that scene from JAWS.

[Hawkmaster]

Loads of minor ones, but I had a female European Eagle owl put a green fracture in my arm, I have had a Female Steppes put 6 stitches in my right wrist while she was killing a fox. I had my female Gos pop a hole in my face and know me on the floor a couple of years ago and the hole is still there.

[Bubo]

big bop's bad injuries but that does not mean to say the smaller ones are inoffensive!! my daughter has this infuriating habit of getting her face too close to kadabra. yes he is lovely and yes he is cute but he is also a bop with a sharp beak and talons. after many scoldings and explanations as to why she may not do it she still carried on. one day, kadabra was playing with his dummy rat and she bent down to take it away to play with him. she got far too close and he bit her eyelid and put a hole in it!!! thank god he didnt touch the eye!!

just another quick one (but still nothing compared to your stories) kadabra is a mental plastic bag killer. I hide them all as he will just rip them to shreds. I was chatting to my daughter whilst preparing some bread rolls. i was holding a transparent plastic bag and forgot he was around. as i was reaching to get a bread roll out of the bag kadabra swooped and grabbed my thumb :shock: he has the nack of hitting the spots with not much flesh and the back talon did go through the side of my thumb. by stupid reflex i pulled my thumb back and he grabbed it even more. they maybe needle like but thank god it was a barny not anything bigger (still bloody hurt though).

[Claire]

sometimes the smallest pin***** can be the worst though, i got a talon ***** from a barn owl and a week later my thumb had swollen up even though i had put antiseptic on it at the time. needed a course of strong antibiotics

[Miguel]

Claire's right! I got a bad infection in my finger from a kestrel talon scratch... No other injury had infected that much... Sometimes those small cuts and sctratches hurt more then a big one!

[Bubo]

Fingers are the easiest place to infect as they do not have much fleshy stuff.

i also had another minor incident as i walked into the hallway kadabra was flying directly towards me heading for the kiddies playroom neither of us spotted the other so we collided, and he caught my top lip with his talon that was painful and seemed to last for ever
bubo

[H@wker]

Got struck in the face by my old F/RT I think she was playing because only one claw punctured the left side of my temple right next to my eye. I thought she'd took my eye out it hurt that much, blood was running down my face and neck I'm not afraid to say I absolutely shat myself.

Second time same bird right fore arm. Two claws what felt like all the way at the time. I think she was trying to tell me it was dinner time I got the message that's for sure .Still got the scares and that was a few years ago.

Both times I could tell she was trying to tell me something in her own little way :roll:

At least we have some idea how the bunnies feel when they get whacked(sort of). :shock:

Jeff.

[Ben C]

If I was to say that you could have any of these stories published what would you lot say? If I were to say that you could give the proceeds to a charity, which would prolong the life of your sport waht would you say? If you are going to spend 2 hours in the pub tonight instead of writing these stories up (200 word or so) then what would you say if I called you all numptys. :lol: :lol:

Seriously write them up and they could be in a brilliant new book being organised to help your sport. Further info PM Roasaici. :roll: :roll:

YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE :lol: :lol:

[Bubo]

i think it sounds a great idea and as for proceeds going to a charity i'm definately up for it!!

bubs

[Miguel]

Writing a book on falcon injuries? What would the readers would be thinking about raptors after reading that?? I know it's a charity purpose, but don't you think it would be much better to tell all the good stories, people have??

Anyway, I would like to see were this is going...

[Harris.Hawk]

Out goshawking with a so called "ferreting expert" one day, had a lie up so he put his head down the hole to hear where the ferret was and bang rabbit right in the face. lol broken nose in the middle of the field claret everywhere!

[Bubo]

oh i didnt realise it was a book on falconry injuries :roll: i thought he just meant stories

[Goldie]

Out goshawking with a so called "ferreting expert" one day, had a lie up so he put his head down the hole to hear where the ferret was and bang rabbit right in the face. lol broken nose in the middle of the field claret everywhere!

seen the same thing with fox and terrier, blood and sh** everywhere :lol:

[Miguel]

If it's stories, I'm ok with that... Probably it was me who got the wrong ideia!!
Everyone has a lot of stories to tell, but if your only talking about injuries I'm afraid people would get a bad idea of BOP's!
If I got it wrong, I'm sorry...

