my harris hawk (1 Viewer)

[tommytli]

ive only had her a week and still training her and hopefuly she will be free flying within the next 2 weeks.
she is my 1st hawk and after a few years reading and going out with friends that keep them i thought it was time to get 1 myself.
does any 1 else keep them?

 

[dellwood33]

Beautiful birds
I don't keep one, but have flown them in the forest at Keilder in Northumberland - very agile in the trees for such a big bird

 

[novawight]

No but i had a Humber Hawk back in 1960

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[madbluemad]

We dont have one but they are beautiful birds. One landed on top of our wheely bin last year. We rang for somebody to come out to it because we thought it may be hurt or vunerable. It was huge.

The lady on the phone said it would take a couple of hours to get to my house and to just keep an eye on it. She said it woudnt fly away because they cant see in the dark. (It was night time).

The bird promplty went to sleep and I dutifully kept my eye on it. After a few hours it woke up, looked at me, blinked and promptley flew away, nearly taking my head with it.

So much for it wont fly away because they cant see in the dark.

Jim

 

[Jim]

She looks nice. I love birds, it must stem from my dad who was a racing pigeon fanatic and kept them all his life. I hate to see birds caged, even a budgie. But pigeons keeping and falconry have real appeal as the birds get to fly free. A bird in flight epitomises freedom and I just love to see them flying.

I have looked into getting into the hobby, but I just cant commit the time to them that I know they need. And we get a Red Kite Display over the yard most days anyway.

Enjoy the flying:thumb:

 

[movan]

Oh Tommi She is soooo beautiful... Hope this isn't the last photo of her that you will be posting.:thumb:

My grandad kept pigeons in his back yard when I was little. Our family was really poor. I used to love going into the shed and holding the baby pigeons in my hand, so warm, baldy and cute.

Then in the front room of the two up two down there was a large square wooden table which served as an eating table, a domino table on Friday nights with the neighbours and .......... a chopping board for killing and preparing the adult pigeons.... I HATED that blasted table with a vengeance and refused to eat at it.....

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[Pat4Neil]

We used to keep birds of prey and yes we had an harris hawk, they are one of the easier ones to keep.

The are quite bright and are a good first bird to fly. I had to give it up when I couldnt spend as much time as required.

We had a fantastic Vizla dog who was brillant with it.

If youre flying it the best thing you can get is a good set of weighing scales as you have to be careful with their weights, more so in winter when its cold.

Good luck

Pat and Neil

Also a good piece of telementary set to keep track of it.

 

[wivvy's dad]

Gizza go mistah.............:thumb:




Wish I had the time and the resources.........................

 

[jhorsf]

a beautiful creature hope you put more pics on later thanks

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[Carol]

What a great pastime, I bet its a amazing feeling when you first let her fly free, please keep us updated with pictures and your progress.

 

[tommytli]

lots of great replys there:thumb: i will keep posting pics as her training goes on and some of her out free flying and working as long as no one is offended by the sight of her catching her prey? may even get a couple of vids of her flying. i have to weight her every day because im bringing her down to flying weight and she seems to be responding very well.

 

[laneside]

Hi Tommy

We have the other half of the team ie a pointer dog

If you ever get the opportunity to go into a suitable enviroment with harris and pointer do not hesitate to give me a shout we are only over the border in Todmorden.

I may just be able to obtain permission to go onto a grouse moor with dog Alanand hawk between Burnley and Hebden Bridge----- just ask pretty please

Alan P.s. if we do then do not tell Movan she would never forgive us.

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[hilldweller]

ive only had her a week and still training her and hopefuly she will be free flying within the next 2 weeks.
she is my 1st hawk and after a few years reading and going out with friends that keep them i thought it was time to get 1 myself.
does any 1 else keep them?

Looks fearsome. I'd not want to meet her when she was hungry.

 

[tommytli]

Hi Tommy

We have the other half of the team ie a pointer dog

If you ever get the opportunity to go into a suitable enviroment with harris and pointer do not hesitate to give me a shout we are only over the border in Todmorden.

I may just be able to obtain permission to go onto a grouse moor with dog Alanand hawk between Burnley and Hebden Bridge----- just ask pretty please

Alan P.s. if we do then do not tell Movan she would never forgive us.

i will hold you to that, im originaly from colne but now live in blackburn but have permission through all of lothersdale as well as other land, when she is ready keep an eye on your inbox ive always had dogs spaniels lurchers and terriers but since my last spaniel got knicked about 5 years ago ive just never got another:Sad: so would like to see your poiners out.

