Man, that's a complex relationship to manage; one would do well to review this video several times!

Thank you, Ben. You make things more understandable than most.....

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

Jean Ragland you are very welcome.

Hi Ben, you explain very well the reasons and practices of how to feed predators to avoid aggression.

Thanks Ben for the Great Lesson please keep them coming. I am in the learning of Falconry and take Care with this Virus going around. Greg

I love these vids great guidance into the thought process of hawks I’d love to see a training series from capture through hunting season for the aspiring apprentice

i like the way u explain things :) cant wait for the next vid

Awesome content!

Very Good!

Love when u put up pics of the bird that I r talk about as u say some birds ad I am like I wonder what they look lik

Awesome video

😊👍👍👍Merci beaucoup!

Thanks❤

It would be helpful to label what each bird is in these vignettes. Some of them have regional differences in plumage, some have sub-species differences, and some of them are engineered hybrids (like Saker/Peregrine or Prairie/Peregrine). Also, for those completely new to falconry, labeling is also helpful in distinguishing falcons from hawks. Thanks for sharing.

@shychameleon

3 жыл бұрын

Great idea.

I did notice you showed the mantling several times! That's how I know the importance here is critical! I kind of got thrown off when you talked about going outside with the bird. I had to rewatch that a second time. So, the idea is before you go into the mews to grab the bird to bring it outside, you set the food onto the plate. Then the hawk flies from the glove to the plate. Then the bird thinks "Oh now that I'm on the glove, food magically appears". I know that this applies to birds kept over the summer. I don't plan on keeping my first hawk for that long. As soon as I release it, the hawk should find a mate so that they can have babies. And the sooner I let it go, the sooner that can happen. Also, assuming that everything went according to plan and I hunted with this hawk often, it should be a very successful hunter. Certainly if I do trap another bird, such as a Peregrine Falcon, and I decided that I wanted to keep it for a long period of time, I'll definitely put this advice to good use!

@LS-oh8kv

4 жыл бұрын

It’s good that you’ll release them soon, however they can’t breed until they’re about 2-3 years old. You can catch a young hawk in the fall, hunt through the winter, keep it over the summer, hunt the second winter, and then release it without preventing any breeding from being done as they aren’t fertile yet. Varies on species but red tailed hawks are typically at least 3 years old before they breed here, with some 2 year old ones breeding. But 2 year old red tailed hawks breeding is the exception rather than the norm.

@JeremyThePlayer88

4 жыл бұрын

I'm not a Falconer just yet! I forgot that important detail. It does make sense to keep Red Tails through the summer, since the hawks aren't missing out on anything. In my opinion though, a hawk should always hunt in the wild whenever it needs to, rather than just pretending that it caught an already killed meal! A hawk isn't out of the woods just yet as far as its survival goes even after the 1st year, but since prey is more abundant in the Spring, the hawk will thrive just fine! It could hunt periodically whenever it needs to. Once Winter comes around in the 2nd year, it'll have more experience hunting without being cooped up in an enclosure for 8 months! And sure, when Winter comes, it won't be hunting as often as it would if it were with a Falconer, so it'll have to test its own survival in order to make it another year.

Wish I lived in ur country near u as I would love to help u with filming when u go hunting with your bird ad I would love to see videos on u training your birds as well plz if that’s possible

As an extension of this subject, I would love to hear your thoughts on training techniques that avoid feeding on the fist entirely. I know that some falconers, perhaps depending on the species flown, will only feed from a lure. The fist is merely a perch from which the bird can consistently find food, much like your comments about feeding through the molt. My understanding is that it is done to eliminate any direct association with the falconer and the food, thus reducing aggression. In your experience, is lure only feeding a viable approach? What species would most benefit from it (I usually hear about it with goshawks and sometimes harris's)? Obviously, you lose the early manning gains that feeding on the fist will give you, but is there a way to have equal progress with just the lure? Any other thoughts on the subject, that I didn't ask about? Thanks!

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

P P when this can be done, it definitely is a great way to go; having the fist merely be a perch. Even if I go this route, I typically still feed off the fist initially in the training if it is a passage bird, and then once the trust is there, just use the lure for retrieval. I take it a step further too, where I also stop putting meat on the lure once they know to come to it. Instead I have them fly to an ungarnished lure, then walk up to them and toss the meat to the side. They jump off the lure and onto the meat. Once the meat is gone, there is no lure to be aggressive over, and they behave so much better.

