09-08-2004, 02:05 PM
I've never been out hunting with eagles but I've been out with hawks and falcons. You don't hood a bird when you're out hunting because it's got better eyesight than you do so you want it to look around. But when you are transporting it or need to keep it calm, you put a hood on it.<br>
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Some birds like crowds and attention or they learn to get used to it like rehab birds that are used in educational programs. Most of them don't like the noise and the activity so it's easier to keep them hooded. I used to tie my nature center's kestrel to the headrest of the front seat of my car and let him ride on it. Some guys put them in specially-made boxes with hoods and transport them that way. So I guess the bird in the cage could be a real one. A full-grown golden eagle is going to be about 10-13lbs. Add to that the weight of the cage and the bars so I'd think the standard would be really top heavy and hard to carry about. One that's merely tied to the perch might work, especially if it had been hand-raised and was used to people and crowds.<br>
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Again, I don't know that much about hunting with eagles but letting them go when they are older sounds about right. When you apprentice as a falconer in the US, you have to trap an immature hawk on its Fall migration to use as your first bird. You hunt it through the winter and then let it go in the Spring and trap another new hawk in the Fall. After you've mastered that, you can move on to raising young birds, which is a different set of skills and training. Releasing older eagles also probably has to do with self-preservation. As I mentioned before, they can break a grown-man's arm without much effort. Best to hunt them when they are young and don't know their own strength. So the eagle on the standard could be a juvie as well.<br>
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Deb <p></p><i></i>
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Some birds like crowds and attention or they learn to get used to it like rehab birds that are used in educational programs. Most of them don't like the noise and the activity so it's easier to keep them hooded. I used to tie my nature center's kestrel to the headrest of the front seat of my car and let him ride on it. Some guys put them in specially-made boxes with hoods and transport them that way. So I guess the bird in the cage could be a real one. A full-grown golden eagle is going to be about 10-13lbs. Add to that the weight of the cage and the bars so I'd think the standard would be really top heavy and hard to carry about. One that's merely tied to the perch might work, especially if it had been hand-raised and was used to people and crowds.<br>
<br>
Again, I don't know that much about hunting with eagles but letting them go when they are older sounds about right. When you apprentice as a falconer in the US, you have to trap an immature hawk on its Fall migration to use as your first bird. You hunt it through the winter and then let it go in the Spring and trap another new hawk in the Fall. After you've mastered that, you can move on to raising young birds, which is a different set of skills and training. Releasing older eagles also probably has to do with self-preservation. As I mentioned before, they can break a grown-man's arm without much effort. Best to hunt them when they are young and don't know their own strength. So the eagle on the standard could be a juvie as well.<br>
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Deb <p></p><i></i>
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Deb
Sulpicia Lepdinia
Legio XX
Deb
Sulpicia Lepdinia
Legio XX
