Hunting with Falcon's
- Thread starter ryank
- Start date
As a teenager in Arizona I took up the sport of falconry and the rehabilitation of injured raptors. I started out as an apprentice under the leadership of a Master Falconer. My Master flew falcons on all types of upland game birds.
My main interest was centered on the broad-wing birds of prey such as the Red-Tail Hawk and Golden Eagle, which unlike the falcon, is better suited to taking small game on the ground such as rabbits. But my instructor had several falcons that were like heat seeking missiles when it came to upland birds.
Falconry is a very time consuming sport but very rewarding. As time progressed I stopped flying birds and focused on returning injured birds of prey back to the wild or finding a zoo to take birds that where unable to return to the wild.
Most people that I knew that got into falconry soon found out that training and care of the birds is not as easy as they thought and soon dropped out.
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My main interest was centered on the broad-wing birds of prey such as the Red-Tail Hawk and Golden Eagle, which unlike the falcon, is better suited to taking small game on the ground such as rabbits. But my instructor had several falcons that were like heat seeking missiles when it came to upland birds.
Falconry is a very time consuming sport but very rewarding. As time progressed I stopped flying birds and focused on returning injured birds of prey back to the wild or finding a zoo to take birds that where unable to return to the wild.
Most people that I knew that got into falconry soon found out that training and care of the birds is not as easy as they thought and soon dropped out.
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NASA
New member
Ryan- I too was a falconer for the best part of 20 years. Like Will said, it is a lot of hard work. Here's a little something I posted on another board on the same subject. It was in response to someone who thought they wanted to "get a hawk and try it out".
Wow, we really need to talk. There is SO much you need to know. Falconry is absolutely nothing like hunting. In hunting you get a gun, and then go learn how to use it. NOT in falconry. In falconry, the very LAST thing you do is get a bird. The reason for that is, if you don't have a lot of knowledge in caring for the bird it will die before you ever get to the training stage.
1) It's a lot of work. A lot of reading, study, research, picking the brains of other falconers for their wisdom and experience.
If you're serious, you can't help buying up every piece of literature on falconry you can get your hands on.
2) Unless you are very financially secure, you will have to learn how to make most of the equipment, bird hardware, and accessories you will need to have. Are you a proficient leather crafter? Carpenter? Metalworker? You WILL be!
3) Your hawk will have to be kept in a very special enclosure called a mews. In CA you will not even be issued a license until F&G has come to your house and inspected, and approved, your mews.
4) Hawks have very unique characteristics about what they eat, when they eat, how much they should eat. Do you have a balance beam
scale? You'll need one. And you'll be keeping records on everything from counting castings to imping tail feathers. Feeding schedules are very important to prevent strikes in the feathers, which will have you learning all about imping very soon.
5) You'll need to learn how to recognize aspergillosis, canker, coccidiosis, roundworms, feather mites and how to prevent
and treat them. You'll need to know how to cope a beak, and how to stop a bird from bleeding to death from a broken talon or torn pad. Do you know what causes bumblefoot, or how to treat it? You will!
6) You'll have to know your bird on a very PERSONAL basis. Her moods, temperment, what she'll tolerate, or not. Will she hunt only when she's sharp? Will she return if she's not? At what weight does she go into yarak? Are you prepared to spend Monday, and maybe Tuesday, looking for a lost bird that checked on a miss and had an attitude about it?
7) Now, after all that, if you've managed to keep a buteo or kestrel alive for 6-8 months, you can begin the more serious regimens of training. And there are volumes and volumes of literature that go back as far as the 14th century that go into that.
My point is, there is SO much a person needs to learn BEFORE they start learning how to TRAIN a hawk. This is not a casual undertaking. Falconry is a very serious commitment. I'd be glad to help get you started, but like I said, we need to talk.
As it turns out, this diatribe convinced the individual that falconry was "too damn much work". The reward of a kill by a wild predator that YOU'VE successfully trained, is unmatched. But it comes at a very high price.
Wow, we really need to talk. There is SO much you need to know. Falconry is absolutely nothing like hunting. In hunting you get a gun, and then go learn how to use it. NOT in falconry. In falconry, the very LAST thing you do is get a bird. The reason for that is, if you don't have a lot of knowledge in caring for the bird it will die before you ever get to the training stage.
1) It's a lot of work. A lot of reading, study, research, picking the brains of other falconers for their wisdom and experience.
If you're serious, you can't help buying up every piece of literature on falconry you can get your hands on.
2) Unless you are very financially secure, you will have to learn how to make most of the equipment, bird hardware, and accessories you will need to have. Are you a proficient leather crafter? Carpenter? Metalworker? You WILL be!
3) Your hawk will have to be kept in a very special enclosure called a mews. In CA you will not even be issued a license until F&G has come to your house and inspected, and approved, your mews.
4) Hawks have very unique characteristics about what they eat, when they eat, how much they should eat. Do you have a balance beam
scale? You'll need one. And you'll be keeping records on everything from counting castings to imping tail feathers. Feeding schedules are very important to prevent strikes in the feathers, which will have you learning all about imping very soon.
