Hunting Jack Rabbits with a Golden Eagle
- Thread starter chase0109
- Start date
fsentkilr
Active member
That's a good enough reason for me not to allow anyone to hunt pheasants with them. A hen killed by a falcon is just as dead as one killed with a shotgun and won't raise many babies next year.
Toad
Active member
C'mon, man. How many people have ever asked you permission to pheasant hunt with their bird of prey? :laugh: Probably the same number of people who will ever ask you in your lifetime... I'm betting on zero. :laugh:
Pheasants are not a super popular quarry for most people flying a bird of prey.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
Toad how many hens would your bird have caught by now if you would have left him in the nest.
fsentkilr
Active member
I should have worded it differently. I don't think anyone should be allowed to hunt pheasants with them. Killing hens is killing hens. I especially don't think it should be allowed on public ground. It's against the law to kill hens when hunting with a gun for a reason. Kill all the rabbits you want, they are a little more prolific.
Toad
Active member
Mine? I would guess none or a very very low number. But there are not many pheasants in the area I trapped her. Tough to say how many if she had been from a high density pheasant area.
I'm sure she would give them a shot if she was hungry and thought she could catch one. Pheasants are tricky prey, as we gun hunters all know. I imagine rodents would still be a wild RT's first choice, even in pheasant mecca... Easier to catch and great nutrition.
PheasantWhisperer
Member
How accurate are the hawks at catching the prey their after? Percentage wise.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
Terrible cell phone video,, really only viewable off of a computer. Two roosters being harassed ,a second b/o/p joined in seconds later. This was a? Really
I swear It was much cooler to watch in person.
https://vimeo.com/199486650
I swear It was much cooler to watch in person. https://vimeo.com/199486650
fsentkilr
Active member
That doesn't mean it isn't illegal, if a game warden see you shoot one on accident you get a ticket. If its not legal to shoot them it shouldn't be legal to hunt them and kill them any other way.
Hi gsh lover,
I'm happy you enjoy the thread. I will post some pics and updates once I get back to KS. I'll be going out with KansasGsp (member here) next weekend. I'll post how that goes and hopefully he can give a report based on what he sees in the field.
Thanks,
Chase
Hi BrownDogsCan2,
I know this questions was directed at Toad. But because I have a vast amount of experience with raptors I'll give it a go answering it.
Toad trapped his bird as a passage. Basically a fancy word meaning a young of the year bird that has fledged and hunting on its own but not completed its first winter. So his bird was out and hunting before he trapped it. Normally most redtails survive on rodents as a staple. Maybe a few cottontails thrown in if were lucky. But mice and meadow voles mostly.
I would say 98% of Redtails never taste a pheasant. They will surely try if they get the option, but it would be extremely rare for a wild or trained RT to catch a pheasant. The cover pheasants use, coupled with escape tactics, and there heavy feathering make it extremely difficult.
So I would bet the farm that Toads bird wouldn't ever make a pheasant kill in the wild. And if he ever catches one with his RT in falconry he should bask in his extremely good luck :cheers:
Chase
That's a tough question. Are we talking wild or falconry? In the wild birds will expend as little energy as possible for the biggest reward. If your talking meadow voles for a RT, probably very high success rate per attempt. If were talking RT's on pheasants and jacks, very low due to the increased difficulty.
From a falconry standpoint. Falcons for example. When I flew ducks with a experienced bird he would usually make a kill if given a good setup on a reasonable pond. Pheasant success was very low with the same bird. The biggest difference was ducks would flush clean and pheasants wold just bail into cover and run off. Young falcons have a much harder time on the same duck setups. A young falcon is really like a puppy learning. You wouldn't expect a young dog to find point and hold every bird in a field. That comes with time and experience.
As for Dexter on jacks. Some days he is a superstar and goes 75% catches/flushes. Some days he can't seem to catch one to save his life, like 1 catch per 20 flushes. Really depends on the raptors experience, fitness level, quality of quarry and evasive manuevers. Plus the cover your flying.
We often say "if you want to fill your game bag use a shotgun, if you want the art of seeing the predator prey relationship use falconry". I love both methods! But falconry is more about getting a front row seat to what happens in nature than making lots of kills.
