Ruger - 2013 Imprint Male Goshawk

[kitana]

I was wondering about hooding Jeff: since you already started target training with success, do you plan to start hood training and desensitizing to the hood? Maybe starting this early could make the bird acquire an immense history of reinforcement associated with hooding and help him get through the panic phase where the braces are shut for the first time. What do you think?

[rocgwp]

I was wondering about hooding Jeff: since you already started target training with success, do you plan to start hood training and desensitizing to the hood? Maybe starting this early could make the bird acquire an immense history of reinforcement associated with hooding and help him get through the panic phase where the braces are shut for the first time. What do you think?

I won't introduce the hood until later on when he can exercise hard. I'm going off Layman's experience here. He has done both and both work. The chance of paper cuts is greater when you start hooding early. I like how Apache's hooding worked out, so I am going that route.

[rocgwp]

Went to Bass Pro to get some work done on my bow today and Ruger tagged along. 2 hours in the store and nobody ever noticed him. I'm always amazed by that.

[OATS]

Went to Bass Pro to get some work done on my bow today and Ruger tagged along. 2 hours in the store and nobody ever noticed him. I'm always amazed by that.

Too funny Jeff! It always amazes me how this sport is so below the radar that most people don't notice or recognize what they see. Good luck and great thread. I look forward to following your progress.

[allredone]

Very glad to see this thread. I will be following.

[rocgwp]

Had a strange setback with Ruger tonight. I came home from church and he was flipped on his back in his nest bowl and completely freaked out. It was like a turtle that had been flipped over and couldn't right itself. He wasn't tangled or anything, just stuck on his back. I helped him back over and he eventually calmed down and ate fine. I am a little concerned since he isn't as mobile as I would expect at this age (ie. standing and walking). I'm hoping it was a freak thing, but I'm watching him diligently.

Anybody ever encountered this? This is a new one for me...

[goshawkr]

Had a strange setback with Ruger tonight. I came home from church and he was flipped on his back in his nest bowl and completely freaked out. It was like a turtle that had been flipped over and couldn't right itself. He wasn't tangled or anything, just stuck on his back. I helped him back over and he eventually calmed down and ate fine. I am a little concerned since he isn't as mobile as I would expect at this age (ie. standing and walking). I'm hoping it was a freak thing, but I'm watching him diligently.

Anybody ever encountered this? This is a new one for me...

No, that's a new one on me too. I'd be pretty freaked out as well.

Maybe its happened to one of the goshawks I have raised while I was blissfully ignorant of it. I have never tried to put an eyass goshawk on its back, so I don't know if they normally can right themselves.

My then 2 year old daughter might have when I raised my first one, but if she did none of us noticed. She thought that goshawk was the best toy ever and was always [gently] playing with it.

[Minkenry]

Went to Bass Pro to get some work done on my bow today and Ruger tagged along. 2 hours in the store and nobody ever noticed him. I'm always amazed by that.

LOL People are so clueless! I took two adult mink into Cabela's and close to no one noticed ether!

[rocgwp]

Nothing major to update on Ruger at this point. We really need some cool weather. I had intended to start him with car hawking, but we don't have the slips to do it consistently right now so I abandoned that plan. He is noisier than I like, but once he gets hunting i anticipate that changing.

I took him out today for a short walk in the woods. The heat gets to him pretty fast and he's not really in shape yet. We did a couple lure calls and then I gave him a baggie quail. He is definitely in a baby mindset still. I'm going to try and keep him in that mindset until cooler weather gets here.

[rocgwp]

Ruger got some unintended hack time today. The past couple of days I have been taking him on short walks in the woods. He goes from baby gos begging in the tree to slicked down silent predator after a small bird in an instant. I've been letting him play for a while and then calling him in for the day.

This morning I let him play for a while and he wasn't interested in coming in. I decided to let him hang out and check on him later. I checked on him several times throughout the day and things looked good, so I left him out. He was out for about 7 hours when I called him this evening. I think I will repeat this for a little while since he really needs some practice landing in trees.

[rocgwp]

Ruger's hack time has ended. He has officially entered the "dispersal" phase.

He has gotten much better at landing and is starting to look like a goshawk now when he flies. He spent the night out on Thursday. I have been hacking him in an area that was pretty open underneath and didn't have a lot of game. He was staying within 200 yds of where I would release him. On Thursday I showed up to call him down and heard the distress call of a grey squirrel. It took me a little bit to locate it, but Ruger had it pinned below him in a tree. I flushed the squirrel and Ruger ignored it. After that, he didn't want to come down, he was more interested in finding other things. I left him out for a while longer and then o'gos 30 set in and he went crazy trying to find a place to roost. He flew all over the canopy looking for a roosting spot. I showed up the next morning and located him. He flew near me, but didn't want to come down. I finally called him in to a live lure. Once on the fist he had the look of "Who are you?". I fed him, but he refused to take tidbits from my hands like he normally does. I tried again later that day and same thing. This is fairly normal, I expect to have my sweet imprint back by the time cold weather gets here.

Until then, I'll be playing games with him and establishing parameters for our relationship. I had hoped to get him hooding prior to dispersal, but it didn't happen. I'll start hooding him once he starts accepting tidbits calmly from my hand again.