# A Season of Hawking...



## blackbear (Oct 18, 2007)

This summer and fall has been quite an adventure for me. I trapped, tamed, trained, and am now hunting a teircel(male) Cooper's hawk. Known to some as the most difficult to handle(male western coop's), he's taught me more about my patience, personality and instinct than any human has. As of the creation of this post he has bagged 72 head of game- pigeons, starlings, sparrows, quail and a miraculous hen mallard caught in flight. Enjoy!

























We frequently hunt pigeons under freeway overpasses. Here I am feeding him up after a pigeon kill: 









Now some action shots. Watch out pigeons!!









































This is what a hard days work looks like for a 225gram micro-hawk:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Man, that is neat. 

Great pictures


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## pheaz (Feb 11, 2011)

Very cool how long did the duck last against the hawk.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

That's an awesome bird. I bet that's pretty fun to watch him hunt.


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

Very cool. How long does it take to teach a hawk to return to you when you let it fly free?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

That's awesome. That bottom picture has to be the most interesting mixed bag I've ever seen. How does sparrow taste? :mrgreen:


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## blackbear (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks guys. He made his 75th catch this evening, I'm pretty stoked. He's a little fireball. 
Phez, even with something as small as a pigeon, it takes him all his effort to hold on until I make-in to help and transfer him off his catch. The duck, as with most pigeons he's caught, would probably slip away if I wasn't there to help him hold on after a few moments. I dispatched the duck so I could eat it, but have transferred him off pigeons and put them into my dog training coop unharmed.
pkred, it depends on the bird and the falconers style of training/manning as far as when it can be flown free. It's not a rule of thumb, but most passage caught wild raptors can be free flying in about a month. A month might sound simple, but to truly do this is not a simple proposition. 
Clarq, Sparrow is like a cross between starling and pigeon- pretty darn tasty on the skillet...


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## JuddCT (Sep 7, 2007)

I saw a hawk today take out a pigeon outside my office on the rooftop of the building next to me in Provo. It was pretty sweet!


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## InvaderZim (Sep 7, 2007)

Fantastic!


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## hattrick (Aug 29, 2011)

Thats awesome, thanks for sharing. Growing up, my dad would tell me stories about the falcon he had and how he would hunt pigeons with it. Its something that has always intrigued me.


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## gooseblaster (Sep 2, 2009)

That is pretty neat! I have a friend that works in California with his hawks. He rides on a four wheeler all day while his hawks keeps the starlings off the grapes. Seems tough lol!


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

That is so freaking cool. Do you ever allow spectators? I would love to come watch if you do..


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

fixed blade XC-3 said:


> That is so freaking cool. Do you ever allow spectators? I would love to come watch if you do..


+1 to that.

Glad I decided to visit the Great outdoors section. I almost never look in the hunting section but I am glad I did tonight! Cool stuff!


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## blackbear (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. I would love to take you guys out for some hawking sometime. I'm only planning on hunting him until the end of the month. His tail has taken quite a beating for tackling so much game, so I have decided to do a forced molt with him over the colder months so he'll be ready for nesting starlings come march. Small birds like this don't do very good in the extreme cold as well, they tend to shut down and their metabolism is hard to control when temps get below freezing. If your interested in going, send me a pm.

He is out enjoying the sun this morning:


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