# Success



## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Took our first rabbit today with my new male Red-tailed Hawk. Have been working on some weight issues with him but think I got it dialed in now. He has had some good chases, but just not connecting in time before the rabbits make cover. Some of those chases though are more exciting to watch. Today he just pretty much dropped right out of the tree onto it. He did chase it once though before it made cover. Once he got back up in a high perch I could see him leaning over watching something. Gave me enough time to work my way around and push it back to him. Thats when he dropped like an anvil on it.


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## soccer_man48420 (Nov 14, 2010)

thats awesome, never done any hunting with a bird, but that looks like it is a blast!


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## SPITFIRE (Feb 10, 2005)

Very cool thx for sharing.


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## Fred Bear (Jan 20, 2000)

that is SO awesome!


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## No.4shot (Oct 22, 2002)

Falconry is pretty sweet.


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## Rugergundog (May 21, 2008)

Way cool!


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## glongworth3232 (Oct 18, 2006)

Im downriver also and if u ever want some one to go out let me know looks like it could be a blast.


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

Oh man that would be cool. I go to the Renaissance Fest every year just to see the guy bring all his birds and do the demos.


I'd like to get into that someday.


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## JBooth (Sep 21, 2009)

so now that you've gotten a rabbit, I wonder if you can reflect and let everyone know how much time went into obtaining the permit to be a falconer, get a bird, train a bird, and hunt. I'm curious myself.


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## mattz03svt (Sep 13, 2009)

I have been wasting all my time on guns and practice when I should have just got a bird. I think that is the coolest thing I have seen on this forum yet. I am with the top post. How does one do this (train, permit, etc)?


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

If you want to put a lot of meat in the freezer, stick with the guns. Most the time the rabbits evade the hawk. But its the chases that are fun and exciting. Lots of information can be found here http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-31574_31580-230558--,00.html

It takes a lot of time. But when its something that you really want to do it does not seem that bad. I got the itch a long time ago when I was about 15 years old. I am 33 now. I had seen this guy hunting with a hawk out in a field. I watched him not even knowing what "falconry" was. Over the years I found out more and more about it. But reading what needed to be done seemed like way to much at the time. A few years passed. Then I got interested into it again when I seen a bird show at Sea World when it was in Sandusky, OH. One part of the show was about falconry. But I then moved into an apartment and I knew I would be unable to get into it till I had a home, with a yard. 

Few years later and that happened. So I started getting in touch with some people at the Michigan Hawking Club. I think there were about 80 or so licensed falconers in the state at that time. And luckily enough I had one very close by. You have to have a sponsor for your first 2 years. After some time of going to a few shows with the club he offered to sponsor me. You have to take a test at the DNR that covers everything from bird identification, falconry terms and techniques, laws, diseases and other health issues with raptors, etc. To pass you need at least 80%. Once you take the test and turn it in you wait a week or so to be notified by mail if you passed. 

Then you need to acquire certain equipment, and build proper raptor holding facilities. You can have an outdoor (weathering) area or indoor (mews) area. Or both. They need to meet certain specs and be inspected by a conservation officer once completed. Your basic equipment needed is also inspected at the same time. Once you have that step down then you need to submit a falconry permit application ($100 good for 3 years), your inspection report signed by the CO, and a Sponsorship agreement paper signed by a General or Master licensed falconer. 

After that you receive your Apprentice Falconry Permit and you may legally acquire either a Red-Tailed Hawk, or an American Kestrel. I should also note these are the steps in Michigan. Most states are the same but I do know a few differ somewhat, but generally the same. 

In Michigan there are 2 trapping seasons. Most apprentices opt for the larger Red-Tailed Hawk. You can trap them with permit from Sep 12th to Dec 31st. And they must be under 1 year of age in order to keep. With Red-Tailed Hawks this is easy to determine because they do not get the red tail until they are 1 year of age. So if its red, its not legal. A few reasons for this. One is its easier to train a young bird. Also 8 out of 10 birds will not live through the first year. Many of these birds trapped by falconers would not have lived if not for a falconer making sure they receive food, and medical attention if needed. Another reason is they dont reach sexual maturity till around 2 years of age. At which time they mate for life with a partner. By only taking young passage birds it insures we do not break up a mated pair. 

