Live Bait
05-18-2010, 01:37 PM
Reproduced by kind permission of the BFC. For those who are interested in an independant review by one of the UK's leading falconers, please see the attached.
Many thanks Pete.
Y2K Falconry review.
Reproduced by kind permission of the British Falconry Club.
If I lived on a grouse moor, with a reliable team of pointers, and my job was to fly hawks through the season, I would be [a] happy, and without excuse to assemble a stylish and deadly team of [checky] gamehawks.
We all know that success in falconry is heavily contingent upon the right ground, ample strong game, and plenty of time to do it without distraction. These unchangeable elements are what have maintained the traditions of falconry practice through time.
Unfortunately, however, life in the 21st century constrains access to these elements for the vast majority of falconers. Most of us preserve on ground that could be better, with game that could be more plentiful, and operating within a lifestyle that could be less demanding.
Because of these important limitations, many of us are forced to consider and adopt practices outside of “traditional” falconry as we attempt to push up the standards of our hawking.
“Y2K Falconry is a modern book, full of thought provoking ideas” across 310 pages that will ring bells in the minds of many of us trying to pursue decent standards of falconry under 21st century constraints.
“The lead author, Pete Smith, is an experienced and imaginative falconer, who has reached high standards with both shortwings and longwings”.
He has travelled widely to experience falconry outside the UK, and has a clear enthusiasm for experimental engineering. Pete incorporates extra important contributions from Mike Calvin, Mike McDermott, Chris Soans and Tim Wagner, all experienced and successful and thoughtful practitioners.
“In general, I would describe this book as original, innovative, unconventional and occasionally eccentric!” It covers a very broad range of modern falconry components, from imprint feeding to field meet preparation.
In the introduction the overarching aims are defined; the function of this book is to provide a working manual for the greater understanding of both imprint and parent raised falcons and hawks, more importantly providing instruction on how to extract more performance from them. It assumes a working knowledge of falconry terminology, with few concessions for the beginner.
This is a clear start; the books seeks to help us to push at the boundaries of our own falconry, assuming we’ve already reached some standard. “Actually I think there are some very good beginner lessons in the early chapters” on basic training, imprinting and weight reduction.
One of them is that all hawks are different, so don’t expect a general formula for weight reduction to apply.
“Y2K Falconry is an engagingly well-written book”, following a more “how I did it” than a “how you should do it” mentality.
“A dynamic and open minded approach is advocated, which encourages starting inside the avian mind, and pushing for better and better quality in style and performance”. Some of the sections, such as the major advances in accipiter imprint training, are well established in practice. In others, such as the operant conditioning approach, using artificial signals for longwing flying, some of the ideas and techniques are still “in-progress” and time will tell how widely applicable they will be in practice; nevertheless the hypotheses are there for us to test and develop or reject.
There are many enjoyable anecdotes to illustrate points, and useful self questioning re-caps.
“Many of the photographs are absolutely fantastic” and it is a great shame that more of them are not in colour or larger format throughout, but overall the book is very professionally produced.
Imprint development and management are given a lot of deep focus. Aside from a revolution for smaller accipiters generated by Mike McDermott, less attention has been levelled to understanding, managing and flying the complex imprint.
“Psychology is important in this process and Y2K Falconry takes a necessarily cerebral approach to training and flying imprints”. The chapters on shortwings have ideas and techniques that are well matured from imprint development to hunting in the field. Some of the automated devices for self training and fitness gains are unconventional in the light of a falconry romance, but if they motivate and exercise a hawk when it might otherwise be sitting bored and idle, then perhaps the devices are not so eccentric. It’s certainly true that we often put our birds away for the moult without any consideration to further, or even maintain, their mental development.
In the longwing chapters the focus shifts slightly away from hunting, and towards the development of flight styles and fitness. My minor criticism of the book is that less attention is focused on hunting with longwings, aside from Perlins in the UK and Sandgrouse in Africa. Bitter experience tells me that field craft and an understanding of quarry behaviour and ecology are important components when developing and managing a gamehawk, and not just for the purposes of putting quarry in the bag.
