come on....

cheers andy (sir liam your tongue is turning a shade of brown )

Right, here goes, are you sitting comfy cos its long winded. lol

I have only trained Vader which is my 1st bird, and also did initial manning and training with another gyr/saker, but I will use the same methods with any future falcons I may man/train.

On arrival, spent a small amount of time on the fist hooded. Removed hood and watched the fireworks. Each time he baited and hung like a bat he was lifted back onto the fist. Only did this for a short period of time, before hood back on and he was away to settle in for the night. Following day he was blocked on garden hooded to let him get used to the daily neighbourhood noises, but kept calm. Unhooded for a short period on block only due to baiting. That evening, brought into the house, curtains closed and only a dull lamp on in the room. Left hooded for a short period (1/2 hr or so) Hood removed, baited slightly less than previous day, sprayed at intervals with water mister to help calm him. Only really baited after this when disturbed. Kept on fist for a couple of hours.
Following days the same until baiting to an absolute minimum, once calm eagle feather was introduced to stroke over body and feet to get used to being touched.
Once steady on the fist during the day I began walking around the garden with him, standing sitting and generally moving about. Also while on the block I walked around him plenty.
All the time being manned on fist food is on offer.
Once steady and feeding well on fist, it was on to stepping up to fist for food. Distances increased with responses until jumping leash length in the house to fist for food, then its into the garden and on the creance line.
Once coming to fist instantly at a distance of approx 15 or 20 ft, the lure was introduced. Started by putting lure to ground at approx 8ft. Once coming to the lure on ground at distance of approx 25 which is maximum I would safely allow in the garden, it was off to training grounds. (from this point all feeding is done on the lure only)
I used raptor post in the field. At first I only called him 3 or 4 times a distance of approx 40ft, then gradually increased with responses. Once coming full length of creance to lure on the ground, it was time to try him coming to moving lure and get him to “catch” his lunch. Lol
I did a number of calls and at last minute I swung lure high and he followed, after 1st go it clicked and he was binding to lure mid air.
Once this was achieved instantly a couple of times, off came the creance line.
Training then moved to manoeuvring passes on lure. After presenting and passing a couple of times, again it clicked that he was meant to turn and follow. 1st couple of attempts ended up with either slow sloppy turns or him landing on the ground wondering where his lunch went to so quick. Lol
Once he was doing a good number of passes in each training session, it was time for long luring recalls and free flight in the thermals.
I only did 2 or 3 long lure calls in any training session and always finished with a couple fo passes to help with fitness and manoeuvrability.
Once I was sure it was instilled in him to come to lure when called it was time to let him play. I encouraged him to stay in the air by hiding the lure on a pass.
I let him play in the winds for good periods of time gradually building as his fitness increased. I recalled him in at intervals through the sessions to help keep him in check.
Once his fitness was getting good and he was spot on to recall I just sat back and let him do his thing for an hour or 2 at a time, allowing him to find out what the thermals are for and how to use them to his advantage.
As he was being used for corvids I used full crows in his latter training.
1st 2 days I used a full crow on a swung lure and got him “chasing” them
3rd day I pegged out 2 crows with the aid of sticks so that he knew what he was looking for in the field. The hood came of and he set off straight for them and bombed in. I knew he was then ready!

Following day it was time for him to go at the real thing. Which thankfully he did.
When recalling to lure I always finished with passes on lure.

Vader arrived with me on 18/07/07 and entered on 04/09/07. I had jut over a week in the middle of training off due to a stay in hospital, so training should have taken less time than it did.

Phew, told ya it was long winded.

Now feel free to pick holes. lol

Jo

good post jo vader turned out great so carnt pick any holes with his training
atb
Liam

lol ben ill get u back m8 ill feel a ban coming your way

good post joe well done

nice post jo, one question, when in field on raptor post hooded or unhooded, presumabyl ud need a 2nd person if he was hooded

harrishawkingnovice wrote:nice post jo, one question, when in field on raptor post hooded or unhooded, presumabyl ud need a 2nd person if he was hooded

Sometimes yes and sometimes no Ben. Most times, I slipped the hood off before I walked away from him. Once he has done his first flight to the lure, I dont re-hood each time, I just take him back to the post and put him on unhooded. Once very keen I had to be very quick, If he even saw the string of the lure he would set off catching me out. lol

Good post jo, clear and well writen

Vader wrote:Right, here goes, are you sitting comfy cos its long winded. lol

I have only trained Vader which is my 1st bird, and also did initial manning and training with another gyr/saker, but I will use the same methods with any future falcons I may man/train.

