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The Red-tailed Hawk By Liam J McGranaghan What could be more American in the world of falconry than the use of redtail hawks for game hawking. From coast to coast and border to border, Buteo jamaicensis has many fans. Ask almost any American falconer what redtails mean to them and fond memories of past hunting companions come pouring forth. That is, of course, if there is not already a redtail gracing that person’s fist, actively making memories. Steve Heying and I both have a soft spot in our hearts for redtails (Steve still flies one over two decades old). My soft spot still beats a little faster when I see a particularly fine specimen. The soft spot in my head is the reason why I do not currently indulge in redtail fun. I am very glad that there are a few among us who find redtails to be their favorite game hawks and continue to elevate their potential to ever higher levels. The two books we have chosen to review are fine recent examples of this elevation. Allow us to tell you a little about them, even though I suspect that many of our readers are already familiar with these two books by Mr. Brewer and Mr. McGranaghan. If not you are in luck, as they are both still available at reasonable cost. I’ll start with Liam’s book because I believe it to be the better beginner’s guide. That is not to say that it does not offer advanced redtail techniques because it does. Likewise, Gary’s book is one of the best books an apprentice could read, except for the fact that apprentices cannot legally utilize Harris’ hawks. The Red-tailed Hawk, A Complete Guide to Training and Hunting
North America’s Most Versatile Game Hawk by Liam J McGranaghan, 2nd
edition, copyright 1996, 156 pages, 59 B&W photos, 34 drawings by
Diane Mahaney. This soft cover manual is a very thorough discussion
of redtail hawks and their use in falconry in the northeastern U.S.
It is the type of book a beginner could follow closely and succeed
with his or her first hawks. The sequence of information presented
is in a logical progression starting with the Natural History of the
species. Trapping redtails is next, and this is an interesting
chapter due to the author’s experience with fall ridge trapping from
a blind. Thoughtful pages on manning, training, weight control, and
game hawking follow. I honestly could not think of many important
points not covered, and there were several that I had not thought
of. Many pages are devoted to game hawking with enough good
snapshots to keep the reader stimulated. The giant hood is the paramount piece of equipment with Liam’s technique. There is a great amount of detail in this book regarding its use and construction. That’s a good thing for a good method because there is minimal information here about other tools of management and control like hoods and mews. Short jessing a big raptor to a screen perch always bothers me, even in total darkness, especially in a mews small enough that her wings can hit the walls. I did not mind the pictures of A-frame weathering perches, but apparently someone did. An inserted warning slip for A-frames makes you wonder what happened. No matter what kind of perch a redtail is tethered to, a shock absorber should be incorporated and I found no mention of these anywhere. Ron Austing’s The World of the Red-Tailed Hawk, 1964, is listed as a reference to be sought out. This little book opened my youthful eyes to these hawks, offering more natural history than falconry. Another reference recommended is our next book for review, Buteos and Bushytails. This book mixes natural history and falconry, as if they could be separated, in a very cool way. I think The Red-Tailed Hawk would have benefitted by the inclusion of a co or contributing author flying redtails in a different environment, like California. Otherwise I think this book would have been better titled The Red-Tailed Hawk as flown by guys in Virginia.
