Quote Originally Posted by outhawkn View Post
Hi Jeff

In what way does it make a difference?
I can tell you the theory behind it, or at least my hackneyed version. It's based on "trauma learning", which is basically anything that is learned while in a trauma state is very difficult to unlearn. So if you trap a bird on a BC let's say, and you go running up to the bird and it flips on its back, feet out front, hackles up, hissing the bird is in a trauma state. If the first thing it sees are my big old hands grasping for for it, and my big old ugly head leaning over it, and staring at it with my big eyes (often thought of as an act of aggression in the animal world), then there is a good chance that the bird will learn automatically to fear hands, people in general, and me specifically. Now imagine approaching the bird while holding a big beach towel in front of you and placing it over the bird so it never gets to see you, you've more or less eliminated the people from the equation in the trauma learning sequence. In my experience the less trauma inflicted on a bird, the more steady and less fear that bird will show in the future. I'm still amazed that more people don't keep freshly trapped birds hooded until well after they are eating on the fist, I know the total immersion approach works with redtails and most other birds, but using the slow "bringing into the light" approach makes for a steadier bird in the long term.