Posted: 1/31/2005 2:38:30 PM EDT
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Just wondering if there were any ARFCOMERS who are practicioners of falconry or hawking. If so, i'd like to hear some of your hunting stories... M/223haiku |
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i was interested in this pursuit as well....very interesting process how to get into it...full apprentice action - lots of hours before you ever get one to work with. makes sense to protect the birds and weed out the wanna-bes...I gave up -- too much of a commitment that would conflict with my job. |
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i been flying falcons for the last forty years. here is a link to some pics of the falcons i am flying now. ImageEvent.com/teita/falconryseason04 ImageEvent.com/teita/seasonbegins03 |
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I used to make hoods and jesses for the raptors at the nature center I worked at, but I only knew one falconer in ohio and it would have been to difficult to apprentice. We had a kestrel, a barn owl, and a turkey vulture that were all glove trained. It was the greatest thing to be duing talk with 6-8 year olds and have a barnowl silently fly up from behind them. Then we would do the same with the noisy vulture (if the room was big enough) Sadly, I decided to work for money and had to leave the nature center. |
 I can't begin to tell you how amazing that looks. |
| Thanks for your kind comments. falconry is a sport that can trace it's hisotry back about 3,000 years. it is lots of fun when it goes right it sucks when it goes wrong. If you think the BATF is intrusive and the paperwork is bad let me tell you that the US fish and wildlife service makes the BATF look like a bunch of nice guys. even the class three hoops i have gone through is pale by comparison to the archane falconry regulations and inevitable paperwork. Fortunatly the rules are being changed, as we speak, and will soon be less invasive. Falconry is not for those that want to kill a lot of game, i am lucky to break 100 head with the falcons in a season, the guns have to take up remaining blood lust. For me a good day is to go get my hawking buddy, load up the dogs and falcons and the boat. we spend the morning doing "cast and blast" that means take the jet boat up the river and drift back down fishing and shooting ducks. we leave the boat and go spend the afternoon flying the falcons on ducks and pheasants or possibly sage grouse. this curbs the blood lust till the birds are ready to go again, thats about three days and then we do it again. HOOO--YAA!! |
Last week I had a raptor of some type snatch a small bird right off of my bird feeder. It sat on one of my deck posts and ate it for about 10 minutes. I tried to get a pic but the light just wasn't cooperating. |
| This has to be the coolest sport ever thought of by man. The discipline that must be necessary to do what you guys do is astounding. How does one start to learn more about this sport? I will definitely be looking into this. It seems like it would be very time consuming, but very rewarding. Wow. |
| the best way to get started is to hook up with someone locally that is already flying birds. unfortunatly there are a lot of quacks around (like much else in life) so it is sometimes hard to find someone that has their shit squared away. every state has a club and they usually hold meets a few times a year. find your state club and go to a meet and you should find someone that is actually going after it, the loosers are easy to spot, they are the ones that are posing with their birds instead of going out and killing stuff with them. If you ever see a falcon come down in a stoop from a few thousand feet overhead (clocked at around 230miles per hour) and smash a duck stone dead from the impact (it sounds like you hit the duck with your PU) it is hard to not be hooked. in the south guys fly rabbits with redtailed hawks and beagles and seem to have a heck of a good time. falconry meets can be bad for your liver but good for all else that ailes you, if you know what i mean. |
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My boss has a Redtail Hawk, and a Great Horned Owl. He catches a couple of rabbits a month with the Hawk, and is still training the Owl. They can be a pain to work with, as the owl is quite fond of taking my glasses off my face with her wing. But most of the time they are pretty cool. |
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I'm looking to get into it now. I currently work at a bird of prey center, but it's not the type of interaction that i'm looking for with the birds. I'm more drawn to the traditions of the sport and the history. I like hunting alot, and I am an avid gun-hunter but when i've gone out to hunt with raptors, the sense of competition, courage, and honor are unsurpassed, at that point guns become a tool for the range, skill on paper. I can't wait to trap my first passager, and start the bond/training. I guess the most important part of the sport is right now, when the apprenticeship begins!! M/223haiku |