So You Want to Fly an Eagle

Cordi Atkinson with Golden Eagle - Joe Atkinson Eagle JournalBy Joe Atkinson

People say this to me all the time….. “I want to fly a golden eagle, it’s been my life dream”. So I thought I would give you some insight as to what it is like to fly one and, just as importantly, what it takes to fly a golden eagle. And, to be clear, when I use the term eagle, I am talking about golden eagles, not bald eagles. Nobody wants to fly bald eagles, they bite like hell, ear/nose/lip removal kind of bites. Plus, goldens are better hunters.

The 2017 NAFA Eagle Meet and Workshop was held in Rock Springs, Wyoming again this year. There were lots of people and lots of eagles being flown, chasing and catching white-tailed jackrabbits out in the open sage. In six days of hunting I walked an average of six miles a day and one day walked over ten miles. Most falconers I know can walk that easily enough, but when you are carrying an eight-to-nine pound eagle on your arm, along with one or two jacks in your hawking vest, the weight starts to become a factor, which makes a huge difference, trust me. The white-tailed jacks that my eagles caught there weighed just about 6.5 lbs., with one topping out at 8 lbs. I find this interesting because white-tailed jackrabbits are thought to be the largest hare we have. Their average weight, however, is very close to that of the black-tail jackrabbits down in Kansas, which average 6-6.5 lbs. I have a working theory on this. I believe that the jacks in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma are a combo, resulting from interbreeding of white-tailed and black-tailed jackrabbits. White-tails are generally found at higher elevations and farther north than black-tails. But there are places that they occur together and, well, rabbits are rabbits. If you take a close look at the black-tails in Kansas, for example, they are vastly different in color and size than the black-tails that I have caught in California, Oregon or Idaho, which average 3.5 lbs. More than just size, the Kansas jacks show other white-tail traits as well. As I said, just a theory.

Most male eagles that I have flown have tipped the scales at 6.5 lbs., although I have flown some that were smaller, at 5.5 lbs. Love those 5.5 lb. eagles! Some would say “but they are so small”. To that I say they are way easier on the arm and size means nothing. Small, yes, but still an eagle! The females generally go up to 10 lbs. I did fly one female that flew at an astonishing 14 lbs. She was an exceptionally large eagle and very aggressive hunter. Incidentally, her favorite prey was red tailed hawks and horned owls, two things she acquired a taste for while living in the wild. She was too big to carry so I got her to follow me and she would make her own choices as to what to eat. She took a wide range of quarry up until her release. I will admit that my creditability telling males from females has been somewhat tarnished the last few years because Jackhammer, a well known eagle I have been flying for 15 plus seasons, toting the joys of flying male eagles, laid an egg. But, in my defense, she flies at 8.4 lbs., which is in the small female/large male category. That is all I’ll say on this subject.

Another question I have been asked many times is, “if you had your choice of any age eagle, what would you choose”. For me that is an easy answer. If I was going to trap one I’d look for the smallest, starving-to-death, first-year male I could find. It’s simple, they are the most thrilled to be in a warm well-fed situation and will hunt their ass off for you. The same if I could get a captive raised bird. Off-the-fist male eagles, in my opinion, are better hunters than females, and that statement is coming from someone who is currently flying females. Now, if you want to hunt from the soar, I would pick a female. Sure, males can hunt this way too, but females are just that much more powerful and impressive. They take control of the air and all things in the area; they reign unmatched in power and speed.

Marshall Radio Telemetry was on hand at the eagle meet and we put their GPS transmitters on a few different eagles to see just how fast they fly while chasing jacks. I had no idea what to expect. Most writings about jackrabbits say they go 35mph, with a burst of maybe 40mph. So I figured eagles need to be at least that fast. The range of speeds was somewhat surprising, the slowest was 33mph and the fastest was 53mph. Eagles are surprisingly fast and some noted goshawkers will say that golden eagles are faster off the fist than goshawks.

