OK, I shall for a few minutes hold forth on taking game with owls - much
more fun than eating Humble Pie (1. Umbel Pie - a pie filled with deer
offal. 2. A rock group of the 70s)
There is, of course, no long & honourable tradition of hunting with owls -
but then, it took 450 years for the Harris to arrive in the UK, a country
with a long history of importing birds, from as far afield as Greenland
(what an oppurtunity the Tudor, Stewart & Georgian falconers missed there!)

In the UK the "standard owls" are the Bengal & the European. The bengal is
definitely very difficult to enter to rabbits, but is easy enough to enter
to the other quarries (squirrel, moorhen (a small black water rail), and
pheasant, and many was the time we had to whip our and the other large white
ferret hob out of their ambit. Our first falconry birds were bengals & drove
us to distraction trying to get them reliably onto rabbits. I never got my
female going at them properly, although she took both squirrel & pheasant.
But she died after six months of gastro-enteritis. Shirley had her male
longer and he would fly them regularly, although at 26oz. he needed a two
footed grip to hold one. It was quite comical to watch the expression of
alarm on his face as he was inexorably dragged towards the brambles by the
large buck he had grabbed one footed by the rump, frantically trying to hold
onto the grass with his other foot, to anchor himself. The slightly smaller
African Spotted appears similar in capabilities & temperament.

Next we come to the exotics. These are Great Horned owl, Mackinder's,
Magellans & Turkmanian. All of these are ideal candidates for falconry.
In the UK, there is a popular myth that the only owl any good for falconry
is the Great Horned. This arises from Jemima Parry-Jones' book "Falconry -
care, captive breeding & consevation". I can recommend this book on the
management of birds. But it is not a technical falconry manual. This book
mentions that the GHO is better than the European and the Bengal. But the
other three exotics are not mentioned at all. No reason they should have
been, they were rare at the time, & Jemima has no interest in practising
falconry with owls. Although my only personal experience of these species
is with the Turk, the very limited amount of feedback suggest that the
Mackinder's is equally as good. I know of no-one who has tried the
Magellan's, and have never seen a specimen of Verraux's (Milky Eagle Owl)
offered for sale.

The only difficulty I had with entering my turk to rabbits was that she was
two days from flying free. But she was in yarak and keen to go at them so I
slipped her & she took on a flight of about 100yds, at rabbits which were
only 5yds. from their warren. It was still full daylight & they spotted her
about 15yds. out, and so all escaped (one only by inches) I then had to
collect her & pick her up by the jesses, as she wouldn't hop up. Two days
later she killed one, and the next evening, she entered to a partridge.
Although she never caught one, I have no reason to think its not possible. I
also tried beating pigeons out of a bush & slipping her from the fist,
goshawk style. Although she would fly them, I have no way of knowing how
close she came - it was too dark to see. An accipiter has to be the
preferred bird for this method.

The European or Eurasian eagle owl falls between the bengal and the exotics,
in terms of agression. On this bird I have much more feedback, and it
tallies with other accounts & with my own knowlege too well to be
fabrication. They will take rabbits, hares, moorhen, squirrels & urchins. A
fair few foxes. Although I have no confirmation, pheasants must also have
been taken. One falconer had reportedly so denuded his local area of brown
hares, that he had to stop hunting them to conserve the population. I can
well beleive this as their speed & acceleration approaches that of a gos,
and there foot power is greater than a large redtail. The closest thing must
be the now fabled (in the UK) hawk-eagles. And a UK falconer who is in the
process of training one, fully expects to take foxes.

In the USA the situation is different, The GHO has to be the "standard owl"
and all the others are the exotics. If you want to try a GHO you must first
obtain your General Falconer's grade.
It does appear that you can train, fly and hunt with any of the exotics
without any licence at all. But still I would advise - learn the techniques
of falconry, pass the exam (if you can't, you'll never make a falconer), and
if possible, find a sponsor broad minded enough to help you in your unusual
endeavour.

In terms of what stage to train the owl, my choice & advice would be a
brancher. It's a complete fallacy that they can't be trained at this age.
But there appear to be two schools of thought on training birds. The first
puts the emphasis on weight control, the second puts it on manning. I belong
to shool 2 and owls respond very much better to this method. Cutting down
should not start until they are feeding on the fist. And they need to be
free-lofted from the start - they should not be tethered for more than a few
hours. But most falconers who have tried owls have followed the normal
procedure adopted with hawks & so have struggled. It is much easier to train
semi-imprints. I will not say that quarry can't be taken with these birds,
but I would suspect very much better could be done with a brancher.

I would not hesitate to take on a haggard GHO, but could not suggest it to
the new Owlster. Although that would never be possible for me, the
experience of a 2-year old turk (kept in captivity - but parent reared and
never tamed) leads me to think they would be very stubborn and obstructive.

In terms of additional prey in the USA, I would expect them to take racoons,
ground squirrels, gophers, skunks (*!*!*), roadrunners, quail and rails.
Basically, any ground quarry, and ground dwelling birds, in terrain enclosed
enough to permit stalking .

I am not surprised few people have seen them take quarry. They don't take at
all kindly to strangers & this may affect their performance. Also a party of
followers is not conducive to stalking.

So, there it is. If you want to try one, dust off your crash helmet & bike
leathers (you'll need them), and go and get yourself one - they should be
ready now. But be aware of the huge time commitment, and DON'T ORDER ANY
BELLS! And in the excitement of those kills, don't forget the photo.

