I just came here from another falconry video where the comments are full of cursing and ignorance and hate for the sport. I'm an apprentice going into my second year. I watched this video repeatedly before I was licensed, and even now that trapping season is near. From the bottom of my heart i wanted to say thank you for representing the sport in a healthy light, and answering questions calmly and being respectful to people who may not know much about the sport.
Maustongirl19 Thank you for the compliment. I am also excited that trapping season is near as I hope to trap a new red tail. Good luck with the coming season and post video of your experiences.
Thanks for your comment and I respect your opinion, but consider this, 70% of young Red Tail hawks die before they reach one year of age. In The U.S we can only trap hawks under one year of age. Most are released after one year in falconry and have much hunting experience by then. The hawk in this video is approaching his 4th season and will be released this Spring. Hawks used in falconry have a much higher success rate than the birds left to nature.
Thats so fascinating! I wish I had the means to get into falconry ! I looovveee watching the red tails by our farm. I will have to settle with my greek cheek conure haha
I had the same opinion as them for a while but after researching the topic completely changed my opinion on the sport and even convinced vegetarian friends on how catch and release was very morale thing to do!
I am in awe. I spend hours each weekend trying to photograph these beautiful birds. I love training animals, this will definitely be something that I will look to get into in the future. thank you for a wonderful and inspiring video.
Awsome training video. I've been reading info and scouering the abundance of information on falconry. Great appreciation with what falconers choose as a hunting method.
Thank you for the peek into your sport of choice. Simply incredible. If i could whistle, get trained and licensed, and had land (and a family that wasn't allergic to birds) lol, I'd definitely try this out
usually train them as yearlings, fresh out of the nest without the knowledge to be able to hunt effectivly, you stick around feed them, they develop their skills till they can hunt reliably on their own then you choose whether or not to release them. caught wild remain wild then set free to become fully wild again is the cycle of falconry.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I was a falconer. After two “taters”/Redtails as we sometimes lovingly call them in Georgia and two Kestrels I had to hang it up. Personal stuff got in the way and this isn’t something you can do half way. Anyway watching this video brings back such great memories. To the falconry haters they need a history lesson. If it weren’t for the husbandry skills of falconers the knowledge that was needed to save endangered species like the Peregrine might have been lost. But I digress, happy hunting sir! Many thanks! Makes me want to pull some vines and send some marbles into the trees again. If you don’t understand- It’s a hawking thang. You had to be there! Lol!
so much more was learned from this short practical application of falconry video than many documentary videos could. you can truly learn about the animal by watching this process without some boring narrator analyzing the science of it all
I just want to say this is by far my most favorite video regarding falconry on youtube. I'm not sure why. Either the fact it incorporates everything from trap to hunt. Or the fact I just love the light-phase redtails I just don't know but I've watched it countless times. I wanted to tell you I love all your videos and to keep posting them. Thanks again for all your great videos as I believe they are the ones that finally got me to get moving and pursuing this passion of mine. I passed my state exams and found a sponsor a couple months ago and am just waiting on the apprentice season in september to start here in Arizona to start my journey. I'll be starting with a Harris hawk. Hope the moult goes well and hope you have another great season next time!
Troy Moody Thanks for taking the time to comment. Welcome to the sport of falconry. It will be a life changing pursuit. Keep me posted with your apprenticeship. If you are on facebook look me up. There are several falconry forums there as well.
You are right that he does get food, shelter and medical if needed. He's not really killing for fun. It's fun for the falconer but the hawk is always trying to kill for survival. The prey he catches is fed to the hawk throughout the year. The falconer does help with its survival when needed.
I understand what you mean, I misspoke.. i mean it gets to hunt and satisfy their instinctive "thirst for the hunt" as its engraved in their brain... in falconry they get to be birds of prey but without all the negatives that the hunt entails (the fact they are really hunting to not die, to "eat/survival.") So it technically is for fun from my point of view, but obviously the bird lacks the concept of fun, its just doing what raptors do, acting out of instinct, but with the comfort of knowing that if they are not successful, they still have food and shelter provided to them, they get to live a care-free life. These birds always seem in good spirits and you can tell they enjoy themselves, its a win win everyone. I must add! Beautiful animal sir!
