Hawking With Gundogs

[Higgins]

http://youtu.be/XXasIBaco2k

Here is a short video of some of our training/hunting today. An important part of the Higgins method of gundog training includes the use of hawks and falcons. Especially useful in helping gun-shy dogs build hunting desire and focus before the reintroduction of the gun. The use of the hawk also reinforces steadiness, honoring and hunting cooperation.

This was filmed at our new hunting/training venue located in the high desert of Yerington, Nevada, in the Northeast Mason Valley.

Hope you enjoy it.

Brad Higgins
Higgins Gundogs

[buckshot1]

Wow. That looks like a blast. I noticed that you had one hawk flush the chukar and another hawk pursue the chukar after the flush. Do you want the hawk to catch the chukar before it flushes while the dog is on point or after the flush?

[Higgins]

Hello Buckshot1,

It's all one bird. She jumps the chukar on the ground, it gets away and she swings behind me when she chases it. You can hear her wing brush against the camera when she flies by me. Her goal is to eat the chukar. If she sees it, she may try to catch it on the ground, if it flushes she will try to catch it on the rise or chase it till it puts in again. Then, she will land and wait for us to catch up and flush it again.

Brad Higgins
www.HigginsGundogs.com

[buckshot1]

Neat stuff. I'd like to see falconry/hawking over a pointer in action sometime. Does the hawk learn to use the dog on point to locate the bird or do you have to direct the hawk towards where you think the bird is holding? For example, once the chukar lands after the initial flush, could you release the dog to relocate the bird, and then would your hawk that's flying around use the dog on point to pinpoint the bird without your direction?

[Higgins]

Generally, if the hawk misses the bird on the first flush, it will follow it and land in the area where the bird put in. And yes, the dog and hawk quickly learn to work together with no help from me. I'm just a perch to hunt from. The hawk learns to follow and read the dog. She knows when the dog gets birdy and can even tell if the dog has ground scent or air scent. The dogs get real steady when hunted with the hawk too.

When the hawk is in the field, the birds don't want to run. She can see birds moving at great distances and she will take off to catch them on the ground or, if they flush, in the air.

Brad Higgins
www.Higginsgundogs.com

[mountaindogs]

I used to do educational programs with raptors. Miss it and always think I would LOVE hunting with hawks! Too many animals right now but maybe in my empty nest days....
do you find dogs who also like to retrieve have trouble working with them? Do they get frustrated that they do not get the bird?

[bhulisa]

do you find dogs who also like to retrieve have trouble working with them? Do they get frustrated that they do not get the bird?

I know very little about falconry/hawking, but have a good friend that is an avid falconer. We hunt together and he often brought his bird along....I was very worried that my dogs might interfere or even harm his bird.

Funny thing is, they did not. They respected his bird, and as my dogs are taught to be steady to wsf, they respected the bird's kills. Was a surprise to me....!

He hunts with GSPs. All have a strong retrieve drive and he generally does not have problems.

[whoadog]

And yes, the dog and hawk quickly learn to work together with no help from me. I'm just a perch to hunt from. The hawk learns to follow and read the dog. She knows when the dog gets birdy and can even tell if the dog has ground scent or air scent.

Just out of curiosity, do you suppose wild raptors learn to follow hunters with dogs? I can't tell you how many times I've hit a pheasant field and had a hawk show up about 5 minutes later. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to me.

[bonasa]

Just out of curiosity, do you suppose wild raptors learn to follow hunters with dogs? I can't tell you how many times I've hit a pheasant field and had a hawk show up about 5 minutes later. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to me.

I can't speak from experience with hawks and game birds. I have witnessed countless times bald eagles following our electrofishing boats and picking off the stunned suckers floating belly up. no birds around when you pull up into the cove, but they come soaring in when the generator fires up!

[Nutmeg247]

And yes, the dog and hawk quickly learn to work together with no help from me. I'm just a perch to hunt from. The hawk learns to follow and read the dog. She knows when the dog gets birdy and can even tell if the dog has ground scent or air scent.

Just out of curiosity, do you suppose wild raptors learn to follow hunters with dogs? I can't tell you how many times I've hit a pheasant field and had a hawk show up about 5 minutes later. It doesn't seem like much of a leap to me.

I believe I've seen this both with what I think are redtails, and also with what I think are kestrels. The kestrels, if that's what they are, I assume are just looking for anything small kicked up by the dog. I've never heard about anyone working a kestrel and dog together, maybe because they don't take game animals?

Edit: 12/29: Just yesterday I was in a few washes or mini drainages below a mesa and had a redtail fly from perch to perch about 200 to 400 yards or so from me and watch as my dog pointed Gambel's quail. In this case, there was pretty dense brush that the quail stayed in, and no rabbits or anything else except two coyotes ran out of the wash. The hawk watched everything but never got up in the air except to fly to another perch.