HELP to enter my MHH...

[Dude]

Hi all,

I toss out pigeons 4 the harris 5-6 times day after day....I call the bird 5times to the fist getting 2 small tidbits 4 each flight to the fist...than I toss out a bagged pigeon without wing feathers in the beginning its was hard to get his attention to the pigeon....but always catch it after a few a minutes....at the third time he go for the pigeon and dont need to throw him at the pigeon :) than at the 4-5th time when I do the same he go for it very nicely, but when the pigeon jump away than he miss the pigeon than he just take height and sit down and start to scream......than he come back to me......than I just pick him up him and start this again at the 7th 10th time he catch it and I let him to eat from it......(full crop)
he is not too fat coz I bring him a lot with me at the daytime....so: todayI do the same he want to catch it till the 3rd time than he lost the attention aganist the pigeon, than I try to throw him to the pigeon but he just sit near to it.... :(:(:(:(:(:(:( when I throw the harris on the pigeons back from 1/2 meter he grab it.....and kill...and started to eat from it......

The question is: how to get his attention to pigeons at first and than to other quarry?(I never have a HH before.....I was flew goses, falcons, buzzards etc...)

Thanks for answering, regards,
Dan. :) (I hope u understand my english :P )

[Renton]

Dude

1. Please stop using a baggie! Not necessary, highly illegal here and very unethical, to say the least.

2. A Harris is unlikely to be able to catch a pigeon in a straight flight; they are too fast and agile for a broadwing. Ambushing one is a different matter!

3. Get your birds' weight down a touch and try to find some ground game. That is what they hunt naturally.

[ColdZero]

...

[Finnish]

The thing is Renton this is an international forum, and just because its illegal here, doesnt mean its not in other countries. So what he is doing is not wrong there, but is here. We cannot stop people from talking about bagded game, even if we do not agree with it.


Cheers Finnish

[Falcon]

Can only agree with what Finnish has said, we are an international forum after all!

[MickeyDredd]

Agreed guys, but Rentons other points are very valid - surely it would be better to give the bird exposure to the quarry it is intended to fly at and it does sound as though his weight may need looked at if he is lacking the confidence to take bagged game.

[BlackHawke]

maybe your bird dont like pigeon???!!! :D

[Dude]

I dont have rabbits here......and no ferret.......I just have a few pheasants, a veryvery few very large rabbits(3-5kilogramm).... what I have is blackbirds(lot of), corvids(lot of), european ground squirrels, sparrows, larks,manymany starlings around the sheeps and in the wintertime a big colony of silkytails.

falcon, finnish: thx 4 the vindication! I also agree this is an international forum! The canadians can trap gyrs, we can trap goses....some ones can trap falcons etc legally somes not...I cannot tell I fly a passage gos some weeks ago becouse for an example in germany or austria coz there is illegal to trap goses? hmm, this was a poetric question dont need to answer it...

anyway pls help me to enter my 2005MHH!

Thx,
Dan. :)

[Ben C]

How heavy is he? How much free flight or fitness training does he get? Have you used a winged lure in his training program? How old is he? Has he been owned by a previous falconer?

I am not sure if doing so many lessons which fail are helping understand. :) :) :)

This is a very interesting thread.

[RabbitHawker]

Your bird is training you not the other way around. HH are very intelligent birds, and will always look for the easy way out. As long as your bird is not too lean, I would approach this the following way, it has always worked for me:
First get your bird fit, otherwise it cannot catch game. The 2 options fopr this depending on what land you have are either high jumps, my male HH when fit will do around 140 fast high jumps to the fist with me on a small step ladder. Then I would progress to direct presuit flights where the bird has to chase a dummy (pigeon) in direct flight before getting a feed. AQ couple of weeks of this and you should have a fit bird that knows it needs to chase hard to get a feed.
If you are going to use baggies than what you need to do is mock hunting where you have the HH and a friend slips the pigeon, get yourr friend to wear hats, different clothes etc. or the bird will look to him for food, and get your friend to be crafty so the HH does not see him with the pigeon.
You should be able to use faster and faster pigeons, always reward the bird well with warm meat and you may have success with pigeons in towns where there is always the odd sick/slow one, a fast ( they do vary) and motivated MHH will take them if given easy slips.
I would advise you to be careful as many ill pigeons carry frounce which could affect a MHH if he is not at full fitness.
I hope this is of help to you.
Chris

[Jastreb]

I lost one of my male RT after 23 rd pigeon. I was hawking with them from car window on the corn fields near town. When we did post mortem, we saw that he had very sick liver from pesticide from pigeons.
TAKE CARE!
With your MHH start with pigeon wings and big reward on them!