5) You'll need to learn how to recognize aspergillosis, canker, coccidiosis, roundworms, feather mites and how to prevent
and treat them. You'll need to know how to cope a beak, and how to stop a bird from bleeding to death from a broken talon or torn pad. Do you know what causes bumblefoot, or how to treat it? You will!
6) You'll have to know your bird on a very PERSONAL basis. Her moods, temperment, what she'll tolerate, or not. Will she hunt only when she's sharp? Will she return if she's not? At what weight does she go into yarak? Are you prepared to spend Monday, and maybe Tuesday, looking for a lost bird that checked on a miss and had an attitude about it?
7) Now, after all that, if you've managed to keep a buteo or kestrel alive for 6-8 months, you can begin the more serious regimens of training. And there are volumes and volumes of literature that go back as far as the 14th century that go into that.
My point is, there is SO much a person needs to learn BEFORE they start learning how to TRAIN a hawk. This is not a casual undertaking. Falconry is a very serious commitment. I'd be glad to help get you started, but like I said, we need to talk.
As it turns out, this diatribe convinced the individual that falconry was "too damn much work". The reward of a kill by a wild predator that YOU'VE successfully trained, is unmatched. But it comes at a very high price.
Thank you NASA, like I stated earlier, it would be real neat to witness a person using raptors to hunt for them, but I would never have the time, patience, or money to do it myself.
You said you "used to be a falconer"
What made you decide not to do it anymore? Was it everything you listed above or was it something else?
Ryan
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You said you "used to be a falconer"
What made you decide not to do it anymore? Was it everything you listed above or was it something else?
Ryan
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NASA
New member
Ryan- You said it yourself. Time. Falconry is so demanding that you almost have to do it exclusive of any other activity. I got married, had kids, and the bills started coming in. I had to go back to school and upgrade my education in order to afford the homelife I felt my family deserved. There was no time left for the daily attention and tending a working raptor requires. Even when not hunting with them, they need to be flown for exercise a minimum of twice a week.
The other thing is area. Falcons need a large, clear area to fly in. No wires, cables or transmission lines. Buteos and accipiters can be worked almost anywhere, with descretion.
You commented that it didn't seem sporting to you. Now, if "sporting" means a level playing field, then it doesen't get more fair and natural than this. In the wild the weak, sick, and inexperienced are the main objects of prey. Not so in falconry. That strong, healthy cock pheasant you just loosed your bird at has better than a 50/50 chance of getting away unscathed. Not so if you were using your 12 GA instead. And the less experienced the falconer the better the games chances of escape. A lot of other factors can also come into play that could blow a hunt, but I won't bore you with trivia. I still go out during nesting and migration season and practice my locating and trapping techniques, but maybe someday I'll have the time to get into it again. Right now, my plates pretty full.
The other thing is area. Falcons need a large, clear area to fly in. No wires, cables or transmission lines. Buteos and accipiters can be worked almost anywhere, with descretion.
You commented that it didn't seem sporting to you. Now, if "sporting" means a level playing field, then it doesen't get more fair and natural than this. In the wild the weak, sick, and inexperienced are the main objects of prey. Not so in falconry. That strong, healthy cock pheasant you just loosed your bird at has better than a 50/50 chance of getting away unscathed. Not so if you were using your 12 GA instead. And the less experienced the falconer the better the games chances of escape. A lot of other factors can also come into play that could blow a hunt, but I won't bore you with trivia. I still go out during nesting and migration season and practice my locating and trapping techniques, but maybe someday I'll have the time to get into it again. Right now, my plates pretty full.
BadMedicine
New member
Nasa, I'm actually looking into starting this up with my brother, we've downloaded the fish & game manual for our state, and are studying it for the test. Alaska is like california, you have to have your Mews all ready to go and pass inspection before you can get a permit, and you also have to be trained as an apprentice under either amaster or general falconer. My little brother does yard work for a lady who cares for hurt birds of prey, she has 2 or three eagle/hawks/owls in mews in her yard all the tme, and she's gonna put us in contact with some falconers who will help train us (as required)...did you have to catch your own birds? Up here you do, and there's seasons and all kinds of crazy regulations. The fact that you are allowed to climb a tree and take a baby red tailed hawk, or even golden eagle (for master falconers) out of their nest simply amazes me... It's a sport that's old and royal, and I would love to get into it. We're gonna start building our Mews as soon as we get in contact with some other falconers and see what theirs looks like, and equipment used. I've been raising pigeons for over a year and have about 30 at any one time, there's also wild ones, and ones I've released that come around daily for seed, My yard is a falcon dream
NASA
New member
I'm glad you're going about this the right way. Once you've been at it a while you won't think so highly of golden eagles for hunting. Unless you want to hunt FOX! But that is a different style of falconry, best done from horseback. Ancient, traditional, and elegant. I hope those links I sent you are helpful. You've got your work set out for you, good luck.