How-To: Hawk Lure or Falcon Lure

How-To: Hawk Lure or Falcon Lure

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Materials:

A clean piece of leather
1 pair grouse wings
Lead weight
Epoxy or other suitable glue
filler material (pellets, beads or other type)
sewing awl or heavy needle
grommets, small and large (size 1)
10 inches of shock cord
10 feet parachute cord
carabiner or dog clip

 

Material Notes:

The leather can be anything, from a tanned hide, to kangaroo. Nothing special is needed, but the heavier it is, the more sturdy the lure will be. Also, the heavier it is, the more difficult it is to stitch.

I use grouse wings that I clip from hunting in the fall, but you can find hungarian partridge and others at the local fly-fishing store. Expect to pay around $15-25, depending on the quality.

The lead weight in the lure can be anything, but I found it cost effective to use some ingots for making sinkers / split-shots. You can find these fairly easily at Cabela’s or BassPro shops.

The filler material I use is simply plastic bead material that I got at the local craft store. A medium size bag is about $5.00.

 

Steps:

1. Use the pattern attached to trace onto the leather. Cut out two halves, the top and bottom half.

2. Epoxy the lead weight to the inside of the bottom half. You don’t want the weight shifting around while swinging the lure.

3.  Match up the wings on the leather patches to measure how far down the lure body they go.  You can also adjust the angle here also.

4. Place the hawk lure top-half over the wings to get an idea of how much of the wings you are going to need to cover and stitch in.

5.  Stitch the bottom half of the lure together using the sewing awl.

6.  Sew in each of the wings. I found it helpful to use a staple gun to staple the wings to the leather as a temporary holder while stitching them in place. Again, a sewing awl is very sturdy and strong, goes right through both halves of the leather and the grouse wing.

7.Finish up sewing the top of the lure, leaving a small space left to put in the filler material. Some small scraps of cut-up leather will also work, providing additional filling material.

Close up the last remaining hole with a few more stitches and you are all set!

8.  Add your filler material, working it all the way down to the bottom of the tail section. Now is a good time to put in the small grommets for meat holding. Install two about 2-3 inches apart on the head of the lure.  I used a funnel to get the plastic beads into the leather pouch carefully, and then pushed them all the way down to the bottom.

9. Punch out a hole at the top of the lure for the large grommet, and then set the grommet in for the string/clip to attach to. As an additional conditioning step, you could apply some leather conditioner or waterproofing agent to the leather to prevent your lure from becoming rather ‘gamey’ after a few uses with raw meat for a garnish.

10. Attach your parachute cord and a carabiner or clip to the grommet and you are now ready for hawk/falcon luring.  Add a piece of shock-cord or other suitable material to the small grommets for securing a lure garnish (food reward) to the lure.

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