Please excuse the length of this posting, but I am keen to preserve this
knowlege, if only for posterity. More answers are embedded in the original
message. And if any of you has any knowlege or experience of the matter,
please post, or contact me privately.

Good Hawking

Pete

References
http://fwgazette.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/Eowls.htm article on Eagle
Owls

Any other references can be navigated from the buttons at the end of the
article, or via the magazine by clicking on the masthead

----- Original Message -----
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
> But most falconers only have a passing interest in Owls and In
> the 38yrs that I have been hunting with BOP. I have never seen anyone
hunting
> and catching game with an owl. I'm sure it has been done but must be
very
> rare! I won't go on.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

> Not to butt in here Greg and Pete, but this is an interesting topic to me
> anyway because of the gentleman who posted awhile back regarding his CD
on
> Ebay. Some may remember he had one up for auction and stated he would make
other
> copies available for sale. The CD contained his notes and logs pertaining
to
> his 2 or 3 years of hunting game with a female GHO. This in no way negates
or
> rebuts your statement Greg, about hunting with owls as this is the only
> concrete instance I have ever seen other than the periodic fable.
>
> Quite honestly, I find the idea of hunting with a GHO quite fascinating
and
> somewhat romantic as I have a great admiration for this large predator. I
am
> guessing that the popularity of owls in the UK has a great deal to do with
the
> lack or difference in regulations regarding the breeding of raptors.

In part perhaps, as all the owls available in the UK have come from
aviculture.
Another reason is historical - back in the 80s & early 90s, a very limited
number of quality hunting birds were available, and those were expensive. I
paid a month's wages for my first male HH
Yet a third is the lack of open space compared with the USA, a problem
nicely solved by an eagle owl
A fourth is that you can fly on into the evening, when you get home from
work. "Merlin" heads for home just before sunset!
Yet a fifth would be that in the USA, apprentices can't fly the GHO
Finally, their suitability as "pets ". Whilst eagle owls are not suitable,
barn owls very definitely are - provided they are properly housed and cared
for, and trained and flown with the requisite discipline. Because (say it
very softly) the HH would make an ideal pet, but for its prediliction for
killing things (think about it).

>For instance I don't have a propagation permit. I'm not interested in
breeding at
> this time but if I was, I would have to jump through the necessary hoops
in
> order to obtain one. No problem if and when, as I did it to become a
falconer
> because I wanted to and it was important to me. I built a facility, found
a
> sponsor and learned enough correct technique to practice the art
responsibly,
> but I digress...
>
> It would be neat to hear of others who have successfully hunted GHO's or
> other owls, but in North America at least it seems to be the road less
traveled.
> I sense that there is a certain gap (or chasm) between free flying an owl
and
> actually catching game with one.
Not really, provided the correct owl is chosen (GHO is ideal), taken at the
correct stage (brancher)
and trained using the correct technique (free lofted from start, not cutting
down the weight, emphasis on manning - and that critical offering of the
bechin RIGHT hand to the beak when feeding on the fist)
then entering & killing should present few problems
> Along with time, what keeps me in the dream
> stage of this adventure, is the apparent necessity to obtain an eyass in
> order to have any success at all. Whether captive bred or pulled from a
nest,
> the commitment remains.
The commitment is much greater. They live longer, can't possibly be released
(they remain too tame) and cannot be a "weekender" bird - not for hunting,
anyway.
It is possible to pass them on, but they need totally re-manning.
>I suppose a home as an education bird could be found,
A terrible idea, they'd try to kill any other bird on display
> but to me it means commitment nonetheless.
>
> Sorry for rambling,
>
> Joel
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________

>
> Joel,
> There always has to be one. Congratulations! its you.
> But why would you want to drive a beaten up old ford when you can drive a
> McLaren F1.
> Greg
>
>
> Ok, I'm down one cup of coffee on my dipstick this morning, not sure I
get
> this analogy. I'm sure it's me though. Is this re me wanting to fly a
GHO?
>
> Joel
> ]
>
> Message: 10
> Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:11:42 -0000
> From: "Fred Dewey" <hawkstir2004@...>
> Subject: Re: Digest Number 1586
>
> FYI, there is a falconer on this group site that flys and catches
> squirrels with a GHO.
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pennsylvaniafalconry/
> Fred
> --- In Hawking@yahoogroups.com, spcaecwl@a... wrote:
> >
> > In a message dated 6/16/2005 11:43:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> > butlerperlin@a... writes:
> >
> > There always has to be one. Congratulations! its you.
> > But why would you want to drive a beaten up old ford when you can
> drive a
> > McLaren F1.
> >
> >
> >
> > Ok, I'm down one cup of coffee on my dipstick this morning, not
> sure I get
> > this analogy. I'm sure it's me though. Is this re me wanting to fly
> a GHO?
> >
> > Joel
> >
A closer analogy would be "Why fly a Stealth fighter, when you could fly an
F18(Falcon?) or an A10 Warthog "(This reference refers to a harris hawk, and
I much admire both the plane and the bird). The speed ratios & kill
capabilities are pretty accurate.

And neither Fred nor Joel were the Hawk-L member with an owl interest. If
you dig through the Owl groups (find them all on my links page) postings,
you will find him - but its not my place to out him!

Pete