Kite Training

[GriffMJ]

Hi All

I set the rig up for the first time today...... I have gone for a gentle introduction. He is taking food off the lure next to the kite on the ground and today I have fed him up underneath the kite (after an initial flight without the kite present).

He bated and squeeked initially after seeing in the air what he has been used to it on the ground.... could have been the noise combined as well..... so I hooded him up...... gave it 5 mins.... and unhooded second time round he settled after giving it a good looking at..... then the food urge kicked in and all was fine.... I will repeat this for the next couple of days.

What I have definatley got to do is rig up a winding platform of some sort!



http://www.m-jhoods.co.uk/images/Clients/Kite/K1.JPG

This is my Kite Lure .... I thought I might have problems with it but its worked as planned ..... attached to a small Sampo swivel the idea was that the wings would make it rotate and make it more attractive. I have put a SS ring onto the line and the "Falconers Emporium" cannon release cip sit just above on the line...... the kite was up for 3/4 an hour and after 35 mins in the air the lure came away by itself..... so chuffed with the set up :)
http://www.m-jhoods.co.uk/images/Clients/KiteLure/KL1.JPG

[Dean]

Griff,is this your tiercel you are introducing, if it is mate,why? No picking mate,just very interested in your varying techniques,failures and successes,positives and negatives!

[GameHawker]

Griff

What has made you turn to the kite? Be carefull you could screw your tiercels head up if your not careful, You should have really got the game plan sorted when you first got the little chap. Just because he may not be proforming as well as you intended does not mean chopping and changing your training method will make any difference, could just make him worse.

Stick to basic's, look what Neil managed to acheive in his 2nd seasonand his was a slow starter, Roger Upton told him his tiercel was to small to kill a grouse, the next day he killed a grouse.

Carl

[GriffMJ]

Hi Both

Yes..... put simply.... something knocked him for six about 3 weeks ago..... had a full spectrum on him at the time and found abnormally low white cell count. Mewts clear so Vet has put it down to a virus ...... he was hawking at 1lb 5 1/8 ..... he is now 1lb 7 1/8 in recovery.

Kite training will increase fitness improve his pitch ( at least while on the Kite) .... then back into the season.

[GameHawker]

Sorry to hear that Griff good luck personelly I wouldn't bother with the kite.

Carl

[GriffMJ]

Sorry to hear that Griff good luck personelly I wouldn't bother with the kite.

Carl

Just thinking of whats best for him at the moment.... if I can get him back on form again quickly then we can get back out Gamehawking.

[Jack]

I know I wasn't asked, but I am going to give you my opinion anyway. First, I love the kite. It is the best thing to come along since telemetry. But, it is only good for one thing. The stuff you get off the internet is a total waste of time.
The kite is good for teaching wait on to a young bird. The old trick of releasing pigeons to draw them into the sky is a left over from a time past. The kite itself is nothing more than a stable anchor to tie the other end of your kite string to. You don't even want the falcon knowing the kite has anything to do with it at all. I have had 2 falcons that would not wait on. one was a perline that had never waited on, and the other was a female Saker that had never flown more then 10 feet up in the air. The Perline was simply not going to wait on by using the old methods. So I bought myself a kite and in less than a week, I had the little tiercel waiting on beautifully. The sake was a 1 week job too. The first time off the kite and over a duck pond, she killed the very first duck I flushed under her and she did so from about 600 feet.
I simply put the kite up as high as I can. 1000 to 1500 feet, depending really on how much string I got. I will tie off a 6 foot piece of string to the main line in a way that I can slide it up and down the main line. I tie a short piece of toothpick to the end of it so that I can stick tidbits on it. I will put the kite up and get the line baited, then take the falcon out. I unhood the falcon and let it see the tidbit. I will let it be right there on the ground and the falcon jumps down and gets it. While the falcon eats it, I rebait and slide it up the main line some. Eventually, by the time the falcon is sporting a small crop of tidbits, the falcon is chasing the tidbits up fairly high. The next day, even higher. I never went over a couple of hundred feet. The falcon will climb all the way up there just for a tidbit too. Then one day, I place a baggie to be launched, but you can use a lure. Just get downwind of the tidbit some and just as soon as she eats the tidbit and goes back to check it again. Wave your gloved hand at her and then run and yell and toss the lure as high as you possibly can. This will bring her down in a stoop. Do this a couple of times and leave the kite in the truck. She will go up without it and just as soon as she is in position, wave and yell and run like you are flushing and toss the lure up to her. The day you take her hunting, she will take a pitch over you and when you flush she will stoop. The transition is smooth. If you use a lure on the main line up near the kite, she will ignore all for that lure and you will not get a stoop from her. She will not associate it with quarry and she will not continue to climb up there once the kite is gone.
Now, that is how you do it.

