The best crow setup ever; bar none!

[Goshawk]

I have had the pleasure of using the ultimate crow call ever made. It was nothing to take 25+ in a few minutes. The setup is as follows.

Location along the flyway between day time feeding fields and night time roost. I would set up in 12' to 20' fir trees where it is thick and I could hid between the bushy fir trees. I used a very long barrel .22 bolt action savage rifle and shot 22 CBs. On a stump, in the open between some trees I would put a freshly killed crow or a thawed out one and nail it down tight. Then, place a young great horned owl from my falconry project on the stump to feast on the dead crow. All I had to do from there was fade back into the fir trees and give a few panic cries from a mouth call. The first crow to see the owl eating a crow in daylight would blow his gaskets and just start screaming! In a few moments, I would have a tornado of crows circling the owl. When a crow would land on a branch, I would pop 'em with the 22. The soft noise of the rifle was drowned out by the screaming murder of crows. When the owl would see the shot crow drop, she would hop down from the stump and start pulling feathers off that crow too.

You've never seen crows so absolutely crazy in a frenzy trying to drive that owl off "Her crow".  I filled the freezer full of crows just so I would have feed to finish raising the Great Horned Owl chick. The attached picture is one of her in her box swallowing a starling whole.

It was FUN!

[Dirty Mike]

Where did you get the owl?

[Jason]

Very cool!

[Goshawk]

I'm a licensed falconer, so I'm often called by folks who stumble on an owl chick thinking it is lost and bring it home. Big mistake. Most GHO chicks are attended to 24/7 by their parents even when the fall out of the nest.

[Machias]

VERY cool!

[seth30]

one of my good friends grew up falconering.  He told me that redtail hawks would glide in behind him and drag there knuckles over the back of his head.  I dont think I would be able to hold my bladder if a bird did that to me   Other than that I think that would be a fun way to hunt.

[Goshawk]

Fun yes, but Western Washington is perhaps the worst place in the lower 48 to hunt with a bird of prey. We have ducks on migration, and some rabbits but none of the classic falconry game like, pheasant, quail, huns, jack rabbits, gray & fox squirrels, sage grouse, or the space to fly a strong bird without it crossing a river. A Gyrfalcon can tail chase a duck for miles then take it down in a valley out of sight, never to be found again. I once had a red-tailed hawk cross the Cowlitz River and nail a rabbit on the other side. I had to hitch a ride on a passing steel head fisherman's boat, then convince him to wait for me to come back with a hawk. I was lucky and got the bird back, as well as passage back to my side of the river. I could just as easily lost him. Once fed up and fat they have no reason to return to you and go on their merry way.

[lokidog]

Pretty cool Goshawk!

[Sportfury]

What do you have to do to get a falconry license? It looks very interesting.

[Goshawk]

Follow the web-link to the WDFW page on falconry.
If your on the East side, your in for some fun. Not so much the West side.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/falconry/packet.html

[Sportfury]

Goshawk I am on the west side, but love to go over to the east side. Are you part of the WFA and are you one of the sponsors or are you being sponsored and by whom if you don't mind me asking.

[CAMPMEAT]

That looks like a fat, happy owl.

[Shed Stud]

AWESOME!

[Goshawk]

Goshawk I am on the west side, but love to go over to the east side. Are you part of the WFA and are you one of the sponsors or are you being sponsored and by whom if you don't mind me asking.

I've been practicing falconry for around 20 years now. At this time, I'm not taking on any more apprentices. Your sponcer needs to be no further than an hour away. The part about falconry that is hard for the non falconer to understand is how much time it takes. There's a reason that the Falconers of old were professional falconers; it burns up a lot of time.
A freshly trapped wild Red Tailed Hawk for example, will learn within a day to 4 days to come to you for food. (I once had a wild RTH hen that took 15 minutes to calm down and take food from my hand. She was just about self training by the end of the first day!) That's about 4 to 6 hours a day for the first week. Maintaining a RTH for hunting takes at least an hour a day during the season to keep her properly conditioned to you and exercised for hunting. Skip a couple of days of handling and you could very well be back a first base in the training. High strung hawks like the Cooper's Hawk need to kill something almost every day. They have so much energy and drive that not killing can cause them to self destruct, or attack their hapless hunting companion, you. That means no vacation away from your bird, if your sick another falconer needs to work her, and in the winter you'll either need to be home at enough light to fly her, or have do it inside a building.
If your really interested in falconry, then your first bird needs to be a beagle or some other smaller rabbit brush busting dog. Unless your retired, you can't train both at the same time. Rabbit hunt with the dog the first year or two then if your doing well bring in the bird to your team. There is a reading list provided by the WSDFW that will help you pass your state and federal exams. The reading list will also get you pointed in the right direction for understanding what will be required of you.
Falconry is one of those things you either do all out or not at all. Sort of like being a parent. You either commit yourself to being the best parent you can and reap the rewards, or do it half assed and suffer the consequences.