On arrival, spent a small amount of time on the fist hooded. Removed hood and watched the fireworks. Each time he baited and hung like a bat he was lifted back onto the fist. Only did this for a short period of time, before hood back on and he was away to settle in for the night. Following day he was blocked on garden hooded to let him get used to the daily neighbourhood noises, but kept calm. Unhooded for a short period on block only due to baiting. That evening, brought into the house, curtains closed and only a dull lamp on in the room. Left hooded for a short period (1/2 hr or so) Hood removed, baited slightly less than previous day, sprayed at intervals with water mister to help calm him. Only really baited after this when disturbed. Kept on fist for a couple of hours.
Following days the same until baiting to an absolute minimum, once calm eagle feather was introduced to stroke over body and feet to get used to being touched.
Once steady on the fist during the day I began walking around the garden with him, standing sitting and generally moving about. Also while on the block I walked around him plenty.
All the time being manned on fist food is on offer.
Once steady and feeding well on fist, it was on to stepping up to fist for food. Distances increased with responses until jumping leash length in the house to fist for food, then its into the garden and on the creance line.
Once coming to fist instantly at a distance of approx 15 or 20 ft, the lure was introduced. Started by putting lure to ground at approx 8ft. Once coming to the lure on ground at distance of approx 25 which is maximum I would safely allow in the garden, it was off to training grounds. (from this point all feeding is done on the lure only)
I used raptor post in the field. At first I only called him 3 or 4 times a distance of approx 40ft, then gradually increased with responses. Once coming full length of creance to lure on the ground, it was time to try him coming to moving lure and get him to “catch” his lunch. Lol
I did a number of calls and at last minute I swung lure high and he followed, after 1st go it clicked and he was binding to lure mid air.
Once this was achieved instantly a couple of times, off came the creance line.
Training then moved to manoeuvring passes on lure. After presenting and passing a couple of times, again it clicked that he was meant to turn and follow. 1st couple of attempts ended up with either slow sloppy turns or him landing on the ground wondering where his lunch went to so quick. Lol
Once he was doing a good number of passes in each training session, it was time for long luring recalls and free flight in the thermals.
I only did 2 or 3 long lure calls in any training session and always finished with a couple fo passes to help with fitness and manoeuvrability.
Once I was sure it was instilled in him to come to lure when called it was time to let him play. I encouraged him to stay in the air by hiding the lure on a pass.
I let him play in the winds for good periods of time gradually building as his fitness increased. I recalled him in at intervals through the sessions to help keep him in check.
Once his fitness was getting good and he was spot on to recall I just sat back and let him do his thing for an hour or 2 at a time, allowing him to find out what the thermals are for and how to use them to his advantage.
As he was being used for corvids I used full crows in his latter training.
1st 2 days I used a full crow on a swung lure and got him “chasing” them
3rd day I pegged out 2 crows with the aid of sticks so that he knew what he was looking for in the field. The hood came of and he set off straight for them and bombed in. I knew he was then ready!

Following day it was time for him to go at the real thing. Which thankfully he did.
When recalling to lure I always finished with passes on lure.

Vader arrived with me on 18/07/07 and entered on 04/09/07. I had jut over a week in the middle of training off due to a stay in hospital, so training should have taken less time than it did.

Phew, told ya it was long winded.

Now feel free to pick holes. lol

Jo

Talk about long winded !!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol, Jo i found that quite interesting thanks

Ben i should also add i only use the lure for recall, i no longer use the lure as part of a fitness program. It works for me but other longwingers wont agree, young falcons naturally play during free flight and build up fitness and manoeuvrability, i would add with this method you need to allow your falcon more time flying.
When the lure is only used for recall i find you get a quicker stronger response after all the bird knows the lure is theirs every time its shown, i also recall all my birds to the fist which is very useful
Hope that helps Ben i will add more as things pop into my frail old brain

This is a very interesting thread, nice 1 guys

il 2nd eds notion, this thread is building quite nicely, just as i hoped, keep it comin guys (and girls, dont wanna upset the ladies lol )

harrishawkingnovice wrote:il 2nd eds notion, this thread is building quite nicely, just as i hoped, keep it comin guys (and girls, dont wanna upset the ladies lol )

Ladies

harrishawkingnovice wrote:il 2nd eds notion, this thread is building quite nicely, just as i hoped, keep it comin guys (and girls, dont wanna upset the ladies lol )

what ladies as far as im aware there aint any on here

im sure nicky, jo, soph, sara etc like to be called lady occasionally