Pain Male NA Gos

[varanus]

Thought I would post a bit on here about my project for this summer. I picked him up from Barry at 14 days old on 5/29/12. So far he has been pretty fun. He doesn't make any noise, isn't afraid of anything, and eats a ton. He is eating 5 adult mice and a whole 8 week old quail every day now. He will run about 15 or 20 feet to the lure when he is called for his meals. He goes every where with me (which drives my wife crazy) and if for some reasons I can't take him I sit him in front of the TV with the terminator on (only had to do this once while we went out to eat).

[Joby]

He's coming along great Mark! Good job! I look forward to seeing him drag down some ducks this season.

[varanus]

And now for the part you guys really care about! Pictures!!

[varanus]

[varanus]

Our favorite pass time laying around during the heat of the day.

[varanus]

From just a few minutes ago.

[FredFogg]

Mark, I always think when we imprint our second bird, we are going to do a much better job because of what we have learned. What do you think you will do different with this bird than you did with your coops? If I remember correctly from your coops thread, it became a really bad screamer. Do you have a plan to avoid this and if so, what is it? Man, I am loving all these imprint gos threads. Goodluck with him, he looks like a beauty!

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,

Most interesting. It looks like you are doing well. Keep us posted on how you manage him.

Harry.

[varanus]

I put a transmitter on his leg today and left him out in a tree for about 4 hours today. He isn't do a much except to preen and move around a little on the branch he was on. The tree is only 15 or so feet tall and the closest tree to it is about 10 yards away. Most of that time I sat out on the porch and read a book but I did leave him alone for a while (I can see the tree from my living room window). I'll put him in the tree every morning after he is fed until he starts moving about in the tree. Once he moves about more in the tree and has a bit of flight ability I'll start putting him in the tree first and then calling him down to feed him and take him in. He is sitting tied to a bow perch in my living room preening away now. He still doesn't jump back onto the perch after he jumps off but I've only been putting him on it the last couple of days so he hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet. Here soon I'll start putting him in the giant hood when we ride in the car so he can get used to that (right now he rides in his nest inside of a soft sided dog kennel). So far I'm having fun with him and trying not to push him into anything too quickly.

[varanus]

And now he just figured it out and jumped back onto the bow perch on his own.

[Ally]

And now he just figured it out and jumped back onto the bow perch on his own.

Whoohoo Always fun to watch them learn, even something that basic. Sounds like he's doing great so far

[wingnut]

And now he just figured it out and jumped back onto the bow perch on his own.

I like to tether them to a small bow type perch as soon as they can walk. I don't set them on the perch but place their nest pan near it and they jump up on it on their own. By the way. I may have the brother to your Pain.

[goshawks00]

By the way. I may have the brother to your Pain.

Nope... there were none.

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,
I wonder if your hawk may be one of the advanced bird hawks. He is young to catch things and as you say only to play.
Not to start a mud throwing contest but I see that you keep your hawks in the home. I always put imprints in the mew as soon as they begin to move around and show some signs of flying a few feet. With Cooper's they nornally take off one day like a shot out of a cannon. But this past year I fed my imprinted gos by hand and decided to keep him in our double room long after he began to fly. It was quite an experience and he played with the dogs, toys and us and all that but one day just after hard penning to my horror he withdrew! Suddenly he was fearful/agressive toward me, the glove, and my bare hand. In all the years (since the 60's) of raising all sorts of imprints I had never seen this type of withdrawal. My wife was afraid of him after he withdrew and refused to come in these rooms until he went to the mew. He was ill at ease in the home late afternoon so I puthim in the mew/flight pen each evening but he was not left in the mew during the day. Naturally I brought his weight down for hunting but it required some time before he settled in and would come to the lure. I was only able to call him in with the lure toward the end of the day most days. He was aggressive toward us but not the dogs, or horses. So my question is why did he withdraw when kept in our two rooms?
He did well in taking quail and is now molting tame as a pet so he did overcome the fear/aggression but it took time.

Harry.

