Lures for Harris’ Hawks?

by Martin Hollinshead

Although many broadwing flyers consider the lure essential to their falconry, a surprisingly large number of Harris’ hawk owners operate totally without it. Why? I think this neglect probably stems from the lure not being fully understood. In the UK, many Harris’ hawks are flown by relatively inexperienced falconers, and thus the lure is often seen in the simplest of terms: a lure is used if the bird won’t come to the glove. Because a Harris’ always comes to the glove, why bother with a lure?

In the Field

It is true that the Harris’ demonstrates a pretty faultless performance to the glove; it will come far and it will come fast. All of my birds are trained to fly to the glove, and are freely called to it in the field; ground conditions (saturated crops etc) often dictate this anyway. Nevertheless, there are many situations that are greatly eased by the lure. For example, there are times when the Harris’ won’t respond to the glove simply because it can’t see it! Birds can become hidden behind barriers of trees, hedges or even buildings. They can even be at a truly vast distance; and if the first-time Harris’ owner is under the impression that a hunting Harris’ doesn’t go far, then he’s in for a shock! Under such conditions, the simplest lure swung at the end of a line and, if need be, occasionally thrown into the air, will bring a Harris’ from the other side of the World!

Head for the hills and lure gains still more importance. Wild country, wild weather and a bird that’s riding a storm at a mile high is a combination that just might call for a bit of extra security. Yes, the parabuteo will drop from the heavens straight to the glove, but when things are really being pushed to the limit – when the wind has just ripped the car doors off! – it’s comforting to have a backup. I’m not a naturally nervous person, but the thought of a really ‘wild’ session without a lure is causing my pen hand to tremble!

Believe me, I’ve been there – and I’ve taken the nerve pills. But today, field falconry without a lure just doesn’t work. I like to think my birds are well trained and I do expect a good response to the glove, but the lure just makes the experience more enjoyable. It’s a little like telemetry, you don’t have to be constantly using it for it to work its magic on your field behaviour. By slightly diluting the effects of worry, the lure makes the search for better falconry easier.

And when the heat’s on…

What about the glove’s effectiveness when you really run into trouble? The really excited bird – or frightened one – may have very little interest in the glove. Often it’s not so much the bird refusing the glove, more a failure to register it. The hunting Harris’ is alert and accipiter-like and a quickly tossed out lure immediately snaps the bird into action. It’s more the movement than the promise of food. A good example of this is seen with squirrel encounters. There can’t be many areas of lowland Britain where encounters with grey squirrels can be ruled out. And there can’t be many falconers who don’t worry about the fact. Squirrels provide exciting but dangerous sport and most UK falconers would prefer not to risk a valued hawk. The problem is, most encounters aren’t deliberate. As always, the free-flying Harris’ selects its own targets, and always popular is the bushy-tailed one. Every Harris’ I’ve flown has shown an interest in squirrels. Depending on their experience and number of kills, this interest has ranged from mild to obsessive. But one thing is sure, put a Harris’ and squirrel in the same bit of woodland and action is guaranteed. It’s with such encounters that the lure really shows its power. Offer the glove to a Harris’ engaged in a squirrel hunt - wave half a cow! - and it won’t even see you. Offer the lure, and it responds immediately, especially if the quarry has become momentarily hidden.

Training and Management

But the lure isn’t just a recall device; it has numerous other uses. Very important, for example, is its use as a meal-server. Apart from early manning and training, my Harris’ hawks are never fed anything other than the odd field-given titbit on the glove. All of their bulk food is given (when not being eaten from kills) from the lure, and a lure that is being pulled. I never finish a blank day in the field by feeding the bird on the glove. Why? Let’s start with the aggressive Harris’. The thought of an aggressive Harris’ might seem strange to those not familiar with the species, but the parabuteo isn’t always a puppy dog push over and each year many novice handlers find themselves being intimidated by birds that insists on getting ‘shirty’. The nature of this aggression, why it shows itself, and the birds it touches, is a discussion that would take us too far from the theme, but an aggressive bird is better not fed on the glove, not large meals anyway. Glove-feeding, with the closeness to the falconer it involves, can turn a mildly overconfident bird into a raging tiger.

