After doing a 5 year apprenticeship under my dads wing helping him with his BOP he finally decided that I was ready for my own Goshawk, After speaking to his friend Mick Kane at M&J Raptors Mick & Julie agreed that they would let me have 1 of there stunning male Goshawks!

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I was so excited when my dad told me, I could hardly sleep for weeks I was counting the days away.

The end of July finally came around and my dad and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Mick & Julie’s, I was so excited but nervous at the same time and it seemed to take for ever to get there, when we arrived we had to wait while Mick & Julie went and got 4 males out for me to choose from but as soon as I saw Buzz I knew he was the one I wanted, he was very pale in colour and a lovely long bird with a great pair of feet on him and both Mick and my dad said what a classic game hawk which I was glad of as I had my heart set on him.

We put him on the scales and weight 2lb 3 1/2oz so he had the weight to go with his looks! After a quick cuppa we said our good byes and headed home and got straight on with waking him and the fun then began with his manning and training.

He went free at 1lb 11 1/4oz and was a very fast and tenacious hunter and there wasn’t much that got away from him, he loved pheasants and would chase them from 40/50 yards head start and would give it his all to pull them in great style!

I just single killed him and I think it has given him great confidence and helped with him giving it 100% on every slip!

He finished his first season 1lb 13 3/4oz which I was over the moon with.

I can’t thank Mick, Julie & my dad enough for letting me have him and for all there help and guidance, it’s really appreciated and I’m looking forward to many more years hunting with my boy Buzz!!

Pheasants 38
Partridge 2
Corvids 10
Duck 3
Rabbits 2

On the 14th June I made the journey down to Mick & Julie at M&J Raptors to pick up my 18 day old 50/50 white Imprint female who we named Sky.

On arrival Julie took me round the back to see Mick who was on feeding duty lol and out the corner of my eye I could see this ball of pure white sat down in a imprint tank with a great big crop and food all round it’s mouth, I chuckled to myself as she look really funny with her massive feet.

Mick came down from feeding some chicks and said what do you think of her then? I think the massive grin on my face said it all, she is stunning I replied! To say I was happy was a understatement I just couldn’t wait to get her home to show the wife and kids!

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She was a pleasure to imprint with no problems, she took everything in her stride and just loved the dogs, I just couldn’t believe how laid back she was with everything (A Dream bird)!!

She penned out at 3lb 5 1/4oz and once I was 100% happy she was hard penned I upped the training as didn’t want to do any damage to that beautiful long white tail, she went free at 3lb 3/4oz and I started working on her fitness as there was a lot of cover about so it was hard to get anywhere near any rabbit warrens, I had my son Ross running across fields dragging a dead rabbit or pheasant carcass just to get her switched on to feather and fur.

She has excellent manners on a kill with no aggression what so ever towards me or the dogs and she would let me put my bare hands in and help her on the kill and feed her off it which I was very happy about.

Her weight is steadily increasing and she is currently hunting at 3lb 2 3/4oz to 3lb 3oz her recall is good to that weight and her power and hunting tenacity is unbelievable, I’m still in our on how hard she puts the power down off the fist!!

I have heard people say you will only have 1 bird in your lifetime that is something special and I can honestly say Sky is that bird, I truly can’t thank Mick & Julie at M&J Raptors for breeding such and amazing Goshawk!!

Thank you guys

After collecting ‘Bert‘ my male Finnish goshawk on the 10th August 2008 the 3 hour drive home was very daunting. The commitment, determination and sacrifice needed to fly a goshawk is a partnership that few people are willing to enter into.

The training began after a couple of days getting used to his new surroundings where Edmund Bert’s waking method was the preferred route, as in my opinion I didn’t want to create excess stress with other prolonged training methods, thereby reducing the risk from aspergillosis, as I learnt on the recent veterinary course at Neil Forbes’ practice. During the training I instantly noticed his laid back temperament. A friend of mine was training a highly-strung German female goshawk at the same time, and we would be on the phone most nights comparing their temperaments.

