Tuesday 11 October 2011

Hunting with hawks

Well,here at North Devon Hawk Walks, the hunting season is with us and Lady Macbeth has already accounted for two pheasants. Not particularly spectacular flights, both ended up in deep undergrowth and were a result of her stalking the pheasants while they were on the ground and she was circling overhead. She's had seven years practice and is quite good at it.  She gets a reward of fresh meat while she is sitting on her kill, then I ( diplomatically and carefully) trade the dead pheasant for a lump of meat, without feathers, that she can eat immediately.  As soon as she's given me the pheasant, she loses interest in it.  Yet two minutes later, we're off hunting again and she's as keen as ever.

Above are some photos of Puzzle, my Brittany.  She is a hunter, pointer,retriever,  but I use her only for pointing.  Macbeth has learned to pay attention to what the dog is doing and if the hawk goes off after something the dog will dash to keep up with her. They're a very good partnership, but it's taken seven years to get to this happy state of affairs. Cassius, my one year old male hawk is still a bit wary of the dog and she tends to put him off hunting. The top and bottom photos above show Puzzle pointing. It's a very distinctive bit of body language. It's as though the dog has hit an invisible wall and frozen solid. The smell of the pheasant, or rabbit, stops her dead in her tracks. It's got so that now I can tell how far ahead of her the pheasant/rabbit is, by noting how low to the ground her head is.  The lower her head, the closer it is.  The middle photo, I've included purely because it reminds me that dogs are descended from wolves.
At North Devon Hawk Walks, I'm lucky to have access to great hunting grounds, for pheasants, and so far this season I've taken out two customers, who both had a great time.  Several more customers are booked in for our three hour hunts and I hope to get some photos of birds and dogs in action.
Take a look at www.NorthDevonHawkWalks.co.uk to get an idea of what we do.