Jack

[GriffMJ]

I know I wasn't asked, but I am going to give you my opinion anyway. First, I love the kite. It is the best thing to come along since telemetry. But, it is only good for one thing. The stuff you get off the internet is a total waste of time.
The kite is good for teaching wait on to a young bird. The old trick of releasing pigeons to draw them into the sky is a left over from a time past. The kite itself is nothing more than a stable anchor to tie the other end of your kite string to. You don't even want the falcon knowing the kite has anything to do with it at all. I have had 2 falcons that would not wait on. one was a perline that had never waited on, and the other was a female Saker that had never flown more then 10 feet up in the air. The Perline was simply not going to wait on by using the old methods. So I bought myself a kite and in less than a week, I had the little tiercel waiting on beautifully. The sake was a 1 week job too. The first time off the kite and over a duck pond, she killed the very first duck I flushed under her and she did so from about 600 feet.
I simply put the kite up as high as I can. 1000 to 1500 feet, depending really on how much string I got. I will tie off a 6 foot piece of string to the main line in a way that I can slide it up and down the main line. I tie a short piece of toothpick to the end of it so that I can stick tidbits on it. I will put the kite up and get the line baited, then take the falcon out. I unhood the falcon and let it see the tidbit. I will let it be right there on the ground and the falcon jumps down and gets it. While the falcon eats it, I rebait and slide it up the main line some. Eventually, by the time the falcon is sporting a small crop of tidbits, the falcon is chasing the tidbits up fairly high. The next day, even higher. I never went over a couple of hundred feet. The falcon will climb all the way up there just for a tidbit too. Then one day, I place a baggie to be launched, but you can use a lure. Just get downwind of the tidbit some and just as soon as she eats the tidbit and goes back to check it again. Wave your gloved hand at her and then run and yell and toss the lure as high as you possibly can. This will bring her down in a stoop. Do this a couple of times and leave the kite in the truck. She will go up without it and just as soon as she is in position, wave and yell and run like you are flushing and toss the lure up to her. The day you take her hunting, she will take a pitch over you and when you flush she will stoop. The transition is smooth. If you use a lure on the main line up near the kite, she will ignore all for that lure and you will not get a stoop from her. She will not associate it with quarry and she will not continue to climb up there once the kite is gone.
Now, that is how you do it.

Jack


cheers Jack :)

[Dave Whitt]