He was entered two weeks later, and shortly after I could definitely see he preferred feathered quarry. I wanted a versatile partner so for the first few weeks we concentrated on rabbits to get his footing and confidence. I then introduced more aerial flights into the equation, and this is where I had the privilege of witnessing him going from strength to strength; wood pigeon, pheasant, partridge, magpie, duck and even woodcock were all on his menu. He did pull off a few cock pheasants in his first season but with hard work and conditioning flying strong mid-season cock birds he soon got his confidence, and these are now regularly taken in fine style.

The first season we were booked on the Welsh Hawking Club Field Meet at Llangollen. I had only been flying him for 21/2 months so was a little apprehensive, but even at this early stage he showed great courage and determination.

The following seasons with him have seen him going from strength to strength in his regular 600yd flights into the abyss. We have been on numerous local and national B.F.C. field meets where he consistently performs, regularly taking pheasants out of the air in front of speechless spectators.

As if his awesome field performance were not enough, he is a real pleasure to handle. He is regularly handled by various other people and has never once shown any aggression on the glove or on kills. A lion in the field, and a pussy-cat in the mews, his third season is now drawing to an end, I cannot wait until the next.

Pheasant – 54
French partridge – 5
Rabbit – 6
Mallard – 4
Teal – 2
Wood Pigeon – 3
Magpie – 5
Brown Hare – 1
Woodcock – 3
Moorhen – 4
Other – 6

It all started on the 17th of June 2010 when I picked Woody up from Mick’s at 21days old to start the imprinting process. I had no real plan and picked up a few tips from well known imprinters. His food bowl was full threw out the day with him seeing where it was coming from and he was exposed to all the soaps on the telly and took on quite a few levels of “black opp’s” with my son and all the usual hive of activities of a busy house hold.

When he was hard penned he was fed 2 times a day called to the lure and allowed to eat as much as he wanted for two weeks. After two weeks his rations were reduced from 2 feeds to 1 becoming very aggressive on the lure but coming from great distances, so I felt it was time to look for some quarry. Woody entered on a seasoned Cock pheasant on the put in of a hawthorn hedge at 1lb 11 and 1/2oz. And was silent in the field only calling now and then. As I said I had no real plan but new that rabbit would make up a big part of my quarry so I wanted to make sure that he knew that part of the plan too. I organised a ferreting trip, on bolting 6 rabbits and him not even attempting to take on a slip I was a bit disappointed to say the least….. I lowered his weight to 1lb 10 and 1/2oz and he took on a rabbit and caught it well and was allowed to feed up on it. I then started to push his weight up to see what would be his highest weight to take both rabbit and pheasant because I did not want the faff of different weights for different quarry but still maintaining recall and he was taking on rabbit and pheasant slips at 1lb 13 and 1/2oz successfully but was still what I made out to be very possessive to the lure. So as an experiment started to call him to the fist and he accepted it well with no mantling or possessiveness.

So the game season was upon us and our first field meet at Llandegla and he took 2 pheasants in 2 mid air bind’s losing one in the air but taking it again as it hit the floor. I attended every Welsh Hawking club field meet and always came home with a couple or more birds or bunnies in the bag. One flight which will remain in my mind forever was a flight that was on the Welsh hawking club 3 day meet and was a mid air bind 200yrd out and about 50yrd from the floor. And after the flight I was told by someone who has been fling gos’s for a fair few years “that was the best flight I have ever seen and in fact it has made me contemplate flying a male next year.” Another friend who has been fling Gos’s for many years and mainly hunts fur has said “he knows how to truss them up nicely”

He’s currently on 73 head of game (10-01-12) 56 pheasants and 17 Rabbit. His weight is now 2lb 1oz and at that weight he will take both feather and fur. I am just wondering what weight he would have made if we’d have had more than 4 frosts?

From the day he was collected from M&J Raptors Lupo was a dream to handle and train. He was very settled on the fist and perch, and rarely bated as he watched my dogs and family go about their business around him. He breezed through his training and took his first head of game just twelve days after collection.