Let’s talk briefly about the stupid things I get asked and what prey you shouldn’t even think about hunting with an eagle. Here’s one…. “I want to hunt coyotes from a soar with a passage female eagle”. Okay, first off, yes, eagles do eat coyotes. The 14 lb. female I had would and did take coyotes but, and this is the important part, eagles look for the young coyotes or ones that they feel they have a huge advantage over. This is just what my female did; half grown coyotes, not full adult coyotes, big difference. If you specifically fly your eagle after coyotes your eagle is going to get hurt, probably seriously hurt. And given just how incredibly difficult eagles are to get, you’d be foolish to risk your eagle flying coyotes. Foxes are a different matter. A fox can still injure your eagle but they can take a fox easily enough, particularly a female eagle. Any of the species of deer we have in the US are too big for your eagle. Wild eagles do take deer but it’s the fawns and the sick and injured ones. An adult deer will beat the hell out of your eagle in no time. I know, I’ve seen it happen, not good. Flying geese? Eagles can take them but don’t like to, mainly because the flights usually end up in the water or mud or both. And geese fight like hell and other geese friends will join in to help free their buddy, your flight can turn into a cluster very quickly. The folks that I know that have flown geese over the years say that, in short order, their eagle started to refuse the slips.

Okay then, what is the main quarry hunted with eagles. That would be the jackrabbit, both the white-tailed and black-tailed jackrabbit. Eagles go together with jackrabbits like lions go with zebras; they are made for each other. And just like zebras have evolved ways to escape attacking lions, so has the jackrabbit evolved ways to elude an attacking eagle. Watching a successful eagle flight off-the-fist at a jack will, to the newcomer, seem easy, but isn’t that how all falconry flights look when game is caught? Don’t be fooled, jacks are not easy to catch. Many a falconer has made the “walk of shame” back to the truck after his or her bird was made to look foolish by a clever jackrabbit.

There are several ways people hunt jacks with eagles: off-the-fist, off poles or tree’s, flushing prey under the eagle, or waiting-on like a giant falcon. Off-the-fist is the most popular eagle hunting style wherever eagles are flown in the US or in Europe. The power and speed generated by golden eagles off the fist has to be witnessed to be appreciated. The waiting-on style, I think, is the highest form of eagle falconry one can achieve. However, to fly in the waiting-on style you will need large amounts of land and very good, fast dogs. And there is a difference between slope soaring and waiting-on. To slope soar you find a hill with wind and your eagle flies back and forth along the hillside, riding the airflow coming up the side of the hill like a surfer rides a wave. Tons of fun and can produce great action flights. Waiting-on takes all of that to a higher level — your eagle flies off to find a thermal which, in the case of our female eagle, Widow, can be up to two miles away. Widow rides the thermal up to her desired height, which is usually somewhere around 2,000 ft. or more, comes back over, circles over us like a shark, waiting for us and our dogs to flush a jack. We have witnessed some breathtaking stoops. Walking out across the open high-desert sagebrush sea with our sight hounds and Widow circling high overhead, knowing that the next flush could come with the next step, is the ultimate in eagle falconry. If that doesn’t get your juices going you might want to check your pulse!

Let’s talk about the actual handling of eagles. Most people have no idea as to the strength of a golden eagle. A comment I frequently get is “oh, I fly a big female red tail or Harris’ hawk and she has huge feet, so I know all about handling big birds”. Well, I’m here to tell you that that will not prepare you for the power of a golden eagle. The golden eagle is easily 4 to 5 times stronger than any hawk, maybe more. The power of eagles is just not something the average falconer has had to deal with or knows about and why should they. It is fair to say, most falconers don’t want to fly an eagle, they are the smart ones. For the rest of us crazy ones, flying an eagle can be the most rewarding experience you could ever have in falconry, if you have the right stuff. And by “stuff” I don’t mean guts or toughness or an overdose of testosterone. Those things have little to do with flying eagles. There are numerous women falconers that are very accomplished eagle falconers. What you will need is lots of game and land to fly on. And if you don’t live in eagle country and aren’t willing to drive to eagle country, fly something else, eagles are not for you. What is eagle country? In the simplest terms, it’s wide-open land that has jackrabbits running around on it. That includes grasslands, open prairie and any place that has sagebrush, these places usually have game. Other game I have hunted includes ground squirrels, ducks and pheasants. I have hunted sage grouse and have been oh-so-close to catching one with our female eagle, Widow.

