MANNING GOSSES.

just wondering how other falconers man their gosses heres how i do mine.

housing.
i keep my birds in a 8x7 shed its built out of scant timber and lined smooth ply sheets. so that feathers 'glide' off, every bit of wood its treated with a product called fence life (i use the dark oak type!)
i use a 'ray prior' bowperch with astro turf covering. the floor of my mews is smooth paving slabs covered with smooth lino. a handful of sand is thrown onto the extremeties where heavy soiling is expected. a plastic sheeting "splashback" is fitted around the sides and rear of the mews the mesh side is 2" weld mesh with shuttering to ensure the insides can be completly blacked out. the roof is made out of black onduline. the mews is situated in a shady and quiet place.

furniture.
i make my jesses about 3 months before getting a bird. i use aylmeris and construct them out of thin black kangaroo leather. after first making them, i treat them with a heavy application of kao-cho-lin. the jesses are then placed on tin foil in a warm room. this lets the leather grease soak into the jess. i repeat several times before fitting to the bird. the aylmeris are then fitted to an eyelet and left to set! this ensures that they will be supple and comfortable before actually being fitted to a bird.
i use traditional aylmeris made out of kangaroo to attach a pair of medium sized noble bells to the tarsi. for the tail bell i use a small lahore bell mounted on a single deck. (lahore bells are very light and the single mount ensures that the fighting spur of a cock pheasant wont pull out two important tail feathers.) i use a martin jones swivels. and a round rope leash. i use a martin jones "falconry centre pattern" hood.

collection.
when obtaining a hawk i insist on collecting the bird at nightime. the reason being hot summer days and gosses dont mix!!! if your breeder doesnt allow this then take your money elsewhere!!! a night time collection ensures catching is easier. i have seen gosses chased round a nursery aviary with a landing net on boiling summer days!!!
equip the bird with jesses taped up bells and leash and lift her up onto the fist. choose your moment carefully then hood her for the first time.
place hooded bird on either an assistants fist and drive home! or unhood her and put her in a box.


manning.
weigh the bird. spray the bird then place hooded bird on to a bowperch in the pitch black mews loosen the hoodbraces and ensure she is sitting in the correct manner then carefully remove the hood and slowly and quietly leave the mews.
many people are to overawed by there first gos to really make a serious go of them. gosses are actually fairly easy to train and tame if your tactics are right. its all about positive reinforcement. the only weapon you have is food dont waste your time carrying a gos bareheaded for the first few days all you will do is make her resent you. a hooded gos can be made used to all manner of strange sounds and noises without frightening her. the hood also allows her to balance herself and learn how to ride the glove and bates and stress are non existant. the first feeding is carried out through the hood for a couple of mouthfuls. in a dimly lit room then the hood is removed and a period of say 3 hours is spent with the bird the bird generally feeds if she does then i sit with her for another hour then hood her and replace her on the bow. as soon as she is feeding confidently with me then she is only fed in the company of a visual distraction ie dogs, horses strangers etc.
the hood is used to switch her off as such she never has any real negative experiences of the fist or me! she is then manned by carrying her around dark streets etc the bird is then walked for three hours from dark til light with a tiring present. in the space of a week she will be very tame. and as such training and flying free can be done within 16 days for a female. my last male was entered (moorhen)within two weeks.


conclusion
as some liverpool based members of another forum may attest, as a student i used to get the train with my gos he would sit bareheaded oblivious to everything. my methods are what is known as the "coppersmith approach" and were taught to me by an indian g.p
nick fox mentions that gosses have a desire to hunt even when they are well overweight. this is true but why are certain falconers having problems with there birds both in the hunting field and during the moult. i have always mouted my spars and gosses on jesses and they have been super tame similarly i have no need for "tail sheaths" a gentleman i know mans his gos in front of the t.v for 4 hours every night he asked if i did this i told him "thers no point my birds fall sleep on the fist after about 20 mins at night!!!!
many so called austringers are missing the point with gentilis. if a gos is only tame and responsive when its at its flying weight then its neither truly tame or responsive.

all the best

sean

Where do i start,ill keep it brief if i can....
Interesting method on the anklets,ill try that soaking method.
Never used the hood but wish i had,always usefull.
Just manned bird about 3 times aday for about 15/20 mins till fed on the fist(next time i wont starve the bird to feeding & leave him food if he drops too hard)one of many things ive learned of others....always sprayed the bird,very regular in the heat...
Once feeding i used tireings pretty much everytime i handle & certainly when being carried..
Ill do afew things differently & more confedently next season....
But i do try & take my time & think things through..

I like to take my time with the weight & dont mind going at a slower pace...
I also kept the weight a little high for a while...
This is quite hard to put down in words if that makes sence...

Like i said,brief,i will add if thread progresses.

Atb Stu.

obviously theres more than one way to train a gos.

in fact.

the weirdest thing i have ever seen was a female gos that had been waked. the bird was like statute. it was in a sort of trance and would fall asleep in front of busy traffic and stuff!! it required consistant heavy duty manning to keep it tame though.

its mad to think that mavorogordato refered to a gos as "being really tough and can take a lot of punishment"

Nice 1 mac, some great info and insight there !!

cheers edwardo!!

great post mac, when u say u first feed it through hood for a couple of mouthfulls, do you mean u have hood between your bird and the food on fist so that its eats through gape of hood to help reinforce hood as a good thing?

not really mate. i will attempt to explain.

i feed the bird through the hood for the first feeding only and then only for minutes or so as birds who are fed through the hood more than once can develop the habit of looking for food whenever they are hooded.

the bird is sat on a slached water soaked quail. i play with her feet until she bends and bites. after she has a good couple of mouthfuls then i unhoodher for the first time.

the method i use ensures that gosses are fed of the fist a good deal quicker than normal. as such there digestive tracts and blood sugars arnt subjected to any additional shock in what is a very stressful time.

hope this makes sense??!!!

makes perfect sense thanx, so u get them feeding while hooded, thats what confused as didnt think they would eat hooded but fully understand now.

sean
what a cracking post

many thanks hound.

Great thread Sean, i like to see a well manned hawk, manning seams to be a lost art to some, my birds are introduced to every thing, and i consider them solid, today for example the falcon i took to work with me was forced to spend most of the time in the truck, i dont like her hooded more than is necessary so i kept her bare headed, it was not until i left the site and looked in my rear view mirror that i realized she was still unhooded, she was relaxed and comfortable and remained so for the 15 mile journey home, good manning goes a long way to make life easier with a hawk

great thread mac
atb
Liam

many thanks rob and liam!!

a freind asked me to email him details of my training methods so i thought i would post it on here!

i was worried in case it was to wordy lol


sean