Meticulously crafted "across the pond," A Clarke lined squirrel chaps from England are the ONLY anklets we fly on our red-tails. You can't put a price on a good squirrel hawk. These birds aren't a dime a dozen, especially a seasoned one. When you get a hold of one and spend several seasons with her, she's darn near irreplaceable.
We know squirrel chaps are a divisive subject among falconers, but here at Mountain State Falconry Supply, we use them. These aren't the rigid "boot"-design squirrel chap, and we want to make that clear. This is one of the main reasons we use them, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start from the beginning.
A Clarke squirrel chaps are one of the most crucial pieces of equipment we run on our squirrel birds. We've been using Ashley's squirrel chaps since his first design release several years ago and have stuck with them as they've grown. There are so many reasons for this, but the holes from squirrel bites in the fringes at the end of each season speak for themselves. Now, allow us to tell you exactly why we love them.
First, the anklet is lined. This extra layer of protection on the tarsus has saved more than one of our red-tails from season-ending squirrel bites on multiple occassions. Second, the protective fringes are not stiff and hindering. Instead, they're super-soft , allowing the bird's toes to move freely. At the end of each season, the fringes on our chaps are filled with holes from squirrel bites that could have easily been our birds' toes. The anklets are also pull-through and easy to remove and replace. No grommet setter is needed. Lastly, the extra grommet allows you to run both bells and telemetry easily.
The version A Clarke Falconry makes for us is studless at our request. While studded chaps are thought to aid in diverting bites from the toes, we've found the risk of scale damage from the studs outweighs the benefit of diverting the bite. The fringes themselves do that part well. We're now very proud to offer this modified design to you. It's our opinion that these are the very best squirrel chaps on the market. We trust our birds' legs and toes to no other chap!
We offer these anklets in Size 6 for male red-tails and small female red-tails and Size 7 for medium to large female red-tails.
A Clarke Lined Squirrel Chaps with Additional Eyelet
A Word from Ashley Clarke
I’ve always been a maker of sorts; I’ve always been drawn to creating things with my hands. From as far back as I can remember, I was always interested in how things are made. I spent many hours of my childhood in the garage or the garden making things with my dad's tools and when I was at school I would be in the Design and Technology workshop on my dinner breaks making wooden boxes, turning bowls, or casting toy soldiers from lead. It was a natural progression for me to make Falconry equipment as I have flown birds of prey from the age of 11 and we always made our own equipment.
In my adult life, I continued to work with my hands and always had an interest in high-quality materials, tools, and products. It was probably always meant to be that I would end up following my creative side into a career as I was never happy in a 9 -5 job where I was not using my creative side. Before I started A Clarke Falconry, I had a hand turn sewing machine fitted in the back of my van so that I could practice making leather items on my breaks and whenever I could steal a minute.
There would always come a time where I would need to leave the 9-5 behind and take the plunge into full time, so-called, craftsmanship but for me, it was a natural progression. I had a good customer base and I was working all hours god sent to keep up with orders so in some ways it was a relief to be able to solely focus on creating Falconry equipment and leather goods.
For several years the business was always a back-bedroom business limited to how much equipment and leather I could fit into the house but as things progressed, the time came to take the plunge and take on business premises. This was a turning point for me as it allowed me to employ staff and have the space to invest in more machinery.
Contained in every product I create today there are many hours of thought, design, and hand processes. I have a passion for quality materials, processes, and design and I try to create products that function well in the field and I hope this is felt by the people who use our products.
I want to bring manufacturing back to our little part of the UK, train local people with the skills that have long been lost to other parts of the World, and grow on that so that the business can be passed down through generations to come.
