This is my buddy's bird (from this post) on it's first bunny:
22 days from trap to first free flight, 25 until first kill. Not too shabby given that my friend had never handled a bird until this year!
I'm his quasi-sponsor due to the fact that, on paper, I'm still an apprentice and I kept telling him that once the bird is flying reliably to the fist he should go hunting. There's other training that can be done, to the lure, following on, etc., but in my opinion it's better to get the bird hunting again as soon as possible. Everything else is just frills. (Necessary frills in some cases, but frills regardless.)
He took my advice to heart and even without me or his other, real sponsor there he flew it free at 22 days and had 4 bunny chases then yesterday he sends me this picture. Absolutely fantastic! He's going to be a fantastic addition to the falconer pool and he's going to have a great season with that bird!
So you may be wondering, if it's best to get the bird out hunting as fast as possible...and he trapped his bird AFTER I trapped Goliath...AND he's got less experience...why isn't Goliath out there hunting...? Time constraints conspire against me but hopefully this weekend.
3 comments:
That sounds like one bad-*** apprentice!
So...you don't think training the lure for emergency recall before first free flight is important? That's one thing I think would be a precursor to free flight...I want to know that even if the bird hesitates to the glove that the lure is gonna get them back.... but maybe that's just me.....
I honestly don't think it's as important as getting out and hawking. Ultimately it's whatever YOU are comfortable with though. I'm comfortable without the lure and sometimes I'm comfortable even when I'm not positive they're fist response is perfect! I'm pretty relaxed in my training, but it's worked for me thus far. I've never lost a bird.
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