Manning Times

[Cass]

hi all as some of you no my mentor sets me tasks about different thing and my next task is to get some information of other falconers on how they man or handle there long wings if anyone could help i would be grateful i want to no how long you spend with your falcons and what you do when handling them also how long be for you introduce the swing lure thanks for the time CASS

[CotswoldRedtail]

hi Cass. As im sure you realise it depends a lot on the bird in question, ie imprint/pr, age etc. I picked up my female p/r saker at exactly 16 weeks, manned for 2 hours a day for the first week, she fed on the fist at 3 days. The second week was 3 hours a day,then week three its up to 4
hours+, with evenings infront of the tv, and some time during the day walking around the flying area (landfill) exposing her to trucks, tractors, and as many other things as possible. By 3 weeks she was jumping 3' on the creance then its straight onto the lure and go from there with as much manning as poss. Not everyones way but works for me.
Atb, Ash.

[CotswoldRedtail]

hi Cass. As im sure you realise it depends a lot on the bird in question, ie imprint/pr, age etc. I picked up my female p/r saker at exactly 16 weeks, manned for 2 hours a day for the first week, she fed on the fist at 3 days. The second week was 3 hours a day,then week three its up to 4
hours+, with evenings infront of the tv, and some time during the day walking around the flying area (landfill) exposing her to trucks, tractors, and as many other things as possible. By 3 weeks she was jumping 3' on the creance then its straight onto the lure and go from there with as much manning as poss. Not everyones way but works for me.
Atb, Ash.
Oh and very important, hood training from day1!

[Greg]

Ask your mentor how long a piece of string is he will have the same sort of difficulty giving you an answer! All birds are different, I've had a merlin free in 7 days and another merlin took over twice the time. Some birds train with great ease but other can be a pain in the a*s*
to make it even worse I've sometimes found the hardest to train end up as the easiest to fly.
No set times!

[FalconGriff]

I am ashamed to say very little! I only have the bird on the fist if its feeding or manning enough to feed. For a fresh bird I normally give it a max of 30 minutes to feed, if it doesn't feed in that time, it doesn't eat that day. I have just picked up a fresh Peregrine from the pen, it ate today which is the forth day which is about normal. Hooding is done from day one when the bird is a sight more frightened of the me than the hood. When it's feeding on the fist as soon as the hood is removed I start on the lure at the block allowing it to eat all food that is tied to lure before picking up and finishing off on the fist. Once it jumps straight from the block to the lure its on the creance. I never call them more than twice in a day which means I can give them a good reward each time they come. I expect them to be free in 21 days or less. I not saying you should try to go this fast as I have trained a few birds and my handling is good and I don't make many mistakes. This means its much quicker as it takes a long time to correct mistakes that may creep in. Hope this helps.

[Jack]

I have read and studied many different methods of manning a raptor, but have come up with my own ideas and methods that seem to work extremely well. Falcon, hawk, whatever. I find that any time spend handling a hawk can be quality time. The thing is, you have to shed most of the excess body fat so that the hawk is or will become receptive to your needs. It is usually a waste of time to carry a fat hawk. Once the weight is lost down to where I feel I have the hawks attention, I will attempt to feed it. I do not attempt to feed it until then because any food it puts down before then will only prolong the time I will spend. I like to carry my hawks a lot. Not just sitting and watching TV, but walking about outside. All my manning is done outside from day one. I also start any hood training from day one. I will never attempt to feed my hawk until it has been on my fist for at least half an hour so that she can calm down and not be under stress when food is offered. They are far more likely to feed then. And once the hawk is eating I do not stuff her. I will cut her ration in 3 pieces, save one and cut the other 2 pieces into tidbits. I will carry here about doing stuff and letting her adjust to my movements and lose most of her fear. Now and then I will surprise her with a sudden tidbit between the feet. This way she does not get a big meal that will turn her off. She will remain interested in me and get enough to eat without it taking away her edge. Come late evening I will give her the last chunk of food to eats so that she will not sit hungry on the perch all night. Come the next day I do the same thing. Once she is able to concentrate on other things besides me, I will start feeding her from the lure. Once I start that, especially for falcons, I feed her strictly from the lure.. Later, I will start picking her up from the lure with a small feed. This will top the meal off for the day, usually after a successfur flight. I do not call them to the fist for tidbits. Not even my hawks. This is where aggression is usually born. And it does nothing toward manning. Or anything that I can think of right off hand.
When I can put her down on a perch or have another person hold her for me, I will walk off a distance and toss her lure out. Her response to that tells me when she is ready to go hunting. If she will come to that lure from 50 yards she will come any distance. We are talking a couple of weeks, maybe less, from the time she has lost the excess fat. Smaller birds take far less time than larger birds simply because of metabulism.