[Bubo]

i dont think you got it wrong mate i think i did and i agree with you, just telling peeps of the injuries would be very silly.

i have a sick sense of humour harris.hawk but i do find that funny :P :roll:

[Miguel]

LOL
I also enjoyed reading this, and I also found it funny! But that's us who know that having or handling BOP's is much more then injuries & problems!! ;)

[Wightwings]

If I was to say that you could have any of these stories published what would you lot say? If I were to say that you could give the proceeds to a charity, which would prolong the life of your sport waht would you say? If you are going to spend 2 hours in the pub tonight instead of writing these stories up (200 word or so) then what would you say if I called you all numptys. :lol: :lol:

Seriously write them up and they could be in a brilliant new book being organised to help your sport. Further info PM Roasaici. :roll: :roll:

YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE :lol: :lol:

Hi Benc, ben away for a couple of days on business and come back to find your posts ALL over the forum telling everyone to submit this and that for a book, just a point you mention charities etc why dont you stickup a thread on the subject to let everyone know EXACTLY what it is all about ( forgive me if you have already i still catching up ) Not being to cinical but there are a lot of anti out there woul love ANY information they can use and twist......Atomic said it right......stories about injuries ???? not sure......... :?:

[Cyclone]

i had a male harris hawk(sam) grab me right hand and i was stuck like it for 5 mins,no much blood just bad bruisin,also male redtail fly at me face but i just put me hand up

[The Late Lord Lucan]

Eric Hosking, probably one of the most well known bird photographers lost an eye to an owl..........

Quote from Eric Hosking's book "An Eye for a Bird"

"The night was pitch-black, and so we decided to leave the camera and
flashlight apparatus in position. But as we walked across the field to
the waiting car we imagined we heard voices coming from the direction of
the hide. Poachers? If my flashlight apparatus were stolen that would be
the end of owl photography for that season. Should we go back?

"We retraced our steps. I felt my way up the pylon and fumbled with the
fastening at the back of the hide. There was not a sound, not even the
whisper of a wing. But out of the silent darkness a swift and heavy blow
struck my face. There was an agonising stab in my left eye. I could see
nothing. The owl, with its night vision, had dive-bombed with deadly
accuracy, sinking a claw deep into the centre of my eye."

He was just 27 years old. Early on, the doctors thought they could save
the eye, but an infection set in that threatened both eyes, so the
damaged eye was removed..........

Ouch.

Regards,
LLL

[Wightwings]

had a friend 28 yrs old last year lose hie eye at work exactely the same way. They could have saved it but infection threatened bot eyes so they had to remove it. It completely ruined his life as he was due to emigrate to Canada. just goes to show we should never take things for granted.........especially around our birds.....you may think they "love" you as some peeps do but essentially they are wild animals and can and DO turn just for that split second for whatever reason and BANG you are hurt.

[Kevin Massey]

i got loads of bramble scratches :lol:

kev

[Wightwings]

ooooooooooooh nasty.... :cry:

[Mr_Colin]

i got loads of bramble scratches :lol:

kev

Branble scratches, I can relate to that.

Willow has only bitten me in the early handling days, nothing too serious just didn't like me.

Colin

[Jester]

i got a frozen shoulder :(


maybe i should have got a kestrel instead of an eagle owl

[Bubo]

yeah good idea, give jester to me, i'll take care of him and you get yourself a kessie hehehe

[CastleFalconry]

Saker with a 'spacial awareness' problem. Several times while flying her to the lure I was too slow to react and got 2lb's worth of saker in the side of my head at the end of a stoop.

One time, we were both knocked to the ground. I was in agony, she just roused then carried on as normal!!!

[Kevin Massey]

had a few dents and knocks on my pride a bit while hawking too.

