Ninja-Jon
12-11-2005, 08:58 PM
Just thought i would post this may be some beneficial, as sometimes i read on the forum folks having problems with vocal (Screaming) Harris Hawks. I may employ this method when i get my Male Harris next year. Comments from the more experienced Falconers would be appreciated
Here are five rules to follow when training the newly aquired Harris which will prevent it from becoming a screamer.
Do not feed the bird on the fist!
Do not call the bird to the fist!
Take the bird to the food!
The bird must always move away from you to the food!
Do not cut the weight; feed ad lib
Remember the goal of the falconry is to take wild game. For example, a Harris' cannot catch a rabbit if it is flying to the fist. Therefore, there is no reason to train a Harris' to fly to the fist until after it is catching wild game.
You have two main goals to train a Harris'. First, is to fly the bird away from you to its food. Of course you must be able to recover your bird after it has caught it game. The second goal is train the bird to allow you to walk up to it and pick it up after its caught game.
You should aquire you Harris from the breeder after it is 12 to 14 weeks old and parent raised. Older is also fine. Harris need to socialize with their ownkind. You jess the bird and man it. Manning (which is different than training) a harris is geting it used to Man and all man things, such as cars, giant hood, scales, lawn mowers, and dogs. This task can easily be accompanied by moving the bow pearch and bird closer and closer to human activity; insted of a secluded weathering yard. By fall you should be able to mow the lawn around the bird while it sits on it's perch. Of course you will be also weighing the bird and hooding or placing in a giant hood before each feeding.
Feeding is the most important step. Your bird will be fed ad lib-- all it wants at one feeding each day. It is alright to skip a day each week. You place the food by the bow perch so it can be reached by the bird after it is tied. You then weigh and hood the bird and then take it to the bow perch and tie the bird. Walk away. remember, the food is on the opposite side of the perch so the bird goes away from you to the food, these steps accomplish goal one. Now each day you fine tune this goal. At first, don't worry about getting a weight. In the begining it is normal for the bird to not stand on the scale and you will not be able to get a weight. Do not dwell , next work on hooding the bird. Put the hood on the bird and taking it off. Or if you use a giant hood, put the bird in, close the door, then immediatly open door and take bird to the food and walk away. Each day increase your time spent at the scale and with the hood.
Once the bird is at the perch, walk away only as far as necessary for the bird to start eating. Each day walk closer to the bird and stand and watch it eat its daily ad lib ration. If at any time the bird hesitates or stops eating, move away. Others can feed the bird for you. By early fall you should be able to walk up to the bird, around the bird, and touch it with your foot etc., and the bird should continue eating. By this time the bird should also be able to stand on the scale for an accurate weight, and be hooded for hours. A whistle can be sounded each time the bird takes a bite.
Goal two is easy, just before the bird finishes its daily ration, pick it up and let it finish the last few bites on the fist. The bird is now basically ready to go hunting. The bird looks away and moves away from you for food and if you put food on the ground the bird will allow you to pick it up to finish its meal. All thats needed are some safty steps.
feed the bird on the lure.
feed the bird under a spot light (or car headlights)
food can be thrown to the tied bird but remember the bird goes away from you to the food and you walk to the bird and pick it up to finish its ration.
Finally, once the nights are cool and the brush is down so the bird has a reasonable chance of catching game, you can cut the weight. Weight reduction is most easily accomplished by cutting the daily rations in half. you will notice that up till now the bird may actually act wild until feeding time. As you approach the correct hunting wieght the bird will calm down whenever it sees you. It may actually bate toward you. But finding the hunting weight is another story. Hunting weight is different from flying weight because Harris' respond at all weights.
Here are five rules to follow when training the newly aquired Harris which will prevent it from becoming a screamer.
Do not feed the bird on the fist!
Do not call the bird to the fist!
Take the bird to the food!
The bird must always move away from you to the food!
Do not cut the weight; feed ad lib
Remember the goal of the falconry is to take wild game. For example, a Harris' cannot catch a rabbit if it is flying to the fist. Therefore, there is no reason to train a Harris' to fly to the fist until after it is catching wild game.
You have two main goals to train a Harris'. First, is to fly the bird away from you to its food. Of course you must be able to recover your bird after it has caught it game. The second goal is train the bird to allow you to walk up to it and pick it up after its caught game.
You should aquire you Harris from the breeder after it is 12 to 14 weeks old and parent raised. Older is also fine. Harris need to socialize with their ownkind. You jess the bird and man it. Manning (which is different than training) a harris is geting it used to Man and all man things, such as cars, giant hood, scales, lawn mowers, and dogs. This task can easily be accompanied by moving the bow pearch and bird closer and closer to human activity; insted of a secluded weathering yard. By fall you should be able to mow the lawn around the bird while it sits on it's perch. Of course you will be also weighing the bird and hooding or placing in a giant hood before each feeding.
Feeding is the most important step. Your bird will be fed ad lib-- all it wants at one feeding each day. It is alright to skip a day each week. You place the food by the bow perch so it can be reached by the bird after it is tied. You then weigh and hood the bird and then take it to the bow perch and tie the bird. Walk away. remember, the food is on the opposite side of the perch so the bird goes away from you to the food, these steps accomplish goal one. Now each day you fine tune this goal. At first, don't worry about getting a weight. In the begining it is normal for the bird to not stand on the scale and you will not be able to get a weight. Do not dwell , next work on hooding the bird. Put the hood on the bird and taking it off. Or if you use a giant hood, put the bird in, close the door, then immediatly open door and take bird to the food and walk away. Each day increase your time spent at the scale and with the hood.
Once the bird is at the perch, walk away only as far as necessary for the bird to start eating. Each day walk closer to the bird and stand and watch it eat its daily ad lib ration. If at any time the bird hesitates or stops eating, move away. Others can feed the bird for you. By early fall you should be able to walk up to the bird, around the bird, and touch it with your foot etc., and the bird should continue eating. By this time the bird should also be able to stand on the scale for an accurate weight, and be hooded for hours. A whistle can be sounded each time the bird takes a bite.
Goal two is easy, just before the bird finishes its daily ration, pick it up and let it finish the last few bites on the fist. The bird is now basically ready to go hunting. The bird looks away and moves away from you for food and if you put food on the ground the bird will allow you to pick it up to finish its meal. All thats needed are some safty steps.
feed the bird on the lure.
feed the bird under a spot light (or car headlights)
food can be thrown to the tied bird but remember the bird goes away from you to the food and you walk to the bird and pick it up to finish its ration.
Finally, once the nights are cool and the brush is down so the bird has a reasonable chance of catching game, you can cut the weight. Weight reduction is most easily accomplished by cutting the daily rations in half. you will notice that up till now the bird may actually act wild until feeding time. As you approach the correct hunting wieght the bird will calm down whenever it sees you. It may actually bate toward you. But finding the hunting weight is another story. Hunting weight is different from flying weight because Harris' respond at all weights.