Jack

[SkyGod]

I have read and studied many different methods of manning a raptor, but have come up with my own ideas and methods that seem to work extremely well. Falcon, hawk, whatever. I find that any time spend handling a hawk can be quality time. The thing is, you have to shed most of the excess body fat so that the hawk is or will become receptive to your needs. It is usually a waste of time to carry a fat hawk. Once the weight is lost down to where I feel I have the hawks attention, I will attempt to feed it. I do not attempt to feed it until then because any food it puts down before then will only prolong the time I will spend. I like to carry my hawks a lot. Not just sitting and watching TV, but walking about outside. All my manning is done outside from day one. I also start any hood training from day one. I will never attempt to feed my hawk until it has been on my fist for at least half an hour so that she can calm down and not be under stress when food is offered. They are far more likely to feed then. And once the hawk is eating I do not stuff her. I will cut her ration in 3 pieces, save one and cut the other 2 pieces into tidbits. I will carry here about doing stuff and letting her adjust to my movements and lose most of her fear. Now and then I will surprise her with a sudden tidbit between the feet. This way she does not get a big meal that will turn her off. She will remain interested in me and get enough to eat without it taking away her edge. Come late evening I will give her the last chunk of food to eats so that she will not sit hungry on the perch all night. Come the next day I do the same thing. Once she is able to concentrate on other things besides me, I will start feeding her from the lure. Once I start that, especially for falcons, I feed her strictly from the lure.. Later, I will start picking her up from the lure with a small feed. This will top the meal off for the day, usually after a successfur flight. I do not call them to the fist for tidbits. Not even my hawks. This is where aggression is usually born. And it does nothing toward manning. Or anything that I can think of right off hand.
When I can put her down on a perch or have another person hold her for me, I will walk off a distance and toss her lure out. Her response to that tells me when she is ready to go hunting. If she will come to that lure from 50 yards she will come any distance. We are talking a couple of weeks, maybe less, from the time she has lost the excess fat. Smaller birds take far less time than larger birds simply because of metabulism.

Jack

i think this is what the person wanted a indeepth reply good on ye mate

[OutHawkn]

I have read and studied many different methods of manning a raptor, but have come up with my own ideas and methods that seem to work extremely well. Falcon, hawk, whatever. I find that any time spend handling a hawk can be quality time. The thing is, you have to shed most of the excess body fat so that the hawk is or will become receptive to your needs. It is usually a waste of time to carry a fat hawk. Once the weight is lost down to where I feel I have the hawks attention, I will attempt to feed it. I do not attempt to feed it until then because any food it puts down before then will only prolong the time I will spend. I like to carry my hawks a lot. Not just sitting and watching TV, but walking about outside. All my manning is done outside from day one. I also start any hood training from day one. I will never attempt to feed my hawk until it has been on my fist for at least half an hour so that she can calm down and not be under stress when food is offered. They are far more likely to feed then. And once the hawk is eating I do not stuff her. I will cut her ration in 3 pieces, save one and cut the other 2 pieces into tidbits. I will carry here about doing stuff and letting her adjust to my movements and lose most of her fear. Now and then I will surprise her with a sudden tidbit between the feet. This way she does not get a big meal that will turn her off. She will remain interested in me and get enough to eat without it taking away her edge. Come late evening I will give her the last chunk of food to eats so that she will not sit hungry on the perch all night. Come the next day I do the same thing. Once she is able to concentrate on other things besides me, I will start feeding her from the lure. Once I start that, especially for falcons, I feed her strictly from the lure.. Later, I will start picking her up from the lure with a small feed. This will top the meal off for the day, usually after a successfur flight. I do not call them to the fist for tidbits. Not even my hawks. This is where aggression is usually born. And it does nothing toward manning. Or anything that I can think of right off hand.
When I can put her down on a perch or have another person hold her for me, I will walk off a distance and toss her lure out. Her response to that tells me when she is ready to go hunting. If she will come to that lure from 50 yards she will come any distance. We are talking a couple of weeks, maybe less, from the time she has lost the excess fat. Smaller birds take far less time than larger birds simply because of metabulism.