(yer heart drops through yer ass when they dive down on a friggin worm)

kev

[MickeyDredd]

Had a female blackbird fly full pelt into the side of my neck when trying to ring her young! She was a brave old bird and would even come back and sit on the nest whilst you were taking the young out.

BTW, my neck bloody hurt and she ended up on the deck very groggy :)

[BlueHawk]

My mates harris was a right bitch last season, i called her off, she landed on my glove, took the leg of a chick off me then bounced up to my elbow and gave me the 'hello, you look tasty' look, I turned just in time for me to get one in the back of the head - one puncture wound, one three inch slash. It did smart just a bit...

[Rosaici]

Yes it is about falconry anecdotes. So far I have stories from some falconers, as well as names like Bob Dalton, Neil Forbes, Nick Kester several centres and the like. I want the funnies, the heart warming and so on. Although Steve Wright's story does include some footing and ferret bites! Post your stories to me Rosaici. I will get the book published and raise money for the Campaign For Falconry. I am getting slowly drained by promises so please, please please just send in your stories. A couple of hundred words to several thousand. Pictures, cartoons etc all welcome. See my post call Anecdotes.

[Ben C]

Sounds good fellas anyone taken him up on the offer?????

Blackbird you mst have a few classics?

Ian, c'mon your literate????? Well perhaps not!!!! But you are funny and very rude.


Anyone give this man a hand because it will be a darn good read.

[GDN]

The worst injury i have had hurt my pride more than anything.

Was doing verticles with a a male HH in a centre and i got distracted by a nice looking girl who was watching me. She was very nice.

I was to busy watching what the girl was doing and not the bird and as i reached in the bag to bring out a piece of food i was bit slow in getting the food to the glove. The bird nailed my right hand. To be exact my index finger and it's halux talon went in to my finger just above the top joint and almost came out of the top of my finger. Had to stand there and try and look cool with this HH attached to my finger. It didn't hurt i was just aware of this numb feeling in my finger

Dropped a piece of food on to the ground and the bird let go to get the food.

The girl then walked away. I think she knew i had f***ed up. Never even got a chance to speak to her nad i was to embaressed anyway.

[Cyclone]

2lb's worth of saker in the side of my head at the end of a stoop.

One time, we were both knocked to the ground. I was in agony, she just roused then carried on as normal!!!
i know how ya feel,my male just waddled over to the lure and gorged himself
cyclone

[Rosaici]

Surely some has a story.
E-mail direct if you wish. jay.bettsworth@btopenworld.com
Neil Forbes is a classic involving, drugs (well he is THE vet) interrogation, prostitution, mercenaries, rent-boys etc. & we all thought falconry was the pursuit of quarry. I don't care about the spelling, grammar etc.. I'll sort that out. See your story in print, get an acknowledgement for yourself, company or what ever (even this forum Hawkmaster), pictures cartoons anything, just HELP. All profits to the Campaign For Falconry, they are defending your right to hawk help them by giving me a story!!!!

[Rosaici]

Or don't bother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hawkmaster]

Geez man calm down maybe people don'tr have any good enough as you have already given a list of the stars you have and they do not want to compete?

[Wightwings]

why not give us one or two examples of the type of thing you are printing Rosaici......peeps on here might like to see a quick preview and then at least the more sceptical amongst us might be able to contribute. :wink:
might even give a little taster for your book.

[Ben C]

Hawkmaster and WW.......Jay is a top bloke, and a VERY VERY experienced falconer and his is also my mentor. He works for Mid Wales Falconry and has a VERY VERY good track record.

He couldn't give a sh!t if you could spell or not, or if your story is only one page long. I have seen excerpts of diaries on here which would do for the book.

Imagine 300 falconers with a quirky, fun story to tell. Hawkmaster you must have loads mate!!! Even if you cannot write, do not worry about spelling. Jesus I am sure he can sort it out.

IFF members must type a thesis over a year but cannot sort out a short story about being grabbed, falling over, losing a ferret, twisting their ankle or the MANY MANY things that happen to us in the field.