@@Wolf-kh5rp - What he will miss is being killed by another bird of prey, starving to death, being hit by a car and killed or injured and then dying of starvation, being shot by a land owner protecting his poultry, being electrocuted landing on power lines, eating an animal infected with pesticides, having a gut load of parasites that he cannot get rid of naturally, flying into a windmill and being killed, killed or injured by another of his own kind while in a territorial dispute or protecting his meal, being injured or killed by a hurricane, being injured or killed by a prey animal like a rattlesnake, being killed by another predator, flying into an airplane, dealing with temperature extremes that can cause hyper- or hypo- thermia, ...... This bird can live a very good and contented life, and has interaction from his handler, plenty of exercise, and will live FAR LONGER AND HEALTHIER that he could ever do in the wild. Idiots like you watch national geographic or animal planet shows and think these animals live a "happy go lucky" life of play in the wild, when their whole existence is just surviving long enough to procreate, and avoid being caught and torn apart (ALIVE) by some other hungry "happy go lucky" animal! Falconry is a symbiotic relationship between man and 'hawk', where BOTH benefit equally! If it was SOOOOOO bad, then the hawk would fly away instead of returning!
Thanks! I contacted my Oklahoma State Dept of Wildlife and they were the ones that broke the bad news to me. I contacted my state falconry association and they basically told me I lived too far away. I was told to start reading and if I could show them I really meant business, someone might sponsor me. I was kinda discouraged, but not going to give up. Thanks for your kind words and encouraging videos.
Regular beast master over here. Thats super cool man. What a skill to have. To anyone having some conflictions with your sensibilitys, what he's done here is form a kind of symbiotic relationship with this bird. Before this bird had to hunt. Now it just flys away and when it returns it gets food. Plus this guy gets food if he needs to. It's win win.
You mentioned in a past comment the birds may choose to not come back to the falconer during a hunt. Is Max still with you now? And if a bird does decide to leave, wouldn't the bells on it's legs hinder it in the wild?
When it comes to these birds, they are never truly tame or domesticated. More used to humans and what not we might have exposed to them, but in the whole scheme of things they are animals of instinct. You never teach them to hunt or catch prey, or to fly even as fledglings. The really fantastic things about falconry is that the moment you release them to hunt or fly about, its their decision to return, and often they want to. You give warmth, food, security, and you help them rascals too to hunt by flushing prey from hiding places. The bells would not hinder them, but the leather straps that are tied to their legs potentially are. (they can snag though it does not happen often). And most birds nowadays have telemetry transmitters tied to them during hunts, in part so you can find them again and in part to be able to keep track of them. A hunting technique I have seen has had the bird track and mark prey for the human to flush it out so it gets an opportunity to strike. Some birds that actually are released out into the wild turns back up the day after, or even the next year around hunting seasons and whatnot. Rare as these cases are they do happen.
I appreciate this video so much. My daughter and I watched this video three years ago when we were just wanting to start out in falconry and it got me so excited. Since then, I've gotten to train and hunt with two red tails for myself. My girl and I are just finishing our second season, and are going to intermew a red tail for the first time. You do a great job of showing all the major moments!
Amazing video. I just applied to take the Falconry License test in California. Are all Hawks/Falcons as calm as this one was when you initially caught him? My darn chickens are meaner to me than this bird seemed at first.
No, good question. The bells are the traditional way of keeping track of the location of your bird. The hawk can be difficult to see and find when they are flying about. Modern falconry now includes the use of telemetry. A small transmitter is attached to the hawk. The falconer uses a receiver to locate the hawk.
I always wounted to catch and train a red tail but there is no one close to me living that I could learn from.please keep posting your videos for I love watching you and your birds.ps wish you lived close to me.