Jack

Good post Jack , not exactly in complete agreement but close enough..:supz:

[Alf]

I tend not to man falcons not the kind of manning the hawk sitting on the fist walking it round type anyway.
If you’re hunting game from a waiting on position you don’t need to have the hawk sitting on the fist for any period of time unless it’s hooded.
Start to finish hawk picked up and in the air should normally take less than 10 days for peregrines although anything with prairie in it could take longer.
In the 10 days the hawk should only be on the fist unhooded the time it takes to eat its meal.
Manning occurs on the block or in the field not on the fist. Alf.

[Yoji]

I tend not to man falcons not the kind of manning the hawk sitting on the fist walking it round type anyway.
If you’re hunting game from a waiting on position you don’t need to have the hawk sitting on the fist for any period of time unless it’s hooded.
Start to finish hawk picked up and in the air should normally take less than 10 days for peregrines although anything with prairie in it could take longer.
In the 10 days the hawk should only be on the fist unhooded the time it takes to eat its meal.
Manning occurs on the block or in the field not on the fist. Alf.

Hi Alf,
Do you think there are any bad effects if gamehawks are carried around on the fist?
Yoji.

[Alf]

I have trained a few young peregrines a gyr/pere a mature imprint saker that had mental problems that had never been flown and they were all in the air before 10 days from pick up, done two pere/ prairies and one took 12 days the other took 3 weeks, a **** of a female that was.
Typical peregrine after pulled out the aviary that day kitted up and hooded.

Day 1. Weighed brought into the house at night hooded start with unhooding and hooding only, making the hawk to the hood, once this is achieved food is shown if no response after 10 minutes the hawks hood and put back in the mews.

Day 2. I will skip the weighing part this is done every time saves me writing it. Brought into house evening time the hawks been hooded all day start with hooding unhooding again after this whistle is blown food is offered after 15 minutes the hawk starts to pull, fed it ration and the hawk is then hooded placed back in its mews.

Day 3. hawks brought in again evening time more hooding unhooding whistle is blown food is offered once it pulls a few mouthfuls the hawk is hooded then placed on a perch or high backed chair the hood comes off and food is placed in the fist and the fist is positioned so the hawk has to step up onto the glove after the step up a few pulls and the food is pulled down through the glove the hawks hooded put back on the perch unhooded and it steps up again, fed its ration hooded and is placed back in its mew hooded .

Day 4. Hawk is unhooded in mews afternoon time left alone the hawk is then scooped up hooded and is taken out and tethered unhooded in the garden an hour or so before dusk sets in the hawk is then again scooped up from the block the hawk wont allow the pick up at this time hooded the lure is placed under its block tied down the hawk is unhooded and the whistle is blown and after a few moments the hawk leaves the block to either flutter down on the lure or it lands out from it then walks in on it once the hawk is feeding
You go and transfer with a pick up peace, the hawk is fed its rations on the fist is hooded and placed back in its mews.


Day 5 . hawk is left hooded all day brought out and placed on block in garden a few hours before dusk and is tied to its block on a long leash hood is removed whistle is blown and lure is offered thrown down from the falconer who is crouching low hawk jumps on lure gets a few pulls and is transferred to glove its hood and placed back on its block hood is removed whistle is blown and the lure is tossed out again just below the block hawk jumps down takes lure is transferred to fist and fed its rations is hooded and taken to its mews its then unhooded and left for the first night without a hood.


Day 6. whistle is blown hawk is s offered pick up peace on entering mews early in the day but declines hawk is scooped up hooded and taken to wether hawk is placed on block in garden and unhooded, a few hours before sunset the hawk is scooped up from block hooded taken to training ground hawk is placed on a post with a creance attached already rolled out five meters hawk is unhooded and falconer backs off with lure in hand whistle is blown lure is dropped two meters in front of hawk, hawk flutters down and starts to pull hawk is transferred to fist hooded and placed back on post the hawk is unhooded falconer backs off 5 meters lure in hand whistles drops lure out and hawk comes, hawk is fed its rations hooded and is taken home in the mews on its block its unhooded.