It was my intention to produce a versatile “hunting machine” that would take on any quarry, and Lupo was more than up for the challenge. At first he struggled a little with rabbits, as it took him a while to realise that he needed to use a head grip, but he was never deterred. Once he learned to hold rabbits properly, he caught and subdued nearly every one that was bolted for him. Lupo’s performance on pheasants has always been impressive, and he has flown on a number of field meets where he has more than held his own against the imprint crowd. He has flown over a wide variety of dogs from day one without issues. As well as having the necessary speed for pheasants, he has also shown great agility in flights at corvids which have provided much entertainment.

My only issue with Lupo has been that I have sometimes failed to put his weight up high enough to get the best out of him. It was not until his second season that I realised just how high in condition I could fly him, and how much stronger his flight became with added weight. By the end of his second season he was flying “barrel-chested” and was still very obedient to the fist.

2009/10 Season:
124 head
Rabbit 45
Pheasant 26
Crow 12
Rook 8
Moorhen 8
Magpie 5
Teal 4
Grey Partridge 5
Wood Pigeon 4
Mallard 2
French Partridge 1
Blue Hare 1
Jackdaw 1
Various 2

I drove to M & J Raptors in August to pick up my Male Gos Hawk that i named Attila. I was to say the least very happy with his looks, very pale & a good size, just what i wanted for flying Game birds. Training progressed well, I just took my time, entering him on easy kills. The first season wasn’t without problems.

The one thing I noticed about him early on was that he would bate at Game birds at silly distances but wouldn’t fly then hard, with some hard work & going out almost everyday & flying him almost exclusively at game birds i got his weight up to 1lb 12 1/2 oz. I was out one afternoon when he bated, I noticed a covey of Partridge had got up, but they were over 150 yards away, I held him at first thinking he had no chance & would just bank off, then he bated again so I slipped him, he went powering after them, I went to find him, where i found him on one of the Partridge, I was over the moon. This has remained all through his hunting life so far, when he’s fit & has a good weight on him he wouldn’t think twice about taking a Cock Pheasant on that has got up at over 200 yards away & fly his heart out, even though with cover his chances were always slim he just wouldn’t give up.

This was witnessed on one of his first field meets when he lost a lot of ground on a Cock Pheasant that went over a large open field and it had a massive gap on him but he just kept pumping his wings hard. After this meet I was told by a friend that a Goshawker on the meet said he was the best Parent reared Goshawk they had ever seen. In his third season he was reclaimed quite late, training was a lot more straight forward, when he was loose I fitness trained him for four day’s and entered him in October & he took two Pheasants on his first outing. Three weeks later we were in Wales for the annual three day meet, when he was outstanding. He took two Pheasants from two slips on the first day and flew everyday with 100% commitment. The following week he flew on the BFC two day meet,again he flew his heart out on every slip at Pheasant & Partridge not missing a wing beat on every slip.

He really did come into his own,the only down side was that in the third season I had too change shifts at work & after October he could only be flown three day’s a week. He had some cracking mid air binds this season & started to peak,I would have loved too see how he would of done if I could fly most day’s like the first two seasons. It was hard to get the best out of him flying three day’s a week, he also had a break when he hit a fence hard.

He is now in a breeding pen with a Female so fingers crossed he produces some young & most importantly i get him back as he is simply irreplaceable, I look forward to flying him next season.

Attila ended the season at 1lb 15 1/2 oz. His tally from Oct 3rd to Jan 10th, flown three days a week:
54 head,consisting of
37 Pheasant
11 Partridge
4 Rabbit
2 Various.

August 2007 saw the turning point in falconry career, when I finally took the plunge and purchased my first Gos Hawk from Mick at M & J Raptors.

I picked the 9 week old; parent reared male Finnish Goshawk up in early August. Mick caught the bird up, helped me fit equipment and settled the bird on a bow perch for short while to settle while we sorted the paperwork.