Amazing video well done it takes alot of time and effort to accomplish what you did it helped you got the right bird sum are just not made of the right stuff best of luck with him in the future
Great video. Reminds of a baby sparrow hawk I found that couldn’t fly. I took it home and fed it. It grew into an adult and was allowed to be free as soon as it was able to fly and get away from any animal that might try and get it. It would always come to me and keep all those nasty sparrows away from my barn and house. It finally met its mate and they raised many more in my neighborhood. I have always loved these birds and wanted to get another and train to hunt for me getting sparrows. I had a pigeon as a boy that was a great pet of mine thru grade school. That’s what got me started with birds. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Like you I had various birds as pets growing up. One of my favorites was a dove I raised from a chick. It flew free and would come when called.
A small yard is needed to house a hawk, as an 8'x8' mew(hawk house) and a small outdoor area to weather the hawk. Many falconers hunt on public gamelands or get permission to hunt on private land. I have about 30 acres which would be a minimum.
Excellent Video. Thanks for showing how calm and controlled things should be, and how much fun the birds are really having when handled and kept correctly.
This is truly amazing to see. I would've never guessed the hawk would be a wild one at that. You simple trained him to work for you, like man did has with the wild roaming mustangs. Thank you for sharing this video and educating us. I so want to experience this myself. I have a weakness for wild hair.
Hah, he sounds so sad at the end, thinking you might take it from him. My cousin used to have a female Red Tail named Tama, and he took me along on a hunt one time. She nailed a rabbit no problem, but when he tried to clear some brush out for her, she got pretty defensive. Just grabbed onto his finger with one foot and gave him this death stare from hell until he backed off. XD
you do take it from them..slip them a chunk of non training meat. taste different! make certain the meat has hair in it. go home skin the animal freeze the parts you will feed ..keeps wild animal bacteria and virus down. online order whole animals to feed them, clean raised feeders. good job sir ...definity a public service..getting the children involve td cooodooos. thanks for posting
I volunteer with a nonprofit in Indiana called Soarin Hawk Raptor Rehab. We take care of all Raptors including hawks. They are so amazing. I just love these birds of prey!
Good question. Most red tails don't have much defense once the feet are controled. They don't usually try to bite.and once they are hooded and block their eyesight they will calm down.
We once caught a Cooper’s hawk trying to eat our chickens (we released it once we were certain it wasn’t hurt), as soon as we threw a blanket over him, he played dead.
My only advice at this point is to listen and observe your sponsor carefully and to read all you can about falconry. Good to see a young person getting into the sport. Good luck and keep me posted.
Now Sir you just made me want one bad as ever ,and when I build my Beautiful home I will extremely consider building a fly pen as well as training object post like you. Thank you so much for sharing if your still reading these comments.
Most falconers are passionate about this sport and I welcome the ideas and techniques others as your self are willing to share. I look forward to seeing your future posts. Thanks friend.
I've been wondering something. I've seen a couple of these trap videos, and the hawk never fights back. It just lies still with its mouth open. They're not that restricted to the point they can't attack when you hold them. What's stopping them from fighting back?
Once you controll the feet there's not much they can do. They seem to be shocked at their situation. It hard to believe that most will be flying free to you in 4 to 5 weeks.
Alejandro Dahlgren I think that's probably why. They're scared because the falconer is, to them, a monster that's trying to eat them. The falconer has to prove they aren't going to eat the bird lol
Please elaborate a little on how the trapping process works...looks like it struggles to get free of something...then you throw the blanket which I assume to be to cut off visual input...but then you take it off...I was thinking it was chloroformed or something...in time for you to put that thing that covers the eyes. Apparently not?
I too once thought this sport was very time consuming. It does take a commitment but the time involved is not as much as I once thought. I wish I had started this when I was younger.
Thanks for posting these, I've been studying falconry and the requirements for a while now and while I'd love to get into I just don't have the time for such a commitment at the moment. Always glad to see videos like these though!
As an aspiring falconer here in Missouri this video was very helpful in giving me a perspective on what I am going to be getting myself into. And it only makes me want it that much more. Great job with max and I hope to see more videos soon.
I understand and I am too much a perfectionnist... always putting myself into question what could be done better... It makes sense to move away from road and onlookers quickly and check your catch closely. Well done and thanks again for sharing with everybody openly. Salam
Great video and brings back lots of good memories of several red-tails I've had over the years. Fastest time from trap to first kill was 7 days. Passage hen trapped on Sept 2, free flown Sept 8, first squirrel on Sept 9th. She was a great red-tailed. Released her two years later and she stayed around the house for a good 2 years and would come to me when called for "treats". Miss the old girl. Looking forward to getting another one in next few weeks.
this was a great video, thanks for posting! I am wanting to look into falconry and see if this is something I would like to do- it looks very rewarding and a joy to do!