Day 7.. hawk is picked early up from mews after offering pick up peace still no response on that one, hawk is hooded taken to wether unhooded on block and offerd the hawk a bath. Hawk wont bath, bath taken away. Hawk is picked up from block hooded taken to flying ground with creance attached placed on same post and uhooded falconer walks backward whistles swings lure once and dropps it 5 meters from hawk, hawk flies over lands beside lure walks the rest and starts to pull hawk is transfer hooded is taken back to the post falconer doubles to ten meters swings lure once whistles as lure hits floor hawk leaves perch land strait on lure is transferred feed the rations for the day is hooded taken back home placed in mews on block and then is unhooded.

Day 8..is exactly the same as day 7 only distance is increased to 20 meters

Day 9. whistling on entering mews hawk baits off block fist is offered with food hawk comes over and steps up hawk takes a few pulls hawk is hooded transferred to garden then to the field hawk comes full length of the creance instantly the whistle blows

Day. 10… hawk allows pick up from block in mews although baits from pick up in garden. Hawk comes full length of the creance out in the training field fist call instantly hawk has telemetry attached is unhooked and gets its first free flight that day.

No manning needed apart from the hawk seeing me in the garden from time to time and how long it takes to feed up don’t think I ever took more than two steps with a falcon unhooded there’s no need to.
If you have ever lost your hood and you walk or try to walk with a gamehawk or a crow hawk for that matter you will know what I mean. Alf.




Hi Alf,
Do you think there are any bad effects if gamehawks are carried around on the fist?
Yoji.

[Yoji]

Hi Alf,
Thanks for the detailed explanation of your training procedure.
It is interesting and I will study this material well later again.
I read the books written by Bruce Haak and Nick Fox.
I think they recommend carrying gamehawks.
I carry my p/r pere for socialization as much as possible.
But I think your method is reasonable and practical too.
Yoji.

[Alf]

When training a young game hawk I don’t want it to be my best mate if you know what I mean. Before the introduction of the kite which gives the hawk something to focus on when in the air taking the onus off the falconer as the provider off food
Traditional gamehawking training if a young game hawk that’s been manned to death has a chance when free flying to not want to stray too far away from the food source the falconer its mate and it can possibly take longer to get these kinds of hawks mounting up.
A few short weeks most falcons become manned anyway just with picking them up feeding so forth without the aid of having to spend hours on end with them on your fist. Alf.



Hi Alf,
Thanks for the detailed explanation of your training procedure.
It is interesting and I will study this material well later again.
I read the books written by Bruce Haak and Nick Fox.
I think they recommend carrying gamehawks.
I carry my p/r pere for socialization as much as possible.
But I think your method is reasonable and practical too.
Yoji.

[Redbull]

i dissagree, i made that mistake this year, i didnt spend much time manning my eyass female peregrine due to lack of time and because of this her manners manners are horrrible, she wont sit on the fist properly, she trys to fly with the hood on, she constantly bates of the block when she sees me, she bites all the time, hates her tail being touched which makes puting telem on a problem, i have to keep her hooded overnight because she smashes about if i dont and the list goes on. ive trained quite a few hawks and falcons and as far as manning goes i didnt have then flying free untill they where bombproof and i found this takes as long as it takes depending on the individul and not the way it is bred. my eyass is a good flying bird and i am pleased with her but i could have avoided all these horrible things about her by doing one simple thing, manning. i wll never make that mistake again.
steve.

[Sokoly]

MPO is that every bird is different and by judging your bird you decide how you gonna take the manning process. It's not very serious when some people judge others ways of manning because this assumptions are made not thinking on every possible way that the bird has come to falconers hands.
Arabs have manned (passage) birds in their ways by constant stroking and touching their birds while continually hooding and unhooding the birds. Their passage falcons hunt in 3 weeks!
I dought you can do that with a chamber rared or imprint bird!
So generalising on manning is not a serious way of answering this question.
If I were you I would follow Jack's advices on manning.