Accordingly, I found the “UK super quarry species” chapter a bit thin because it omitted Pheasant, most waterfowl , and both of our partridges; I would argue strongly for their inclusion on the list, whether indigenous or not. Similarly, the game release and management chapter, probably something that will likely be an increasingly important practice for falconers, is a bit light.
To counteract these omissions, [B][I]“there is really excellent conceptual and practical information on the use of kites”.
This modern tool has greatly improved gamehawking for those of us contending with twenty first century distractions, including Pigeon proliferation.
The kite allows boundaries to be stretched with longwings while retaining an element of control, and, of course, it is an excellent tool for fitness and exercise. Many expect a series of elevated kite lifts to improve pitch, but this has to run in parallel with correct mental conditioning or the result is a super fit hawk with no direction over its motivation.
“Y2K Falconry has some excellent ideas, tips and techniques to circumvent many of the pitfalls associated with kite training”. I thought I was quite crafty when I ordered a “sky coloured” model form Dan Leigh and some tiny lures in an attempt to reduce fixation with the delta that the wrong sort of kite conditioning can create in an eyass.
“When I opened Y2K and spotted transparent kites and lures, I had truly been scooped!!”
Much of the content might rankle “traditionalists”, seeing contraptions and different ethological approaches as superfluous to a practice that worked just fine before the flashing light, high-viz cap or Qualcast kite-winder.
“But do we want another book that confirms what we already know? I see more value in a book that challenges our traditional techniques and suggests alternatives and additions”.
“Y2k Falconry is jam packed with unconventional perspectives, as well as inventive modifications of older techniques”.
It has been recently stated by older and wiser practitioners that today’s falconry standards in the BFC are generally better than they have ever been. If this is indeed true, do unconventional ideas and techniques contribute to the improvements? I think they must have played a part. We all have our own [usually strong] views on how to practice falconry, but unless you live on a grouse moor and can fly every day, you might well find some new ideas and techniques in Y2K that will help to improve the bounds or enjoyment of your own hawking.
Many thanks Pete.
Y2K Falconry review.
Reproduced by kind permission of the British Falconry Club.
If I lived on a grouse moor, with a reliable team of pointers, and my job was to fly hawks through the season, I would be [a] happy, and without excuse to assemble a stylish and deadly team of [checky] gamehawks.
We all know that success in falconry is heavily contingent upon the right ground, ample strong game, and plenty of time to do it without distraction. These unchangeable elements are what have maintained the traditions of falconry practice through time.
Unfortunately, however, life in the 21st century constrains access to these elements for the vast majority of falconers. Most of us preserve on ground that could be better, with game that could be more plentiful, and operating within a lifestyle that could be less demanding.
Because of these important limitations, many of us are forced to consider and adopt practices outside of “traditional” falconry as we attempt to push up the standards of our hawking.
“Y2K Falconry is a modern book, full of thought provoking ideas” across 310 pages that will ring bells in the minds of many of us trying to pursue decent standards of falconry under 21st century constraints.
“The lead author, Pete Smith, is an experienced and imaginative falconer, who has reached high standards with both shortwings and longwings”.
He has travelled widely to experience falconry outside the UK, and has a clear enthusiasm for experimental engineering. Pete incorporates extra important contributions from Mike Calvin, Mike McDermott, Chris Soans and Tim Wagner, all experienced and successful and thoughtful practitioners.
“In general, I would describe this book as original, innovative, unconventional and occasionally eccentric!” It covers a very broad range of modern falconry components, from imprint feeding to field meet preparation.
In the introduction the overarching aims are defined; the function of this book is to provide a working manual for the greater understanding of both imprint and parent raised falcons and hawks, more importantly providing instruction on how to extract more performance from them. It assumes a working knowledge of falconry terminology, with few concessions for the beginner.
This is a clear start; the books seeks to help us to push at the boundaries of our own falconry, assuming we’ve already reached some standard. “Actually I think there are some very good beginner lessons in the early chapters” on basic training, imprinting and weight reduction.