Having discussed the various training techniques and traits of the Gos’s that Mick breeds, I must admit that his stories of how quick his birds settle down, man up and train were to say in my opinion slightly ambitious, and I recall thinking that this was just a good sales pitch. The reality of the situation was however completely different. To my amazement the bird was a dream to man and train. I shall not bore you with the details of how, what and why I did things, but by the end of the first day the bird was made to the hood, stepping to the fist and accepting my right hand to stroke his head and feet. Not once did I see any signs of the ‘Wild Goshawk’ that I had read about. This bird was in fact training quicker and was tamer than any Harris Hawk I had ever trained.

From this point on the bird progressed quickly. Feeding on the fist quickly turned to jumps and, short flights before long. After 4 week I had the bird flying about 30 yards on the line. At this point he went off the boil slightly; however this was quickly sorted with a slight quick weight adjustment to get him re-focussed. After about 5 days of increased distance recalls it was time for the first flight. This was probably the most nerve racking bit yet!! The first flight was from a fence post. I couldn’t get more than 10 yards away before he was coming towards me. We did about 3 recalls in total and I went home very pleased.

The next day saw me going through the same routine as normal. A quick drive down the road to a piece of land I use for training. Out the car and walking for about 30 minutes, until the bird settles and calms down, watching for the feathers go up on the back of neck while he puffs himself up, and so on. At this point I removed his equipment ready for a short flight. As I strolled along side a small bramble patch a blackbird shot off into one of the small coppices on the land. The Gos bated hard at the bird and I accidentally let go him. After missing the bird to cover he pulled off and sat in near by tree. To start with I was consumed with terror, thinking I would never get him back, fortunately as soon as I put my hand into my pocket he was on his way back and secured! Once I had calmed down, I realised that this had not been a bad experience at all, and that it had shown his hunting instinct. I decided to continue walking for a bit further before starting his recall training. I thought I had noticed something sleeking off ahead of us as we walked, but had dismissed it. As I neared the end of small copse the young pointer stopped and came on point. As we approached (more though curiosity) a mature cock pheasant erupted about 20 yards ahead. To my complete amazement the Gos was off the fist, flew hard though the dense wood, and most effortlessly plucked the bird out the air. I was completely dumbstruck by what had happened. I secured the two birds and allowed him a good time to feed up. The whole time I was grinning like a Chersire cat, and was buzzing with adrenalin. I couldn’t believe what I had seen. I new these birds were fast and that hunting instinct would be great, but I didn’t expect this on the second day of free flight!

From this point on things couldn’t go any better. The key was getting the right balance of easy and testing flight on a mixture of game and rabbit. In his first year he was introduced to pheasant, partridge, rabbit, magpies, mallard, rooks, pigeon and quite a number of various! Even Hare were not safe from half hearted, training attacks, although he never brought one to the bag, he regularly flew, overtook and played with them. Speed wise he was much quicker than a hare, and he obviously new it, by the way he played along side them in full sprint, just not committing himself to bind. The game count was in my opinion good for his first season, not huge but at 38 I was happy, with very little in the way of bad experiences to offset the numbers. There were many memorable flights that season, with the bird taking on incredibly long slips at rising mallard and pheasant, which he would follow up high into the air, only to pull off once he realised he had no chance, turn around and come uncalled to the empty fist as if to say “come on, lets do that again!” This boomerang style flight was completely new to me, and was a welcome relief from what I had read about goshawks.

The second season picked up where the first had ended, and he was flying free within 3 weeks and hunting. Again luck seemed to play a good part with this chap and on his first outing out free flying he took another cock pheasant in almost the identical location as he had in the first year! I was playing with his weight and edging him as far as possible by November, and the quality of his wing beat was becoming evident. By late January his weight was as high as I could push it, the power button was now at full throttle and it really was a joy to watch. The second season ended with a final tally of 58 head.