I know I wasn't asked, but I am going to give you my opinion anyway. First, I love the kite. It is the best thing to come along since telemetry. But, it is only good for one thing. The stuff you get off the internet is a total waste of time.
The kite is good for teaching wait on to a young bird. The old trick of releasing pigeons to draw them into the sky is a left over from a time past. The kite itself is nothing more than a stable anchor to tie the other end of your kite string to. You don't even want the falcon knowing the kite has anything to do with it at all. I have had 2 falcons that would not wait on. one was a perline that had never waited on, and the other was a female Saker that had never flown more then 10 feet up in the air. The Perline was simply not going to wait on by using the old methods. So I bought myself a kite and in less than a week, I had the little tiercel waiting on beautifully. The sake was a 1 week job too. The first time off the kite and over a duck pond, she killed the very first duck I flushed under her and she did so from about 600 feet.
I simply put the kite up as high as I can. 1000 to 1500 feet, depending really on how much string I got. I will tie off a 6 foot piece of string to the main line in a way that I can slide it up and down the main line. I tie a short piece of toothpick to the end of it so that I can stick tidbits on it. I will put the kite up and get the line baited, then take the falcon out. I unhood the falcon and let it see the tidbit. I will let it be right there on the ground and the falcon jumps down and gets it. While the falcon eats it, I rebait and slide it up the main line some. Eventually, by the time the falcon is sporting a small crop of tidbits, the falcon is chasing the tidbits up fairly high. The next day, even higher. I never went over a couple of hundred feet. The falcon will climb all the way up there just for a tidbit too. Then one day, I place a baggie to be launched, but you can use a lure. Just get downwind of the tidbit some and just as soon as she eats the tidbit and goes back to check it again. Wave your gloved hand at her and then run and yell and toss the lure as high as you possibly can. This will bring her down in a stoop. Do this a couple of times and leave the kite in the truck. She will go up without it and just as soon as she is in position, wave and yell and run like you are flushing and toss the lure up to her. The day you take her hunting, she will take a pitch over you and when you flush she will stoop. The transition is smooth. If you use a lure on the main line up near the kite, she will ignore all for that lure and you will not get a stoop from her. She will not associate it with quarry and she will not continue to climb up there once the kite is gone.
Now, that is how you do it.

Jack


Oh, how simple you make that sound
(but it does work)

[Pogger]

Thank you Jack. A very enjoyable read. :)

[KiteTrainer]

Glad to see someone who knows what they are talking about. I have trained loads of birds to the kite and have had them going up 1000 - 1500 feet
I have found they will fly to the kite at almost any weight because they enjoy it. Where people make the mistake is that they think the bird will fly at game at the same weight.What I have done is to reduce the weight and put the bird up to the kite without a lure he/she goes up to the kite anyway. If the bird is presented with quarry at this stage it will react to this positive reinforcment that height means that quarry will be present and will not look back. I have had no problems with this which is a variation on a theme.

[Jack]

You should see what I use for telemetry.

Jack

[Dave Whitt]

Glad to see someone who knows what they are talking about. I have trained loads of birds to the kite and have had them going up 1000 - 1500 feet
I have found they will fly to the kite at almost any weight because they enjoy it. Where people make the mistake is that they think the bird will fly at game at the same weight.What I have done is to reduce the weight and put the bird up to the kite without a lure he/she goes up to the kite anyway. If the bird is presented with quarry at this stage it will react to this positive reinforcment that height means that quarry will be present and will not look back. I have had no problems with this which is a variation on a theme.


As you have trained loads of birds to a kite can you tell me honestly, have you ever had any or known any that just dont make the grad, ie they will go up to the kite well at 1500` or more they will stopp game and take it but when the kite is not present they will only go to about 300` and just dont seem to get the swing of things ??

[KiteTrainer]

Initially they will not go up to the same type of height, but if you introduce them to game sensibly they will attain a good pitch.

It means that when they are at height they should be presented at every opportunity. I have had birds that have not performed but which have been god to the Kite. You will get that with traditional methods as well

[GriffMJ]

Hi All

Extremely light winds today..... had the kite layed out ready just in case. Weather was bright cloudless very light winds.... (1lb 7 1/4oz) cast him off and got the best ringing up flight out of him to date! Must have been 5-600ft .......... I think it was the kite being on the floor :lol: Getting back to health again .... he was just pumping all the way..... I knew it was the kite as when called he stooped half way then broke off ........ back up to pitch again..... so left him there for couple of minutes and called him in again having walked 100yards away from the kite and he folded up and straight in......:supz: