Another thing to know for folks who have never hunted with a falcon, when the bird makes a kill, the hunt is over for the day. The bird gets the meal and according to Mike, the hunters celebrate with wine and cheese; a rather foreign thing to this Irish hunter. I would have settled for a cold beer.
We pulled into the driveway of a nearby farm and asked the farmer if we could hunt small game. This fellow is also a hunter. He corrected stated that small game seasons were closed. He also asked what type of firearm we were using.
Imagine his surprise and laughter when we took him to back of Mike’s jeep and shower him Miss Tear on her porch. To use a phrase in a golfing advertisement, the look on his face was priceless. He took the deception on good stride and we all had a fine laugh about it. It was the only time that I can remember, that we intentionally deceived a landowner.
I do not remember if Miss Tear actually made a kill that day. I do remember on the first farm that we put two rabbits near her original perch and she missed them both. When we put out the third rabbit, she just refused to move. Mike used dead day old pheasant chicks regularly to pull the bird off her perch and back to his arm. He explained that this was just about the only way to get the bird to come back to him immediately.
Mike also explained that he used bells on the legs of his birds to keep track of them when they flew it for a kill. When the bird was successful, they would spread their wings over the kill, called “mantling” to keep other raptors from spotting it and trying to steal it. We have seen Ospreys make a kill on a fish along Pine Creek and Bald Eagles attempt to take the kill
Mike also explained that hunting with falcons it considered “the sport of kings.” In olden days, which back thousands of years, only kings could use eagles. Counts and Barons had to use hawks and falcons.
Hunting with a hawk/falcon has been a most interesting experience in my hunting life. It has been one of my priceless hunting adventures. If you ever get the chance to experience this type of hunting, do not pass it up.
Jim Collins is an outdoor writer for this newspaper. To contact him, email jimcollinsinsurance@frontiernet.net; or write to him at Outdoors With Jim Collins, 87 Windfall Road, Alba, PA 16910.