Thanks,
Chase
Hi fsentkilr,
I understand your thought process. I really do. But falconry is a non impact art and will not make any difference to the # of pheasants you see. We are allowed to legally kill hens via falconry. Kansas Reg:
(k) The statewide season for taking game birds by falconry shall be September 1 through March
31. Any falconer may possess hen pheasants that are incidentally taken by falconry means during the
established falconry game bird season. Each falconer shall possess no more than two hen pheasants per
day.
The key words here are "incidentally taken". The reason that reg was written is because we can't control what flushes and the bird don't care what the sex is. Now it says "incidentally". If would bet that its not legal to knowingly try to kill a hen. For example you see a lone hen under a tumbleweed and put a bird up with the intention of catching that specific hen. But get out in a crp field and you dog goes on point, you put a bird up. No idea what sex will flush. For falcons its usually one and done. We make a kill or not and that bird is done until tomorrow.
When we catch a hen it is by chance. Same as if you hit a hen with your car. I'm guessing you wouldn't get in trouble for that. I would say there are more hens killed by cars in kansas per day than falconers will kill in 10 years of hunting.
Chase
Interesting thread and very cool pictures. I'm guessing the cottontails are actually a little harder to hunt with a raptor because they tend to hang out in brush patches that would give them some protection. How much does Dexter weigh? Doesn't that get hard on your arm walking around carrying a large bird?
Jerry
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
Usually cottontails are hunted with birds on a perch above. Trees, telephone poles, hay stacks, ect. Red tails or harris hawks will follow the falconer (we act as the dog flushing game). They learn to follow us. Then they use skill and height to crash through the brush or thread the needle in small breaks in cover. A skilled bird can make it look easy. But overall it is very challenging and its up to the bird to use its skills to make the catch.
Dexter weights 6lb 12oz. It doesn't sound all that heavy, but putting that much weight on the top of your fist adds up. I'm pretty used to it and lift through out the year to stay in shape. But after walking for 3 hours in a field you feel it lol. Also jacks in KS average 6-7lb each. Add 3 of those to your vest and your ready to see the truck.
Thanks,
Chase
Toad
Active member
Yes, thanks. I should have clarified it was a juvenile bird, not a hatchling removed from the nest.
I have flushed pheasants in a great position for her and she didn't even flinch in their direction. She looked at them just like the dozens of collared doves that were buzzing around that day. She chased the heck out of rabbits right before and after the pheasants flushed, but showed no interest in the pheasants.
I don't have telemetry, so I'm fine with her not going on a lengthy tail chase.
I can imagine that it gets pretty hard to keep your arm up. Some sort of belt with a brace off of it might help.
I would have actually guessed a couple pounds heavier just judging by his size. There are lots of eagles where I hunt in ND (both golden and bald) and some of them look really big but of course we never get too close to them. About 5 or 6 years ago the jack rabbit population must have peaked, but we have hardly seen any since.
Do you eat any of the jacks or do they just get turned in to food for Dexter? In my experience the ones that live in sage brush areas are not good, but if they are in an agricultural area, much better.
Jerry
Miforester
Well-known member
I had a great experience this fall in SD when I got the chance to watch hawk/falcon pursue a flushed pheasant, thought I had it recorded on my gopro. The bird had flushed wild in front of my dogs and out of a tree line the raptor came out after the pheasant, hen not that it matters. The raptor closed the gap pretty quick and got within 20 yards of the hen when she landed in some CRP. The raptor rose in altitude and hovered a bit then dove into the CRP. The hen reflushed and the pursuit was on again, this time they were coming straight for me. After about a 200 yard chase the hen again landed in some switchgrass. The raptor left the area still hungry. It was a very cool scene to watch and I was mad that I didn't have it on video, still was learning the gopro.
Another other experience I've had with hawks have been being dive bomb by goshawks will out cruising or inventorying timber stands. As longs as they were chirping at me I felt fine, it was when they went silent I had to worry, one did take my cap off my head. Needless to say I found the nest marked it and moved on.
I raise pigeons and have had them come back bloody from what I would assume to be an attack or shot at. Had hawks chase them back to their loft, have not had one in the loft yet and hope I never.
Another other experience I've had with hawks have been being dive bomb by goshawks will out cruising or inventorying timber stands. As longs as they were chirping at me I felt fine, it was when they went silent I had to worry, one did take my cap off my head. Needless to say I found the nest marked it and moved on.
I raise pigeons and have had them come back bloody from what I would assume to be an attack or shot at. Had hawks chase them back to their loft, have not had one in the loft yet and hope I never.