Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: PrimitiveTim on November 29, 2013, 12:32:57 pm
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Out on my jaunts into the woods I've been fortunate enough to come across some powerful predators. I like to call the raptors the lion, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs of the sky. I was able to go with a friend and watch him do some falconry. He uses a red tail hawk and the way that thing can fly through the dense forest is absolutely amazing. Anyway, here' some footage of some of the feathered creatures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2uLJCaFUl0
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Your friend's juvenile redtail looks like a real sweetheart. I can't wait to work with a young redtail again.
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Your friend's juvenile redtail looks like a real sweetheart. I can't wait to work with a young redtail again.
Haha, this post was mostly for you! That redtail is a sweetheart. She follows her owner real well through the woods as he scares up squirrels.
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As I get to know these birds more, the less I feel that we "train" them. That hawk was bound to learn to hunt or die trying. The only difference between her and her siblings from the same nest is that if she fails, someone takes her home and feeds her. If her handler does it right, she will have opportunity after opportunity to learn to hunt all kinds of game. A wild bird often gets less training and a much higher chance of getting whacked in the bargain.
Wild redtails will often develop prey preferences based on their past successes. Released or "gone wild" falconry birds are often generalists that have learned to take anything and everything.
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I dabbled in falconry in the sixties. I had a Sharpshin, Coopers and a European goshawk. I never did get them hunting, just flying to the glove. Then I got a flippin' job that took me out of town so I turned them loose. I can still spot raptors. My peripheral vision just seems to pick them out.
Don
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Once they are in your heart, you can always spot them.
Our Raptor Center turned down a brain damaged Cooper's hawk that was so calm he would sit calmly on a glove while the handler drove thru downtown traffic. He would have made a great classroom education bird, unlike his healthy cousins. Coops are NUTS!
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Im not a bird guy, but I have to agree. Coops are nuts. After I watched a cooper knock a drake woody from the sky and eat him alive 15 feet in front me, I knew I was watching one CRAZY bird at work.
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The worst I had was an eyas Sharpshin. He wasn't about to take any crap from me. I did something and he sunk his talons into my hand. The big back talon went right into the joint of my knuckle. Closest I ever came to passing out. We had to stick him and my hand into the car so he thought he could escape and then he let go. Drew a lot of blood.
Don
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The worst I had was an eyas Sharpshin. He wasn't about to take any crap from me. I did something and he sunk his talons into my hand. The big back talon went right into the joint of my knuckle. Closest I ever came to passing out. We had to stick him and my hand into the car so he thought he could escape and then he let go. Drew a lot of blood.
Don
All raptors are hatched with an innate understanding of all our human pressure points! Our great horned owl can hit nerves in my hand thru a glove and a buffalo hide eagle gauntlet over top of it! And I love her to death.
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I didn't believe how sharp talons could be until I caught a Great Horned. When they talk about hawks having sharp talons they obviously haven't seen a owls. I had my trap set up at a chicken farm and when the farmer found out that I'd turned an owl loose he booted me off his property.
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To further hijack PrimTim's thread, follow this link to see the view of the mountains from an eagle's back in Chamonix, France.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/18/223743930/put-a-camera-on-an-eagle-and-what-do-you-get-soaring-video
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Lol, it's all good. I am working on getting similar footage as in that video. Just through an old wood forest instead.