Hawk, Buzzard and hawk: Some hunters have a bird

When Kai Siebert goes on the hunt, he needs no rifle. His weapon sits on his Arm, watching over the fields and listens to the name Brock. It is a Goshawk females, this is only one of several birds-of-prey, the falconry master of grebenstein in the district of Kassel.

Despite a long Tradition in Hesse, the so-called falconry is rare. The number of falconers is estimated according to the German Falk North on 80 to 100, the number of active on 40 to 50. Membership in the associations increased, but they tend to be. The interest waxes, and also because, since 2017, the falconry exam in Hessen, can now be completed. The Unesco has classified the falconry in Germany as part of the intangible cultural heritage.

Siebert is not alone on the Prowl: female Emma jumps in anticipation out of the car and put the nose in the snow in the Westphalian-Hessian border area to the North of Liebenau. The contrast to Brock’s could not be greater, which sits quietly on the glove of the Falconer. “A bird is not a dog,” says Siebert. Brocks not the prey voluntarily, fetched, and not even to hear her name. Only in exchange for a piece of meat the bird is hunted out of the Wild.

the Falconer, hawk and dog and go to the trenches on the edge of a snow-covered field. The strategy: rabbit rousting. In contrast to the normal hunting do not need to Siebert stalking quietly through the underbrush. Brock’s remains all the time on the glove to sit. “The hawk hunts from cover,” he says. To circles instead of in the sky, the bird flies directly from the Arm of the Falconer, the prey. The hunter must release, however, two leather straps. So he has the control over when Brock starts.

No fear of big booty

The feeling seems to be a naughty Robin, actually a prey of the hawk. From a short distance watching it, as Siebert goes to a forest. He lets go of the bird, to the right in the trees. Bells to his clutches, and you can imagine where Brock is right now. For the emergency Siebert has a tracking device, a transmitter connected to the tail feathers of the bird. Nevertheless, the animal can little episode.

the hunter and the dog disappear in the undergrowth, scouring the Wild. That doesn’t work, but leads to success: there are Always deer out of the woods and race through the fields flit, but Brock has not set it apart. Fear of large prey for the bird, however, has not: With 995 grams of body weight Brock can hold it with a three-kilogram rabbit. Even rabbit, pheasant and duck are prey potential hunting. This hawks Grifftöter, Siebert says. They mistreat their victims for as long as with the clutches until it dies.

different species of birds of prey Used for hunting. In North Hesse, for example, the Bureau of Kassel are, according to the government, among others, 16 peregrine falcons, nine Sakerfalken, eleven goshawks, three Golden eagles and 13 desert Buzzards reported. “As a special feature of three owls to be used for falconry,” says a spokesman.