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De Arte Venandi Cum Avibus
The Art of Falconry |
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| Boleyn -- trapped 4 days prior |
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Strictly speaking, falconry is the art of training falcons to take game. In modern times, the term 'falconry' is applied to taking game with birds-of-prey: falcons, accipiters, buteos, etc. Practiced in Asia for millenia, falconry became popular in Western Europe after the cross-cultural exposure of the Crusades. Falconry was a favored sport of the upper classes throughout the High Middle Ages and Renaissance.
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Whenever possible, I strive to train my birds using techniques outlined in "An Approved Treatise on Hawks and Hawking" -- a falconry manual published in 1619.
Boleyn was my 5th Red Tailed Hawk. Twenty-one days after being trapped from the wild, Boleyn took her first 'cooperative hunting' rabbit. She continued to excel, taking well over 20 head of prey during the hunting season. In the spring, I removed her jesses and released her back into the wild. This dramatically improved her chances of longterm survival, as roughly 70% of Red Tails do not survive their first winter.
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FALCONRY IS HUNTING. Falconry is the sport of birds of prey working together with humans to hunt and kill game.
FALCONRY IS NOT standing around with a bird on your glove. Raptors make terrible pets. They do not bond with humans like dogs do. If taken from the nest early enough that they do bond (imprint) with humans, the results can be disastrous.
To help protect raptors from well-meaning but naive would-be falconers, the government has established a sponsored apprenticeship program for falconry. As such, falconry is among the most highly regulated hunting sports in the U.S. |
Apprentice falconers are sponsored, supervised and assisted by more experienced falconers. Apprentices begin with either a Red Tailed Hawk or a Kestrel. Kate was my first falconry bird, a Red Tailed Hawk. |
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| Kate's first squirrel |
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