# Hawk



## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Opening day of hawk trapping season today. Went out with my new apprentice and managed to get a couple to the trap. One slipped free just as we approached her. The other, after much consideration by the apprentice was tossed back in hopes of a bigger one. He really thought hard on it. Take the chance of not getting another one bigger, or another one at all. Think will be good though, still plenty of time left. First year with an apprentice is pretty exciting. Help pass the time till I start hunting my bird. Just need a few less leaves in the trees.


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## slammer (Feb 21, 2006)

Very cool. Thanks for taking a new guy on.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## dankoustas (Sep 18, 2007)

Always enjoy your posts Tagz, it is such an interesting sport. How long are you allowed to trap?
Dan


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Till December 31st. Or until they hit the limit of 80 Birds trapped. Which has never happened. So we should have plenty of time.

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## bowhunter19 (Sep 15, 2009)

Can't wait to see your posts this season! Enjoyed them last year a lot


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

Interesting,,, so you can trap hawks and keep them, am I understanding this correctly? If so, do you then train them to hunt?


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## troutguy26 (Apr 28, 2011)

Cant wait for the reports myself. This has got to be the coolest thing on MS.


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

William H Bonney said:


> Interesting,,, so you can trap hawks and keep them, am I understanding this correctly? If so, do you then train them to hunt?


With the proper licenses, permits etc yes. And during the permitted seasons. Apprentices can only trap Red-Tailed Hawks or American Kestrels. I am a General licensed falconer and can trap in Michigan, Red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, Coopers hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, or Rough-legged hawks. They also have a lottery for the ability to trap (1) northern goshawk (1) snowy owl or (1) great horned owl. Along with a separate lottery for (1) peregrine falcon. More information at the Michigan DNR link in my signature on the steps involved.

And after an average of about 30 days of training they usually are ready to start free flying and hunting. Im flying my bird this season then plan on releasing it back to the wild at the end of the small game season, did the same with my last bird. Also plan on trapping an American Kestrel this year and hunting sparrows and starlings with it.


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

Tagz said:


> With the proper licenses, permits etc yes. And during the permitted seasons. Apprentices can only trap Red-Tailed Hawks or American Kestrels. I am a General licensed falconer and can trap in Michigan, Red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, Coopers hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, or Rough-legged hawks. They also have a lottery for the ability to trap (1) northern goshawk (1) snowy owl or (1) great horned owl. Along with a separate lottery for (1) peregrine falcon. More information at the Michigan DNR link in my signature on the steps involved.
> 
> And after an average of about 30 days of training they usually are ready to start free flying and hunting. Im flying my bird this season then plan on releasing it back to the wild at the end of the small game season, did the same with my last bird. Also plan on trapping an American Kestrel this year and hunting sparrows and starlings with it.


Amazing! Keep us all posted!


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## honk/quack (Dec 18, 2009)

Tagz said:


> With the proper licenses, permits etc yes. And during the permitted seasons. Apprentices can only trap Red-Tailed Hawks or American Kestrels. I am a General licensed falconer and can trap in Michigan, Red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, Coopers hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, or Rough-legged hawks. They also have a lottery for the ability to trap (1) northern goshawk (1) snowy owl or (1) great horned owl. Along with a separate lottery for (1) peregrine falcon. More information at the Michigan DNR link in my signature on the steps involved.
> 
> And after an average of about 30 days of training they usually are ready to start free flying and hunting. Im flying my bird this season then plan on releasing it back to the wild at the end of the small game season, did the same with my last bird. Also plan on trapping an American Kestrel this year and hunting sparrows and starlings with it.


Wow, didn't know any of this. Sounds like a whole new world. Pretty cool. I'm curious, how do you determine where to go to trap the different types and what do you use to trap them with?


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## bowhunter19 (Sep 15, 2009)

I'm sure tagz will have much more info but I'm guessing he just goes to
An area he knows holds some birds, as for the trap do a search on google or there's some YouTube videos of "hawk trapping" they put a mouse in a see threw type container with a bunch of little nooses all over it and when the hawk dives on it, they get one around their foot 


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

honk/quack said:


> Wow, didn't know any of this. Sounds like a whole new world. Pretty cool. I'm curious, how do you determine where to go to trap the different types and what do you use to trap them with?


