Quote Originally Posted by Steve Jones View Post
Nice video. So many falconers put all their effort into monster pitch. They only fly perfect slips, in perfect conditions to maintain that mega pitch. They end up with a one-trick-pony, it mounts high, but that's about it. You on the other hand have a well rounded, smart gamehawk. It's obvious you aren't afraid to fly in the rain and wind. Challenging slips in tough conditions, and you're still successful, that's quality there!
Thank you Steve, kind words! I never set out to try to achieve any particular pitch. We can't toss pigeons or bagged game over here and Archie has never seen either. In his first season the plan was to just keep flushing game under him and let nature take its course. It was six weeks before he made his first kill, then two days later he made his second. The weather that first year was terrible..so much wind, week after week.. and this shaped his behaviour and mine. He would battle up to a working pitch and I would hurry to flush before he started to get tired. His pitch improved on the windless days but I continued to try for a prompt serve. If I took too long he'd drop down and ask me what the hell I was doing? This is still the pattern of our hunting! I'd like him to go a bit higher and fly for longer... which I might be able to achieve by changing my behaviour. But I find our current state of mutual understanding is like a pact , I'm reluctant to break it!