I'm liking this thread Dillon. You raise some interesting notions. Very little, if any of the skills I've learned as a falconer are of my own original thought. They were passed down to me from other falconers. Perhaps molded and shaped to fit my particular situation but, the ideas didn't start out as my own.
I am very interested in becoming as skilled as I possibly can be with passage golden eagles and goshawks. I've even entertained the possibilities with a passage prairie falcon. But I truly love passage eagles and goshawks.
To anyone who's been around a bit, none of this stuff is really rocket science. Someone long ago once told me that, with passage birds, you gently lead the bird on in a straight line. Positive reinforcement. You don't really change what you're doing with different passage birds, but you change the pace sometimes, being observant and sensitive to an individual bird's behavior during the manning process. This keeps you from getting stuck in a rut.
In the beginning, my passage birds live in the hood. The hood only comes off when I feed the bird on the fist. To be able do this more often, I feed multiple small meals on the fist at different times during the day. I don't give any casting during these times. Once a bird is comfortable feeding on the fist outside, I work on approach training while the bird is on the ground. I'm also becoming a fan of rope conditioning/training where the bird isn't on a creance but on a long rope that uses resistance. It's a great tool because the bird really doesn't know it's being restrained. At least not by you. It is a great tool for approach training passage birds.
The first few times out hawking a new passage bird, I feel as though I'm on top of the world and have achieved my goal when I bring the bird home with me at the end of the day!
And then there is the pair bonding relationship you build with a passage eagle as this whole process unfolds and develops.
