Originally Posted by
Dillon
John,
I agree that there are behaviors that are VERY difficult to condition/ extinguish if the bird has had previous history in captivity with other falconers. Believe me, I've worked with more than my fair share of these birds and they aren't perfect, but they were at least salvageable in some ways. This entire thread, however, is about preventing problems from occurring in pristine passage or captive-bred birds.
In regards to your comments on the literature, you're off base and need to re-read some of these. Yes, hacking and passage birds were popular, but so were late-taken eyasses, and most of these authors go into detail on preventing mantling and screaming. And I know Bert is a pain to read, being in old English and all, but he actually said in his treatise that an eyas can outscore and be superior in head count to even the best haggard with time and patience. That just goes to show that even to Bert who was out to catch as much game as possible with his goshawks, he valued a quiet, well-mannered bird over anything else.
I've mentally checked out of the discussion of what does/doesn't make a good falconer and bird. I've said it a few times before on this thread, but just because I hold myself to a certain standard doesn't mean I always achieve this or that I expect anyone else to hold to the same; I am, however, willing to exchange dialogue with those falconers who DO hold the same high standards, are constantly pursuing perfection, and continue to seek ways to minimize undesirable behavior in their hawks.
Maybe I'm a bit pretentious, but if a falconer has an ill-mannered bird but catches a ton of game with it, I still regard the falconer the way I regard a parent who has an out of control, bratty child. When a kid is throwing a tantrum in public, I blame the parents, not the child. I'd rather share a dinner table with a kid who learned to dine with some manners instead of the one who smacks, chews with his mouth open, etc. These are anthropomorphic parallels, but I'm using these examples so that others can see where I'm coming from.
Regards,
He states that a eyass tiercel can potentially do as well as a good passage female. Most that have flown both would agree...but why bother if a passage is at hand...i know i wouldn't. It is completely accurate to say that the overwhelming lion-share of older falconry literature deals with passagers, haggards, and in some cases hacked birds and uncommonly eyasses. I would refer to Mitchell and other late 19th century English works as revival falconry literature not truly the old stuff during the zenith of falconry. the art of falconry in my opinions is this very basic process of trapping, manning and hunting - and I would argue THAT is what is in limited supply or may be in the future...not "properly behaved birds".
