Meet Bullet

[rocgwp]

I fed Bullet less last night and he weighed 328 grams this morning. He is still fat and acted like it when I called him to the lure for his morning feeding. After thinking it over, I put him back out to hack today. I'll be watching him close. One of the reason I started the hack was to avoid the normal problems associated with an imprint accipiter when they are getting ready to pen. I will control his weight a little more and see if I can walk the line between keeping him responsive and not getting too hungry. I agree with Barry. I don't know if he actually caught something or stumbled across an easy meal. So at this point, the hack continues...

[sevristh]

Barry,

What type of possibly unwanted results would hunger during the hack cause if he is still being fed by the falconer during the day? (not disagreeing, just curious)

[goshawks00]

Dave how's about just for , you tell me what YOU think "could" happen to a hawk that doesn't know how to hunt, depends and looks forward to the only thing it knows as a food source to show up, but it doesn't. Take a stab at it and let's see what you think.


Barry

[sevristh]

Well, obviously if the assured food source doesn't show up, the bird can get too low in condition. But I thought maybe you were cautioning about hunger in that it might make the bird decide to wander off because the small meals during the day by the falconer were not enough or maybe make it TOO self-sufficient if it was indeed actually killing something (as some suggested earlier before it was pointed out that it might have just been some easy meal he stumbled across)? I am just guessing here as I obviously have no experience with imprints, but I am watching all these threads carefully trying to learn as much as possible! I appreciate all of you who take the time to do it and those that comment on it so that those of us without experience may learn with and from you!

[goshawks00]

Dave you are correct in your thoughts ... of a more precarious concern is a hungry hawk will, even though it may have never been exposed to that issue before, become very possessive , mantle, scream, drag food away, and show all sorts of aggressive posturing, even toward the handler.

Hunger is what drives our hawks...make no doubt about it... and at a tender eyas age something you want to avoid , as much as you can... It takes the slightest amount of reduction to cause the eyas to focus on becoming a predator ... and to rapid a decent will drive them to act out of self preservation... the falconer ... always loses ground when that happens.

BTW hunger will sometimes cause them to make mistakes that could be deadly... Things like taking chances with things that can kill them out right ......predators... humans... automobiles... reflections in windows...getting lost.. poisonous stuff.

.02
Barry

[rocgwp]

Not much has chabged with Bullet so far. He is at hack daily atleast through the weekend. I consulted a very wise source and decide to hack him as long as I could. He thought Bullet was pretty young to be catching game on his own. Bullet is getting stronger each day and flies better daily. I will upload pics tomorrow.

[wesleyc6]

Not much has chabged with Bullet so far. He is at hack daily atleast through the weekend. I consulted a very wise source and decide to hack him as long as I could. He thought Bullet was pretty young to be catching game on his own. Bullet is getting stronger each day and flies better daily. I will upload pics tomorrow.

Hey Jeff,
I have to tell you that this is one of my favorite threads ever on NAFEX. If you would, please start the posts off with what DAY it is in his life. I think it helps us all see where he is at as compared to all the other imprints on here. Any more news on the Aggie?

BTW any of you reading this may not know Jeff, but in the falconry community, he is probably one of the top dog guys around and is a great source of info and is a fairly nice fella to boot

[rocgwp]

Sorry Wes...The last report was for days ~37-39...Bullet will be 40 days old today. Thanks for the kind words Wes. I don't think I would ever classify myself as one of the "top dog guys". I just enjoy bird dogs and training.

I'm typing this at an hour when I should be asleep because supposedely a family has seen Aggie. According to them, they only see her early in the morning or late at night and she is real skiddish. Some of their neighbors have confirmed the siting as well and the fact that she bolts when people show up also. Which would make sense if she was shot, picked up, had her collar removed,broke free, and now running loose in a bad neighborhood. Either my wife or I have been her all night waiting to see this dog trying to determine if it's her or not. Animal control loaned us a trap, but after catching ~10 feral cats in the first couple hours we decided that wouldn't work. So now there is nothing to do but wait...

[kimmerar]

Well Jeff that's good to hear about Aggie. I hope it works out for you. Sounds like she might be a different dog when you first get her back. But - that can be worked on.

