Lureflying Merlins

[BarbaryHawking06]

another thread to the lark hawkers out there what do you think, should one lure fly a Merlin for fitness or will it become lure bound. Everybody seems to tell a different story. So your comments, please

[Sophie]

Interesting thread, ive never hunted a merlin so cant comment but i have seen them being flown to the lure and know they are very apt at that :D
good luck in getting some opinions

[PrinceOfTheWesternDesert]

id like to know how many members have actually flown merlins?
ive flown 9 of them,,,
and ive seen many ruined ,
funny that this post should ponder whether or not lure flying creates bad tendencies,,
back in the fall,, when a few members had trapped thier first merlins,, and they were asking advice,,
i was telling them not to even call the merlin to the fist more than a few feet,,and EVERYONE on this forum, acted as if i was crazy,,
and started giving thier advice on what should be done,, what diet to feed etc,,
as far as i know,, not 1 of those merlins made it to the end of the season,, and none of them got entered correctly,,not even on sparrows,, let alone larks,,
i really dont see how this thread can have any posts, unless persons who have never flown a merlin start adding thier 2 cents worth,,
if im wrong,, speak up merlin hawkers,, ive been looking for you, for over a year now

[Hatchero]

i lure fly all my merlins--a lot, eyases as well as passages get the lure treatment. i dont use an artificial lure but use instead a dead quarry on a line. i don't know how many times i have mentioned to people that merlins are very adept at snatching food off of artificial lures and packing it off to eat in peace and hear back that they lost their merlin in just this way. just the thing you want to avoid with merlins. i almost never feed my merlins up on kills but usually give them the head of the quarry and hood them. when i am done for the day i will lure stoop the merlin hard(on it's last kill, usually) and feed up the bird in this way. there are a couple of reasons for this, first and foremost is to keep the merlin very keen on the lure and also to make sure that the merlin gets "aired out" every time we go out. this has worked well for me over a good many merlins.
Jim

[Remington]

id like to know how many members have actually flown merlins?
ive flown 9 of them,,,
and ive seen many ruined ,
funny that this post should ponder whether or not lure flying creates bad tendencies,,
back in the fall,, when a few members had trapped thier first merlins,, and they were asking advice,,
i was telling them not to even call the merlin to the fist more than a few feet,,and EVERYONE on this forum, acted as if i was crazy,,
and started giving thier advice on what should be done,, what diet to feed etc,,
as far as i know,, not 1 of those merlins made it to the end of the season,, and none of them got entered correctly,,not even on sparrows,, let alone larks,,
i really dont see how this thread can have any posts, unless persons who have never flown a merlin start adding thier 2 cents worth,,
if im wrong,, speak up merlin hawkers,, ive been looking for you, for over a year now
On this side of the pond we don't have the luxury of using wild takens, so taking advice from UK falconers on flying passagers or hagards is probably a folly anyway. Also many who fly longwings (not all before you string me up) in the UK have learnt from display falconers who, themselves, have little or no experience of flying falcons at game. The upshot of this is more than apparent when attending field meets.

I have flown wild taken raptors before our legislation changed and on the hole I found them to be considerably easier on the training front accross the board.
I have found that almost all birds of prey will respond best to the method of recall they learnt first, therefore as you rightly say calling a longwing to the fist should either be very limited by distance or not done at all.

I always use a lure for recall wether it is a swung lure or a dropped lure.
And from personal experience of 4 lark (and mostly pippit!!!)hawking merlins, I would say that the use of a swung lure is imperative to achieve the fitness and stamina required to fly larks on open moorland. This may not be the case whilst flying a trapped passage merlin which will, of course, already have the required fitness and stamina.

Something which I think should also be touched on in this thread is the requirement of the falconer to be proficient with a lure and have good periferal vision, fast reflexs and a good sense of direction. I used to fly a Robin (hobby) and a jack in a cast. It kind of resembles the scene of the arial dog fight at the end of Top Gun!!! you need eyes in the back of head!

Sorry I've gone off on one! the answer is that a merlin can be flown to a lure for fitness without becoming lurebound. But this depends on your ability to read your falcon and how and when you serve the lure.........after all does anyone know a hawk which is lure bound to a dummy bunny..............I would think not!