This season gone, his third one, has just been a blast, the intensity of the bird coupled, with a greater understanding of internal motivation as appose to pure hunger has allowed me to get the best from the bird. Once taken in hand, he was flying on the creance with 12 days. 3 days later he was ready for his first free flight. Again luck was on the bird’s side and before I could start the first training session the pointer locked up along side a ditch, as I approached a pair of mallard rose. The outcome was inevitable, and from 30yards back Phoenix smashed the drake from the air as if he had done it every day for the last 6 months! I was elated, and I knew it would be a good season with a start like that. I had arranged a partridge release pen on my ground this season, and although he only accounted for 1 partridge last season, he took no introduction. Having light evenings and plenty of time, it was easy to move the released birds about the ground and create good set-ups using the pointer, I started the slips close by, then over a period of about 2 weeks I had the slips set at minimum 30-40m. As the birds’ confidence grew he was no longer tail chasing them until the put-in, but was making every effort to pluck them from the sky! This two week intense training routine of killing from the point every other day worked perfect and his attitude towards game was fantastic. Partridges were from this point onwards his favourite quarry species. Pheasants were also on the hit list and the training I did with him to promote mid air binds really improved my pheasant hawking, resulting in many more mid-airs than in the previous seasons. Other benefits included an increased confidence on Mallard and the introduction of Teal to the menu, both of which have to be taken within the first 50m.

There are too many highlights to name from this past season, the following is just one example.

This was on one of our clubs local field meets in the Bath area. This saturday was not very well attended, (which was good for me), and allowed me to have several slips that day. I was to have first slip of the day and within 5 minutes a covey of red legs had been spotted in a field of winter corn. As I approached a single bird took off like lightning, the Gos took no prisoners and took the partridge mid-air, a good start I thought to myself! Later in the morning he took another red-leg. On the way back to the cars for lunch a partridge was flushed, the Gos was off, and both birds were gone, somewhere in the direction of the car park. When I reached to cars, other club members said that the pair of birds and come flying through the car park, with the Gos tight behind the game bird, which almost hit the windscreen of a parked van. This was about 500m from where the slip had started. I was pointed in the general direction of where they had gone. I tracked them down about another 400m away, where he was chasing the bird on foot through a thick hedgerow. That afternoon Phoenix went on to take two hen pheasants, both taken mid air, with the second resulting in a bind over the middle of large field of standing maize. Now that was fun tracking!

In all, I must admit that flying this Gos, has at times been testing. It hasn’t always been easy, however, I believe an adaptive and dynamic manor needs to be adopted in my opinion to get the best from them. There’s no right or wrong way, or guaranteed method to these birds. However once you get things on your side and the birds is tuned in there really is nothing falconry wise that can come close.

Weight wise, this bird has fluctuated, and I tend not to be too concerned by weights, and prefer to use appetite and close monitoring of his power and determination. The bird was slightly smaller than his brother which my friend flew, and came out the chamber at 2lb 2oz. At the end of the first season he finished about 1lb 10oz. At the end of the third season he finished at 1lb 13.1/4 oz. his game bag for this year was 78, which I am more than happy with as I work a typical 9-5 day job.

With Phoenix now three years old, I know I am still yet to get the best from him. He has become slightly more independent and sometimes he won’t take on a slip if he knows he doesn’t stand a chance, but in return has increased his field craft and is really leaning his quarry. I look forward to many more years ahead with this bird.

On Saturday the 5th of August 2006 I drove over to M&J Raptors to pick up my first Goshawk, a moment that I’d spent the last six years or so preparing for. I had visions about this hellish creature I was about to pick up. Reading all the articles and books I could find on Goshawks had me prepared for the worst, but if I could get over this nature I would reap the benefits of an exceptional hunting partner.

Guinevere was caught up; equipment fitted, hooded, weighed (3lb 1oz) and sprayed down with water then placed in the shade on the lawn. I picked her up took off her hood and got her to the box inside my truck before she became too stressed, I then got home as quick as possible as it was becoming quite warm. I placed ‘Guin’ hooded on her perch in the Garden removed the hood and stood back, she looked around took in the new sights and sounds and looked uneasy but not the stressed out ‘Psycho’ I was expecting. In fact during that first day with my ‘little and often’ manning regime through-out the day, the only time this hawk became stressed was when hooding her, after a phone call back to Mick Kane for a little advice I decided the hood wasn’t worth making her distrust me when she seems so settled without it.

