Imprint or not to imprint?

[KevGem1]

I was just wondering wether there is any advantage or disadvantage to imprinting a falcon that is going to be trained for pursuit?. if so could you tell me the pluses and the minuses if any? any advice i would be very grateful cheers KEV.

[OhMyGod]

The advantages of an imprinted falcon would be that you could fly her at a higher weight. But I would choose the parent reared bird for this, especially if you don't really have much experience with imprinting. The idea is to imprint the bird onto you in some ways but not in others so she will be steadier.

[Varmint]

How do you get experience in Imprinting if you never do it?

There are many advantages in imprinting a rook Hawk, firstly the imprint can be easily trained to return to your fist rather than a lure, which can be of great benefit, especially hawking from vehicles ect.

The imprint is more likely to come back and look for you after an unsuccessful flight?

Down sides: feathers stand a much higher chance of damage on kills even in the best mannered bird, Carefull attention must be paid to hooding correctly if this style of flight is to be maintained, as imprints can be very awkward if not hooded consistently from an early age.

Fitness can be achived much quicker and more effectivley in a bird that doesnt need conditioning by weight so much.

Entering can sometimes be a bit dodgy as your birds weight might need to be dropped for a short period but this must be minimised as prolonged hunger in an imprint can manifest in some nasty habits??

I fly Corvids in some pretty tight country and an imprint was the only way to go as far as i was concerned, 5yrs on, 350 kills later and i'm still not dissapointed!

[OutFlying]

Varmint, how long / if ever was the noise ? Some people may not have an understanding neighbours or not have the required time to successfully imprint a falcon / hawk.

[KevGem1]

thanks for the information if i was to obtain a young pere/saker at between 8/10 weeks old what are the chances of this imprinting?and what methods could i use to stop it imprinting to me ?because the screaming could be a real problem(neighbours)cheers KEV.

[Gaz]

And you aint heard screaming till you hears a falcon do it dude :!: :twisted:

[OutFlying]

amen :wink:

[OhMyGod]

Kev. I would not take her out of the aviery till 80 days.