Progress

When Tami called this morning with Orrin's weight, I was pretty sure that today was going to be a waste. He weighed in at 105 this morning. It was not Tami's fault, I had suggested that she increase his food by a gram or two thinking that he had been losing weight and would need a bit more food to maintain. I was wrong. However Tami made up the slack by leaving him unhooded throughout the day. I will limit my suggestions in the future. Tami has a pretty good handle on his weight control now.

The hood, whether a "giant" hood or a genuine hood, is a tool to control the hawk. The one on the right is Jessie's hood. The other is a hood given to me by Al Nye, a pioneer East coast Falconer. A giant hood is merely a box made from Coroplast (A plastic material that will not fuzz up the hawks feathers) with a perch in it. Both are used to keep a hawk or falcon from working itself into a frenzy, or other wise getting into trouble. It is basically a "time out". It is a tool in that it removes  the hawk from any stimulus. Then when it is picked up, walked and fed by the falconer, it makes it an experience that the hawk will look forward to if for no other reason than as a break from boredom. It is a very valuable tool for a bird being started, since it keeps them from injuring itself while it is still wild and jumpy. Once the bird becomes used to captivity, then the hoods use can be cut back to minimum usage. I use the hood for Jessie as a preliminary to hunting. After Jessie has killed and eaten, she rides quite well in the truck without a hood.

This is the first time that she has left him unhooded on the inside perch since catching him. He did well, and kept his "bating" to a minimum. He did do a lot of preening, and cleaning his feathers. He also burned the excess weight that he had gained. All in all a good thing. The timing is right as well, he has earned the right to more freedom.

Today we were going to stretch him out a bit. I wanted to be able to use the lure to teach him to stay close to us, and I wanted him to follow a bit as well. We have been pretty careful to make sure that he understood that he was going to have to work for his food, and that Tami was the source of it. He has wandered a bit, but has not shown any tendency to try to go away. He has shown that he is willing to come for the lure as soon as he see's it. In other words he has proved trustworthy.

As we started on our walk, I asked Tami to set him on one of the flatbeds, and walk away. We got out about 30 feet and she called him to the fist. He responded immediately. He then flew over to the fence about 30 yards or more away. He came towards the fist, but since Tami didn't have her finger up to point out the sliver of meat, went back to the fence. We walked on, ignoring him. He matched our advance by flying up the fence line a bit. We walked around the end of the tree line and at this point he was about 80 yards away and not visible to me. I threw the lure high up in the air, yelling when I did so, and he came looking for the lure. The little stinker couldn't find it, ( which was my intention) and he hovered in two different spots looking for the lure. Thankfully it was inside a bush and he didn't see it. He had it marked pretty darn well. He was 80 yards away and behind a bunch of willows, yet he was hovering within 10 feet of the lure. He flew to the plastic tank for a perch, and Tami called him to the fist while I retrieved the lure. He went back to the tank. Tami called him again and he came, but she again didn't have her finger up where he could see it. He hovered over her head, while she was looking for him. She didn't know that he was right over her head. She was asking me where he went, and didn't see him until he returned back to the tank.  We had a laugh at his antics and then walked about 80 yards or so up the road away from him. I told her to call him, and he launched himself off the tank coming to her. As he got close I threw the lure towards him, and he corrected his course and grabbed the lure. After he finished the lure, she called him to the fist and gave him the rest of his meal.

The lesson had proceed better than I had expected. Every thing had gone off with no glitches. What we want him to learn is that he needs to stay by us, follow, taking perches that will give him an opportunity to take advantage of any prey that may be flushed by us.

Most all hawks regard the lure as the same as caught game. It should signify the end of the lesson and a preliminary to its full meal. That way there is no hesitation when the lure is produced. There are times when an immediate response is the difference between life and death, or a lost hawk. I have given up lying to my hawks. When the lure is out, day is done. No exceptions!

The connections that he should have made today is that the lure can come out at any time, and if you are too far away, you may not be able to find it. He should have also learned that we are not coming to him, but when he is coming to us or near us the lure may come out where he can catch it.

Now all we have to do it to stretch it out a bit farther until he begins to follow without being called. Once he does that, we move on to live game.