Sokoly

[SmallPeregrine]

This is a article about my thoughts on manning I wrote 3-4 years ago for the BFC journal;

Every aspiring falconer soon finds out after acquiring their first true big longwing, that once on his or her fist for the first time that she is not that placid well groomed new protégé once seen through the spy hole of the aviary. She turns out to be the opposite…Angry, biting and uncompromising Falcon.
As written in the books of old we are told to initially hood her 20hrs+ a day and feed her through the hood! This I find turns the falcon into an annoying glove biting maniac at best with the hood on. And still the uncompromising angry falcon first jessed up from day one, having fits of anger on the very sight of the hood, with very little progress in overcoming her natural fear or mistrust of humans.
Really I only hood my Falcons for Transporting to and from or whilst in the field. Otherwise she hood free for better part of the day in the mews or on the weathering ground.
In my opinion, Anglo Indian hoods are the best hoods to make any young falcon to the hood. They are light weight and do not loose there shape easily. Also with its ample beak opening it is favourable for both comfort ability of fit to the Falcon and ease of slipping on and off the Falcon even for the inexperienced falconer who has not yet mastered the hooding technique. I think it’s easy to make a mistake with the initial manning of long wings,
Solely depending on drastic weight reduction to get the falcon to man down to respond; this can give the Falconer an underestimate of her true flying weight.
How many times has a Falconer cast off his Falcon for the 1st time and it has laboured flying no distance at all and landed, making the Falconer think his Falcon is totally unfit? Really, the falcon has landed because of low body weight with little or no energy levels.
The whole essence of the Falcons training and probably the most important lesson to the Falconer is to make her look to you for food based on condition of her appetite and not starvation.
I feel the best way forward is to spend as much time with my new falcon un-hooded on the fist, only occasionally hooding her when things get too much for her or when transporting her to and from the mews to the weathering ground when an untimely bate could damage her flight feathers unforeseen obstacle on the way.
I also think that one bate from the fist from a Falcon is the equivalent of fifty bates of a short wing is totally poppy cock too.
I think comfort and balance on fist is one of the first hurdles for the Falcon to come to terms with. The combination of learning the restricting qualities of the newly applied Jesse's the soft feel of the glove under foot and uneven surface that the falcon seems hard to accept easily. Only time/hours spent with falcon on fist can overcome it.
If at first she does not feed on the fist I will not hesitate to leave food on her block mews of a night time. Excessive weight loss, high stress levels combined with food deprivation can be a deadly cocktail and quickly jeopardizing any young Falcons immune system thus compromising the Falcons health.
Eventually your new falcon will eat small amounts from the fist to suppress her hunger before her natural fear of you quickly returns and she refuses to eat anymore. I would not worry but to offer her a feed later on in the day and you’ll find she eat more readily.
I prefer to feed the new arrival with good quality food like Quail or pigeon a couple of times a day for the first week or so.
I think the best way forward is to let the falcon see as much as possible without unduly stressing the falcon out too much. The Falcon is more scared of you than its surroundings and it’s a must that he quickly gains the falcons trust before he can progress to other stages of the Falcons training. You know when the Falcon is getting used to you when she starts bating off the fist at other distractions other than you (dogs, children etc).
I find offering your new falcon a tidbit every time you approach at the block or just passing her by to the mews quickly acclimatizes her to your presence.
This I feel is a positive lesson of food association between Falcon and falconer getting her used to my approach and again developing the trust bond.
Although I don’t stick by the 10% rule of weight reduction from hard penned weight, it is a good guide limit marker to work within. I prefer to drop the falcons weight very slowly, a 1/8 0z maximum a day and let the Falcons responses towards the Falconer tell you when she is nearing her flying weight. I think with this approach the falcon does not drop too much body weight at any one time and the falconer gains the Falcons trust through his habitual presence and not drastic weight loss. This way I feel the Falconer attains the Falcons correct flying weight from the offset.

