hunting with my falcons

Just thought I would show you some pictures of my falcons on their quarry, a bit different to big game.

cock pheasant in germany


spanish red legged partridge in Toledo


grey partridge in germany


female mallard in germany


my small male barbary falcon on his first grey partridge


my female red naped shaheen on mallard


and another mallard :-)

enjoy

cheers
Rasmus

Rasmus, Thanks for sharing these amazing images on AH and feel free to post as many pictures of your Falcons that you would like... This form of hunting has always been a dream of mine though have never had a chance to tag along to experience this type of hunt... ONE day I hope! How many birds do you have? Do you keep them on your property? Do you raise and train them yourself? How long have you been hunting with birds of prey?

Hi Jerome, ok, then I will look for some more pictueres :-) Well I have hunted with birds of prey for about 7 years now, and it just keeps getting more exiting for every season that passes. I train all my birds myself, from the age of about 9 weeks. By then they are fully grown and ready to start training. I have two hunting birds, and one display bird, for demonstration work. I keep them all on my property. I am putting my male and female together after the season, so we will see if they breed next spring. But I think they might, as they were together last year also, and the female scraped a nest, so I think there are good chances for them beeing successful this coming spring.


this is my hunting male barbary falcon


and this is my female


me and two good friends hunting in Spain

some action shots......






cheers
Rasmus

Just fantastic! Beautiful birds, these action shots are powerful! Let us know if your breeding is successful and I wish you the best with that. How do you travel to other countries with your birds?

Excellent photos and very interesting Rasmus.
This does bring a totally new dimension of hunting to the forum - great!
Who cares if it is not 'big game' - i bet your falcons will not be impressed - to them it is VERY big game - they are the actual hunters after all.

Good post mate!

I have the birds in transport boxed hooded during the transportation. I have both taken the car and plain to Spain, and neither poses much problems. The falcons are very used to going in my car, and in their boxes, so when I open the boxes they jump in there on their own if they are not hooded. And once I stop the car again, they normally get a bit jumpy, as they know it is about time to go and hunt. Especially my female which is in her 4th season, she knows the drill very well by now, and is very loyal and stabile when out hunting.


after a successfull partridge hunt.
cheers
Ras

Originally Posted by fhm3006

Excellent photos and very interesting Rasmus.
This does bring a totally new dimension of hunting to the forum - great!
Who cares if it is not 'big game' - i bet your falcons will not be impressed - to them it is VERY big game - they are the actual hunters after all.

Good post mate!

It is in fact very big game for the falcons. My female weighs only about 620 grams, and a mallard about 1 kg, so almost twice her size. the biggest she caught was the cock pheasant on the picture above, it weighed 1504gram after she had eaten the head and neck, so my guess would be about 1.6 kg when alive. that is 1 kg more than her. So they are quite potent hunters, but when reaching speeds up to 380km/hour and striking their prey, I would not want to be a pheasant either.

cheers
Rasmus

grey partridge coveys in the winter last year


another closer up, this covey has one less this year ;-)

cheers
Rasmus

sleeping in the car after a good hunt :-)

cheers
R

my female on her first cock pheasant in her first hunting season 3 years ago.

All of this must be so satisfying... Thanks for sharing Rasmus, much appreciated!

Ras, your falcon looks so close to a peregrine I thought it was a juvenile.
notice you hunt with a pointer. My spaniels have flushed for hawks and falcons. It took some work to get them to respect the "bird" and not treat it like "one more retrieve".

Great shots!

Can you imagine the trouble to bring one of these birds along to Africa for some bird hunting.
Looks like you can get around Europe quite easily to hunt though.

What is the largest game bird your falcon can take down?

Originally Posted by Raseni

It is in fact very big game for the falcons. My female weighs only about 620 grams, and a mallard about 1 kg, so almost twice her size. the biggest she caught was the cock pheasant on the picture above, it weighed 1504gram after she had eaten the head and neck, so my guess would be about 1.6 kg when alive. that is 1 kg more than her. So they are quite potent hunters, but when reaching speeds up to 380km/hour and striking their prey, I would not want to be a pheasant either.

cheers
Rasmus

"I would not want to be a pheasant either." Hell no !!!!

This is a wonderful thread.
Thanks Raseni !

Ty

thank you all for your kind words.

Yes it is not much problems to take the bird around within the EU, but when you want to go somewhere else, then starts the trouble with veterinarians, quarantine and much more.
I know if several people in SA hunting with both falcons and hawk. Mainly lanner falcons and peregrines, but also african hawk eagles and black sparrowhawks. they hunt main ducks, francolins, sandgrouse and doves.

My falcons are a subspecies of peregrine falcons, they are mainly found in the middle asia, (pakistan and India) and the northern african countries.


cheers
Rasmus

Rasmus

Very good read and pictures.

Do the various countries you hunt with your birds do they have as special season or open season for hunting with birds of prey.

One positive thing is you get to travel with out a gun through the various countries.

the have special season for hunting with the falcons. Yes it is nice I do not need to bring my riffle all the time :-)

regards
Rasmus

Raseni Thanks for the post this is great reading and Awesome pictures if ever in Europe again I will have to contact you I would love to see your birds at work.

Bob you are more than welcome any time :-)

regards
R

Fantastic animals ! Thanks for sharing those pictures.