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The Training of Hawks This extremely detailed treatise on the training of hawks is intended for a legally operating falconer who has just acquired his or her first new hawk. Please follow all applicable rules and regulations when dealing with raptors. Although this is intended to help advise the legally operating novice falconer through from every step leading up to free-flight, please consult an experienced falconer for assistance and for making judgment calls with any particular bird, since every one is an individual with its own set of rules. The training of the passage, the captive bred juvenile and the haggard bird are the same; the eyas requires a different approach, mostly conditioning the food- providerimage away from that of the falconer and towards appropriate prey items and/or the lure. Also the training of falcons from the point of creance training is different from the training of the short and broad-winged hawks (redtails, Harris', goshawks, etc.) because of the importance of the lure. The training of hawks is not as difficult nor as mystical as some books say. It is a mutual bond based on respect, forged in food, patience and trust. One must never hit nor starve their hawk in their attempt to achieve this delicate bond. To do either shows that you do not possess the respect that your bird demands. A hawk cannot be dominated into compliance and starvation. This approach is simply heavy handed and cruel. The passage or haggard bird will be fearful; this fear must be overcome to achieve trust. Once the new hawk is jessed and tethered to the glove, she should be offered small pieces of food. Most likely her hunger will not be great enough to overcome her fear of man at first, in this case she should be hooded up or placed within a darkened mew, tethered to her perch for one night. A hooded hawk or one in the dark can be offered water during this time by means of a squirt or misting bottle, and as the liquid collects on her beak she will drink it. The next day, take her up on the fist and again gently offer her small, bright red tidbits of meat with your fingertips. If she bites at your fingers, use blunt nosed tongs to hold the meat to her face. If she still does not eat, repeat the process the next day. Within one to perhaps three days she will come around - do not worry unless she does not eat within five days for a large hawk (700g+). Smaller hawks and falcons need to eat within one to two days from capture. Consult a vet at this point as the bird may be ill. A trick that works well for getting a recalcitrant hawk to eat is to wait for her mouth to be open (most fearful hawks "gape", that is, hold their mouths open in threat) and then pop a small piece of meat into her mouth with the fingers or the tongs. Mist a fine mist of water onto her beak and she will swallow. The taste of the meat will trigger a feeding response in her. 7