How are falcons trained, from manning to the lure

Rewards, not force

Everything in falcon training rests on one fact about the bird. The welfare guidelines of the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF) explain that raptors are not social animals in the way dogs or horses are, so negative reinforcement from the falconer would simply make them avoid the falconer. Training, the guidelines say, has to be based on positive reinforcement alone and on avoiding stress.

The falconry examination manual of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation makes the same point more bluntly. Hawks and falcons react favourably only to a system based entirely on rewards; faced with force or the threat of it, a non-social animal can only try to escape or fight back.

The reward is food. The IAF describes the principle as giving food just after the bird has made an effort in flight. It is equally clear that this appetite is not starvation: after the hunt or the day's training, the bird is fed up to its required diet.

Manning: calm comes first

Manning is the stage where a new bird gets used to the falconer, to being carried, and to the world around it. The New York manual's answer to how manning is best done is by using food to encourage a response, not by starving weight off quickly. Once the bird stops bating off the fist and sits quietly, the next goal it gives is to get the bird feeding off the fist.

Tameness is the aim, not a side effect. The manual says the more well-manned a bird becomes, and the more confidence and trust she has in the trainer, the better her attitude and her later flights. It also advises that early manning take place somewhere cool, because a nervous bird that bates a lot spends energy and can overheat.

The hood does much of the calming. Birds of prey are almost solely visually oriented, the IAF notes, and hoods are of immense value for avoiding stress in unfamiliar surroundings. The falconry entry in Abu Dhabi Culture's heritage register describes the leather hood that covers a falcon's head and eyes when it is not flying, and the leather forearm guard the falconer wears as the bird's perch between flights.

From the fist to the creance

From feeding on the fist, the bird learns to come to it: a short step, then a jump, then a short flight, each paid for with food. The New York manual gives jump-ups to the fist with a varying reward as its example of an operant conditioning technique.

Longer flights happen on a creance, which the manual defines as a strong line used to control a raptor during early training, and which it says is best used in open spaces. Its example for deciding when to fly free is a red-tailed hawk, not a falcon, but the principle travels: the bird should come quickly over a real distance, 50 yards in that example, before the line comes off.

Losing a bird is the risk at every free flight. The Abu Dhabi Culture register calls the GPS beacon on the bird's leg an essential piece of equipment today, noting that some birds are worth more than AED 73,500 (US$20,000). The Saudi Press Agency describes falconers searching for a bird that disappears during training with wireless devices or with the help of other falconers.

The lure, and the Gulf milwah

For falcons, the lure is the centre of training. The Abu Dhabi Culture register describes it simply: the falcon is taught to swoop down on a feathered training decoy tied to a string and controlled by the trainer, who pulls it away as the bird comes in; done again and again, the bird learns to keep making attempts until it catches its target.

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Press Agency reported in October 2024, as the hunting season known as maqnas (مقناص) began, that the best-known method is called al-milwah (الملواح), also known as al-talwih (التلويح) or al-da'u (الدعو). It is done in the desert. The falconer uses the wing feathers of other birds and swings them several times on a line roughly 10 to 25 metres long until the falcon sees them and stoops, accompanied by sounds the falcon is used to hearing when it eats.

The New York manual adds the craft details. A lure is used during training, for an immediate recall, and to call a bird back from a great distance, and lure-flying is a useful tool for conditioning any falcon. Falconers prefer a falcon to take the lure from a steep dive flying downwind. And it insists that you play fair: when the falcon strikes the lure solidly, the lure should be dropped to the ground and the falcon allowed to come in on it.

Building fitness

A trained falcon still needs to stay fit. The IAF guidelines say that if the bird cannot be flown at wild game at least every second day, exercises should keep it in condition, and that for longwings such as falcons, lure, kite or balloon training works well. Drones carrying a lure on a long string below, fixed to a parachute, have recently become common and useful, the guidelines add.

None of this is learned from an article. The IAF recommends that anyone who wants to become a falconer serve an apprenticeship with an experienced falconer for at least one hunting season, join a falconers' club, and take a good falconry course even where the law does not require one.

Common training mistakes

Rushing the weight down. The New York manual rejects starving weight off quickly as a way to speed up manning and tells falconers never to starve a bird. Its advice is to use a scale daily and keep a log to monitor patterns, so changes are steady and visible. Using punishment is the other shortcut that fails: both the IAF and the New York manual are clear that falcons respond to reward alone, and force teaches a non-social bird to avoid you.

Teasing with the lure is a quieter version of the same mistake; when the falcon makes a solid hit, she should be allowed to have it. Flying free too soon. A bird that does not yet come quickly on the creance, or that flies without a tracking device, is easy to lose. Overheating a new bird is the last one: the New York manual places early manning somewhere cool for that reason.

Keeping a training record alongside the weight makes all of these easier to see. Falqora logs each training session, whether lure work, free flight or manning, with minutes and a note, as a marker under the falcon's daily weight curve.

This guide is general information. Training methods, licensing and the use of birds of prey for hunting are regulated differently in each country. Learn under an experienced falconer and follow the rules of your national wildlife authority.

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