I was being told by friends it’s the calm before the storm, just you get ready… well it wasn’t the calm before the storm as the storm never arrived. Over that first weekend, she sat either on her perch or on my fist in the garden, she saw people coming and going, she saw three dogs, nothing really seemed to phase her I was amazed just how steady this untouched parent reared Goshawk was. On the Monday after another day of manning and trying to tempt her with chicks, rabbit legs and quail she eventually gave in to piece of beef that evening, I was so relieved that she had eaten, it was my first hurdle over with.

The day after we took our first manning walk out of the garden, and though she was uneasy, she wasn’t the bating manic I had expected. My next hurdle was to get her to jump to the fist as she was confident to feed with dogs and other people present. It was Friday before she became confident enough to jump to the fist, on Saturday I decided that now all the feeding I did would be out ‘in the field’ with Guinevere. She progressed nicely by the next weekend she was coming the full length of the creance but not quite instantly by the following weekend I had her coming 100 yards instantly and she was introduced to a wing lure and the rabbit carcass.

Her first flight free was a little daunting but it didn’t go too badly, she landed upon a telegraph pole and was a little reluctant to come back so when I got her back down I called it a day not wanting to push my luck. The next day she ignored about 5 flushed rabbits put out of cover, but hit the carcass again which we called an end to the session on. The next hunting session was a little more successful; she took her first rabbit bolted from a set by the ferrets, she had done well so I gave her a good feed from the kill.

It wasn’t long before she was entered on Rabbit, Hare, Partridge and Pheasant she was progressing very well hunting with my Dad and his two dogs as well as my own. Guinevere’s fitness and stamina on game flights were increasing as the game became stronger, though she seemed to switch off a little from ground quarry, which wasn’t a real concern as the game flights are where the Goshawk sets its self apart from other hawks flown from the fist. She became like a boomerang, if she missed quarry, whether she was ¾ of mile or 100 yards away, she was heading back to my fist, uncalled, un-garnished ready for the next flight. This amazed me after six years flying a Harris Hawk who wouldn’t look at me unless I offered her a chick I had a ‘Psycho’ Goshawk who thought I was the best thing in the world and wanted to get back on my fist to chase more quarry.

With the season in full swing we started attending field meetings and immediately I could see Guinevere wasn’t putting 100% into her flights on these days as she would when hunting alone, for the next month I concentrated on attending meets and getting out with as many people and their dogs as I possibly could, I was repayed duly on a field meet in Scunthorpe with my best flight of the season up to that point. A Hen Pheasant broke 25-30 yards to my right, Guinevere bated instantly and was slipped, she tailed the Pheasant across a large field heading towards a wood 600 yards away in the distance, she never missed a single wing beat crossing the field with her sights locked on the hen, as the hen dropped into the wood, Guinevere hit the hen and took her down to the floor, I made my way over and allowed her a good feed, whilst I toasted a spectacular flight with a sip or two of Sloe Gin from my hip flask.

This was certainly the turning point for ‘Guin’ on field meets, from that day she flew with vigour on Game no matter where we were or who or what was there and she has always done me proud. Another good day on Hodsoc saw Guin flying a Cock Pheasant across a field of Beet till it just had nothing left and couldn’t out fly her, she took him in what was estimated at 1000 yards from slip to bind.

As my land isn’t suitable for releasing any Game towards the last couple of months of the season my main stray of hawking was on field meets with my own ground providing the occasional slips during the week to keep her fitness levels up but the main hawking was at the weekend.

