I know a couple of guys who hunt with slitless jesses, makes it easier to get a hold on the bird after the kill. rather than trying to thread slitted jesses back through the anklets. I'v hunted my birds with slitless jesses and never had a problem. Just my 2 cents...
But the people I've seen fly there birds prefer not to risk it. They also feel that the more crap you put on your birds legs the more is going mess up that perfect slip.
Risk it...? risk what? Jesses don't seem to muck up the bird's flight at all, as long as she is used to wearing them and they're not too heavy or long and droopy. The guy from Liverpool wanting to know where to get bullet jesses: I think the only guy who does them is Ben Long. You can order them from him, they're about £19. his website is www.benlongfalconry.com.
Changing the subject completely, has anyone used popper jesses before?
I know a couple of guys who hunt with slitless jesses, makes it easier to get a hold on the bird after the kill. rather than trying to thread slitted jesses back through the anklets. I'v hunted my birds with slitless jesses and never had a problem.
I know a couple people that have driven without seatbelts and they've never had any problems.
The fact of the matter is, the chances of your bird getting hung up in a tree is increased.
Any amount of weight added to your bird is unnatrual.
And ...... Jess's just so happen to look like snake to other wild raptors. What do wild raptors do when they see prey in another raptors possession? They try and steal it.... crabbing occurs. Maybe yours will loose, maybe yours will fly away, maybe you'll have to spend the rest of the day looking for him?
Yes, I have flown with Jess's on too, it doesnt seem like that big of a deal but I am flying with a degree of risk involved. THE DAY... I lost my last redtail... who was chased off by hags... was wearing jess's!
Jesses no jesses I think that becomes a question of preferrance. how will your bird react does your bird hunt from the fist or from a tree. Does it wait on these are all factors to weather or not the jesses will affect the flight. as to appearing to be food well there is some truth to it. how hard is your bird to pick up ? that will come into your desission to use or not use jesses but arguing this is just unproductive. My bird wears her jesses all the time but I fly from the fist most of the time that just the way the terrain is. But I think if i was putting her up in a tree consistantly well I might just change the way I do things. For a falcon that is waiting on then the jesses shouldn't be messing up any slipps yet as stated they do become an attractant for pirates, if this is a problem the perhaps flighing with out jesses might draw less attention to the bird from haggards, thou the presence of any tresspassing raptor tends to draw unwanted attention. And I've forgstten where I was going with my thought on this, other than perhaps this is a white elephant with some arguing about what is propper falconry and what isn't. But then there are some that would argue wheather certain birds are propper falconry. Now I'm really lost so I'll just end here. Chris