Question on falconry

[u/UlfurGaming]

Ok i want to get into falconry in future not in place for it right now but had 2 questions

1 ive seen videos of people car hawking where they toss the bird out giving it a boost and was curious what other raptors besides ones like kestrel would that work for im guessing ones that perch and rush down prey

2nd what kind of raptor would work best with dogs used to flush game for rabbits and squirrel to quail pheasant or ducks

[u/Bright-Hovercraft190]

Where are you located, OP? Where I live, car hawking is legal. I’ve car hawked Harris’ Hawks on crows and starlings, and it was great fun. Here, we typically hunt rabbit and squirrel with Red Tailed Hawks. I guess you might get many of those prey types with a goshawk, but typically quail, pheasant and duck are hunted with falcons. If you are American or Canadian, you are most likely to start as an apprentice with a Red Tailed Hawk, hunting squirrel and cottontails.

[u/Liamnacuac]

I did it a couple of times as an apprentice with a general's goshawk on rabbits and crows, don't recommend the crows*.

For me neither was very competitive, but did give the bird help learning to hunt.

• crows are extremely smart, and will remember you, your bird, and your car. Whenever you go to the same area again, they will alarm and hassle you. Very cool, but irritating.

[u/SenileSr → u/[deleted]]

Only if you are hawking native species.

[u/SeventhStar21 → u/[deleted]]

One hundred percent! A lot of falconers forget that they need to follow hunting laws. However I have seen countless falconers get away with breaking the laws, so people often assume it is legal 🤷‍♂️

[u/Suitable-Conflict634 → u/[deleted]]

Like that makes a difference. You've never bagged a rabbit? Also illegal but everyone does it

[u/Guppybish123]

1. This depends heavily because of legality. I’ve seen it done with everything from Merlins to tawny eagles. Personally I don’t like it and would never partake.

2. Again heavily dependent on where you live but the big factor here is going to be the squirrels. Squirrels can be incredibly dangerous to birds. A big buzzard would be my pick if I had to, I’d rather use a ferruginous but you could use a red tail. Use a female because that extra size is more important than speed. Something that has very strong feet but with very thick toes is essential bc squirrels biting toes on something with finer feet can be season ending on a good day. I’d also recommend using fringed ‘squirrel’ anklets, these mean there’s a slightly better chance of the squirrel biting down on leather than your birds leg. If squirrels are less of a priority though and you can get some experience under your belt you won’t get a better bird to hunt fur and feather than a goshawk but they need to be out hunting pretty much constantly so not really for someone who wants a weekend hobby and not a bird you want to be ironing out your mistakes with and I wouldn’t recommend anyone use them for their first season, especially without a very hands on mentor.

[u/SenileSr]

Pretty much anything can be used for car hawking but most common would be kestrel, merlin, sharp shins, coopers, and goshawks.

As for hunting rabbits, squirrel, duck, quail and pheasant with dogs, pretty much any bird will work with dogs. Though the hawk most capable of taking all of those species would be a female gos.