[rocgwp]

Mark,
I wonder if your hawk may be one of the advanced bird hawks. He is young to catch things and as you say only to play.
Not to start a mud throwing contest but I see that you keep your hawks in the home. I always put imprints in the mew as soon as they begin to move around and show some signs of flying a few feet. With Cooper's they nornally take off one day like a shot out of a cannon. But this past year I fed my imprinted gos by hand and decided to keep him in our double room long after he began to fly. It was quite an experience and he played with the dogs, toys and us and all that but one day just after hard penning to my horror he withdrew! Suddenly he was fearful/agressive toward me, the glove, and my bare hand. In all the years (since the 60's) of raising all sorts of imprints I had never seen this type of withdrawal. My wife was afraid of him after he withdrew and refused to come in these rooms until he went to the mew. He was ill at ease in the home late afternoon so I puthim in the mew/flight pen each evening but he was not left in the mew during the day. Naturally I brought his weight down for hunting but it required some time before he settled in and would come to the lure. I was only able to call him in with the lure toward the end of the day most days. He was aggressive toward us but not the dogs, or horses. So my question is why did he withdraw when kept in our two rooms?
He did well in taking quail and is now molting tame as a pet so he did overcome the fear/aggression but it took time.

Harry.

I don't want to highjack this thread, so this might be better taken to a separate area. I'm curious if what you encountered Harry has less to do with being raised indoors as it does with the hawk seeing you as sibling competition instead of as a parent. Ally's thread on Blackjack talks about this some. In talking with Steve Layman, the important part of hand feeding is watching the hawk to maintain being seen as a parent.

[varanus]

Feel free to talk about it here I don't mind at all.

[dflorea]

Cool, Good looking hawk, Good luck with him!

[varanus]

Thanks, yeah he is a good looking boy.

[hcmcelroy]

Jeff,
I spoke to Steve L several times because I was using his system of hand feeding and was cautious in feeding and raising him. Steve has some great observations.

Harry.

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,

Almost every last accipiter I've flown has eaten the head and neck first if I stay back and don't present a threat.

Sounds like your male is relaxed and trusting. Good show!

Harry.

[varanus]

The only thing that bothered him was a strange guy that ran past while he was eating. He kaked at him but that was it. I'm going to try another here in a little while and see what happens.

[varanus]

If everything works this smooth every time, I will be one happy guy. 30 feet and he is off the glove and on the quail in the blink of an eye. I waited for him to stop giving his war cry, and then I made in, dispatched the quail, and hooked him to the leash. After he plucked and ate for a little while, I tossed out his lure with a whole skinned quail on it. He jumped right over to the lure and kept on eating like nothing had changed while I picked up his quail. He ate a good bit off the lure and then when He started looking around like he was going to walk off I stepped him up onto the glove and we walked back to the house slick as can be.
My only problem with him is that all of a sudden he hates my springer. He will chase after her, and try to kill her. Up until the last two days he would ignore he even if she laid right under him and now . I hope once he is up and cranking and sees her producing game for him that he will turn around but my hopes on that aren't real high. If all of his anger stays on the dog and away from me, I'm okay with it. He has started to make a little noise but only in the morning before we go out to catch his quail and then after that he is silent. The noise he makes is pretty quiet though so I hope that once he realizes that eating is up to him catching his food and not me just giving it to him he will stop even that noise.

[varanus]

Oh I'm going to try tossing a quail with the flight feathers cut for him tomorrow to see what he thinks of a bird that can move away from him.

[Joby]

Sounds like things are going great, Mark. Can't wait to see him sometime when I get back from Virginia on Friday.

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,

Sounds like all is progressing nicely. Is he at the same weight as before the night out? He seems much more responsive.

Harry.

[allredone]

Wow hat does sound great!

[BestBeagler]

And that's whats nice about the hack and what I'm missing with my bird. Nice man... Barry makes nice birds.

