logout
help
framed forum
go pro
subscriptions
account
create thread
PetGround >> Falconry Question?
| 5/13/03 1:57 PM | |
Ashtray
164 
Edited: 13-Mar-04 03:05 AM Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 797 |
Does anyone have any experience in Falconry? I have always been a fan of the bird and the sport. The birds are not that expensive, so I thought I may get one and start training it. This would be the coolest pet. Here are some pic for your time. 
|
| 5/15/03 12:35 AM | |
|
Viscerotica
Edited: 15-May-03 Member Since: 31-May-02 Posts: 2341 |
Very difficult. If you own a falcon you have to hunt with them at least 3 times a week during season, september to march, for at least 3 hours minimum. You need a falconer's licence which is very difficult to get, as well as a falconer sponsor. The apprenticeship is 2 years. Before the state issues a licence they will inspect your housing and equipment which averages $1000. You will get clawed. Food is expensive. Having said that, I love them myself, I'm just not in a position right now to care for one. I have a sponsor that is willing when I am finally able. I myself want a vulture or an owl. Owls are pretty difficult as a first bird though, so i will probably start with a Gyr or Peregrine. You can trap your own bird....with raptors there is no difference between captive and wildcaught temperments. |
| 5/15/03 12:45 AM | |
|
Ashtray
164
Edited: 15-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 803 |
Thanks again Visc, I am from central Texas, do you know of any good sites or organizations to contact further. I know the minimun apprentice time is about 2 years, but we have some serious land northeast of Austin where I could practice. It may not be the right endeavor for me, but I am really curious. I love exotics. You recommended a serval and genets, and both sounded really cool, but a raptor is just entralling. I have a cat and a python, so a house pet needs to be caged. What other cool animals are out there? I am looking to get a new exotic in the next 6-12 months. I have the time and the patience to provide for one. Thanks again for the help. |
| 5/15/03 1:09 AM | |
|
Viscerotica
Edited: 15-May-03 Member Since: 31-May-02 Posts: 2342 |
You live in the perfect area for hunting. Try this website: http://www.geocities.com/texashawking/welcometotexasfalconry.html The Parks and Wildlife Department can usually get you in touch with experienced falconers you can contact about sponsorship. They will take you out and let you get a feel for the sport before you commit to it. Promise me that I can see your raptor when you get one :) For caged exotics I like Gliders and Giant Gambian Pouched Rats. Degus are nice, like a big uber smart inquisitive gerbil. |
| 5/15/03 1:42 AM | |
|
Spankenstyne
10
Edited: 15-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 5479 |
wow, very cool thread. So are they generally friendly or what is the temperament like since it seems it doesn't matter from wc? |
| 5/15/03 10:56 AM | |
|
Viscerotica
Edited: 15-May-03 Member Since: 31-May-02 Posts: 2343 |
I would never call a raptor friendly. They look too fierce for that. They can be affectionate, and a good companion, but you can never fully domesticate one. It also depends on the type of bird you get, some are more standoffish than others- owls for instance. Some can be a bit friendly, but they can still shred your arm to ribbons when landing. It is like taming a lion....you can teach it things, you can turn it into a good companion, but there is no way to totally eradicate the wildness in them. When you catch your own bird, you are going after babies in the nest, you can't train a full grown WC bird. I am not a falconer, but I've done a lot of research into becoming one....I think everything I've listed has been correct, but don't hold it against me if some of my info is wrong. |
| 5/16/03 1:11 AM | |
|
Spankenstyne
10
Edited: 16-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 5480 |
So basically they become tame enough that they don't fly away but instead come back to you? You'll have to forgive my ignorance.This is fascinating and i know absolutely nothing about it |
| 5/16/03 11:36 AM | |
|
Viscerotica
Edited: 16-May-03 Member Since: 31-May-02 Posts: 2360 |
Yes. But even then, they sometimes fly away and never come back....a pain in the ass after month and months of training. I would hate watching all of my hard work just literally fly away. This is probably more common in the "difficult" birds though. |
| 5/21/03 4:22 PM | |
|
Trust
271
Edited: 21-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 10206 |
I would love to go out hunting with someone who has their own well-trained bird, but I wouldn't want the responsibility of keeping one right now. Did I tell you guys about the hawk killing in our front yard? I think I posted it on the OG, but I'll repeat it here. We live about as far west as you can live in Broward county. Another couple miles west and your in the everglades which continues westward for the remainder of Broward county, and about 60 miles west is where civilization resumes. So we have some wildlife here, despite it being a dense suburban community. A couple months ago my daughter was in the front yard playing under a tree. I was on my way into the front door of the house when I heard a loud THUMP from the neighbor's garage, about 10 feet from where my daughter was standing. I turned to see what it was, and there was a huge hawk on the ground in the grass about 7 feet from my daughter. She screamed "A HAWK!!" and the bird looked at her and flew off. On the ground where the hawk was standing was a dead dove. My guess is the hawk hit the dove in flight, it crashed into the neighbor's garage door and bounced into our yard where the hawk landed on it. To bad he didn't get his meal. We also have ospreys circle over our neighborhood all the time. They call to each other and I can do a good impression of their call, and have had them swoop down for closer look. |
| 5/21/03 7:46 PM | |
|
Spankenstyne
10