Buteos and Bushytails by Gary L. Brewer, published by GLB
Publications, Chandler, Texas, printed by Jostens of Topeka, 136
pages, 14 B&W drawings by Matthew Armstrong, 18 B&W photos, and 22
color photos (terrific action shots). Have you ever been in a forest and had a hawk following you as a partner in its quest for protein? It is a commonplace event for people like the author of this book. I used to take the practice for granted until I moved west and observed austringers and their hawks so used to an open, tressless environment that if you tried to hawk a bit of wooded shelterbelt, the hawk didn’t know what to do. Gary Brewer takes us to the thicketed woods of east Texas and explains, with rare knowledge and detail, what it is like to be deep in the woods with a creature that has been persuaded to not only tolerate the sight of you, but to actually use you as a means to secure its food. Gary’s hand covered book was substantially and attractively constructed by Jostens printers. The glossy black binding with gold image of a redtail stooping a squirrel was quite a surprise when unpacked. This is a work that will physically hold up for a long time. The contents will too, as I believe it to be an attainable form of falconry, one not so threatened by the delicate balance of environment and politics seen lately in the case of the sage grouse. Buteos and Bushytails was written to be primarily a testament to the ability of the redtail hawk. This has been accomplished. What I wish to convey is the truly exceptional information provided about Harris’ hawks. Gary Brewer, a native Texan, takes us to the scrubland of south Texas with a wonderful chapter about what it is like to go trapping Harris’ hawks in their native country. Then he describes what it is like to hawk squirrels with a cast of females (I was not fond of the constant use of the word hen). Some recent articles deal at length with flying two or more Harris’ hawks together. Few describe the dynamics of this phenomenon so well. The equipment needed for this method of squirrel hawking is described in detail according to its being passive or active in nature. Any concerns I had for the danger of serious bites were laid to rest with a proven tarsus protecting jess design and sound arguments about how hawks quickly learn to neutralize those tough little customers. I disagreed with the contention that one should avoid passage redtails captured with their primary tips worn off from alleged frequent feeding on road kills. First off, I have never seen a wild hawk with this kind of wear. The only redtail I ever saw feeding on carrion was existing along a highway with a broken wing. Among passage hawks, you will see lots of feather lice damage. This is not a sign of a hawk with poor hunting ability and no reason to reject an otherwise nice specimen. I like the way the Brewer mew (large like a breeding chamber) is described as a weathering area that offers protection, exercise, and airy sunlit surroundings. Weed and grass growth on the native soil floor is encouraged so that wastes can be dealt with in a natural way. By “free lofting” the squirrel hawk, the goal of healthful, safe physical conditioning is achieved. The austringer is forced to maintain good fist response (weight control) in order to take the hawk from its chamber. The occasional cere ding while the hawk learns its limits outweigh the chance of leg sprains all too frequently experienced by tethered passage redtails. Like Liam McGranaghan’s book, this one sings the praises of the giant hood as a preferable method to traditional hooding for controlling the newly captured hawk. I found myself getting confused as to definitions of what constitutes a mews and what is a weathering area with both books. Apparently some consider a mews to be one step bigger than a giant hood. For my purposes, I consider a mews to be the place where a captive raptor spends most of its time, day and night. To me, the ideal is where my falcon can choose her roosting spot and her sunbathing spot without being taken to it. I realize that this level of mobility is hard to achieve with the passage hawk. Some, if not constant tethering is often required. I guess that is one reason I like eyases lately. Many will argue that the free lofted raptor can become too independent and uncontrollable, or never be tame in the first place. It goes without saying that the daily routine of carrying, hooding, weighing, and hawking will prevent such wildness. Gary Brewer shows us that at some point, freedom in his “weathering area” is possible and positive with passage buteos. He not only takes his hawks out to hunt frequently, but takes a chair into the mews to relax and observe his hawk at close range. Of course, success in falconry hinges on the intuitive sensitivity of the human, in other words the ability to read the raptor and anticipate potential problems. Not many humans can do this even if they try. Gary Brewer is such a human and students who read this book can gain some insight into how to be a falconer. Thus we have a book that transcends the world of buteos and bushytails. The inclusion of a passage from the book of Genesis as an introductory theme, set an uncomfortable tone with me right from the start. It’s that whole “Be fruitful and multiply” thing with its subduing and dominating. I should not be too surprised to find this passage in a book from the Bible belt. Something about living in tornado and fire ant alley that makes one fundamental. As far as squirrel hawking with the Brewer method goes, using cherry and smoke bombs to route the critters from their tree cavities falls into the subduing category. Guess I shouldn’t talk, I used to flush ducks from big water with a freon boat horn. Interjecting religious theory into a game hawking book might make some readers ponder (or ignore) our very early humanoid ancestor’s threat from giant crowned eagle type megaraptors in the primeval forests of Africa. It did that to me anyway. We are not so far from this hunter versus hunted life that doing it stirs some primal feelings within us. Just remember that we have not always been at the very top of the food chain. I now have respect for a quarry that has reached substantial sanctuary. Maybe I’ve just gotten lazy. Perhaps I empathize too much. With all of this great redtail writing, I feel some past experiences wanting to pour forth. I remember a bitter cold South Dakota day with good buddy Steve Duecker and a ten year old male redtail named Willard. Along with introducing me to the high plains and prairie falcons Steve showed me, at this NAFA meet near Centerville, what a really good redtail could do. While trying to move bunnies in the relative shelter of a woodlot, we watched Willard lift off into the gale driven sleet, up a hundred feet above the fifty foot tree he was on, where he rolled on his back and shot off downwind out of sight. When we caught up with him, a quarter mile across a frozen field of corn stubble, we found this exquisite hawk on a prime rooster pheasant. They are out there folks for no more than the price of gas to drive around looking for one.
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