I've always had an astounding fascination with birds of prey... Red tail hawks being my most favorite... I wish I could train under someone with this type of knowledge... I dream of the day I'm able to have one of these birds this close to me!!
Here in the U.S. we are required to have a mentor during the first 2 years. If you are in the U.S. look online for your state falconry association. They have meets throughout the year and usually allow visitors to attend. This is a good way to meet falconers near you.
Marshall, I really appreciate your videos! My life long passion of becoming a falconer has finally came true, and your videos made the long process easier. I have a few videos that I may post soon with my new bird. Hopefully I will see you stop by to visit. First tidbit, first flight, first ... etc. Thank you again for your videos.
Its an act of congress to get a license but you sir are inspiring. I had an Arabian hawk when I was ten so when I moved to the U.S I wanted to train them again but like I said its a lot of red tape. Thx for the video.
I have been interested in falconry since childhood when I read about it for the first time. I have sadly never been in a position to be able to actually get into the sport, but it will happen some day. Anazing, interesting video.
I had a similar story. I became passionate about falconry at 10 years of age, but it was not legal in my state at that time. I always thought "someday". I waited 38 more years, but it has been worth it. Hang in there.
Marshall Davis aw no problem! That video was great...truly stunning stuff. I just sent you a msg via Facebook - don't know if you check that or not. Cheers!
Thanks, this method gets good results, but manning in your home may be better. I hope to make a new video in the Fall if I trap a new hawk. Manning inside seems to make a calmer hawk.
Brandon believe me I do understand. I became interested in falconry by age 10, but it wasn't legal in NC at that time. Once bitten by the falconry bug it never went away. I finally became a falconer at 48 and I am now 53. What I'm trying to say is don't give up. It is worth it. Without a sponsor you won't be able to obtain a bird but you can still begin learning. I would invest in a good falconry book. I recommend The Falconer's Apprentice by William Oakes. It is sold by Northwoods Falconry.
Perfect summary of how it works :) b.c trap to free flight just best video I've seen for the manning part. I've seen a lot of videos with bad ethics. Finally I can watch a video and not tear it apart as a falconer:)
at first I thought you were some hick that wanted a hawk as a pet, but I gotta say.. you are doing great with him. I have hawks living on and around my property and they are really amazing birds and I love it when I can get a good picture of one. It's really cool to see how well he's being treated and how they can adapt to being with people.
@@falconfather69 Maybe you can help me ID the species of one hawk that regularly visits my house here in San Diego. She's a a beauty! instagram.com/p/BmR5dQFgHEi/?
I've always been a fan of BOP and as a Animal Control Officer I've rescued quit a few, I just took a gorgeous Redtail to rescue that possibly had a concussion. I met a falconeer on the job and he's agreed to sponsor me so I'm starting to load up on info. Your bird is gorgeous, you've done a great job with him
I have a double yellow headed amazon parrot named bill that has been living with me for 15 years. We are best friends, but he wont let anyone including me touch him. This bird is more calm than my parrot haha!
I did laugh out loud with your comment. It's a small world as I teach with Tommy. He is one heck of a teacher with your sense of humor, and your mother is quite the character as well. I'll send Tommy your regards. Good to here from a native from Richmond Co. I also taught at R'ham Jr. from 85 to 94. Might you have been there?
What a great video, a real pleasure to watch. Unfortunately we are not allowed to trap wild Birds Of Prey over here in the UK but it is good to see how you guys do it from "over the pond"! Thanks for posting the video!
Thanks for making this video. I've been hoping to become a falconer for many years and only recently have the time and energy to put in to it. Hopefully I'll be creating some of my own videos soon. :-) Good luck and happy hunting.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I became interested in falconry at age 10 but didn't become a falconer until age 48. Contact your state falconry club or association and your wildlife commission to help you get started.