Falconry is a sport, and like in every sport there is always an inherent competition to it. However, it is necessary that this competition be healthy, friendly, and that in addition to enhancing falconry it helps creating and strengthening bonds of friendship between falconers from around the world. It is with this proposal in mind that Mauricio del Valle organizes the 1st National Mechanical Lure Tournament for low-flying birds in Chile. The event will take place on Saturday, October 20, 2018 in Requinoa, sector Peumal, Region VI, Chile. It will be an event exclusively for male and female Harris’s Hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus), duly documented and coming from authorized breeders.
The tournament
The lure to be used is a mechanical lure that will be made up of rabbit leather, and the competition will consist of a qualifying phase and a final phase. The rules are available in a very detailed document, with the description of the score in each aspect:
General analysis of the scoring system
The phases:
1.- Departure attitude: 05 points
2.- Flight over the lure: 25 points
3.- Capture of the lure: 25 points
4.- Flight and distance: 10 points
5.- Subjective and global assessment of the flight: 05 points
The maximum score is 70 points.
To know more about the event, I interviewed the organizer Maurício del Valle:
How did the idea of this type of tournament come out?
The idea arose in order to pay tribute in life to the first Chilean falconer Don Alberto Brunell Fabres, who is now 92 years old. He was a pioneer in the 70s in the management of various species of raptors in Chile, his specialty was altaneria with a team of peregrine falcons to hunt the Chilean partridge. As an ancient falconer he maintained a thorough management of the field including dogs, his assistants, prey and their hawks, leading to a wonderful symphony that only good altaneria is able to provide. He was the first breeder of birds of prey in the country, applying techniques of natural breeding, and he was also the first to import and handle raptors as a hybrid hawk of peregrine (Falco peregrinus) with gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus). He was a national reference for many old falconers that once knocked his door for a good advice of this great master.
What is the importance of this tournament for falconry, especially for Chilean and Latin American falconry?
The importance of this tournament is to consolidate the union of this human group and to maintain the friendship between breeders, falconers and apprentices. This type of meetings are the ones that in 20 more years will remain in our falconry history and we will be remembered as the pioneers in incentivizing healthy competition of this beautiful art, sometimes it takes very little to organize and do great things, here the beneficiaries are as always our birds, these skills put in evidence the work that the falconer have made during the year. We hope to give the example and incentivize this way our neighboring countries so that they are encouraged to organize this type of tournaments and to promote the brotherhood as it is done in the meetings, seminars or hunting days.
What do you expect from this tournament?
As this is the first tournament at country level, we expect a great participation of all those falconers and low-flying bird breeders, this will be a special day and we will be able to evaluate the real interest and commitment that the falconer has for his bird. There have been created the bases and figures to evaluate the competition, the regulation is new and will be applied for the first time in the country. So they are all invited to be part of the falconry history of Chile, in its 1st National Tournament.
For further information:
educarapaz@hotmail.com
Whatsapp : +56989196979
Download here the rules of the tournament.
(In Spanish)
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