New to NAFEX

[Brad]

My name is Brad and I have been a falconer since 1970. I live near the coast in Central California. My favorite flights in falconry have been small falcons after small birds 20 or so years ago. However for the past 20+ years I have been flying larger falcons on ducks. Prior to that I flew passage merlins, barbary falcons, and various other small hybrid falcons. I especially enjoy flying small falcons (such as Barbary tiercels) after Doves and other small/medium sized birds. I am presently flying my 7x intermewed 3/4 Barbary x 1/4 Peregrine (Female) on ducks. Her name is Sunny and she is a very high flier and is my favorite all time "duck hawk" I have ever flown. I also fly a 3 year old Finnish Gos who laid eggs this year and will now be a part of my breeding project. I am going back to smaller birds and hope to fly one of my Red Nape Shaheen tiercels (still in the egg, wish me luck!) on Doves. At home I breed Red Napes, Barbary/ Red Napes, Barbary/ Peregrines, and Peales Peregrines. My best falconry memories have been with Barbary tiercels on Doves. This year I hope to duplicate or exceed those memories with my next small falcon, hopefully a Red Nape tiercel. After 40+ years of falconry I have learned alot, but the most important thing that I have learned is that I have alot more to learn! I welcome your stories and advice on anything when I post on NAFEX. Remember, falconry is supposed to be fun! Thanks, Brad

[Pete Kent]

Hi Brad.

[PeteJ]

Welcome aboard Brad! I'm sure we'll appreciate your input on all things small game and probably some tips on incubation practices!
Have fun and stay outta trouble mister!

[Peregrinus]

Welcome aboard Brad! Looking forward to hearing from you!

[Tanner]

Hi Brad.

For your red-nape/dove plan, what type of falcon are you raising (imprint, parent reared, hacked, tame hacked)? What pitch do you ideally look for with your central California dove slips?

[harrishawk_79]

welcome to the forums and look foward to the new reads

[cllhawker]

Hello and to NAFEX.....

[Chris L.]

Hi Brad,

Welcome to NAFEX. I look forward to your posts


I hope you enjoy the forum

kindest regards,

Chris

[kimmerar]

Hey Brad!!!

There is some great hunting stories and info on here. I can't wait to read some you yours.

I hope your breeding season goes well.


All the best

[Pedioecetes]

Hi Brad,
Really enjoyed your article about "Sunny" in "The Game Bag" a couple years ago.

[Brad]

Hi Tanner, the taking age depends on what my long term goal is for that bird. For example a future natural breeder= parent raised, hat bird= imprint. For falconry purposes only my favorite taking age is parent raised until the eyas jumps off the nest ledge (round winged, looks like a falcon, no down feathers), can make it to the feed board but cannot fly up to the nest ledge. This bird will be tame in a day and I can immediately (within a couple of days) take it to the field, let it run around and drop the lure with his meal on it. Each day I extend the time, soon he is able to fly and already knows how to come to the lure. Soon I can stoop him if I want that bird to stoop the lure, I let him make one pass to the lure I run in and flush game (probably a bagged bird for the first couple). Soon he is taking a small pitch and I look for young, inexperienced game and I start gamehawking. Depending on the type of game you choose will depend on the pitch he will want to take. Usually with doves I get 300-500 feet very soon, very nice, very functional pitch. As the season progresses his pitch will increase and I usually see 500-800 feet. With good slips and clean flushes he will want to fly nice and high. I have had one tiercel Barbary "Conan the Barbary" that in his second season would completely sky out (telemetry and binocular height) and I was hunting doves. Not as much game taken at this pitch, but I saw some memorable flights. One day when he killed a bird (that I flushed at my feet) way out he was ambushed by a red- tail. Thus ended his hawking days, but he lived and became the best breeder I have ever had. My tiercel red nape is still in the egg so hopefully there's a good dove bird in the future to watch and talk about! Brad

[Tanner]

Cheers Brad, thanks for the discussion. Open-country dove hawking is the main attraction around here and I'm always interested in what strategies and slips might look like in other parts of the country. I'm going to be starting a new imprint tiercel barbary this year and am still in egg/preseason brainstorm mode as well, so discussion is theraputic at this point! I heard nice things about a friend's full-hacked tiercel red-nape this past season and am interested in a real apples-to-apples comparison of those and the barbary. I know you breed them, but will this be the first RNS that you have flown or have you tried one already? I would like to know about the perceived differences between the cousins pelegrinoides and babylonicus as they relate to falconry.

[Black Gold]

Good to see you on here! Hope you enjoy!

[Brad]

Hi Tanner, When I purchased the origional Red Napes for my breeding project I paid alot of money for them so I was very conservative with them as far as flying goes. I figured I would fly their offspring when they started producing. Looking back I realize that I probably would have had better breeding successes had I flown them longer. I just did basic falconry with them and never really went the distance with any of them. But now things are different! I will fly a tiercel to the max!!! I can't wait. Talking to the old timers that have flown Red Napes in the old days they all said the same thing, they like to fly very high! One thing I noticed in most all of the Red Napes when I got them out of the chamber, they had a very tame nature. Right out of the chamber, newly jessed, they regained the fist right away and were easy to handle. Quite unlike the Peales that I breed!!! I know someone who flew a tiercel Red Nape a couple of years ago that killed a mallard duck one day, not recommended quarry, but very ballsy!!Brad

[Brad]

Thanks Brian, it's good to be on here. Brad

[Ricky Ortiz]

HI Brad nice to see ya here!

[sharptail]

Welcome Brad!

[Brad]

Thanks, Jeff

[Brad]

Thanks Bob, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Brad

[Brad]

Thanks Kim, say hi to Bill for me. Brad

[STait]

Welcome aboard Brad, I always wanted to try a female red-naped but the demand keeps the price too high. Good luck with your new charge.

[Brad]

Thanks Steve, let's talk soon. I'll let you know how the red nape is doing. Brad

[AirAssault]

Welcome Brad, it will be interesting to read your treads, looking forward to hearing more from you about your birds.

[ptotten]

An East Coast welcome to you, Brad!