@PP-xb3sg

4 жыл бұрын

@@benwoodrufffalconry Great tips, thank you! Do you find that this technique is a better fit for certain species, or for certain bird personalities? Are there any risks or downsides to this approach, that someone should be aware of?

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

P P I use it most often with Accipiters and Golden Eagles. It works wonderfully! The lure thing I also do with most of my falcons. Especially big ones. But with falcons I serve them an ungarnished lure, but once they are on it, I DON’T throw them food to the side, as many of them will grab it and fly off. Instead I will put food on my glove and have them hop you to it.

@PP-xb3sg

4 жыл бұрын

@@benwoodrufffalconry Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!

How do you handle a bird that starts mantling towards you? On the glove or perch?

In your estimation, do these feeding off the glove techniques apply to Imprints or duel imprints as well?

Hi Ben, I would like to know your opinion on the Aplomado Falcon. I have heard that they hunt in pairs in the wild. Does this make them technically social like Harris's Hawks? I plan to get into falconry some time in the next few years and they seem like they would be a neat bird to fly sometime down the road.

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

Dakota Adra aplomados are wonderful birds. I definitely would not recommend them as a first bird. They do indeed hunt in the wild as a mates pair and seem to be highly successful that way. They have been successfully flown as a cast by falconers and it seems to be a good way to do things. In the wild this is a bit different for them than with Harris’s because aplomados don’t have a pack hierarchy. It is just a matter pair. But there are still similarities to them for sure. I have only flown them as individuals rather than a cast. They are very independently minded and take some creative thinking to hunt them successfully. But their abilities are incredible! The types of hunting I used them fire were direct pursuit styles off the fist, as you would do with a Cooper’s hawk. They are a lot of fun! If you get one, I wish you luck and hope you enjoy it!

@dakotaadra1044

4 жыл бұрын

@@benwoodrufffalconry Thanks for the reply. I definitely wouldn't be flying one as my first bird. I will most likely end up flying a passage red tail. I don't think I would want to mess up the training of a captive bred bird that cannot be released back into the wild. I would rather do it right from the start if I could. Even before that I will need to figure out if falconry will work for me. I have a full time job as an electrical engineer and work all week. In the shorter days of winter I might not be able to hunt at the end of the day. The change to permanent daylight savings in Illinois might give me an extra hour, but the shortest days in the winter will only give me an hour or two after work. I don't know if hunting on the weekends is sufficient enough. The reason I am interested in the aplomado is that it seems like it could be a suitable replacement for an accipiter when hunting starlings, sparrows and possibly cottontails. I am not sure I have the time for a coopers hawk.

? are you going to make a series for hawks like you did with falcons?

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

c0dy85 I certainly could. Let me think on that. I’d probably divide it into buteos and accipiters.

Training birds in India and Pakistan is all different from urs, here birds have been trained and handled for thousand of years, same way today, mainly the tradition runs from father to son. We dont allow the bird to keep its tail towards the falconer, push the bird instantly so it faces you. When the bird mantles hit its wing bones with your fingers first the near side wing then the far side wing, then the tail and stroke the bird : first gently, then harder in progression, till it learns manners, it takes a week to a maximum, the bird stops mantling. We carry the new bird on the fist all the time, only at night it sleeps near us so we become its sleeping partner. Bird is always fed on the fist and then carried on it, bird never knows another perch while in training. When a Gos catches its prey amongst the weeds, it rings its bell to guide us where she is. Aggression is unheard off here. Keep making videos Ben its great.

So skittish over the kill and aggressive on the fist can be different ends of the familiarity spectrum?

@benwoodrufffalconry

4 жыл бұрын

Roundfrenchcheesey yes. Mantling over the kill is pretty normal no matter what. But if their attitude is to also attempt to try to fly away with the kill rather than just sit and mantle over the kill, then they are likely over in the spectrum of not trusting you as much, and it might be wise to take some time to feed them off the fist. But the other end if they are mantling over your fist and digging in their talons and even turning their back to you while on your fist, you may want to reduce the importance of the fist by not feeding their, or using much smaller pieces of meat when you do.