For the bird that shows no aggression towards its trainer and could be fed without incident on the glove, the lure plays a different role. With this bird, especially until regular field success is being achieved, lure chasing and lure-feeding helps the bird mature mentally. Glove-feeding does nothing but reinforce trainer-dependency. Of course, it might be argued that because the falconer is providing/pulling the lure, the bird still sees its trainer as provider. However, in practice it doesn’t seem to work out this way. The Harris’ clearly sees the lure as something separate, something to catch and ‘kill’. Due to the bird’s intense focus on the target, even the shortest lure line separates the trainer totally from the ‘victim’ and food.

Lure Pursuits – Fitness and Fun

Depending on the terrain, frequency of hawking trips and the length of each session, the free-flight mode of hawking can develop great fitness. However, I like to balance free-flight with direct-pursuit lure training. Hard lure pursuits really put an edge on the bird’s off-the-glove performance, and for very swift, open-country quarries such as brown hares, an edge will most definitely be required. I work lure pursuits into my Harris’ falconry in several ways. For example, I switch to them when I can’t get out hawking. I use them if I am flying a bird through the moult. And, if a bird has been inactive during the summer, I use them to prepare it for initial field trips - I don’t like taking ‘soft’ birds afield, especially if they are going to be meeting some of those swift, and also very tough, hares.

The procedure is pretty straightforward. First of all you need something to pull the lure. In the past I have experimented with all manner of lure-pulling devices, for all manner of birds; moped that the birds outflew, motorcycles, and 4x4s, some with tyres, some hooves. But in reality, the Harris’ owner doesn’t need much more than a fit pair of legs attached to a willing assistant. Now let’s get those legs working! With a good distance between him and the Harris’-holding falconer, the lure-man throws up the lure to attract the bird’s attention and then sets off at his best pace dragging it behind him. Under calm wind conditions, a reasonably fit bird, being called over even terrain, will be capable of very long pursuits. However, throw some wind at the pupil, and the workload increases dramatically. Under such conditions – the type of conditions I deliberately seek out when developing an already reasonably conditioned bird – caution needs to be exercised lest things be overdone. All the time he is running, the lure-puller must be checking the bird’s performance. It is vitally important that the bird isn’t pushed to the point where it has to land. If there is even the slightest possibility that this might be about to happen, the lure-puller must alter course to make the final stage of the flight easier. If need be he should head back towards the bird – anything to avoid defeat. But some sort of motion should be kept up. Allowing the bird to take a motionless lure should never be a consideration. Static lures are easy targets, wild quarries rarely are.

The really best sessions require a little imagination. The more thrilling and demanding the pursuits, the more stimulated the bird will be. Putting that edge on performance is also about mentally revving the hunter up. Lures can be pulled into woods, through hedges, be made to disappear around corners, can be - should be - unpredictable and exciting targets. Harris’ hawks love this type of flying, and the commitment they demonstrate is staggering. Battling against the strongest wind or coming from vast distances, they commit themselves fully to the fitness program.

The hood is a great asset in all of this. Without the hood, positioning and repositioning for each flight is very difficult without some bating. And the same goes for just reloading the lure. With the hood, the entire session can run silky smooth, and at the same time prepare the bird for out-of-the-hood flights to quarry.

