Jimmy,

After the hawk is hard penned many of us fly it about daily for an hour or more. Some call this tame hacking and I do so with all imprints. Depending upon the individual this can be a rather wild experience because some fly off and refuse the lure until sunset. One imprinted female gos I had many years ago followed me about like an imprinted duck but the gyraplo of last year gave me a run for the money and did better from the horse. Normally I bring their weight down very slowly if control problems but this practice gets the hawk in condition and ready for the quail season to open. In general it is best to fly them in the same place each day.

Accipiters are usually easy to handle and falcons can range from cooperative to frightening. I normally toss hand sparrows for them and learn a lot about the individual. Aplomados range far and wide and once they are beyond the area where normally flown they will not come to the lure. They also display a variety of surprising behaviors demonstrating that the aplo is no simple imprint to handle.

Harry.