But getting back to the handling of eagles…. You will need a good eagle glove, one that goes at least to your elbow. And do not go cheap here, get a good one, you will thank me. Mike’s Falconry has some good ones. A wise old (or not so old) eagle falconer once said when talking about getting grabbed by an eagle, “it’s not a matter of if you’re going to get grabbed, it’s a matter of when”. It would be somehow dishonest of me not to talk about the possibility, and the likelihood, that your eagle is going to put a rather painful and sizable hole in your body, probably your hand or arm, at some point. It’s at that point you will question your sanity and ask yourself if this is worth the pain. The good thing is most eagles are not that aggressive and actually are very sweet, as long as you don’t dangle your bare hand out in front of them with food in it. Unless your flying an insane imprint, which I seem to get all the time, your passage eagle is not going to be that bad and, as I said, they can be very nice birds to handle.

Everything for eagles is bigger and needs to be stronger. I could not recommend more strongly using nylon braided jesses and leashes. If you go with leather you had better check them all the time, eagles like to bathe and leather will break down. Mike Craig has some excellent eagle equipment. And get a nice hood. I use Larry Rae hoods because I like the fact that they are wide and prevent sweating around the eyes. Many people travel with their eagles in giant hoods. I hate them, they’re more like giant coffins, if you ask me. More eagles/birds have died in giant hoods. I like to have my falconry birds hooded on perches in the back of my shell-covered pick up truck, with lots of airflow and where I can see them in the rearview mirror, but that’s just me.

Game-ready conditioning your eagle:
Golden eagles are highly intelligent, they know when they are in shape or not, particularly a passage eagle. An unfit eagle will give you little effort unless the slip is a sure thing that couldn’t be passed up. Your eagle needs to be game ready, and there are many different suggested ways to do this. If you go on the internet you’ll see things like chain dragging, jump–ups, flying from one perch to another a million times. Well I’m here to tell you, throw all that junk out the window. Physical conditioning is extremely important for all the obvious reasons, but what is commonly overlooked is the mental conditioning part. Nothing gets an eagle in shape faster, both physically and mentally, than chasing a moving object, i.e. the lure, at speed. This does not mean being pulled by your apprentice, Jamie. Remember the speeds from the eagle meet. If Jamie could pull the lure fast enough to challenge a golden eagle she/he’d be in the Olympics. Get a lure machine or use something like we use, a John Deere gator, or whatever, as long as it goes fast. Having your eagle flying around dragging a chain will get it in physical shape, yes, but, and this is the key, not mentally sharp. Let’s say that you have spent weeks conditioning your bird, doing jump-ups, dragging chains or whatever and your bird is in fantastic shape. You then drive out to the jackrabbit fields, like in Wyoming, ready for the big hunt. You, my friend, are going to be completely disappointed and your eagle is going to be very frustrated. Because you and your eagle are not mentally ready. You walk out into the fields and, if you’re in Wyoming, the wind is blowing 25-30 mph, your eagle is thinking, what the heck, when are the jumps-ups coming or where is my chain to pull for food or where are my perches to fly to. And then the bating starts, quickly followed by frustration. But what if you conditioned your eagle this way — hide the furry rabbit-looking lure in a clump of grass, unhood him/her, walk around a bit like you’re hunting. Then, suddenly, up flushes a jack/lure moving at speed (at least 20mph), your eagle explodes off the fist, catches the lure, is rewarded and the process is repeated multiple times. Now when you drive to Wyoming you step out into the field with an eagle that is looking for a fast moving furry thing that it wants to catch. Your eagle is game ready! Your eagle hunting along with you, getting into the hunt, looking for jacks and anticipating the flush, feeling it flinch at grass moving or the sounds made as you move through the brush, is very cool to experience.

Good hawking!