There have been many memorable days over the hunting season such as my first brace with Guin on strong wild Pheasant on the Revesby Estate (one of the cock pheasants weighing 4lb 8oz). Having to track her down over a mile away twice on Partridge flights but I think my last few days hawking Guinevere were probably my best, she took a French Partridge, Hen Pheasant, Rabbit and a Grey Partridge in two days of hawking, then on Thursday the 1st of February as we stepped into the field for the last time that season with in seconds a covey of Grey Partridge were bumped by the dogs at least 150 yards out Guin set off with a consistent and powerful wing beat, I watched then strained as the flight went out of sight and set off for the retrieve, as I had crossed a flooded dyke, a ploughed field and a field of set corn. Climbing a big hill I could hear crows mobbing Guin in the middle of a large field of set corn, getting closer I saw feathers scattered everywhere and my Goshawk sat proudly upon her third Grey Partridge of the season. She was allowed to eat the lot as I sat on the wet ground beside her over the moon with her effort and achievement on this flight but a little sad it would be our last until next season.

From 3rd September 2006 to 1st February 2007. Guinevere entered on 3rd of September 2006 at 2lbs 8oz Guinevere’s last flight and kill of the season on the 1st of February was at 2lb 14 ¼ oz. 63 Head consisting of;

Pheasant – 30
Rabbit – 12
Moorhen – 6
Grey Partridge – 3
French Partridge – 2
Wood Pigeon – 1
Magpie – 1
Hare – 1
Various – 7

I now look forward to next season hawking an experienced Goshawk in new clothes.

Kill Bill a Finnish male goshawk was collected at 18 days from M & J Raptors and was my first attempt at social imprinting; Bill was to provide a new learning experience from my other previous efforts with male Finnish goshawks. At the age of 7 weeks he was flying and entered during the hot month of July on crows at 1-11 ?, during initial rearing he wasn’t allowed to go fat and at 1-15 still provided instant lure response – with all food offering governed by lure response, the penning weight was also his flying free weight but needed reducing to a lower weight of 1-11 ? for determination and effort on the difficult early crow flights.

The first weeks soon showed his potential at feathered quarry with every other day progress could be evident, taking numerous crows, magpies and woodpigeon during the initial few weeks of hunting. I’d never managed to catch a woodpigeon in flight before but Bill took 5 and flew others for hundreds of yards before breaking off the pursuit – at this early stage it was evident that long flights with maximum effort even with failure to catch difficult quarry wouldn’t dampen his spirit or effort. This led to a very high level of fitness before the partridge season opened on September the first and things looked well for the coming months.

The partridge season opened and he went on to take 19 wild grey partridge during the month of September and the first two weeks of October. The quality of the flights on partridge far exceeded previous season’s efforts; the style of the flight being the highlight of what flying a goshawk is all about – a powerful unrelenting wing beat near to ground level then rising to bind to the partridge. One flight still stands out in my mind; he took on a grey partridge from a point and cleared the surrounding fields taking the partridge through and over a housing estate. The goshawk and partridge could be seen in the distance rising and falling over the roofs as the pursuit continued, I finally tracked him down to a terraced houses’ small front garden plucking the partridge – words don’t do the flight justice.

This high level of fitness combined with the earlier successes enabled him to take pheasants in a similar style, with long slips and flights being the norm. Bill flew on many invites and field meets throughout the country and never disappointed in style or determination. Continued to take pheasants at 1-15 ? until January when family and work commitments brought the season to an end. The season wasn’t without difficulties but looking back the quality and style of the flights made it worth it.

Quarry taken during the season –

40 Pheasant
19 Grey Partridge
1 Red leg Partridge
8 Magpies
3 Crows
1 rabbit
5 Woodpigeon

In his first season ‘Amos’ was entered on game birds, after he’d taken 20 head and was showing very good potential he was retired early to a pen. Amos had finished his moult by the second week in August and his training was started. Now weighing 1lb 11oz training progressed quickly and he was free after five days. Getting him fit was very easy and Amos was ready for the field in no time.

September 1st saw Amos take his first adult cock partridge with style, he would return to the fist over any distance and was well rewarded with every kill with a head and neck were his prize. Amos worked really well with dogs and knew his providers, he went on to do very well on grey partridge and duck he would fly hard and was very persistent, he never missed a wing beat.