[varanus]

I didn't weigh him yesterday morning but I suspect he was about the same weight as he was this morning. He was 686g when I checked this morning and fed up to 760g. I weighed him a little while ago and he was 710g so I gave him a bit more to bump him up a little. I have neglected driving with him sitting in the front out of the giant hood and tried that a bit ago and it didn't go so well at all. He pretty much just wanted to jump through the windows and was going to make a mess of himself so I'll be skipping that from now on and just use the GH. I'll check him again and see what he is at before I go to bed and I'll start to chart his weight loss through out the day and night for a while . Yeah Barry makes a great bird thats for sure, I'm just trying to do my best not to screw him up to bad and get him pointed in the right direction. I'm thinking I should just start taking him out to some of the places I hunted the coops and see how he does on some smaller birds.

[allredone]

I'm thinking I should just start taking him out to some of the places I hunted the coops and see how he does on some smaller birds.

Awesome dude! Love the males.

You might consider hunting depredating blackbirds? Some are young and still not fully flightted. They were legal in Wisconsin with land owner permission when depredating.

Not sure about Michigan but they apparently are a big problem in some areas.

Check it out:

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/fo...d.php?t=388346

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,

Many of us fly the beginners in the same area every day for some time because they are more relaxed. Its rather like their nest area. The aplomado is an extreme example...when they drift out of the "home" area they will not come to the lure until they return. The place where I fly beginning hawks here is called the "practice area" and I know it well...about 12 minutes from home. Sadly enough it is a dangerous place with a share of predators.

Harry.

[varanus]

We just got back from VA where we had a good time. Pain did pretty well all things considered. He isn't real fond of his giant hood any more but I don't really blame him since he had to spend so much time in it while we were out and about doing stuff. He did get a little pissy one time and footed me but I hope a couple days back at home in our normal routine will smooth out things. On a good note, he did hit a quail at a gas station after about 5 hours in the car on the way home. He wasn't hungry but he needed to blow off some steam so he footed the hell out of it. After I dispatched it he just sat and plucked for a couple minutes and then jumped off to goof around. Once he gets settled back in I'll start trying to get after some field birds with him and see how he does with it still being so hot though it will have to be short trips out. Oh he did bend a couple of tail feathers while in the GH on the way home but they aren’t bad just a little bit curved, nothing a bit of hot water can’t sort out.

[varanus]

So I took Pain out today with a quail I had cut the flight feathers off. As we walked out the door he, spots a robin sitting maybe 15 feet away and off he shoots after it. He chased it for a ways, then gave up, and came back around to me, landing right next to me. After that I picked him up, walked over to the cover, and tossed out the quail. He had it all wrapped up in less than 5 feet. Now for the first time he tried to carry and it took a little while for him to stop. I just left him alone while I stood on the line (I tied a line about 10 feet long to the quail just in case he missed it and it made it to cover so I could recover it) and let him do his thing. After a little while, he stopped to pluck for a minute and when he did I tossed out the lure. He left his kill (he had put a talon through its head when he caught it killing it pretty much instantly) and started eating on the lure with no trouble at all. I bagged the quail and just sat next to him while he ate the skinned quail on the lure and when he was finished I picked him up and we went back to the house. We just need to sort through him trying to carry and we should be golden.

[varanus]

Well I think we have carrying taken care of now. The other day he carried a quail under a tree and then had a cat come in on him. The cat never even got close to him but it was enough to scare nthe shit out of him pretty good. Ever since then though he has wanted to stay pretty close to me when on a kill.

[varanus]

Pretty cool day out today. I put out a fully flighted quail in the launcher for the first time(I had just been hand tossing them for him). I did our normal thing which is to walk around for about 10 minutes or so looking for slips and then we found the launcher. I pulled the cord and the lsuncher tossed the quail about 10 feet. He saw the quail and off he went after it but it bailed into cover on him at the last minute. Now for the cool part, normally at this point he just lands on something close by, but today when I held up the glove for him he came and landed on it. Thankfully I knew exactly where the quail was and right after he landed I was able to get the quail back out for him to catch. Everything went pretty good from there. He didn't really eat that much only about 40g or so, so I'll have to give him some more this evening to keep his weight where it is.

[hcmcelroy]

Mark,

I've used the backpack on all hawks for years and so far no real problems. A few throw a fit at first but it has not lasted long.

Harry.