[David Rampling]

Years ago when I had merlins, they would fly to the lure in shows through the summer, and fly larks in the evenings in lark season no problem at all. They knew the difference between the two disciplines.

[MattSpar]

I fly them every season.

I've always stooped them to the lure for fitness. There's no other way since a merlin will not wait on over you and even if it did, this is not what's wanted.

There may be a danger of them becoming lure bound if stooped to the lure too long before attempting to enter them. I've no idea since I expect any merlin of mine to be flying larks within a week of being taken up for training.

[LeighJauncey]

I flew my jack every day to the lure for 3 weeks when I was unable to get out lark hawking for a while and, as Mattspar will testify, at the first available field meet he was off chasing everything with as much tenacity as his female that had flown larks every day during the same period. Flying quarry has a lot more to do with being in hunting condition than how much a bird has been flown to the lure.

[PrinceOfTheWesternDesert]

i lure fly all my merlins--a lot, eyases as well as passages get the lure treatment. i dont use an artificial lure but use instead a dead quarry on a line. i don't know how many times i have mentioned to people that merlins are very adept at snatching food off of artificial lures and packing it off to eat in peace and hear back that they lost their merlin in just this way. just the thing you want to avoid with merlins. i almost never feed my merlins up on kills but usually give them the head of the quarry and hood them. when i am done for the day i will lure stoop the merlin hard(on it's last kill, usually) and feed up the bird in this way. there are a couple of reasons for this, first and foremost is to keep the merlin very keen on the lure and also to make sure that the merlin gets "aired out" every time we go out. this has worked well for me over a good many merlins.
Jim

no doubt ,, i respect your long long hgistory of merlin flying jim,,,
im well aware that none of the guys i learned from, would have known anything, if you and a few others had not paved the way,,,
but, by the time all this technique got to me,, i was taught to use a whole bird(sparrow) on the lure,,,i tie it as tight as possible,,
and think it gets me the same result,,
i remembered you telling me about mid season last year, that you always make your birds do some lure stoops after they miss somthing,,i had always done that, but, never made it a point,, now i do,, and i even exaggerate it a little,, i think it paid off,,
thanks

[PrinceOfTheWesternDesert]

[QUOTE=Remington;809761]On this sideat all.

I would say that the use of a swung lure is imperative to achieve the fitness and stamina required to fly larks on open moorland.
THIS IS THE POINT

[Greg]

I flew Merlins for 10yrs on the run whenI lived on the south downs. Flew them hard and had ver good results. Some people were surprised that after a hard days flying I would finish off with at least 20 stoops to the lure. As you can guess my merlins were very fit. To answer your question about being lure bound the answer is never happened they just became very fit!

[Jack]

I have never flown a Merlin. I have threatened to several times, but at the last moment changed my mind. I have flown a male Merlin Hybrid. I flew snipe as a primary quarry. If I were to fly a Merlin I think I would want a female and would probably attempt to take snipe with her.
I lure flew him just like Jim does with his birds. Used a sparrow for a lure and would end our outings with a session of lure flying. He knew the difference. He would go into lure mode immediately when he seen me swinging it. And he would go into wait on mode until he seen the lure come out.
The main reason I have not flown a Merlin is that I feel that they are a bit small. I think they could fly snipe very well, but most of the stuff out there are going to be illegal for me. I can not speak of any other state except Texas, and everything here is protected. The only birds not protected are pigeons, English Sparrows, and Starlings. Sparrows and starlings are simply not found out here away from town. They like to stay in close to human habitation. Pigeons are quite often found feeding out in the open in freshly plowed fields, but are a bit large for a Merlin. We have people flying protecteds here all the time, and they do not feel shy about posting it on the forums either, but I will not do so. If I do I certainly will not own to it.

Jack

[MattSpar]

...and, as Mattspar will testify, .......

Never heard of this bloke in my life.

[Lady]

Never heard of this bloke in my life.

But his avatar is lurverly. :lol:

[MattSpar]

But his avatar is lurverly. :lol:

I do know him actually - only too well.

His avatar is luverly... would that it's progenitor were as luverly (with apologies to El Cid).