Hard to explain all the different ways to trap. There are many. The trap I use is called a Bal-chatri or BC for short. Search youtube for things like falconry trapping and you can see videos of them in action.

With Red-tails you drive around areas looking for them perched on poles, trees, etc. Toss the trap out with the bait in it, I use gerbils. And keep driving a little ways away. Turn and watch. Hopefully they eventually see the bait and go for it. Then they end up getting a toe or foot stuck in one of the nooses while trying to grab the bait, which is safely protected. They usually keep trying to grab them a few times thus increasing the chances of getting caught in one of the many nooses on top of the cage. 

A little disclaimer. The traps are designed to not harm the bird. The hawks feet and talons are their tools. Without those in top working condition is like a hunter going out without a gun. Pointless. So everything is designed to insure no harm comes to the bird. The nooses are made of fishing line. They do not lock down. Its only the pulling that keeps them on the foot. Should one noose break off from the trap and the bird fly off with it around the foot it would simply fall off because no tension is on it. So it doesn't end up flying around getting the circulation cut off.

We are only allowed to keep immature Red-tails. This is easy to tell because they do not get the red tail till they are through the first year. So if its red, we let em go. Yesterday in the 3 hours we trapped we only seen 2 hawks. And both ended up being immature. And both managed to come to the trap. The first was a nice large female that my Apprentice had been seeing in this area for months. He wanted to try for it first. And within the first 45 minutes of his first day of trapping he had it on the trap. Unfortunately it managed to back out of the noose and fly away just feet from us. It was quite the roller coaster experience for the Apprentice.


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## STEELHEAD JUNKIE (Feb 20, 2010)

Wow this is very cool stuff! Please keep us all posted on your season.


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## cptncor (Dec 30, 2010)

this is the coolest thing I have seen on this site. While I dont have the time to pursue this new interest I plan on sharing this with all my buddies and back your efforts 110% !!!

kick ass


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Been doing this for 7 years now. While I plan on posting our adventures here once we start I have a few older posts from previous seasons you can find by searching the forum. They are all in this small game area. 

Excited this year to have another falconer to hunt with. I try to get video and photos while hunting with mine but it's tough at times when your trying to walk through thick brush and take a photo. This year I should have some chances to hang back and get some shots while my apprentice hunts his bird.

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## hickabilly (Jan 5, 2011)

i always look forward to your post first thing i check at work when i finish my truck checks lol so you are useing the same bird as last year?


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Yes same bird. Male Red-tailed hawk. Plan on trapping an American Kestrel before the end of the year as well. Going out in the morning to try for another bird with my apprentice.

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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Went out trapping again today. We ended up trapping 5 for the day. Only 1 ended up being an immature that we could have legally kept. But was pretty small. Apprentice let him go. Not before though it left its mark on me. I just let my guard down and it reached out at the right moment.
http://youtu.be/XoRz-gq1lBc


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## kmonty (Aug 26, 2009)

This seems very interesting, sounds like something i would like to try one day! I was up at camp today and i seen 6 different hawks, flying all our trails. Maybe why we don't have any more squirrels around camp. But grouse numbers are through the roof!!!


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## Tagz (Sep 22, 2005)

Success!! Went out Sunday morning. Drove around all day. Mostly just west of Dundee. Those fields with nothing but telephone poles for miles along each road are good trapping areas. Was slow going. Seen lots of adults which we can't keep. Ended up trapping 3 adults that we released. Decided to call it a day. Then after driving all day literally 5 minutes from my apprentices house I seen an immature red-tailed hawk. We were on the expressway and it was headed to a service drive on the side. Got off and double backed. Found it right away and tossed the trap. Came down and landed on the trap, but a car came by and scared it off before it was caught. But it circled around and came right back down. This time for good. The apprentice is excited to be starting the next steps of training.









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## Vicious Fishous (Sep 12, 2006)

Very cool. I wished I would have pursued that when I was younger and had more time. We have so many coopers hawks by our house, with plenty of bird feeders, they are well fed. To see them hunt is amazing. I would love to have a kestrel to take down the sparrows. Keep us posted.
Pete


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