# Falconry



## myrddin173 (Feb 6, 2012)

So my character for Machiavel: The Endless Hunt is a Someone who specializes in falconry.  I was all excited but then I realized I didn't know the first thing about it (well I know it involves trained birds of prey so I guess I don't know the second thing about it).  Before I go out into the Internet I thought I would ask you all what _you_ know about falconry.  Any information is helpful and I might have some specific questions soon.

Also if any other players have questions feel free to use this thread.


----------



## Devor (Feb 6, 2012)

myrddin173 said:


> Any information is helpful and I might have some specific questions soon.



I did a lot of reading about it not long ago.  The birds are either raised from birth or captured in a trap at youth, they're kept in mews - which you should probably google a picture of, and they're trained with hoods and trackers and a length of rope that's tied, if I remember right, to something on the bird's leg.  The rope disappears after training, but the bird keeps the hood.  The birds are called Falcons or Raptors, they're "sight" birds, and some breeds are highly intelligent and easy to train for someone with experience.  They cover breeds of hawks, falcons, and small eagles, but the terms for someone using non-falcon birds - like "Hawker" - have died out.

I was looking specifically into using trained owls for something in my writing, and apparently they have been used a little, but  they're a lot harder to train because they use their hearing more than their eyes.  So a lot of the existing techniques don't work.

That's all I've got on the top of my head.


----------



## ascanius (Feb 7, 2012)

Devor said:


> hoods and trackers and a length of rope that's tied, if I remember right, to something on the bird's leg.  The rope disappears after training, but the bird keeps the hood.  The birds are called Falcons or Raptors, they're "sight" birds, and some breeds are highly intelligent and easy to train for someone with experience.



What do you want to know.  I am currently looking for a sponsor to being falconry in my state.  I don't have a bird yet but hopefully by this time next winter we will have done our first hunting season together.  
First hawks are broad winged birds and are less agile, Falcons are long winged birds that are much more agile and able to fly within the trees.  The length of rope is called a creance, the things on the legs are called jesses.  The hood is used to prevent the bird from becoming agitated and from bating (to flap it's wings in attempt to fly while still at the fist.)  Bells are traditionally attached to the jesses to aid in finding the bird once it has made a kill, there is a growing movement towards radio tracking now though.  Hawks, falcons, eagles are all diurnal raptors, a raptor is a bird of prey.  Each species is different in the way it habituates to new surroundings to how easy it is to train.  I can give you any info from breeding, history, up to training and maintenance.  Let me know what info you want because I have five different nice hefty sized books and a little personal experience.  I can also point you to great websites and even people to contact for the area you are in, to some extent.  Also falconry is defined as the training of wild raptors to assist in the capture of live quarry.


----------



## Philip Overby (Feb 7, 2012)

I'm glad this thread is here too, because I wasn't very sure about how falconry worked either.  Youtube is actually a great resource for videos.  I learned a lot about how it generally works.  It seems they just let the hawk or eagle go and then it starts ranging.  When it's finished, the hunter tries to find it by using the bell system.  Then if it catches something, the hunt takes it.  

I saw a really cool video of a golden eagle ranging for hares.  It does this awesome dive bomb sort of thing.  However, it misses the hare (which was incredibly quick and lucky) and sits on the ground, seemingly perplexed at how it missed it.


----------



## Jess A (Feb 7, 2012)

*Ascanius:* Perhaps you could begin by detailing a few simple 'training sessions'. A few basic beginner ones (for bird and trainer) and some for intermediate/experienced. If you're really feeling creative, perhaps you could write it in story-format. 

I challenge you.


----------



## SeverinR (Feb 7, 2012)

Falconry - Modern and Traditional
Good short article.

Falconry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


> "In North America only the American Kestrel and the Red-tailed Hawk are permitted for a beginner falconer during his/her apprenticeship, except in Alaska, where the Northern Goshawk is allowed as it is much more abundant there than the Red-tailed Hawk."


I knew this because we had a falconeer at an SCA event, and also Mercedes Lackey has written about the topic.

Much better having a person with experience or that is pursuing the sport.


I have a story on a back burner (inspired by a pic) about a falconer. Not finding the picture.


----------



## Kelise (Feb 7, 2012)

I think falconry has elements which have changed over the years. For 'olden day' style, the book Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon is fantastic. Also a damn good book to read anyhow. The author is a falconer.

I also have a friend who's a falconer, though she no longer has her goshawk as she travels around a bit. She writes for the BBC and is pretty damn awesome. I wonder if she'd be interested in answering a Q&A if there were interest.


----------