This is my way of manning and I find it works there are no set times for the manning process as I believe it continues throughout its training and into the field too! Also as you find out no two falcons are the same
hope its of some help:?:
Cheers:D
Phil

[Nevo]

Havent got a great deal to offer and not replying to any particular reply,bu as far as manning goes i had frequent contact with my MRT over the moult maxing out at 2lb 15oz.
If the 10% rule was used i would be looking at 2lb 10oz this would be far too high ,so i will go on reponse.
Now my birds weight is coming down 2lb 8oz at he moment he is a bloody ASBO so manning ,walking him throught the fields etc,i hope it is working .
I think with a redtail it takes longer and not to be rushed.
Thoughts

[SmallPeregrine]

Haven't got a great deal to offer and not replying to any particular reply,bu as far as manning goes i had frequent contact with my MRT over the moult maxing out at 2lb 15oz.
If the 10% rule was used i would be looking at 2lb 10oz this would be far too high ,so i will go on reponse.
Now my birds weight is coming down 2lb 8oz at he moment he is a bloody ASBO so manning ,walking him throught the fields etc,i hope it is working .
I think with a redtail it takes longer and not to be rushed.
Thoughts
Your miss quoting wot am saying, read its entirety and then you'll understand it better, wot you say about A redtail at the end applies to Peregrines and all Longwings to be fair.:)
Cheers
Phil

[FalconGriff]

and it had feather damage that you would normally associate with an imprint....

Hey Hey, slag off who you like and I don't care!! What I do object to is your assumption that all imprints have feather damage. That is just not true If you are a good enough falconer there is no need for feather damage, mantling or even screaming. SO BACK OFF AND APOLOGIZE!!

[MattSpar]

I man all my birds, falcons and hawks alike. Why? Because a tame, well manned bird is a joy to handle and to be around, and a badly manned, or unmanned one isn't. I bring my hawks into the house in the evenings for manning purposes and this works well.
Manning shortens training time. I expect my merlins to be going loose in a week at the outside, often less. Big falcons I'd expect to be loose in a fortnight or so, give or take a day or two.
It's just my way of doing things. I see no point in trying to entice a poorly manned bird to come to my lure, or jump up from the block only after hesitating, or being shown food. I prefer a hawk, as tame as an old hen, that can hardly wait to get to me.

[Redbull]

well said matt, if you read one of my last post iv explained the problems tha i have had through lack of manning, i will never let this happen again.

[MattSpar]

well said matt, if you read one of my last post iv explained the problems tha i have had through lack of manning, i will never let this happen again.

Well I'm not trying to tell others how it ought to be done (and that makes a refreshing change, before anyone else say's so), it's just my way.

It works though.

[SmallPeregrine]

I man all my birds, falcons and hawks alike. Why? Because a tame, well manned bird is a joy to handle and to be around, and a badly manned, or unmanned one isn't. I bring my hawks into the house in the evenings for manning purposes and this works well.
Manning shortens training time. I expect my merlins to be going loose in a week at the outside, often less. Big falcons I'd expect to be loose in a fortnight or so, give or take a day or two.
It's just my way of doing things. I see no point in trying to entice a poorly manned bird to come to my lure, or jump up from the block only after hesitating, or being shown food. I prefer a hawk, as tame as an old hen, that can hardly wait to get to me.

Thank you man of me own heart
cheers
Phil

[Shaun Bannister]

hmm very interesting and revealing ,(not the manning bit ,i mean the spat !):box:

can i just point out to any would be new falconers out there NOT to pay any attention to how soon someone can get a bird loose etc ,its not relevant and certainly not relevant to a beginner so please dont use it as a guideline for yourselves ,a lot of these guys have flown lots of birds, each one is different to man or to get loose some can be manned in days some are never truly manable and as has been pointed out are a pain
some can be loose in days or weeks ,the most important thing to take from this ,is to do your utmost to reduce risk ,and try your best to make your bird as pleasant to be around as possible

[Falcons7]

Seen falcons have not hours but days and weeks of manning and also seen falcons have very little exept during feeding ,then to the lure etc.Antony Rhodes falcon San was this way and is one of the very best falcons Iv seen fly and better than all the highly manned falcons Iv seen .He told me he has never ever picked her up without her bateing away from him and she isnt a young falcon.You dont need sit hour after hour manning falcons but if you enjoy doing this do it .
jeff

[Gyr]

hmm very interesting and revealing ,(not the manning bit ,i mean the spat !):box:

can i just point out to any would be new falconers out there NOT to pay any attention to how soon someone can get a bird loose etc ,its not relevant and certainly not relevant to a beginner so please dont use it as a guideline for yourselves ,a lot of these guys have flown lots of birds, each one is different to man or to get loose some can be manned in days some are never truly manable and as has been pointed out are a pain
some can be loose in days or weeks ,the most important thing to take from this ,is to do your utmost to reduce risk ,and try your best to make your bird as pleasant to be around as possible