I trapped my first bird in 2005. You have to follow the same hunting seasons and license as gun hunters. I hunted 05,06,07, and 08 with my male Red-Tailed Hawk (Minx). I released Minx back into the wild in spring of 08. There is no law as to how long you can keep the bird. I have heard of some keeping them for 17+ years. I had a 1 and a half year old daughter at the time and another one on the way. So I wanted to take some time off. Its not like other hunting, when the season is up you can put away the guns. You still have a wild animal that needs to be cared for everyday. So I am now getting back into it with this bird here. I trapped him back in November.

Many people ask what the average cost is to get into falconry. Based on my experience and what I have read elsewhere right around $1000 to get into it. Thats including equipment, building the facilities, etc. I was a bit over that I think. Some people get by with fewer things, it all depends on the person you are. Just like other hunting some go out and get the best money can buy. Another cost is food. I order frozen quail, rats, mice, day old chicks from rodentpro.com . They just dont catch enough during the small game season to feed through the summer.

Another thing many ask is time. It does take lots of time. When you first trap them and have all the equipment on them they are not happy. Wings spread out, mouth open. But you just keep spending time with them on your glove. And more time, and then more time. I fell asleep in my recliner chair a couple times with this bird on my fist in that first week. They eventually start to calm down. This process is called "manning" the bird. Getting it used to man, and your surroundings. Red-tails calm down pretty quick. I would spend on average 4 hours a day with the bird the first week. I have read that the average amount is at least 1 hour a day over the course of a year. I spend more than that but thats counting hunting in the field time. And I get my bird out fairly often. Some guys do fine with only weekend hunting. And only spending a half hour or so with the bird a day during the week once they are at the hunting point in the training. But like everything else. The more time you put into it the better the results.

I could go on and on. But will end it there. Any questions I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Tons of information on the internet. Other than the link above, www.themodernapprentice.com is also a good site.

Here is a quickly edited clip of this last weekend. At the end when I yell "Ho Ho Ho" a rabbit had flushed in front of me. Its hard to see in the video but if you replay it you can see it running right to left. Then the bird comes diving in after him. Missed though. The term Ho Ho Ho is something falconers traditionally yell when game is flushed. It comes from the old foxhunting term "Tally-ho" when the fox was sighted. Basically you could say anything you wanted, as long as you used it consistently. This is in case the bird was looking the other way when something flushed and you yell it they know something flushed.


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## Brian121208 (Dec 4, 2008)

Awesome!
Thanks for the write up.


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

Wonderful explaination!


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## bigfishunter (Jan 2, 2011)

very cool great pic


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## Wobble (Sep 13, 2004)

That is very cool, rabbits with a falcon? Sweet...


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## moochdog (Feb 29, 2004)

Out of curiosity, how do you go about catching a hawk? also, what keeps it from flying away and never coming back when you are hunting with it? pretty neat stuff, i must admit!


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

There are a few different ways to trap them once you have the proper permits and licenses. I used what is called a Bal-Chatri trap.

I enjoy the trapping part of it, even though it can be frustrating at time. Basically drive around all day looking for hawks in trees or on tops of telephone polls. You slow down, toss trap out to safe area off the road and keep driving. Once you get a ways down the road you turn around and watch with binocs. If everything went ok (trap landed right side up, hawk did not spook and take off when you tossed the trap, etc) you watch and wait for them to spot the bait animal. I use gerbils. They usually spot them right away moving around and come down to grab them. And hopefully get one of their feet stuck in a noose. 

It takes patience, and lots of driving time. . Think I trapped about 9 total but all but 2 were adults and you can not keep those. The one other immature bird I got was very tiny. Wanted something bigger so let him go. I then got this guy.

What keeps them coming back is them learning you are the food source. The birds are weighed daily, sometimes more than once. If a bird is over their hunting weight you risk them not paying attention to you and possibly taking off on you if you go hunting. Same thing can happen if they are too low in weight. So you constantly balance how much you need to feed them, with say how cold the temps are going to get overnight in order to have them for example with my bird a 50 gram window to be able to go out hunting.

The chance of them taking off and not returning is always there though. I have a transmitter I attach to the bird when we go out. With telemetry I can track him a good distance. But that does not mean once I catch up to him he will come down to me. Luckily I have not yet needed to use it, but its nice to have.


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