When removing the bird from the lure, great care needs to be taken and this might be a good opportunity to inject a word of warning about fair use of the lure. For all the help it provides, the lure can be a dangerous thing for the less experienced falconer. It is widely accepted that the Harris’ is a very sensitive species when it comes to food. Stealing from it on the glove and clumsily removing it from kills has a disastrous effect on the falconry partnership. And so it is with lures. The Harris’ that comes from the other side of the World for the lure or chases it like a lunatic across a training field, puts in the performance to capture something it really wants. The Harris’ views the lure very seriously indeed and if made to feel cheated or bullied will show great resentment. Certainly, the plain lure with its single reward helps prevent misunderstandings, but the bird must still want to give it up; it must have completely finished its reward and be ready to come onto to the glove for a titbit.

Some Harris’ hawks get into the idea of stepping or hopping back to the glove immediately; there are no hitches, things run smoothly from the first attempt. With others it can be a different matter. When dealing with a ‘stubborn’ bird, timing is everything. If the glove is offered too soon the bird might find itself inadvertently carrying the lure to it to the glove only to drop back down with its prize to become more worked up than ever. A foot placed on the lure line doesn’t help much either. This ploy will shorten the distance the lure is carried, but the end result will be the same. When judging when to present the glove, I always watch the bird’s feet as much as the bird itself. If the feet are still grasping the lure then I wait. If the lure is free of food and sufficiently tough, the bird, no matter how worked up, will eventually realise that the thing cannot be consumed and will be happy to accept the glove.

Lure pursuits give the falconer with limited access to hunting land a chance to enjoy his charge more. And the same applies to the falconer who flies through the moult; his ‘season’ can be all year long! With summer flying the lure plays a very important role. It could be argued that the bird might just be allowed to do a bit of free-flight following. But, for the unfocussed Harris’, free following can so very easily become free hunting. Of course, some quarries can be legitimately taken during the summer months, but if hunting isn’t the intention, or when flying in areas where taboo targets might tempt the bird, then the lure, especially when being flown at ‘out of the hood’ keeps the bird’s mind on training.

And the same focus – no matter what time of year - also keeps the bird’s thoughts from wandering to Laddie. Many falconers report problems with trying to work Harris’ and dog together and all sorts of reasons and solutions have been put forward. Very often I feel it’s a case of the bird not being focussed – not being shown enough quarry and so not understanding what the dog is for. And it’s the same with non-hunting periods. The frustrated bird might well find the doing-nothing-useful dog annoying! The lure absorbs the bird’s aggression and keeps it from even thinking about taking a swipe at the dog.

The falconer who does a lot of lure-pursuit training gains the additional benefit of the lure’s importance being reinforced. Although it’s always in his bag, the hunting falconer might not use the lure very much at all, and when he does, it will only be garnished with a small reward. Lure-pursuits allow the occasional large reward to be given and always finish on such a reward. This, coupled with the intensive nature of the business, makes the bird a slave to the lure; it sees it and is powerless to resist.

Which Lure?

Whether being employed as a recall device or training and management aid, I use exactly the same lure – a plain (no wings, fur) horseshoe-shaped falcon lure. I modify such lures in just one way; the reward attachment ties, normally positioned on both sides of the lure, are removed and just one is attached to the front of the lure. A reward each side of the lure is totally unnecessary and just complicates matters.

The reason I prefer a plain lure to one carrying wings or fur, is that it is less likely to excite the bird once the reward that been eaten; a plain lure doesn’t look edible! Also, the plain lure is easier to keep clean and respectable looking, not forgetting that a falcon lure is normally swung through the air, this is dragged along the ground. Fur-covered lures or/and whole carcasses work into training in quite a different way. They are used to orientate the bird to ‘fur’. Their value swings one way or the other depending on the bird and the size of the quarry to be pursued. The average Harris’ being flown to rabbits doesn’t generally require much, if any, preparation. But with this we are creeping into ‘entering’ and the need to present the right kind of rabbits.

Concluding Note

The lure can make a terrific difference to Harris falconry. Once fully explored it will become an invaluable item of equipment. Like the hood, the lure can’t be considered absolutely vital, but when did good falconry ever revolve around just getting by?

BACK TO ARTICLES