Bill and David,

Yep, it's true that I certainly like to analyze things to the nth degree. I wish I was the kind of falconer who could relax a bit, but it's just not me. My perspective isn't for everyone, that's for sure, and at the end of the day this sport is indeed about having fun, and I would never expect another falconer to hold their birds to my standards or vice versa.

All that being said, this thread is about using operant conditioning to stack the odds in the favor of the falconer that the bird will turn out as close to perfect as possible. I've said it over and over in this thread, but I'll never accept putting the blame on individual birds-- even for something as simple as mantling. I really can't comprehend how someone can observe wild hawks on a kill, then watch a mantly-@$$ falconry bird and say its the bird's inherent nature that causes mantling; if it were, then you'd see it in the wild. Check out this video that's been posted here before-- specifically the 10 minute mark. These are wild falcons on kills, and even in circumstances where other hawks and falcons are attempting to rob them of the kill, there's no mantling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FZdIrKyBk