I currently have the misprint from hell! Well, actually he has lots of good qualities, too. The problem started right about hard penning, when I went into the hospital and he spent way too much time alone. He had been a fine, well mannered imprint that could be handled easily, but when I returned and went to working him again he had a lot of fear of me and the glove.

He still does fear the glove. He will come to it for a tidbit, but he may flair off as he arrives and then come back to it. If he is on the ground or a perch and I try to pick him up without a tidbit, he chitters and moves away.

The important thing is that he still loves his lure, so I call him in to that. I did a lot of lure training before he withdrew, and that part seems to have stuck with him. When I go to pick him up off the lure, though, he puts his head down and spreads his wings and tail and walks around in circles in a very aggressive manner. Luckily, his aggression is all towards the glove, and I can reach in with my bare hand and assist with his eating on the glove.

I've just recently started hunting with him, and he has a real good prey drive. I got a bagged bunny for him and put it on a string, and he was all over it as soon as it started running. I've since taken him hunting for the wild and free ones, and he chases hard and stays with them and lands above where they go in and chases again after the reflush several times until they get to hard cover. He just hasn't yet figured out how to get his feet on them at speed. That's just lack of experience, and I'm trying to get him out daily now to remedy that.

He also loves his giant hood and jumps right in and rides with little movement. When I take him out he steps onto the glove hesitantly but is getting used to the glove in that situation. And he stands still while I attach the transmitter. I was able to attach the mount clip to his tail while he sat on the fist being distracted by Becky.

He is also the worst bird I have ever had concerning tail breakage. I don't know what he does in the mews, but the webbing is always messed up, and he has tipped about half of the feathers. On the lure or kill, he sets his tail almost straight down and backs up onto it. I plan to start with a hair clip and try getting it onto his tail right away to prevent any more damage from that. Once I get him killing regularly, I plan to replace all the broken feathers and see if we can keep it together for the rest of the season.

So, he was a real bugger for about a month and the worst bird I have ever worked with, but he is coming around.