titaniumtalons
Full Member
Vote Michael Beran NAFA Director At Large
Posts: 279
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Post by titaniumtalons on Sept 30, 2007 22:09:16 GMT -5
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jobbyjob
Junior Member
It's sad to be lonely in a crowd.
Posts: 173
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Post by jobbyjob on Oct 2, 2007 22:42:46 GMT -5
great pics! I raised a young skunk when I was a kid...they make great pets. But why are you training your harris's to leave white colored game alone? Is your jrt mostly white or something like that?
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titaniumtalons
Full Member
Vote Michael Beran NAFA Director At Large
Posts: 279
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Post by titaniumtalons on Oct 3, 2007 21:30:12 GMT -5
Nothing good can come of a hawk catching white animals. Most Falconry dogs are white and skunks are with a white stripe. I had a skunked hawk two years ago!
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jobbyjob
Junior Member
It's sad to be lonely in a crowd.
Posts: 173
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Post by jobbyjob on Oct 4, 2007 0:16:45 GMT -5
lol, yeah I guess thats true.
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Post by frootdog on Oct 8, 2007 6:30:51 GMT -5
Nothing good can come of a hawk catching white animals. Most Falconry dogs are white and skunks are with a white stripe. I had a skunked hawk two years ago! That bird turned quite a funny color too if I remember correctly. ;D |
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Post by Weasel on Oct 8, 2007 10:47:00 GMT -5
It was a California Beach Harris.......dude...
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Post by richardfhoyer on Oct 18, 2007 19:30:37 GMT -5
Michael,
Do you believe that having the hawks learn not attack your white rabbits will transfer to other light colored animals such as opossums and perhaps white cats?
On 3/31/91, I was given my first Harris' Hawk. Her former owner named her Thunder Moon or some such name so I just called her Moon. Hunted her the first time on 4/24/91 and the first quarry I flushed was a small skunk about 1/3rd grown. She flew over and I braced myself for the worst but she pulled up and went back to a tree. Next, out from the same briar patch came the parent female skunk but again, Moon did not go after the skunk. Was I lucky or is it the nature of most (or all) Harris' Hawks not to tackle skunks?
Avoidance training to white animals (rabbits) may not be such a good idea for some falconers that live in the northern tier of states and hunt Snowshoe Hares. That species often turns partly white to nearly all white during the winter months in some regions of the U.S. and Canada. It has been one of my future goals to perhaps try for Snowshoe Hares here in Oregon.
And of course, domestic rabbits come in a variety of colors besides white. There are a few places in Oregon where the domestic rabbit is a feral animal and even reproducing. A spot I have hunted about 12 miles away near Albany, Oregon has a few feral rabbits and my female Harris' Hawk took two of them last year. The second rabbit was an off reddish-brown color. She caught that one along a fence row covered with briars where we normally flush Eastern Cottontails. Was quite surprised when I moved in to dispatch the rabbit and found it was a feral domestic bunny.
Richard F. Hoyer
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titaniumtalons
Full Member
Vote Michael Beran NAFA Director At Large
Posts: 279
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Post by titaniumtalons on Oct 19, 2007 19:29:40 GMT -5
My first male Harris Hawk, Zekie caught a small skunk the very first real hunting trip out! It was a mess, he turned a camel/straw color because of the peroxide/dawn/bakeingsoda solution I used on him to cut the smell, he looked like an witty bitty tiny golden eagle.
Training for white avoidance is just an experiment for me but it has paid off as Padme' has checked off several cats, one skunk and has never even looked twice at a dog.
I can take a white rat and handle it in front of her and she doesn't give it a second look, Neo on the other hand still thinks about it.
If you ever tried to take SS hares this would not be good training, I hear even the whitetail jacks in Alamosa are very pale during the winter, we'll see what happens.
Michael Beran
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