He will be coming to the birthday bash and no doubt will ask for help there. But I reckon people could do a lot worse than just write him a few hundred words. :) :)

[Wightwings]

BenC sent you a pm :D

[Wightwings]

Rosaici you have a pm too mate.

[BuzzBee]

I got bit by an white back through 2 jackets and a glove.:( . And more recently footed by a baby eagle owl.

[Hardcore Hawker]

Three Fractures of the Knee whilst out hawking had to walk about a mile back to my van it was agony. Also been hit full in the face twice by a female goss going flat out both times taken clean off my feet second time rear talon through under my chin front large talon actually inside my mouth plenty of claret looked like i had been mugged when i got home goss all fluffed up looking like sweetness personified. WOULD NOT WANT TO BE A QUARRY ITEM.

[Andy Cunningham]

pretty much the same for me ,ive had sakers hit me in the back of the head and knock themselves silly, amate's female harris grab my hat as it flew past and the hat snagged on my ear-ring and before any one could move ive got harris upside down on my chest hanging from my hat still attached to my ear, a female redtail snatched me in the face on a fly by, a male red attack the back of my head in a fit of frustration. THE WORST without any shaddow of doubt was when i was out 1 afternoon late october a couple of years ago with my male redtail,Iput him up in the top of this tree above a pond on the marsh near where i live and i was beating the scrub and kicked an old oak tree stump and within minites i was covered in wasps nearly 400 hundred half golf ball size lumps i had on me(if this happens to you remember not to panick:-| ) .AND THE FUNNIEST ONE'S:lol: are a friend got hit in the face by a wedge tail that got caught out by the wind as it was comeing to land at a "nature and education" reserve he was working at last year in australia,IT KNOCKED HIS SCRAWNY 9 STONE FRAME:lol: a good 10 feet back on his arse and when he got back onto his feet and put his glasses back on, the print of his eye and his eyelashes wer'e on the inside of the lense.(no damage to either him nor bird) and another time once out with a falconer (who will remain nameless) but has a gadget in every pocket to suit every occasion some of you will know him.and his bird had killed the other side of this river and there where these stepping stone tuffs of grass about 8 of them stewn across and he used them to ATTEMPT to get across on just passing the middle ,he stepped on the next one ,and just dissapeared,:lol: (telemetry stapped to his back and everything)it was just a floater and it was only a moorhen his bird was on when he finally climbed out up the bank the otherside.

[Nathan]

Very first season with my redtail. I was supposed to not fly him this particular day, but I thought 'nah, sod it'll be fine'. I had been out for a good couple of hours, and called him back to the fist for a couple of chick legs, he came down lovely and quick. Then he looked at me in a very strange squinty eyed way, thought nothing of it and went to get secure his hunting jessies, he threw himself at my hand with both feet, halux of both feet in the soft bits between your fingers (fore and middle, middle and third, and the remainder through the end of my right thumb and fore finger, and the back of my hand .Then he started to 'rock' his feet in.

I tried my best to keep as still as possible so that he would let go, but he started to peck/bite the back of my right hand and things were getting fuzzy. I had to commit the cardinal sin and throw out some food to try and get him off of me. I had to phone my dad to come and get me, as I felt really faint.

[Hobby]

I got grabbed on the stomach by a female buzzard which I had cast on my lap,I was on my own and had trouble removing her.the pain was unbelievable.But Surely the worst is when a female spar sticks one of those needle talons down the side of your finger nail.

[Gozzhawk]

a broken heart from losing a bird. never happened when I lost my girlfriend!