All the best

[rocgwp]

After hours of waiting, the dog turned out not to be Aggie. Back to square one...

[wesleyc6]

Ah, that stinks. So is that the only likely report of her?

[rocgwp]

Day 41 with Bullet...

Last night my wife and I went to Dallas, so a falconer friend called Bullet in from hack and put him this morning. I have decided to end his hack after today. Bullet is flying great and my buddy said he was really reluctant to come in last night and had a partial crop. Tonight it took him 20 minutes before he decided he wanted to kill the duck, and then he wasn't really interested in eating. He should pen sometime this week. I plan on dropping his weight slowly until I get the lure response I need, then I'll start carhawking. I've really enjoyed imprinting him to this point. He is tamer than the harris I flew last year so far. We'll see how his behaviour changes when I drop his weight. I hope to have him catching within a week and then going strong quickly. I have several dogs I'm training coming mid July. My plan was to have Bullet up and going before I start my early morning dog training routine again. Nothing like dog training at 5am, car hawking by 8am, and then at work by 10am...

[rocgwp]

Day 43...318 grams

Today I took Bullet car hawking...His hack is over and he is hog fat...Instead of slowly lowering a couple grams until I get the weight response needed I am taking a little different approach. I weighed him yesterday morning (338 grams) and fed him all he wanted to eat as normal. I then tied him to a perch and weathered him all day. Last night we skipped his evening feeding and this morning I took him car hawking. He is still fat at 318 grams, but he tried HARD to catch today...It was an incredible flight over 50 yards long...the bird pitched up twice trying to lose him and he was on his tail the first time and the second time he couldn't hang in there...He was slow to respond to the lure, but when he came down he was as sweet ever...No mantling or carrying on...I will be dropping his weight in 4-5 gram increments from here (most likely). Tomorrow I will be weighing him every hour to determine his daily metabloic rate and to see where his weight dop levels off. I'll post the chart later on...

I've got some great pics, but my wife has the camera right now...

[goshawks00]

Jeff you are almost there...easy into an more weight reduction... if he is as you said chasing hard... he may just need the right slip to get going.... I think he is still to high, my coops flew at 301-308 and the other 290 -300. These were eastern coops , yours might be a bit smaller... Cutting to much to quickly is as bad ( worse to me) than not reducing enough to slowly...
Possibly try field hawking him as slips will be closer and more in the open.
.02
Barry

[rocgwp]

44 days ...315 grams

Bullet spent the night out last night...We went car hawking and he missed a slip on sparrows and then another one on grackles...Right at dusk, he checked off of a pigeon and went to roost. He wouldn't come down for anything, so I had to wait and call him down this morning...Hopefully it will be his only night out ever...I'll drop his weight a little more and keep trying...

[Saluqi]

Scary stuff. Until about mid-September that first season both of my imprint gosses got squirrely around dusk, especially my tiercel. He would go nuts trying to find a place to roost. Natural owl avoidance instinct I'd guess.

[wesleyc6]

44 days ...315 grams

Bullet spent the night out last night...We went car hawking and he missed a slip on sparrows and then another one on grackles...Right at dusk, he checked off of a pigeon and went to roost. He wouldn't come down for anything, so I had to wait and call him down this morning...Hopefully it will be his only night out ever...I'll drop his weight a little more and keep trying...

Glad he is home safe. Something tells me he is about to spill some grackle blood anytime now.

[goshawks00]

Spending the night out is not good...glad you recovered him...
More weight reduction and some flashlight recovery training are needful. ASAP.
Barry

[rocgwp]

47 days and 313 grams...

Bullet has come close to connecting, but not yet...I am taking his weight down and I have a feeling he will connect this weekend...

Here are some pictures I finally got downloaded from my camera...

[rocgwp]

48 days...311 grams...First Kill...

I met a buddy at Wal-mart early this morning. Bullet refused several slips and didn't seem interested. As the sun came up however, the killer came out. We spotted some grackles feeding in front of us on a grass island. I pulled up and he launched out the window. I didn't think he had a chance because the birds saw him coming, but I was wrong. He scooped up a grackle and I helped him dispatch it quickly. He never really mantled and was really easy going on the kill. I leashed him up, let him get a good feeding and took some pictures. We are on are way!!!

