Male harris,problems entering.

[Swany99]

Can anyone help me, i bought a male harris hawk last september,the bird bonded with me very quickly and i soon realized he had a good temperament to say the least.however hazen would not look at rabbits,i spent days,months just been out with him getting him fit and hoping he would give chase but it never really happened untill the back end of last season when he started chasing young rabbit,then pheasant and rook.by this time the season was over and im worried that he will take another season to produce very little,this bird is a fast mover and i know hes more than capable does anyone have any advice to give me.
ste.-swany99

[OhMyGod]

feed him rabbits

if you have fed him rabbits and he still chases them but pulls up at the last second he may be a tad high in weight. If you do cut him down you can put him up again after his first kills

[Renton]

You should have a much better second season as he already knows what he is supposed to do, i.e. chase things, he will have remembered a great deal from last season.

As OMG says, feed him rabbits to jog his memory, get his weight down and get him out hunting!

[MickeyDredd]

Have you used ferrets to bolt rabbits? This is the best way to give him a fair chance of catching bunnies rather than having to take on long flights which will mostly end in disappointment.

Also the best way to get a MHH switched on is to fly him in a cast with an experienced adult MHH. The competitive streak in him will amaze you.

Obviously you need to watch out for fighting if trying this method and certainly get in quickly on any kill.

Mike

[Tanith]

My female harris really came into her own in her second season.

We did what OMG suggested. Fed her rabbit, did lots of work with the dummy bunny and exposed her to as many rabbits as we could.

Now she is a very proficient hunter.

Having said that ,she does prefer pheasant.

[Skeld]

How old is your MHH ?

[OhMyGod]

swany99

How many kills did you get in your first season?

If you do ferret the warren it may me advisable to move quickly on to more longer flights otherwise you may find he will only put the effort in for easy slips and will rather wait for these than tackle a slip which involves a direct persuit over a good distance.

[Moses]

swany good post mate, good for experience

[MickeyDredd]

swany99

If you do ferret the warren it may me advisable to move quickly on to more longer flights otherwise you may find he will only put the effort in for easy slips and will rather wait for these than tackle a slip which involves a direct persuit over a good distance.

Indeed, to expand on my post I meant give him some "easy" kills to get him focussed. Once he is killing he should do so from all types of flight if he is flown in these styles.

Although, I've got to say i've had some cracking flights from bolted bunnies, and if you set up the flight properly there should be no reason why flights at bolted rabbits should be "droppies" :lol: :lol:

[OhMyGod]

properly engineered flights

This is the trick isn't it mickey. Maybe it comes second nature to you now but for some it is hard to master as a novice, and when you ferret the warren and get your bird entered on easy slips it can be easy to go through the whole season believing you are achieving when your bird has not really been challenged enough. And when you try somthing a little bit harder your hawk will not respond so the beginner thinks this is the limit of the birds ability.

[MickeyDredd]

Agreed OMG, its all part of the learning process. That process should involve testing both yourself and your hawk so that you both progress to achieve as high a level of skill, knowledge and achievement as possible.

Number of kills mean little to me - I always want my hawk to catch stuff - but it is the flights which give the greatest reward in my book. Theres no point going through the season catching loads by standing right over the warren, you'd be as well to chuck your hawk baggies and save a lot of time waiting for ferrets :lol:

[Hawkmaster]

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