Good post,:supz:

[Alf]

Matt I agree, only by sitting with a falcon on the fist what do you hope to achieve will the fact that you have this hawk bareheaded it will tame down quickly?
Most falcons are a peace of **** to get flying free any well balanced peregrine will start to tame down within a week or two regardless of you spending 4 hours a day with your hawk on your fist there just that sort of hawk or at least this what I have found.
Circumstances dictate the course of training you need to implement.
I remember taking on a mature imprint female Saker from Keith Mills/ Barbry Boy
Wasn’t sure of the history of this hawk but to cut a long story short this female was basically a nutter, this hawk would not allow anyone to approach her or to pick her up from the block without the hawk bating off madly and then lashing out with feet and beak and I mean this she was a bad ******* this hawk would not sit on the fist the only time you could get anywhere near her to get the hood on was to fiscally cuff her and even on the fist hooded you had to keep tight hold of the jesses for fear of this hawk striking out.
Keith could do nothing with this hawk and I believe another
falconer took her on for a short time it was short he brought her back the same day
brandishing wounds to his legs and hands he gave up on her saying she was a lunatic.
Don’t know why I offered but I took this hawk on after Keith grabbed her and we managed to get the hood on her and to get her upright on the fist not without me getting bitten several times on the chest even hooded this hawk still bated and two gloves were needed to get her back up on the glove.
After getting her back home using the method I described in the early post I had this falcon flying free and feeding off the fist and bating towards me for the pick up as keen as you like within 10 days. If I had of spent prolonged periods of time trying to man this hawk I would have ended up getting ripped to bits the hawk I think would never have settled down at that time sitting on the fist and I wouldn’t have had this hawk in the air putting stoops in at the lure I gave Keith this hawk back after a few weeks hooded and a lot better hawk than when I picked her up.
Also remember two female pere/prairie one trained in 12 days the other took me 3 weeks to get in the air a stubborn hawk that one I did spend a lot more time on the stubborn one why because circumstances dictated this.
Alf.



I man all my birds, falcons and hawks alike. Why? Because a tame, well manned bird is a joy to handle and to be around, and a badly manned, or unmanned one isn't. I bring my hawks into the house in the evenings for manning purposes and this works well.
Manning shortens training time. I expect my merlins to be going loose in a week at the outside, often less. Big falcons I'd expect to be loose in a fortnight or so, give or take a day or two.
It's just my way of doing things. I see no point in trying to entice a poorly manned bird to come to my lure, or jump up from the block only after hesitating, or being shown food. I prefer a hawk, as tame as an old hen, that can hardly wait to get to me.

[Redbull]

my thoughts on this subject, manning is called manning for a reason, its precious time for bird and falconer to gain trust in each other, time speant is time well earned, time to gain trust and show your bird that your a friend not an enemy, has no fear of you at all and if treated right bird and falconer will be part of a team that can only end in success. only my veiw.
steve.

[Alf]

Yep totally agree you need to man most parent reaerd hawks although like I have already said I am of the opinion that I like to retain a little wildness in a young game hawk note game hawk
If your peregrine is fluffy tame and you’re training traditionally not to the kite I am of the opinion this hawk wont want to leave you and will want to stay with you and it wont go up like it could if it had that little bit of independence these early flights are important it could save you a lot of time in the future.
But hey I am no game hawker I don’t profess to be unlike some. Alf.



my thoughts on this subject, manning is called manning for a reason, its precious time for bird and falconer to gain trust in each other, time speant is time well earned, time to gain trust and show your bird that your a friend not an enemy, has no fear of you at all and if treated right bird and falconer will be part of a team that can only end in success. only my veiw.
steve.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

Off topic posts removed

Please keep to the original topic

Thank you

[CityHunter.uK]

Ask your mentor how long a piece of string is he will have the same sort of difficulty giving you an answer! All birds are different, I've had a merlin free in 7 days and another merlin took over twice the time. Some birds train with great ease but other can be a pain in the a*s*
to make it even worse I've sometimes found the hardest to train end up as the easiest to fly.
No set times!
the length of a piece of string is twice the distance from the middle to the end