Firsts

[Isaac]

Everyone who has ever caught game with a hawk remembers that first catch like it was yesterday. Let's hear some of those stories!

[Isaac]

P.S. I mean falcons, eagles, and owls too... :wink:

[Sean]

surprised nobody has ever replied on this?:( sounds like a good thread

[OutFlying]

I can't remember the first catch, most likely a **** flight. But I can remember the first teal I caught in fair flight with my male gos after 5 seasons of trying.

The dog had gone to the far left hand corner of the field 200 metres away working a ditch that bordered the next 3 fields. The weather had been dry and cold for a couple of weeks and the water level was low in the ditch, couple of inches maximum.

The pointer flushed a single drake teal out of the corner of the field, the teal flight took it from left to right in front of myself and a mate. The teal followed the line of the ditch going fast but keeping level, but the gos left the fist and headed off at 45 degrees at full speed just a couple of feet above the ground.

Within seconds the gos was now immediatly behind the teal (due to cutting the angle), once he was behind it - speed increased yet again, quick bind and job done.

Still one of my best flights ever and burns the most brightest in the memory.

Yours Jim.

[Puzo]

As I remember the 1st kill a hawk made with me was a redpoll or some little songbird. I was trying to catch blackbirds, I don't think I saw the actual kill, but when I got there she was plucking & eating a littke brown bird in the bottom of a hawthorn hedge. I was "chuffed to bits, ten feet tall" [I was 14 or 15] The 1st decent kill was a grey partridge with the same bird.The place is now a yuppie housing estate!

[Dave G]

my first kill was with my male harris i had been flying him for a month or so with no joy he chased but always seem to arse end the pheasants,i thought he wasnt cut out to catch anythink ,then was walking through some heavy woodland when off he went flying hard and low through the wood then in he went with some power nothing got up ,so i ran like mad to where he was and he had nailed a cock pheasant his first kill i had a smile like a cheshire cat and he had a crop to last him a week ?? i will never forget the birds first kill as it was a long time coming but worth the waite and a cock pheasant

[Joey]

i remember mine like it was yesterday. weve go permission on a golf course near me. we pulled up in the car we got the hh out of there boxes. got the dog out and off we went. we started of in a neighbouring woods .the hawks were following on perfect. the dog got on point with her leg up meaning bird. the birds watched the dog when a pheasant got up a cracking chase through the wood but the hawks didnt get it. we moved back on to the golf course. where the dog got up 3 moorehen from a stream the birds flew straight after them grasping all three mine got hers in a bush the other two got theres in the reeds. it was a good chase for the first catch. she stuck to the moorehens left so it couldnt go to the ponds its could only go to the bushes were she caught it. i was over the moon all the hard work has payed off icouldnt stop smiling:D

[Defender]

my first kill was with a male red tail about 21 years ago wot a kill

[Tim Laycock]

A blackclock with a Kestrel :roll: :lol:
First proper kill, a starling with a female Sparrowhawk

[Coedhirion]

Don't remember either :oops: I remember my MHH's first kill was a frog or toad and the look of disgust on his face because it obviously tasted foul and he kept ripping a bit off and shaking his head and spitting it out. Never mind we got him his first bunny a bit later that day (I know about that bunny cos I looked it up in my weight book :lol: )

[MattSpar]

First kill was a pheasant poult with a female spar. I flushed it underfoot with the spar on the fist. She bated twice before I had the presence of mind to release her jesses. This inadvertently gave the poult a nice head start, but she brought it down in about fifty yards. What cared I that it was well out of season? I was twelve years old, and nearly sick with the excitement. Despite the passage of so many years, in my mind, I can see her now as clearly as I did then with eyes still young.

[Hacker]

Years ago with my spar, she was flying on to a blackbird when a dunnock popped out of the hedge and she just grabbed it as she went by!
I was elated at the time but in all honesty would of prefered her too of nailed the blackbird.
Ah, such mispent youth!:supz:

[MattSpar]

Ah, such mispent youth!:supz:


Far from it if you ask me. What better way to spend one's salad days?

[HoumaFalconer]

I remember my first kill like it was yesterday. i was hunting my female Rt, and she saw a squirrel move in a nearby tree, it ran straight up and into its nest. The next thing i saw was my big hawk tearing up the squirrel nest and and tearing through it. I think five squirrels took off out the nest and she came down with one of them. It was awsome to watch and created a great bond from the first hunt.
dennis

[Puzo]

Years ago with my spar, she was flying on to a blackbird when a dunnock popped out of the hedge and she just grabbed it as she went by!
I was elated at the time but in all honesty would of prefered her too of nailed the blackbird.
Ah, such mispent youth!:supz:

What is misspent about that? I can't think of anything better to spend time on!

[Isaac]

I had forgotten I put this thread up it was so long ago! I was surprised that no one posted either. Glad it's finally been noticed! The excitment of those first flights is hard to beat.

I flew RT's in the U.S. for 3 years back when I was 14~18 and chased lots of bunnies and even pulled feathers on a hen pheasant but my bird never was able to hang on to what she caught. (Looking back, I'm sure her talons weren't sharp enough). I consider my first real falconry catch a pigeon caught by my female spar. There was a flock feeding in an empty lot behind my apartment when I came back from a short walk with the spar. I thought I'd see how she'd react and held her high as I walked toward the flock. About 15 yards away she left the fist and the flock busted. She flew right up the middle and there was a puff of feathers as she grabbed one's butt. The pigeon broke free and went tearing around a corner and my spar flipped around in mid-air and kicked in the afterburners. They disappeared behind a building 30 yards away and when I ran over I couldn't see either of the birds. I was about to run home and grab my telemetry reciever when I heard a scraping sound in a garage to my right. I looked over and my spar was firmly attached to the back of the pigeon that was trying to use a bike tire to scrape it off! I moved the bike tire and the spar nailed it's head with it's other foot. Game over. I couldn't stop smiling for a week!