I was well into my 3rd successive hooding failure when I decided to try Glen's method. Amazing! Within ten minutes I could see a marked difference. My passage female gos had changed her attitude. Her focus had shifted from fighting the hood to getting the reward. By the end of a 20 minute session she was offering only token resistance, and when I pulled the hood, instead of frantically bating she was looking for the tidbit on my fist. For the first time we ended our hooding session on a positive note. If only someone had shown me this method a long time ago. Thanks Glen!
Hello Jim, I am glad that this video helped you get over a stumbling block with hood training your goshawk. I'm probably one of the few falconers that actually enjoys manning and hood training birds of prey. It may not work for everyone, but it sure has proven to be a good process for me over the years. Thank you for the comment.
Part 2 : A fresh wild-trapped red-tailed hawk. This video will be coming out soon August/September 2022. I am going to use a newly caught bird from the wild "real-time" example of hood training. The Harris' hawk used in this Part 1 video was already manned (gentled down used to being around the falconer) last year. She is not fully hood-trained in this video. The red-tailed hawk will be a fresh wild caught bird and the video will capture live real time footage. If lucky, I will also capture her trapping on video for posting on this channel as well. Our trapping season is open, but I am waiting for the weather to cool down a bit before I begin trapping.
What an interesting sport.. I’m beyond intrigued.. living vicariously through your videos sir hopefully one day I too can partake in the sport of kings
Thank you, I am glad that you are enjoying the channel. I am hoping that you can get an opportunity to get more exposure to falconry someday. In the meantime, I will be continuing to post to this channel.
I really enjoyed how you were to the point and didn’t make it seem impossible to do. I haven’t even scratched the surface in falconry but i am using everything available to me, to become knowledgeable in every aspect thank you.
You are welcome, and glad you found something that may help you a bit. Thanks for taking the time to comment. There are many techniques that work for some and not so much for others, and the same applies to the birds themselves. I am not one to tell others what to do, I simply share information that works or doesn't work for me. My material is just another source of information for you to consider.
Nice video. I started using that method with my female saker and it is going quite good. I have one question. Do I always need to give her food after unhooding? Is there some process after initial training that will break habit of having food on glove after every unhooding?
Thank you, glad you liked the video. Great question, no you do not and in time should not give food after unhooding. In my video you will see the Saker falcon biting after the hood and such. She is not aggressively attacking the hood, she is looking for and expecting food. Once accepting the hood well, just periodically give a treat or after the bird has been put up in a mews for a time. After taking up a bird that has not been handled in a while one can use the food to reinforce the hooding, then stop after a while. Too much food reward for a hood-trained bird can and will eventually cause other problems. The food reward to me is more for actual hood training, and then reinforcement of hood acceptance when necessary, after not being hooded for a long time. Hope this helps answer your question.
How long time it’s take ? How many days need to teach bird ? My goshawk scare too much when he even see hood . Today I tried as you showing in video but 20 times she jumped , screening and trying fly away .
Each bird is different can't predict time and how many days. Factors such as weight of the bird, hunger levels all factor into it. In the video the 20 times consistency comes into play once the bird begins to start to allow the hood. Once the gos is standing good feeding on the glove you might want to place the food on the hood let the bird take the food from the hood. If the gos bates each time it sees the hood sometimes I go into a dimly lit room and each time the bird bates I bring in the hood up close to the body, the bird bates, I do it again and eventually I quickly slip the hood up onto the hood. It may take several tries, but that hood is going to get on that bird. Then after it sits and I feed the next day as soon as the hood comes off there is already food sitting on the glove. Once the connection is made between hood coming off a little whistle as the hood comes off and food sitting there on the glove. If the bird is too heavy not hungry it probably just going to bate. The video is a guideline one still needs to bring down the weight and get the bird feeding from off of the glove. A person also has to be consistent in working on getting that hood on the bird. At first may even have to get that hood on with the bird hanging upside down from the jesses. When I trap a passage gos or coopers, the hood goes on day one and every day thereafter. The first several days until after the weight comes down and the birds starts to feed on the glove, those days will certainly try your nerves for sure. Good luck.
