hunting owls

[Flying High]

I am a big fan of trying most things in falconry. I am always asked if i have ever hunted and owl. Since i have never hunted an owl i can't give much info on it.
Due to this i was think about training a great horned up for hunting. I have spoken to a few people and some say it can be fun and other say never do it. One chap did say lamping with owl can be fun.
As anyone hunted and owl and if so what was it and was if fun and worth it.
and if you have do you have any advies.

[Graham Stuart]

hi there my barn owl hunts mice and small voles etc i am trying to get a bengal or an african spotted owl at the minute to try and train for rabbit, as i can hunt with them during the day instead of in the dark with my barney....

[Barn Owl]

Hi Flying High, I will be watching this thread as I too am training a GHO and would like to see it hunt.
Regards
Bob

[HawkMan]

hi there my barn owl hunts mice and small voles etc i am trying to get a bengal or an african spotted owl at the minute to try and train for rabbit, as i can hunt with them during the day instead of in the dark with my barney....
I cant see a african spotted owl hunting rabbit m8 ,it might do mice but not a rabbit ?If it can ill eat me shorts ,lol
JB

[Osiris]

Lol :rolleyes:

ASO dont think could catch rabbits. Baby rabbits probably but a decent size no. Bengals can catch rabbits but get a female :lol:
Would also love to see the GHO hunt for rabbit. If ya succeed then get some pics up :supz:

Try a Snowy Owl. My m8s loves the Dummy Bunny :-P hehehe!!!

[Graham Stuart]

i was looking at a snowy but been put off with stories of them being temprementle...... im still trying to get a bengal though......

[DeathFromAbove]

aye bengals are a real good choice, acee temprement and of a decent size too. did alot of work with a rescue bengal last year.

[Graham Stuart]

i hope to get a female, have been told they are available around december as they are early breaders so i am waiting eagerly lol:rolleyes:

[DeathFromAbove]

hope it goes well for you barney, it was a female i worked with at the rescue centre and i had her killing the rabbit lure on a regular basis altho training will be slow going, can't speak for all but it was for me but then again she was a rescue bird. she was found dangling from a tv ariel in chester by the apartment blocks. hadn't even grown her primaries fully. theory was that some **** in an apartment block got bored and binned her out of the window. some people eh...

[Graham Stuart]

cheers bud i have plenty of time, and as i say you get out what you put in...

[DeathFromAbove]

that's it. keep me posted on how you get on fella, would love to hear how you get on.

happy hawking.

[falconer 1987]

Hi all.....
Iv'e not hunted owls, but id think that it ed be a good experience. Flown barn Owls in the past at nite that had felt good with just seeing the owl apper.
lewis aka falconer 1987

[Addi]

good luck! .. have you ever tried taking a rabbit off a great horned who didnt want you to have it! ... not fun!

[Osiris]

i was looking at a snowy but been put off with stories of them being temprementle...... im still trying to get a bengal though......

Snowy's can be tempermental. Any bird can be tempermental. All depends on the falconer m8.
We put my m8s female snowy to the DB and she went for it like a bat-outa-hell as it wer! But when it came to 'making in', she stepped up nicely...
Bengals are a good choice if hunting with an owl. Europeans on the other hand can be really aggressive on their kill, but hey, cant most birds!
:wink:

[Matt]

i was talking to guy today that was thinking of hunting an eagle owl he bout three thinking one would be female but all turned out male . he was after fox!!!
i must admit i never even give owls a second thought and know nothing about them but the big females going up to 10 lb and more have made me think it might be fun with a lamp.

[Loopy]

The problem lies with the fact an owl doesn't have a crop and therefore removing a live/dispatched rabbit from an owl is difficult and very dangerous. The way in which an owl relates to its prey/food is very different than other birds of prey I would imagine. Give it a go though, it could be quite interesting.

[Jester]

i have been trying Jester a few times with dragged rabbit or half rabbit in the hope that one day he can catch some for himself.

the best way so far i have found to get him off it is to have a whole chick close to hand and let him see it as i get closer (slowly) hold it firmly with just the head sticking out of the gloved hand and hold it just close enough so he can grab it with his beak and as he tries to rip it out of my hand i let my hand go with him so he has to take a couple of steps backwards off the rabbit which i cover with my bag then let him rip the head off and as he is swallowing it slip it into the pouch of the bag that is on the underside without him seeing it.

still think he could stand to lose a bit of weight to make him keen enough to try catching his own food rather than having his "staff" (me) feed him.

tried him out in the dark on Sunday which was pretty cool as i couldnt see him flying in until he was about 2 feet from me.
on the fist he was looking everywhere except the lamp beam where there were a few nice juicy tasy bunnies just sitting waiting to be caught :( anyone got any ideas how to get him more interested in the light???

[DeathFromAbove]

maybe shining a light onto a food source that he alredy knows i.e. a chick on a post, associate the light with food with him and then move on from there. owls can be bloody tricky as i'm sure you know, the lack of the crop makes them hard to motivate for any length of time and big weight drops dont do alot of good either. I love owls but they're like flying goldfish sometimes hehehe all the best mate, keep us posted.

[RabbitHawker]

Great horned are real killers. I caught a stray one this summer on a crow, we don't know how long it had been out for, but he will try and kill ANYTING close to him. I did take him out on bolted rabbits once, he flew they well, but was unlucky, but he would have been just as happy with the ferret.
Chris

[Falconry Equipment International]

A few years ago I had a pereXlanner take a little, tawny & barn owls (although managed to get the barn and tawny off her before she necked em) all in the same season, or perhaps this is not what this theads about :lol: :twisted: :oops: :lol:

[WildlifeCentre]

hi i have successfully hunted a female european several times and have taken small hares and large rabbits she is a huge aggressive ****** she is flown at 7.5lbs and is 18 months old

picture attached