[Goshawker 20]

hey all,

the best one i ever saw and i say best is cause it was funny as **** and wasn't inflicted upon me was my dad getting done by a spar.The talon had gone right behind his finger nail. as you can imagine i did the only thing i could at the time which was to roll around crying with laughter.

some times its the little ones that are the best :wink:

rob speakman

[MitchellBrad]

I've never been what I would call injured by a BOP. I've been grabbed, stabbed, bit and just about everything else you can think of. The one I do like to tell on myself was from a peales tiercel I produced back in the 80's. He was due to be shipped off, no one was home to help me. So I made a pair of cuffs, glued the grommets to the cuffs so they wouldn't fall on the floor while crimping them. Jesses were cut and the other paraphenalia was laid out. The bathroom seemed like an ideal place to do it. Don't ask me why, I don't remember. Ran outside and got him with my pillow case net, tried to hood him but the hood was too small then ran into the house with him cradled in my arms. I had the hood on but the braces couldn't be pulled too much. All I had on was a T-shirt, I wear a jacket now for reasons that will become obvious. Once in the bathroom I got one foot, put on the cuff and slipped the jess though the hole. Flipped the tiercel around and got the other foot out. This is where my problems began. In my haste I hadn't gone for another hood and the mis fitting hood came off. I'm not too sure if this tiercel was too scared but I was sure he was MAD! He was defending himself as best as he knew how. A foot got loose and grabbed me in the stomach. Well, that's no big deal it's only a tiercel. One thing this tiercel was doing was snapping like a gator. While extracting the foot I brought him close. That was my second mistake. He bit me right on the nipple! To understand the pain take a pair of needle nosed pliers and grab your own nipple then squeeze real good. The tiercel had a foot on my stomach and a real good hold on my nipple with his beak. I tried tugging, nothing happened except the pain level increased. No one is home either. Screaming doesn't do any good if no one can hear you so I stayed silent. Moments later the pain on the nipple was getting worse so I dropped the tiercel not knowing what else to do. He hung there for a moment. Then fell to the floor. Another moment to regain my composure was needed then he latched onto my toe. SOB!!!!!! Grabbed him, got the rest on him, got the right sized hood, soaked him real good and put him on a block. I'd had enough for one day with him.

[Tasha55403]

My that sounds painful Brad:shock: :lol:
I've only been grabbed once and it wasn't really much of a story. The worst falconry injury I've had were also the most embarrassing-luckily there was no one to see but Reppa and Bear:D We had been chasing a squirrel and it managed to dissappear on us. There were a lot of fallen branches so I picked one up and was whacking the trees and stomping on branches trying to make alot of noise and get the squirrel to move...Well. Have you ever seen the old slapstick comedies where someone steps on a rake and it smacks him in the face? I stomped on a branch and that's what happened. Ouch. It smacked me square in the face. I had a lump on my forehead and a bloody, crushed spot on my jawbone. I've still got the scar and probably always will:P I was carrying my camera too, but luckily my finger was in the way-it was bruised pretty good, but the camera was ok, lol.

[MitchellBrad]

Have you ever seen the old slapstick comedies where someone steps on a rake and it smacks him in the face? I stomped on a branch and that's what happened. Ouch. It smacked me square in the face. I had a lump on my forehead and a bloody, crushed spot on my jawbone. I've still got the scar and probably always will:P I was carrying my camera too, but luckily my finger was in the way-it was bruised pretty good, but the camera was ok, lol.

Ouch Tasha!! And yes, I have stepped on a rake:rolleyes:

You reminded me of something that happened in the 60's at Oil City, PA. We were visiting a friend and decided to check some nests. All the nests were broadwings. After climbing down the last nest it began to rain. My friend and myself gathered up our gear and sprinted out of the woods. I was going so fast I didn't see the pump jack. Pump jacks are exactly where my hair line is. I hit it going full speed. Then the lights went out. My friend described what happened best, he can still see the scene today. My body lifted up until I was in the horizontal position with my head still on that piece of equipment. He said for just a moment I reminded him of some magician's trick with the helper floating in the air. Then I crashed to the ground. After a few seconds I woke up. My mouth was full of blood, blood was streaming down between my eyes from the gash at the hairline. Once Chris realized I was going to live he starts saying, "You should have seen yourself, hovering in mid air!" After spitting out the blood and a chip from a tooth I began to laugh but realized I also had a headache. A few beers and asprin cured that up. We spent the rest of our trip with some friends, fishing. Fishing for trout for us was cherry bombs dropped over the side of a canoe. Man they were good!