 

[tommytli]

im flying harriet in the morning free for the 1st time so fingers crossed i will be come back with some pics and my hawk so fingers crossed

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[laneside]

Good luck and have a brilliant day but do not fret if it goes all wrong at first I guess it often does.

Spent an hour this afternoon watching three chappies ferreting for rabbits, it is just so much better than pub or footie.

Enjoy Alan

P.s. if you can find a spare hand please post some piccies

 

[dellwood33]

Don't worry too much about her coming back to hand. A Day old chick is a big draw to a hungry Harris Hawk.
Have a good time & enjoy yourself

 

[Pat4Neil]

Good luck, its always a worry the first time.

We used to have an Hungarian Vizla who was a great pointer that we used to work.

She was big working dog, but also a loving family pet, she died 3 years ago now, we miss her greatly.

I personally didnt like the hunting side of things that was more Neils hobby.

However, I dont mind seeing them fly as its a wonderful sight.

Pat

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[movan]

Don't keeep us guessing? How did it go?

 

[tommytli]

just got back now and every thing went well:thumb: she had some good flights after a few pheasant and bunnies she didnt catch any tho, very close i think a couple more days like today and she will be fit:thumb: my mate filmed some of it so hopefuly he will send me the clips and i will post them

 

[laneside]

Brilliant Tommy was worried that you would report that she had been mobbed by some horrible crows and that you were still trying to coax her back.

I can taste grouse but don't tell Movan she will fall out with us

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[tommytli]

Brilliant Tommy was worried that you would report that she had been mobbed by some horrible crows and that you were still trying to coax her back.

I can taste grouse but don't tell Movan she will fall out with us

lol my mate is now sending some footage to me now via msn her 1st flight back to me and when she nearly got a pheasant in flight, its in hd so the file is quite large and taking its time :Sad:

 

[tommytli]

heres a couple of clips of harriets 1st day out [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUVztEXeNs[/ame]

please do not watch if any type of hunting offends you or foul language, the lads i went with have a bit of a potty mouth

 

[dellwood33]

Very good Tommy.
(What are little grey b*s@*r#s)

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[laneside]

awww my dongles too slow to watch it have to wait until I get home

 

[Phil_Mart]

Ha ha,just read this thread and it reminded me of an incident a couple of years ago.

One sunny afternoon I walked out of my office and looked up the entry ramp toward the electrical cut-out station, and saw this bloody great bird standing on top of the building. As I walked up the ramp toward it I was thinking it was a bit big for a native British bird. Yep I was right, it was a Vulture. Found out latter it was an African Turkey Vulture.

After a bit of brain storming I phoned the RSPA, useless, then the RSPB, hopeless. Brian stormed a bit more and a quick web search revealed the names of a couple of commercial bird of pray businesses local to us. Strike on the first phone call, they had lost the bird over the weekend when it had been attacked and scared off by Seagulls. Of course they said they would be down right away.

Brain then worked again, thats 3 times in one day, and I phoned the local (Tyne Tees) telly lot. They came down with a camera and an interviewer and filmed whole recovery episode. I was, in a minor way, a star for couple of day's as the story ran on the local tele news. Never got a bean from the bloke for finding his bird, or for that matter from the company for all the free tele advertising

 

[movan]

Oh dear Tommi, on the next video a mad woman will soon appear running out of the bushes across the screen, waving her arms and shouting to the birds and bunnies to get the Hell outa here....!!!!!

(I mean ME)

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[tommytli]

Oh dear Tommi, on the next video a mad woman will soon appear running out of the bushes across the screen, waving her arms and shouting to the birds and bunnies to get the Hell outa here....!!!!!

(I mean ME)

 

[wivvy's dad]

Never mind all the wingeing liberals - that was superb. I'm even more jealous now.

My love and ownership of English Setters came from very early memories of a friend of my Father who had a Setter and a falcon, if I remember rightly they both appeared in some long-forgotten cigarette advertising. But to see either working was a wonderful sight to behold.

I eventually owned English Setters, but never a bird of prey.........................one day:Sad:

 

[movan]

HEY... Wingeing liberals indeed....:Cool::Cool:

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