I was well into my 3rd successive hooding failure when I decided to try Glen's method. Amazing! Within ten minutes I could see a marked difference. My passage female gos had changed her attitude. Her focus had shifted from fighting the hood to getting the reward. By the end of a 20 minute session she was offering only token resistance, and when I pulled the hood, instead of frantically bating she was looking for the tidbit on my fist. For the first time we ended our hooding session on a positive note. If only someone had shown me this method a long time ago. Thanks Glen!
Hello Jim, I am glad that this video helped you get over a stumbling block with hood training your goshawk. I'm probably one of the few falconers that actually enjoys manning and hood training birds of prey. It may not work for everyone, but it sure has proven to be a good process for me over the years. Thank you for the comment.
Part 2 : A fresh wild-trapped red-tailed hawk. This video will be coming out soon August/September 2022. I am going to use a newly caught bird from the wild "real-time" example of hood training. The Harris' hawk used in this Part 1 video was already manned (gentled down used to being around the falconer) last year. She is not fully hood-trained in this video. The red-tailed hawk will be a fresh wild caught bird and the video will capture live real time footage. If lucky, I will also capture her trapping on video for posting on this channel as well. Our trapping season is open, but I am waiting for the weather to cool down a bit before I begin trapping.
What an interesting sport.. I’m beyond intrigued.. living vicariously through your videos sir hopefully one day I too can partake in the sport of kings
Thank you, I am glad that you are enjoying the channel. I am hoping that you can get an opportunity to get more exposure to falconry someday. In the meantime, I will be continuing to post to this channel.
I really enjoyed how you were to the point and didn’t make it seem impossible to do. I haven’t even scratched the surface in falconry but i am using everything available to me, to become knowledgeable in every aspect thank you.
You are welcome, and glad you found something that may help you a bit. Thanks for taking the time to comment. There are many techniques that work for some and not so much for others, and the same applies to the birds themselves. I am not one to tell others what to do, I simply share information that works or doesn't work for me. My material is just another source of information for you to consider.
Nice video. I started using that method with my female saker and it is going quite good. I have one question. Do I always need to give her food after unhooding? Is there some process after initial training that will break habit of having food on glove after every unhooding?
Thank you, glad you liked the video. Great question, no you do not and in time should not give food after unhooding. In my video you will see the Saker falcon biting after the hood and such. She is not aggressively attacking the hood, she is looking for and expecting food. Once accepting the hood well, just periodically give a treat or after the bird has been put up in a mews for a time. After taking up a bird that has not been handled in a while one can use the food to reinforce the hooding, then stop after a while. Too much food reward for a hood-trained bird can and will eventually cause other problems. The food reward to me is more for actual hood training, and then reinforcement of hood acceptance when necessary, after not being hooded for a long time. Hope this helps answer your question.
How long time it’s take ? How many days need to teach bird ?
My goshawk scare too much when he even see hood . Today I tried as you showing in video but 20 times she jumped , screening and trying fly away .
Each bird is different can't predict time and how many days. Factors such as weight of the bird, hunger levels all factor into it. In the video the 20 times consistency comes into play once the bird begins to start to allow the hood. Once the gos is standing good feeding on the glove you might want to place the food on the hood let the bird take the food from the hood. If the gos bates each time it sees the hood sometimes I go into a dimly lit room and each time the bird bates I bring in the hood up close to the body, the bird bates, I do it again and eventually I quickly slip the hood up onto the hood. It may take several tries, but that hood is going to get on that bird. Then after it sits and I feed the next day as soon as the hood comes off there is already food sitting on the glove. Once the connection is made between hood coming off a little whistle as the hood comes off and food sitting there on the glove. If the bird is too heavy not hungry it probably just going to bate. The video is a guideline one still needs to bring down the weight and get the bird feeding from off of the glove. A person also has to be consistent in working on getting that hood on the bird. At first may even have to get that hood on with the bird hanging upside down from the jesses. When I trap a passage gos or coopers, the hood goes on day one and every day thereafter. The first several days until after the weight comes down and the birds starts to feed on the glove, those days will certainly try your nerves for sure. Good luck.