Wing and a hare

Ed Cook explains his passion for hunting one of the greatest athletes of the wild with his goshawk

Ihave always considered hares far too noble to be shot, even in areas where populations need to be controlled. For me, it is too easy and wrong to pull the trigger on them. Such is the regard I have for hares that I believe they should only be tested by a natural predator – the hawk.

Where I live hares are abundant. Large populations often mean you don’t have to look far before you bump into these powerful and nimble athletes. There is simply nothing in the wild that can touch a hare for speed, stamina and manoeuvrability.

I also have a love of and fascination with goshawks. They are a challenging species by any measure and one that many in falconry say are the hardest to train and hunt with. As a woodland hunter it is fast, powerful and not much touches it for ‘off the fist’ acceleration and lightning fast reactions.

Nonsense

My first goshawk had an argument with a car and lost. This was a devastating blow for me because I had spent almost every waking hour with her.

I questioned if I had it in me to train another, but soon snapped out of such nonsense when a friend mentioned he knew someone with some “big white gosses”. I put my name down for a female and picked Keres up a while later at the age of nine weeks.

My intention was to hunt the formidable hare, a species many said was for eagles only and really more than what a gos could cope with. I didn’t want to hunt rabbits with her because I have a Harris and a red tail cross that do that easily enough. I needed the challenge and persevered.

To rise to this challenge I spent as much time as I could with Keres. I introduced her to everything I could – traffic, people and other animals. This is needed as goshawks are spooked by the most trivial things. I dedicated every moment I could to this, spending hours a day and night to my gos.

Training progressed and she was soon flying free, a nervous moment for bird and man that involved a bond of mutual trust.

It wasn’t long before I was presenting hares for her and she could see that I was useful to her. The first hare she saw she did not pursue, but the second she did. This was after strict weight management, so she would be at her optimum weight and be keen to hunt. Goshawks don’t naturally hunt hares in the wild, so they need a bit of encouragement.

Not a large hare, but a hare all the same presented itself some 60 yards away and she was off. The hare realised what was on its way and was soon full steam ahead with jinks and turns thrown in for good measure.

My little girl gave it her all and made her strike. I’ve never run so fast in my life; at least that’s what it felt like. I needed to secure the hare, despatch it quickly and give my gos her reward, which was a full crop of fresh hare that she so richly deserved. This was the start of what I hoped would be the beginning of my hare-catching goshawk’s career.

Addicted

She was never going to catch every hare. I have enjoyed the sport of hunting hares with all the highs and lows, misses and catches, rather than just pest control.

It is the excitement of seeing such extreme athletes, hawk and hare, pitted against each other that I love. Naturally, it also helped to keep the local hare population down to a manageable level too.

I soon became addicted to hunting with her and as soon as her weight was back down, we went again, often securing a hare. It has to be said that there were plenty of misses too. During her first season we had a few glitches but she secured 27 hares, which I was happy with. The pursuits were a mixture of long dramatic flights, sometimes with hares jumping six feet to escape her grip, while others were less exciting.

It was a challenge that consumed me. I put her before any other part of my life but that is how a bird gets good at hunting.

I took a lot of advice about flying her, training her, tweaking weight and moments of hunger, while simultaneously trying to understand what she was about. This was frustrating at times and I had some sleepless nights but the highs became addictive and she was and is a thing of beauty.

A friend described flying a gos as like: “Being in a dysfunctional relationship with the most attractive blonde you could wish for – huge lows, some highs, but extremely addictive and exciting.”

He is no poet, and do excuse the masculine take on things, but it sums it up well. I look forward to next season.

“I love the excitement of such extreme athletes pitted against each other.”