Quote Originally Posted by Squirrelhawkin View Post
Bingo! You got it. If your bird is well made to and accepts the hood fine,why not use it?
My last redtail took the hood great,just pop it on. I have a few spots where I walk down the side of the road to get to a slip. Instead of walking down with the bird bating and nervous about the cars sailing by,I just popped on the hood.Cut into the woods and pop the hood off to start hunting.Sure I could have spent time working with the bird to get him used to the traffic,but why bother,when I can use the hood.I'd much rather spend the time hunting than working on a problem(that isn't a problem at all if I use the hood )
Nick, I think the utmost importance should be placed on your and the bird's safety. If there are areas where you need to walk right next to a highly traveled road, it sounds like a great idea the hood should be used. I'm not trying to advocate putting our animals in dangerous situations, or potential future dangerous situations. If there is even a remote possibility that the bird be released in the future, you don't want it used to being close to cars, that's a death sentence. However, I don't think that using the hood just because it's easy is the best thing for progress, both for the trainer or the bird. No one can say that they are totally against stressing the bird slightly, if that were the case we wouldn't catch them.