I use my lure to trade off, I just put a good sized tidbit on it and throw it in front of the bird while holding the kill so it can't be dragged to the lure. This works well with the male I have now but with the female I had I also had to cover the kill. Then its just a matter of picking the bird and lure up. As for starting double I waited until around the tenth for my first bird but started around the fifth or sixth for Oscar. Kurt
I trade off the kill from the start. I don't let any birds feed off of the kill. If i want to reward them for the kill, I use a seperate trade off piece to do so. This creates a learned behavior in the bird so that it will begin to simply wait on the kill for you to arrive to feed it. I has reduced carrying in my Harris's dramaticaly. When i trade them off, I simply hold tightly onto a piece of meat such as a leg of a pigeon. I then set my garnished glove over the kill while holding the kill with my bare hand. The bird will then try to eat the meat out of the glove but cannot take it without stepping up to the fist.....then you slide the bunny into the bag...(hopefully without the bird seeing it).....and you can then either slide the meat out of the glove slowly to limit the amount he/she gets, or feed them up as a reward. I have tried several methods and this works the best for me....everyone is different, so the best thing to do is try a few methods and see which fits your bird and you. Notice I said bird first, as the method i showed above works great with the Harris's, but may be all wrong with certain RT's.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
what i do is i use a just some meat and throw it to the side while holding the rabbit or any thing else while he goes to that the rabbit goes into the bag
Last Edit: Dec 4, 2006 16:07:31 GMT -5 by Beastdawg
Post by HawkingRage on Dec 4, 2006 17:40:26 GMT -5
iamtheweasel said:
I trade off the kill from the start. I don't let any birds feed off of the kill. If i want to reward them for the kill, I use a seperate trade off piece to do so. This creates a learned behavior in the bird so that it will begin to simply wait on the kill for you to arrive to feed it. I has reduced carrying in my Harris's dramaticaly. When i trade them off, I simply hold tightly onto a piece of meat such as a leg of a pigeon. I then set my garnished glove over the kill while holding the kill with my bare hand. The bird will then try to eat the meat out of the glove but cannot take it without stepping up to the fist.....then you slide the bunny into the bag...(hopefully without the bird seeing it).....and you can then either slide the meat out of the glove slowly to limit the amount he/she gets, or feed them up as a reward. I have tried several methods and this works the best for me....everyone is different, so the best thing to do is try a few methods and see which fits your bird and you. Notice I said bird first, as the method i showed above works great with the Harris's, but may be all wrong with certain RT's.
I use a method that was explained to me by Yarak, and i love it. I first put my glove over the game, so the bird can't see it. Then I throw a small piece of food over the birds shoulder, about 4-6ft behind him/her. I usually use a chick leg. Make sure the bird sees it. The bird will look down at the game, see the glove, look at the chick leg, look at the food, then look down at the game, then hop off to the food. Bag the bunny then call the bird up to another tid bit. It worked perfectly on my last bird .See the video i made in the how-to section on basic lure work and trading off. The bird learns to expect the peice, and will stare up at you in expectation.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
First make sure the rabbit is dead. That's rule 1. Then wait for the hawk to start to settle down. As soon as it starts to pluck that is your chance. Throw something out in front of them. You don't want them to see it in your hand but you do want them to see it land. Any sort of head works great because they instinctively go for the head. A rabbit head is too much food if you are going for a double but a good choice if you are just trying to get the rabbit away to set them up to hunt tomorrow. Squirrel heads are the ticket, at least for a big rt. I carry a piece of heavy canvas cloth that I use to cover up the rabbit after they hop off. That buys some time and makes it less likely that I will be discovered when I pick up the rabbit. Don't try to use a towel or sheet material because it will just catch in the briers and is a total mess. Heavy canvas is pretty brier proof and lies flat. Also if she seems in the mood to carry I will quickly lasso a back leg of the rabbit with a piece of thin climbing rope that I carry. That works better then fighting with her personally and causing hard feelings. You can even pull the rabbit ( and the hawk) out of bad cover with the line. The hawk will just think that the rabbit has come to life and won't realize that you are doing it. I would use that sparingly, but a short pull away from briers can save a tail feather. Most people just pick the rabbit and hawk up and move them but I avoid an interference that i can.
Good Falconry is always a thin line between two mistakes.
I use the same method as Falcon Boy. I use a cloth to cover the rabbit before throwing out the piece of meat. I started this method the very first time in training with the lure. It has worked very well for me. I have also discovered not to get to excited and rush things when trading off. Take your time and do the same as you did in training.
i just hold on, cover the best i can with my glove and flick a good sized tid bit if i want to fly her agian, if i dont want to fly her again, i rip a front leg off, toss that, and when shes done with that, i call her to the fist with the second front leg... works well.