One of them is that all hawks are different, so don’t expect a general formula for weight reduction to apply.
“Y2K Falconry is an engagingly well-written book”, following a more “how I did it” than a “how you should do it” mentality.
“A dynamic and open minded approach is advocated, which encourages starting inside the avian mind, and pushing for better and better quality in style and performance”. Some of the sections, such as the major advances in accipiter imprint training, are well established in practice. In others, such as the operant conditioning approach, using artificial signals for longwing flying, some of the ideas and techniques are still “in-progress” and time will tell how widely applicable they will be in practice; nevertheless the hypotheses are there for us to test and develop or reject.
There are many enjoyable anecdotes to illustrate points, and useful self questioning re-caps.
“Many of the photographs are absolutely fantastic” and it is a great shame that more of them are not in colour or larger format throughout, but overall the book is very professionally produced.
Imprint development and management are given a lot of deep focus. Aside from a revolution for smaller accipiters generated by Mike McDermott, less attention has been levelled to understanding, managing and flying the complex imprint.
“Psychology is important in this process and Y2K Falconry takes a necessarily cerebral approach to training and flying imprints”. The chapters on shortwings have ideas and techniques that are well matured from imprint development to hunting in the field. Some of the automated devices for self training and fitness gains are unconventional in the light of a falconry romance, but if they motivate and exercise a hawk when it might otherwise be sitting bored and idle, then perhaps the devices are not so eccentric. It’s certainly true that we often put our birds away for the moult without any consideration to further, or even maintain, their mental development.
In the longwing chapters the focus shifts slightly away from hunting, and towards the development of flight styles and fitness. My minor criticism of the book is that less attention is focused on hunting with longwings, aside from Perlins in the UK and Sandgrouse in Africa. Bitter experience tells me that field craft and an understanding of quarry behaviour and ecology are important components when developing and managing a gamehawk, and not just for the purposes of putting quarry in the bag.
Accordingly, I found the “UK super quarry species” chapter a bit thin because it omitted Pheasant, most waterfowl , and both of our partridges; I would argue strongly for their inclusion on the list, whether indigenous or not. Similarly, the game release and management chapter, probably something that will likely be an increasingly important practice for falconers, is a bit light.
To counteract these omissions, [B][I]“there is really excellent conceptual and practical information on the use of kites”.
This modern tool has greatly improved gamehawking for those of us contending with twenty first century distractions, including Pigeon proliferation.
The kite allows boundaries to be stretched with longwings while retaining an element of control, and, of course, it is an excellent tool for fitness and exercise. Many expect a series of elevated kite lifts to improve pitch, but this has to run in parallel with correct mental conditioning or the result is a super fit hawk with no direction over its motivation.
“Y2K Falconry has some excellent ideas, tips and techniques to circumvent many of the pitfalls associated with kite training”. I thought I was quite crafty when I ordered a “sky coloured” model form Dan Leigh and some tiny lures in an attempt to reduce fixation with the delta that the wrong sort of kite conditioning can create in an eyass.
“When I opened Y2K and spotted transparent kites and lures, I had truly been scooped!!”
Much of the content might rankle “traditionalists”, seeing contraptions and different ethological approaches as superfluous to a practice that worked just fine before the flashing light, high-viz cap or Qualcast kite-winder.
“But do we want another book that confirms what we already know? I see more value in a book that challenges our traditional techniques and suggests alternatives and additions”.
“Y2k Falconry is jam packed with unconventional perspectives, as well as inventive modifications of older techniques”.
It has been recently stated by older and wiser practitioners that today’s falconry standards in the BFC are generally better than they have ever been. If this is indeed true, do unconventional ideas and techniques contribute to the improvements? I think they must have played a part. We all have our own [usually strong] views on how to practice falconry, but unless you live on a grouse moor and can fly every day, you might well find some new ideas and techniques in Y2K that will help to improve the bounds or enjoyment of your own hawking.