Falconry: The hunting of game with falcons and other birds of prey. Once the domain of royalty and nobility, it was used as a form of class distinction. Kings dictated who could hunt and which birds could be used.The kestrel or sparrow hawk was commonly the hunting bird of the clergy.
LEARNING THE ROPES
Today's modern falconer must serve an apprenticeship under a general or master falconer, learning how to care for, feed and train their bird. During that time, they will take exams and be evaluated by the fish and wildlife departments in their states. As they progress through their apprenticeship they hunt with red tail. Red tails belong to a class of hawks called Buteo or broad-wing hawks. As they progress they become general and finally master falconers, and are allowed to hunt with Accipiters or long-wing birds such as the Peregrine Falcon.
BACK FROM THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION
Once nearly driven to the edge of extinction, the Peregrine Falcon belongs to the genus falco. The wide spread use of DDT and other pesticides made the shells of the falcon eggs so fragile that they would shatter in the nest. The aggressive banning of DDT and other pesticides, along with a wide-spread program of captive breeding, brought their numbers back up. And programs for re-releasing into the wild have helped to re-create a viable population.
Peregrine Falcons weigh from 18.8 to 56.5 oz, with a wing span of 3.3 to 3.6 ft. Weight, wingspan and genus are just dry facts, quickly forgotten when you see a falcon lift off from the glove, bells tingling in the tresses, climbing into the sky, doing what a falcon was created to do. Within seconds the Peregrine is a dot in the sky.
ON THE HUNT
Hovering above us at 1000 ft, the falcon soars, wings outstretched, riding the thermals, while below master falconer Chad Davis follows his German Short Hair. We were hunting a late season corn field in Iowa with his two-year-old female Peregrine Falcon, Jezebel.
She waited, pinned against the sky and alert as the dog worked the corn stubble below. The dog had locked up on a pheasant. Pushing forward, Davis kicked at a clump of weeds looking too small to hide a mouse, let alone the rooster which blasted out of the grass. Cackling, wings a flashing blur, the pheasant tried to put distance between himself and the perceived danger of Davis and the dog.
In the dive or stoop, a Peregrine falcon can reach speeds of 200 mph. In the clouds over head the falcon folds her wings and drops, knifing through the chill autumn sky, on a collision course with the rooster pheasant. The two meet in a shower of feathers. All the speed and energy is transferred in the strike of a closed foot, snapping its neck as the pheasant rag dolls into the ground. Coming up on Jezebel we see she's started to feed on the pheasant.
At our approach Jezebel mantles up, hiding the pheasant's body with her out-stretched wings. Davis drags a lure past her, triggering her hunting reflex. From the lure Davis gets her to the glove and feeds her a quail tidbit.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
The basic equipment of the falconer hasn't changed all the much over the centuries. The lure dragged or whirled overhead pushes all the right buttons, eliciting the pounce, the stoop. The gauntlet protects the hand and arm of the falconer from the claw and power of the bird's clutching feet. The tresses with their tinkling bells are used to mark the position of the bird in the field and to secure the bird on the gauntlet.
Jezebel will stoop one more time today, only to miss as the pheasant beats her to cover. Aggravated, Jezebel had to be calmed before Davis could get the hood on her. The transformation is amazing. Hooded, she rides the fist as if a switch has been thrown, statue-like. Remove the hood and she is the living embodiment of the hunt, existing only for the stoop, hurtling toward the earth and her prey at speeds up to 200 mph.
THE MODERN FALCONER
Falconry is labor-intensive in ways a casual hunter may not realize. You can't stick the bird in a closet once the season is over, as you would a shotgun. 365 days-a-year the falconer must feed, hunt and care for the bird. It is a relationship as intense as man to wife, parent to child, indeed sometimes these personal relationships must take a back seat to the needs of the bird. The expenses are not insubstantial as well, which may explain why falconry was so closely linked with royalty in the past. Being a part of this hunting experience, as old as the history of mankind, I felt for myself the pull and allure of this ancient means of putting meals on the table.
Warren Bishop - null
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