I'll have to post pictues later...I can't do it from my phone...

[goshawks00]

Great news!!!!!!!

[John]

Awesome! Congrats! Sounds like he is doing perfectly.

[wesleyc6]

Wooohooo

[FredFogg]

Congrats Jeff! You will be filling up the freezer with this guy! I can assure you of that!

[Bodarc]

That's great Jeff. It sounds like you have a fantastic little bird on your hands.

[Bryant Tarr]

Way to go! It's only going to get better now

[frootdog]

It's later. Where are the pics?

[laj]

Congrats! The start of a great thread.

[rocgwp]

306 grams...Kill #2

Bullet was more vocal this morning as he was hungrier. Slips were tougher as it was light rain this morning. He missed a couple slips on grackles and had an awesome flight on a sparrow. The sparrow bailed into a hedge and he looked like a missle as he disappeared after it. The bush exploded with sparrows going everywhere. He finally connected on a sparrow feeding near Target. He was hungrier than usual, but he only mantled for a couple of seconds. He was his same old sweet self. This is fun!

[John]

Just curious, but where are you keeping him? Is he still in the house? Really sounds like his transition to hunting bird is very smooth so far.

[rocgwp]

He is perched out in my yard if I'm at home or he stays on a pole perch in my office. In the evening he goes into the big box in my living room...

[rocgwp]

50 days...308 grams...

No kill today...I got a late start this morning. Bullet missed several slips on grackles and sparrows were hard to find this morning. He is hesitating a lot on grackles right now and they are seeing him leave the truck. I am going to drop his weight a little more. I think the main thing he needs is confidence. He is putting a lot of effort into sparrow chases, but not in to grackles. We'll be back at it again in the morning...

Here are pics of his first 2 kills...

[wesleyc6]

He sure has made a nice looking bird Jeff! If you get a sec, I would love to see a few nice pics on the glove.


Any news on your dog?

[FredFogg]

50 days...308 grams...

No kill today...I got a late start this morning. Bullet missed several slips on grackles and sparrows were hard to find this morning. He is hesitating a lot on grackles right now and they are seeing him leave the truck. I am going to drop his weight a little more. I think the main thing he needs is confidence. He is putting a lot of effort into sparrow chases, but not in to grackles. We'll be back at it again in the morning...

Here are pics of his first 2 kills...

Jeff,

If I might suggest and I am by far no expert, but I would give Bullet really easy slips on the grackles to build his confidence. Try and only slip him on the ones where he is literally dropping out of the car onto them. You can slip on harder ones later on as he builds confidence. And surprisingly, you wouldn't believe how many easy slips like that you will find driving through subdivisions. If you can find an older subdivision with Leyland Cypress trees as the seperator between houses and the subdivision, you will find lots of grackles, they love to nest in them. I totally avoid sparrows now, just to easy to carry and about the only place I find them is in parking lots and talk about dulling their talons fast. That was pretty much all I hunted the first year and I wish I hadn't. Love reading this thread and the pictures.

Meant to add, you have done a great job with him, I love the way he is standing tall when he is eating on the kill. No mantling, that is a result of the great work you have done!

[rocgwp]

303 grams...Kill #3

I've been out of pocket for a couple of days with things at camp. I miscaculated his food one morning and his weight climbed up enough for him to refuse grackle slips. He was 303 this morning and he killed the first grackle I slipped him on. He mantled for just a second as the other grackles hovered above. Once i made in and helped him kill it, he settled down and ate as normal. I am camping tonight and am hoping to find some field hawking slips in the morning. Field hawking is tough right now. We don't have alot of birds in the fields.

A note for others imprinting right now. The other day I had a bunch of meetings. I put Bullet in his mew for the first time during the day. When I picked him up that afternoon he was VERY noisy. I have kept him with me since and he has quited back down except for the normal vocalizations. If you are tempted to put your bird alone in a mew be careful, he may get vocal on you. I can now see the importance of keeping the bird with you indoors.