In grade school he was the butt of his classmates 'jokes; for with such a large target, no shot could ever miss the mark.

In fact I suspect that the carrying will save your bird's life. I've had one merlin killed by a raptor and that bird was killed just after catching a sparrow while still on the ground.

It takes weeks if not months of training to train your bird not to carry, I think this time is better spent hunting and building your relationship with your bird.