Edited: 21-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 5521 |
Very cool! I was working right in town here, lazily looking out a window when BOOM this hawk slams into a raven at full speed about 8 feet off the ground and they crash to the ground.It then proceeds to rip pieces off the struggling bird right in front of me on the other side of the window on the building's lawn.It then picks it up and sorta hops about 5 feet away to the base of a tree and kills the raven and tears a bit more off it before flying up and out of my line of sight.Was just amazing to see. |
| 5/21/03 8:57 PM | |
|
Ashtray
164
Edited: 21-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 865 |
I need a FALCON!!! |
| 5/22/03 10:05 AM | |
|
Trust
271
Edited: 22-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 10216 |
Have you guys seen that video of a harpy eagle plucking a sloth off a tree trunk? |
| 5/22/03 6:21 PM | |
|
Ashtray
164
Edited: 22-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 869 |
Thanks for all the input everyone. Trust, do you have the link? |
| 5/23/03 9:34 AM | |
|
Trust
271
Edited: 23-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 10283 |
No, I saw it on Jeff Corwin's show where he was in Costa Rica (I think that's where), but I've also seen that footage elsewhere. It's pretty spectacular; you can see the sloth making its way up the trunk of a tree, but it's exposed by a lack of branches at that particular point on the trunk. From the upper right a huge bird swoops in, grabs the sloth in flight and rips it right off the tree and flies off with it. Poor sloth! |
| 5/24/03 10:32 AM | |
|
Ponyboy
10
Edited: 24-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 3397 |
I watch bald eagles pull mucho fish out of the potomac river while the fishermen don't get shit. |
| 5/24/03 11:40 AM | |
|
Ponyboy
10
Edited: 24-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 3400 |
Jonathan Livingston Pelican
|
| 5/28/03 5:02 PM | |
|
JitsuGuy
8
Edited: 28-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 857 |
Get a Marmoset if you want something exotic. They're COOL little suckers! |
| 5/29/03 3:43 AM | |
|
Viscerotica
Edited: 29-May-03 Member Since: 31-May-02 Posts: 2605 |
Marmoset? As in monkey? Marmosets are one of the worst monkeys you can own. They won't bond with you, they don't like to be handled at all, and if they breed they turn into little monsters. |
| 5/29/03 10:53 AM | |
|
JitsuGuy
8
Edited: 29-May-03 Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 859 |
Viscerotica, no, I'm talking about Marmosets. Not Gremlins. Jits |
| 5/30/03 1:46 PM | |
Bull_in_chinashop
14
Edited: 30-May-03 01:55 PM Member Since: 01-Jan-01 Posts: 7908 |
This may help some of you with questions. http://www.n-a-f-a.org/ http://www.pfht.org/apprentice.htm I'm in the same boat as V. (living in the outskirts of a major metropolis) I've been an avid enthusiast for years as a neighboring farmer was a falconer and I tagged along on many hunts. Kestrels and red shouldered hawks also make nice starter birds, but the red tailed is the most common. I find it very funny that a thread about falconry makes its way to the "snake, frog & other things raptors love to eat" forum.. |
| 2/23/04 8:04 PM | |
|
Choked out surfer
5
Edited: 23-Feb-04 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 284 Randy Bloom / ACG |
I used to train birds of prey a while back,I had better luck in trapping the birds then getting them from a nest.It duz take alot of time and dedication,but the reward is so wonderful.Randy Bloom |
| 2/23/04 9:36 PM | |
|
LgFriess
1
Edited: 23-Feb-04 09:32 PM Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 1045 |
The guy I work with is a Falconer. In western Michigan, he's apparently pretty high up respect wise because EVERYBODY is always calling and asking him questions and such. Ever a hurt bird in the area, it's going to be in his care. The other day, I walk in and there's a little hawk sitting on it's perch in our back hallway with a half eaten mouse in it's claw. Didn't even see the little guy at first. Hanging up my coat, I look down and to the left and there's this little hawk staring up at me... like, "Don't fuck with my mouse buddy." Apparently, this bird flew away from its keeper and took up residence in a local factory warehouse somehow. So one of the workers is in doing his thing on the job, lifts his arm up to do something, and this little hawk flies down and lands on his arm... SUPRISE! Wouldn't fly away either. My friend said the bird must have gotten hungry (can tell by the weight I guess), and landed on what appeared to be his source of food... a human arm =D Luckily, they realized it must be a "trained" bird, called the vet, who called my friend ... who put the word out about a missing bird. The sheepish owner showed up later in the day to take the little guy back home. |
| 2/23/04 9:43 PM | |
|
LgFriess
1
Edited: 23-Feb-04 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 1046 |
Oh, and by the sounds of it, he basically says you don't want to be a Falconer. Too much work and very, very, very few people have the time, patience or commitment it takes to actually care for these animals the way they need to be cared for. On a side note, he let me feed one of his. I was scared shitless. Held a hunk of beef heart in my hand (thick leather glove) and this big red falcon flew up, landed on my arm and just tore that meat up. We sat in lounge chairs, him with a beer, me with a terrified look and giant meat eating bird on my arm. It was cool though! I try to feed them whenever I go over now! |
| 2/23/04 10:19 PM | |
|
Choked out surfer
5
Edited: 23-Feb-04 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 285 Randy Bloom / ACG |
LgFriess,cool story,very true about commitment.Some day I'll return to the life of falconry. LrFriess,are you a grappler ? |
| 2/23/04 10:32 PM | |
|
LgFriess
1
Edited: 23-Feb-04 Member Since: 01/01/2001 Posts: 1050 |
Negative Cos ... did a little training while I was in school and that was it. |
Reply Post
You must log in to post a reply. Click here to login.
