A Falconry Manual

A comprehensive guide to Falcons. This book is presented as a summary of practical information on the training of your hawk or falcon. It draws on my earlier works in this field: North American Falconry, 1976; and finally my major work covering the history, training and behavior of birds of prey, The Complete Falconer 1992 (Also Hancock House Publishers). The Eurasian history of falconry reaches as far back in time as the recorded history of mankind. However, in North America of which there is any record were trained and flown in the eastern United States shortly after World War 1. However, until the publication of North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks, there was no comprehensive source of information available which dealt with the techniques of either capturing or training hawks and falcons. Until some kind of administrative common-sense was made of the foregoing, especially in the United States, the writing of a popular book on falconry could not be properly undertaken. This problem arouse because prior to 1983 in the United States the fundamental question, where can I obtain a hawk or falcon? could not be clearly answered. Now, for the first time since the continent-wide protection of North America raptorial birds in the late 1960’s, there is a clear answer. This answer is the right of purchase. The novice can obtain a domestic bred hawk or falcon from a raptor breeder the same way he can obtain a horse, dog, cockatiel or canary. Ownership is transferred with the payment of the purchase price. It is also rewarding that with the re-establishment of the peregrine falcon back into much of its former range, the result of captive breeding and hacking techniques pioneered by falconers, and the consequent downgrading of the bird’s endangered status and the recovery of many birds of prey populations (in all likelihood this will continue to an over abundance and movement to eventually villianize the predator again) that many jurisdictions of North America again permit the capturing of wild hawks and falcons. This adds the option of providing both fresh blood lines for captive breeders and the excitement of capturing your own bird. Falconry is an ancient sport with contemporary objectives of yielding a maximum recreational return for little or no drain on the wild populations.