Falconry is the art and practice of taking wild quarry in it's natural state using a trained Raptor. Falconry is not an easy thing to practice. It requires a substantial amount of time and energy from the person who wishes to become a falconer. That said... It is something that few people ever experience and is an awesome hobby to have.
Falconry has been practiced in many forms for thousands of years by many cultures. Some speculate that falconry dates back as far as 4000 - 6000 BC in Mongolia, Egypt, and possibly Asia. It was a popular sport in Europe for many years, especially among the nobles. The introduction of firearms drastically affected its popularity. Falconry was practiced only by a few dedicated people and has never regained its previous notoriety. Falconry is practiced by a relatively small group of people today. There are about 4,000 falconers in the entire United States.
It is one of the most highly regulated field sports there is. It demands time and serious commitment. These birds used are NOT pets.
There are many different types of birds used in Falconry. The three main categories of Raptors used in Flaconry are Falcons, Hawks, and Eagles.
In the United States, Falconry is heavily regulated and requires the Falconer to go through a Sponsorship program. In the regulations three classes determine what types of birds and how many may be kept at any one time. The three classes are: Apprentice (2 years), General (5 years), and Master.
I will do my best to describe and show pictures for birds that I have seen flown and used in Falconry.
The term sport may not describe what many people consider falconry to be. The sport can be divided up into several areas or stages. Like many things that are highly specialized there are many words and terms that are used in the practice of falconry that are not seen in everyday language. Such as: Trapping, manning, training, entering, hunting, molting.
Pictures and video
Falconry with a Redtail Hawk
The Goshawk: Breeding, Raising, and Hunting
Goshawks on crows, pigeons, ducks...
Duck Hawking
Dog toungues
Hawk Bath
The Coopers Hawk: a Day in training
Falconry and Training
The Redtail: as trained by an apprentice
Male Imprint Finnish Goshawk about 3 weeks old. Just getting him used to touching and being socaialized. He is a little talkative early on, but he settled down to be a great hunting hawk as he matured.
Eyass Female Goshawk just starting to fly.
More video of her sunning and learning how to use her wings...
Eyass Goshawks, female takes her first bath.
3 year old euro female gos on blacktailed jacks in nebraska (2206 NAFA meet).
This is why you should always be careful of where you are flying, these hawks can quite literally kill themselves on fences. Luckily she was fine and got the bunbun ;)
Goshawk on Blacktailed Jackrabbit... one of first 10 kills so she is excited and less interested in eating than she gets in later kills.
Hunting with a male Peregrine falcon, had a stoop at a pheasant and this just shows him waiting on over us while the dog is working trying to find the bird in the tall grass.
Trying to get the lure near the camera on the ground when the bird grabs it..
Still trying to get the lure near the camera on the ground when the bird grabs it..
Still trying to get the lure near the camera on the ground when the bird grabs it.. too far away!!!
