THE COMMITMENT

If you think you want to be a falconer, the first thing you must decide is whether you are committed enough. The sport means at least an hour every day for 8 or 9 months a year (and some people fly during the moult). You might not quite make this, but you should seriously try to come close. You conform your schedule to the bird's. You must want that bird to have the best life possible while it's under your care.

One of the higher compliments among falconers is "meticulous". There are a million things you need to observe and remember with the bird, its equipment, and what events shape its development. If you are an impatient or edgy person, this is not a good sport for you. If the bird stresses you, makes you angry, it does (and it will), but you must never take it out on the bird. Punishment does not work with a bird of prey. You have to work with it, give it every opportunity to develop, but you must also let it go at its own pace.

You want to judge your capacity for meticulousness before you start, because simply going out with falconers and watching them hunt for a few hours on a weekend gives you NO preparation for actually living and working with the hawk.

Falconry is not something you play with. It's arriving home exhausted from a hard day's work with a mild case of the flu, then trampling through mud and drizzle because you are the bird's slave, you serve it. It is waiting for your bird to come off a pole when you have a hot date. The divorce rate among falconers is very, very high. The sport can pay you back, but only if you are a certain sort of fanatic. It is not about putting a bird on your arm to look cool.

ONE MORE THING...

If you get involved in falconry, you get involved in something that some people find very offensive. I have only met a few (out of hundreds of people who loved it), but they can ruin your day, if not the entire week, and be played back like a horror movie in your head years later. One of a falconer's nightmares is of the "animal rights activists" who have been known to "free" a bird with its leash and jesses attached, and it gets caught up in a tree or phone line and dies an awful death. Falconry involves a certain degree of necessary paranoia.

AND DON'T BE STUPID

You may be tempted to avoid the state and go out and trap your own bird. I would strongly recommend against it. If you can't go through the trouble of doing it the legal way, then you probably lack the patience and commitment necessary for the sport.

The state test is not that difficult and it covers things you need to know, such as diseases. Finding a sponsor can be tough, but you really need somebody who knows the ropes. There are a 101 things that can go wrong and if you do something wrong it can mean the death of the bird. Having a person with the real experience and knowledge available is essential. Again, the books just don't cover a number of things.

Unlicensed falconers are usually trouble. Some bird lovers told me of a "falconer" who clipped the bird's wings and talons. Of course this is not a falconer and most falconers would recommend the death penalty, but you also have cases of people flying with traditional jesses (which can get a bird caught in a branch so it hangs upside down and dies), or not feeding it correctly. Plus it helps to have the connections for simple things like hoods, perches, and other hard to find items, and recommendations for choosing one type of thing over another.

SO YOU'VE DECIDED YOU CAN HANDLE IT

The next thing is to contact your local Fish and Game department. There is a test you have to pass. The test itself is not hard, but there are a couple more steps after that. Go to ABE, Western Sporting Publications, Northwoods, or other falconry booksellers and pick up _North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks_ by Frank Beebe and Harold Webster. Also look for the manual for the New York State falconry license test, one of the more difficult tests in the US, or the California Hawking Club's Apprentice Study Guide. These will prepare you for the test.

When you've passed the test, you have to get a sponsor. (Note: in some states you must get the sponsor first.) If you're lucky your state will have a falconry club and your F&G will put you in contact with it. The club will usually try to get you a sponsor, but it is not always easy. I took my time and went to the meets for a couple years and then hit up the person I thought was the best falconer. It was a good strategy because for two years you depend on this person to get you most of those details you must learn. Taking your time gives you a chance to meets lots of other falconers who can fill in gaps in your sponsorūs knowledge or give you alternative opinions, so it is a policy I can recommend. The degree of dependence on your sponsor can vary: I trapped my own bird and did all the work, but was saved by some phone calls. Other sponsors will hold your hand all the way.

Having a sponsor does not excuse you from thinking, though. When you come to a new field, or put your bird out to weather in a new place, you need to look around and assess all the hazards. When your bird is behaving strangely, you need to recount everything that could have led up to that behavior and figure out how to correct it. Always observe carefully, always ask Why, and try to think from the hawk's point of view. If another falconer tells you you should do something a particular way, they should be able to give you a fairly logical reason or at least a solid example.

THE HAWK HOUSE

While (or after) you get a sponsor you must build your mews and have it inspected by F&G. These are the main living/ sleeping quarters for your bird. You can use your living room or a spare bedroom, but most people build something outdoors. There is a minimum size you must comply with when building your mews. In California it is 6 x 8 feet for a kestrel, 8 x 8 for a red-tail.

You also need an outdoor area for the bird to get sun and fresh air. This is called a weathering area. This needs to be fully protected from dogs, people, children with sticks, other hawks, and any other potentially injurious creatures. The state will give you details on other requirements.

Older falconers have a lot of horror stories about F&G, but in California they have become very helpful in recent years. The officer who inspected my mews mentioned that you can't hunt in state parks, but you can fly your bird (wink wink, nudge nudge) and of course if you are flying your bird and it catches something... well that's the way life goes. You can't take the game out, but your bird can leave with a full crop. Now I've never flown my bird in a park, but it feels good that the authorities want it around. This guy also pointed out a potential problem in my mews arrangement, so my impression is positive.

WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

Finally, you get your bird. For beginners this is an immature passage bird. Immature means full physical size and able to hunt, typically at least five months old and less than ten. There is a specific season that your state allows you to trap, guaranteeing the bird's minimum age. Apprentices are not allowed eyasses because you have to teach eyasses to hunt -- if you lose the bird before that happens, it's guaranteed death. An immature red-tail looks similar to a full grown red-tail but has a brown tail. In most states you are allowed either a kestrel or a red-tail. In Mississippi (I think) you can have a red shouldered and in Alaska goshawks are allowed.

The red-tail is a good bird; in England it is highly valued. Here it has been disdained (by some) because it is common and what apprentices use, but they're great birds. A small tiercel (male) red-tail can be very fast. The kestrel is technically a long wing (falcon), but unlike most falcons you can hunt it from the glove, like a hawk. A kestrel is nice in that you can hunt sparrows in your neighborhood. Being smaller, they're more delicate, but they tame well and the game they're willing to take may surprise you. Redtails are typically flown at rabbits, though a tiercel is often fast enough to go for birds such as pheasant.

The decision of which bird to have is not completely in your hands. It also depends on what game you can get to, because the point of falconry is teaching it to hunt with you and expanding its skills as a hunter. If the closest jackrabbit field is an hour away, are you willing to make that drive several times a week? In winter it's light only from 7:30am to 5pm, don't forget. If you trap when most people trap, you'll be training right in the midst of winter. You may want a red-tail, but if you don't have that time or don't have that game, you get a kestrel. No arguments.

STAGES OF LICENSING

In California, apprenticeship lasts for 2 years. When you get to the next stage, a general falconer, you can buy captive bred birds such as peregrines or Harris hawks, as well trap as a wider selection of native birds. You may have two birds. After a minimum of 5 years at the general level, you become a master. The selection of birds is the same, but you may own three, at which point you will probably be a very tired, poor, and divorced masochist.

HELPFUL PLACES FOR THE UNCERTAIN

Although falconers and animal rehabilitators used to watch each other with jaundiced eyes, this is changing. Volunteering at a rehab center can show you how much you love the birds (do you gape in awe?) and you can also learn a lot of valuable stuff which is not yet mainstream in falconry.

Another place in California you might explore is the Falconry Academy. My personal experience with one "graduate" was not very positive, but that may have had more to do with the person's character than with the actual content taught. Please get other opinions before making a decision on the Academy.