Peregrine lure training help
 

Hello all. I have an 11 year old peregrine that I just got back from 3 years in a breeding chamber. She was flown and hunted her previous years. I'm having difficulty getting her to come to the lure. Her weight out of the chamber was 906g. This afternoon she was 803. I've even had her down to 750 but she was sluggish. It doesn't seem to matter what weight she's at, she doesn't seem interested in the lure.
The way i've been training is I'll attach a tidbit to the lure, let her finish and then have her hop to the glove with a larger piece of meat. I try and do this several times for fitness. The only other thing I can think of is to let her crop up on the lure so that she becomes wedded to it but that doesn't do much for fitness. I've had her come to the lure, take it away and have her fly by but she keeps going. I appreciate the feedback and any help is welcome.

Nate Hohnstein

Re: Peregrine lure training help
 

Hi Nate, I see there are no takers, I mean people coming up with answers for you, I'm certainly no expert, but have trained a few birds over the years. Max was a hybrid 3/4 gyr x 1/4 saker & penned for 4 years in an imprint pen, when it came to lure training a pinned lure was used with almost his days rations tied on, a long leash about 6 foot long was tied to another pin about 3 foot away from the pinned lure. On removal of the hood, if he did not fly straight down to the lure on the grass, he was hooded and put away for another day with no food. What I wanted was an instant reaction to lure & food, when I got this, I simply kept my distance and let him eat, and only when he finished and released his grip, did I show him the garnished glove with the remainder of his ration's, if he wanted more to eat he had to fly the 6 foot to the glove. There was never any skimping on his food, but the process was repeated 48 hours, some times 72 hours later, the trick was he had to be searching for food in the hood before the exercise, and he had to go straight at it, this took a little over a fortnight, all in my yard. Next up was the electric lure machine with the same lure & rations placed behind me, as the lure got dragged by at speed his hood removed just as it passed by, he chased it hard every time. Frank beebe wrote donkeys years ago that a bird that chases the lure going away from you, will also return to the same swung lure. This bird would come any distance for his lure. I hope this helps in some way.

Re: Peregrine lure training help
 

Thank you very much for the reply! I did what you said about taking the hood off her and seeing if she was receptive to the lure. I took the hood off and she immediately took to the lure. I made her fly to the fist for the rest of her meal. I'm sure that if I change to feeding her a whole crop on the lure that she will turn it around. Thanks again for the help.

Re: Peregrine lure training help
 

Your welcome Nate, once she loves the lure again, you can reduce the food on the lure, increasing the rations in the glove, if you do this slowly, you may be able to go back to a tid bit or nothing, but let her get the hang of the lure first, I suppose I'm saying walk don't run, I some times spend a fortnight on the pinned lure, and then a couple of calls to a swung lure while the bird is on a creance, this depends on your confidence with your bird, the only thing I do a little different to most is to run my lure line through a pin in the ground, I swing the lure and as the bird approaches, drop the lure to the ground and then pull the lure stick so the lure is pulled up against the metal pin. Staying the length of the line away, until the food is finished, the bird tends not to mantle because your not hovering over it, and nine times out of ten will fly toward you before your ready, that's why I have the glove loaded but behind my back, you know when your on a winner, when she spots the food in the glove and leaves the food on the lure, especially if the food in the glove is freshly killed prepared and still warm. When I get chance I'll put some pictures up of the pins I use, do not be tempted to do this with a block near by, then there is no temptation to try and drag the food toward the block, even though she can't with the pinned lure, a bird that never tries is better but birds that do try this soon give up and get on with there dinner, its you could say an anti carrying precaution. I have used this method with perlins gyrlins, sparrowhawks, goshawks, right on up to a Golden eagle, Mr Bolt my goldie would fly a 1/2 mile to a swung falcon lure to my wife & then eat the chick on it to fly back to me for a reward in the glove.

Re: Peregrine lure training help
 

In the past three days i've seen a huge improvement with her eagerness to the lure. I even got her coming to the drone about 20 ft. up. Thanks again for all your help!

Re: Peregrine lure training help
 

I have also flown falcons that have been inactive for a while. I use a soft lure system and take my time. The color and texture I've found is important. I use 'tuna tails (red/white, and innertube strips)' combined with a flexi 26 foot lead. Here is photos and more explanation: www.internationalfalconryacademy.blogspot.com