Flown everyday Amos was becoming very fit and hardly missed and quarry pursued, in one memorable week he took pheasant, duck, partridge, wood pigeon and a wood cock. As a social imprint Amos loved to be with me and the dogs, there were very few days when flown in company Amos would actually miss game he loved people and was almost a show off he really was the ‘Boy.’

Pheasants were his favoured quarry and his spectacular mid air flights were outstanding, one day on the Weardale fells he took five out of five, four cock pheasants and a hen all were taken in fine style.
Amos was a true hawk he was flown everyday at game birds and would not be let down he was quiet at home and also in the field, nothing would phase this little hawk and was very well mannered, he would fly like a bullet and went hell for leather on every slip he was truly a warrior. My two good hawking pals Frank Duffy and Spencer Burgo witnessed his style, performance and many outstanding flights.

I must say Amos was the best Hawk I’ve ever had the pleasure to fly, he was ready to go at any time and place anywhere and is said by many whom saw him fly to be the best male Gos they had had the pleasure to see fly. He truly was a warrior, I miss him.

From 1st September 2005 – 28th October 2005
Flying at 1lb 13 3/4
51 Pheasants
8 Partridge
2 Mallard
1 Wood Pigeon
1 Wood Cock
1 Water Hen
1 Rat

‘Floppy’ (named by my 3yr old son) a 12 day old Finnish Tiercel goshawk was picked up from Mick Kane on the 5th June ’05. He was to be my first imprint as well as the first Tiercel Gos to be flown myself.

At about seven weeks or so after a short course on dead magpies he was introduced to the real thing. Magpies were his primary quarry during these formative weeks, whilst the young hawk built up muscle and developed his flying skills.

In September he was introduced to Partridge which had been put down as 14wk poults in the middle of august. Like most hawks he loves flying these, and was soon proving exceptionally deadly, luckily we had enough birds to find suitable points and slips most evenings.

Before long we were finding pheasants, these were flown and killed with a similar enthusiasm to the partridge.

At penning he weighed in at 1lb 14 ounces, during the hot months of July and August this was reduced to a low of 1lb 11 ½ ounces a steady rise through out the season saw him peak at his original penning weight of 1lb 14oz during the cold spell over the Christmas holidays.

He was at his most stunning when flying partridge, normally not more than a few feet from the ground with his wing beats reflecting total commitment as he pursued the quarry, changing direction slightly to compensate in any change by his quarry or to overcome the terrain. Both hen and cock pheasant were taken although on occasions he did refuse cock birds although this was put down to returning to the fray in November on fit cock birds after a 3week lay off and getting beaten a few times. Come December he flew and killed both with equal determination.

He was flown at several field meets in the company often of a large field and strange dogs, his performance at meets was always faultless never putting in a substandard performance. In fact he often saved his best flights for such days.

In late October we were at Brancepeth field meet organised by the NE region of the B.F.C After an earlier unsuccessful flight at Partridge our turn to slip came again within an enormous stubble field. Working my young G.S.P in a thin grassy strip on a back wind she soon locked on point. A Red leg partridge was flushed which turned into the wind which was blowing close to gale force and set out across the stubble. The Gos pumped hard not missing a wing beat before pulling the partridge down after a flight of some 3 – 400 yards.

During the Xmas break he was flown on 3 meets at Ragley hall. Over the course of these 3 meets he had 7 slips at pheasant all in very open ground a long way from cover, he caught 7 from 7. One flight in particular stands out, with a point in a field of young rape a hen bird is flushed about 20 yards in front of the bird the hen pheasant feeling the pressure from the Gos instead of trying to bale out goes up very high, the Gos though stays close to the ground tracking the pheasant. After about 600yds the pheasant goes up and over a large copse whilst the Gos powers straight through taking the pheasant on the other side as it attempts to swing back in.

Due to family circumstances his season was ended prematurely at the beginning of January, he also missed a 3 week spell in November when he was rested after striking a fence. His tally for the season was 113 head broken down as follows.

20 Magpie
23 Partridge
3 Pigeon
1 Teal
1 Mallard
2 Rabbit
1 Moorhen
62 Pheasant