[Dude]

benC, rabbithawker, jastreb thx 4 the advice!

I doo high jumps but not with a ladder....I live in a mountain terrain and have some nice hills to call the bird from up to my fist :) I dont weight my MHH regulary, but he is not at a full condition...80-85%...I try to fly him with full condition, but he start to play with the butterflies and the flowers :D and he dont care if I call him to the fist..... I will try to give him more fitness and maybe he need to mature enough to wanna catch somethin' seriously....I will use a lure with wings....

best regrads,
Dan. :)

[Ben C]

Dude:

I fully agree with rabbithawker and IMO Your problem is weight, fitness and not enough positive encouragment on the baggies/lure/glove.

Go back to basics and find his weight and then drop it a bit (28 grammes). He should be flying/following on for a few hours each day. But most importantly you wont have to have so many poor lessons with the pigeon. If he doesn't do it the first time stop forcing him otherwise he will do exctly what he is doing now. Making you do all the work by throwing him onto the pigeons back.

Follow rabbithawkers advice regarding the lure, also if you are using bagged game be careful he doesn't start to expect pigeons to be on the ground and therefore turns off to them when it comes to the real thing :) :) :).

[Dave Whitt]

Dude A few questions,
How old is your bird ?
Was it parent reared or imprinted, as you mentioned it screams ?
What foods do you genrally feed ?
and what colour are the pigeons you are using ?

[Dude]

jacko: I use normal grey ones from the streets, the bird is 13-14 weeks old parent reared till 4weeks of age and than I feed him in the company with my female(my female at the next mews and have a hole to see the MHH I feed them on feeding boards at the same time). I always give him pigeon, when I buy him the breeder feed him with rat I think coz their very light cere and feet, but know he have wonderful deep yellow feet and cere :):):):):) today I fly him up to the hills to get more fitness :)

regards,
Dan :)

[Dave Whitt]

Tomorrow when you fly him put the HH up a tree walk some 30 - 50 meters away into the middle of a field call the HH to your fist when the bird is about 15 meters from you lower your hand and throw the pigeon high in the air so it trys to fly the HH should nail is instantly and without hesitation if it does not dont feed him any more food pick him up take him home after you have been home about a hour feed him about 1/2 his usual amount then do the same again the next day, I would strongly advise weighing him and monitoring his weight loss it should be no more than 1 oz 25g per day let us know how you get on.

[Renton]

The thing is Renton this is an international forum, and just because its illegal here, doesnt mean its not in other countries. So what he is doing is not wrong there, but is here. We cannot stop people from talking about bagded game, even if we do not agree with it.


Cheers Finnish

Yes I agree with you. However, the forum has a UK web address and is , presumably, hosted within the UK and is open for anyone to view. Given the negative attitude towards field sports shown by the Government and other bodies within the UK, I just think we should encourage best practise as there is a real possibility of posts being quoted out of context and used as ammunition against our sport.

[Sean]

HERE HERE

[Ben C]

Jackobean......I thought it was 28grammes in the ounce??? Not another example of my weigh conversion stupidity eh mate? :) :)

[OutFlying]

28.35 grams to the ounce.

[Hawkmaster]

1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams to be precis :lol:

[OutFlying]

HM, I liked to see your scale - it must have a display like a plasma screen. :shock:

[Goldie]

1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams to be precis :lol:

Bet you are glad that finished in a 1 and not a 3 otherwise you would have been on the keyboard all night :lol: :lol: ad infinitum

[Dave Whitt]

OK BenC so I was 3.3495231g out, I hear that your still trying to convince your Mrs that 6" is 550mm !!!!!! :D

[Ben C]

Oh ha ha ha ha ha................................................ ..well it is isn't it :) :)