Redtail hawk - First squirrel this year

gahawker · #1 09-29-2008, 01:53 PM

Here are some pictures of my 2-year-old hawk, Rocky, with a squirrel he caught yesterday afternoon. I normally don't hunt this early in the season because the leaves make it hard to see the squirrels and the bird. Plus the heat and the bugs are bad, but yesterday afternoon I couldn't stand it anymore so I took him out for a short hunt. After all, squirrel season has been in for 6 weeks. It turned out to be a good day. He chased one just as we stepped in the woods, but lost it. We walked a little further and I pulled a vine going up in a big oak. A squirrel jumped from an adjacent tree into another one. The hawk went after it and landed in the tree. After a few minutes, he flew to a tree next to the one he was in and landed just above a leaf nest. I noticed he kept peering down at the nest and after a while, he hopped down on top of it and started pulling at it with his feet. All of a sudden the squirrel popped out the bottom of the nest and jumped to another tree. The hawk made a pass at it but missed and landed in the tree. The squirrel jumped into a small Sweetgum tree with the top broken out. The hawk immediately took off again and slammed into the top of the tree. I got around to where I could see him better and he had the squirrel. There were vines on the tree and as soon as he could work himself free of them, he sailed to the ground with his prize! When I got to him he had a headlock across the squirrel's head and it was dead. It's unbelievable how much power a redtail has in it's feet.
I traded him off and he hunted and chased 2 more squirrels but lost them in the thick leaves.

Resica · #2 09-29-2008, 01:59 PM

Wow.Very impressive.Congrats !!

believer · #3 09-29-2008, 02:51 PM

That is some cool stuff. I love to see those raptors in action.

Doyle · #4 09-29-2008, 03:21 PM

Do you rent him out? We can't keep the blasted squirrels from ruining our feeders.

**bam_bam** · #5 09-29-2008, 03:26 PM

That is VERY cool! How does it work, does the hawk make the kill or do you?

Bucky T · #6 09-29-2008, 03:50 PM

Very cool pics!!

The only raptor I've ever seen kill a squirrel while deer hunting was a Redtail.

BuckyT

**Dustin Pate** · #7 09-29-2008, 03:57 PM

That is awesome!

**Hoss** · #8 09-29-2008, 09:31 PM

Great narrative of the hunt and some great pictures. Thanks for sharing em.

Hoss

**Nicodemus** · #9 09-29-2008, 09:35 PM

That just impresses the tar outa me! Congrats on its first kill of the season.

Big Country · #10 09-29-2008, 10:55 PM

Wow! Awesome pics! Pm sent!

Bruz · #11 09-29-2008, 11:00 PM

That's a very interesting sport. I've read quite a bit about Falconry but have never taken the plunge. As I understand it you had to work up to the Red Tail correct?

Robert

leo · #12 09-30-2008, 06:17 AM

Neat, thanks for sharing this with us

gahawker · #13 09-30-2008, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doyle

Do you rent him out? We can't keep the blasted squirrels from ruining our feeders.

Wish you were closer, we'd see if we could thin out your population.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bam bam

That is VERY cool! How does it work, does the hawk make the kill or do you?

It depends on the hold the hawk has on the squirrel. If it is on the head, sometimes a talon will go through an eye and pierce the brain, or if the hawk has a grip behind the shoulders it will squeeze so hard that the squirrel can't breathe. Either way the hawk will kill it. The squirrel in the above picture was dead when my bird got to the ground with it. If the hawk doesn't have a killing hold, I have to get to it as soon as possible and put the squirrel down by pressing on the chest cavity with a thumb. This will asphyxiate the squirrel and kill it in a few seconds. There is danger to the hawk if it doesn't have a good hold as the bird can be bitten and real damage done. The female hawk that I had before Rocky caught a big boar fox squirrel high up in an oak and dropped him about halfway to the ground, folded her wings and slammed him as soon as he hit the ground. She dropped him because she did not have a good hold on him and he was twisting around trying to bite her feet. I made in to her and she had one foot across his head and the other across his back. A fox squirrel is hard for a bird to kill so even though she had a good hold on him I put him down as soon as I could get to them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruz

That's a very interesting sport. I've read quite a bit about Falconry but have never taken the plunge. As I understand it you had to work up to the Red Tail correct?

Robert

No, the Redtail is one of the first birds that a beginner can fly, along with the Redshoulder and Kestrel. There is no better bird available to hunt squirrels with than the redtail, so even though I can legally fly any type bird that is used for falconry, the redtail is the best, and the most readily available.

Bruz · #14 09-30-2008, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gahawker

No, the Redtail is one of the first birds that a beginner can fly, along with the Redshoulder and Kestrel. There is no better bird available to hunt squirrels with than the redtail, so even though I can legally fly any type bird that is used for falconry, the redtail is the best, and the most readily available.

GaHawker,

I guess I haven't read enough

Great looking bird.

Robert

EON · #15 09-30-2008, 11:26 AM

Extremly cool! Always been curious about falconry.

Smokey · #16 09-30-2008, 12:07 PM

Awesome.

gahawker · #17 09-30-2008, 12:21 PM

[quote=gahawker;2641939 ...........I can legally fly any type bird that is used for falconry[/QUOTE]

With the exception of the Golden Eagle.

wvduece · #18 10-01-2008, 01:50 PM

where can ya buy those birds or can ya buy them already trained sounds very interesting i belive i would like to get into hunting with a hawk jb

gahawker · #19 10-02-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wvduece

where can ya buy those birds or can ya buy them already trained sounds very interesting i belive i would like to get into hunting with a hawk jb

A beginner, after obtaining a falconry license, must serve a 2-year apprenticeship under a General or Master class falconer. During this apprenticeship, you may only possess one bird. Georgia law specifies that this bird must be either a Redtail or Redshoulder hawk or a Kestrel, but I don't know about West Virginia. None of these birds can be bought or sold. You must trap and train the bird. Once you serve out your apprenticeship and advance to the General level, you are allowed to possess and fly any 2 birds that are legal for falconry, with the exception of the Golden eagle.
You can buy captive-bred birds, either trained or untrained at this point.
Here is a link to a WV Falconry site: www.geocities.com/guruhawk/wvfalconry.

Larry

wvduece · #20 10-02-2008, 10:15 PM

thanks for the info i have been reading alot today on falconary there alot more to it than i thought im retired now n still think i would like to get into this sometime if i can locate somebody to coach me through the learning process thanks again jb

Dub · #21 10-03-2008, 05:03 AM

Very interesting.....great pics.