eminart

I'm a 2nd year apprentice falconer in AL. I'm flying a first year red-tailed hawk at mostly rabbits, but sometimes squirrels too. He's really started to come on strong in the past couple of weeks. I think our current count is 13 bunnies and 4 squirrels.

A few photos. The poor quality ones are cell phone photos. I don't usually take my real camera out in the field.


The day I trapped him:



His first rabbit:



Getting bitten by a big fox squirrel:



Another bunny:



A poser shot:



A good day:




And my best bud and future apprentice:

Psylocide

Not a falconer, but great pics!

Love the last one, that's gotta be a cool feeling.

Sheridan

That's must be the closest anyone can get to nature / hunting !

Great photos !!!

Thanks for sharing........................

Nomercy448

Man, wicked hunting style!

The question that pops into my head though: Where the he11 do you keep a hawk? Can't imagine you just have a little tweety bird style birdcage in the corner of your livingroom for that guy!

Super cool, thanks for sharing the pics, and I hope you'll continue to share more in the future!

eminart

Thanks, guys!


You're right. It's all very heavily regulated. He lives in a specially constructed 8'x8'x8' building called a "mews" with barred windows. The mews and other gear has to be inspected and approved on top of a lot of other hoops that need to be jumped through before you can become a licensed falconer.

The V

Great Pictures! that has to a trilling way to hunt... How long does the apprenticeship last... I always have thought falconry was a cool sport.... I saw a video just yesterday on you-tube - a guy was hunting with his falcon and two dogs... I was curious how he would train the dog not to attached the falcon. It was a pretty cool video...

eminart

The apprenticeship lasts 2 years. I'm actually eligible to upgrade to "general" next week. Gonna get the paperwork rolling then. But, being an apprentice really doesn't limit what you can do, except you're only allowed one bird. You have a "sponsor" that's supposed to help you with any problems and guide you. You don't necessarily have to hunt together or anything.

Most of the people that use dogs raise the dogs and birds together from a young age. Or, the dog grew up around a hunting bird, whether it was the same one or not, and is accustomed to them. This isn't ALWAYS the case, but often, at least with the true falcons and goshawks.

Chopayne

Why would you need a hunting dog in combination with a bird? Is it to flush out animals?

Also, how expensive is it to get into Falconry?

eminart

Depends on what you're hunting. Most people don't use dogs if they're hunting rabbits and squirrels. But, some do use beagles or other dogs to flush rabbits and some use dogs to help find squirrels.

People hunting upland birds use dogs in the same way you'd use them with a shotgun. You don't want to stomp all over wyoming to find a grouse. Use dogs to point them and then your falcon that's waiting in the sky chases them on the flush, or a goshawk or cooper's hawk catches them flying from your glove.

Money isn't really the problem with falconry. You CAN put a lot into it. But, I probably got started for around $1,000. The time and effort are where most people can't do it. It's not a hobby. You can't just have a "pet" hawk and go hunting with him once or twice a week. Obviously they need care every day, but they also need to be flown a lot. The more the better. I probably average hunting 5-6 days a week. They need a lot of flying to stay in shape to be fast and strong enough to catch game.

Tundra10

Sweet! Love watching and the stories! Never the time, money to get to where you are.

ENJOY! Love your apprentice!