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FALCONRYAN INTRODUCTION TO FALCONRY Content and photos by Adrian Hallgarth Falconry is a sport which dates back almost 4000 years and originated in China - it’s defined by the Oxford dictionary as the sport of hunting wild quarries using a trained bird of prey.For our early ancestors, it wasn’t a sport or pastime but an essential way of providing your family or village with that all important protein to survive yet another day, practised by the most skilled members of the community, and something for which they carried great respect from their piers. Most of these Falconry skills traditionally passed from father to son died out with the invention of the firearm in the 16th Century. How could these fickle birds, with their time consuming training, compete with the effective and relatively maintenance free option of a gun? Books on falconry written prior to the invention of the firearm were generally written by the Clergy classes, who although literate often wrote from a observational perspective rather than an actual practitioner. This left a gaping hole for the next generation of falconers who had to fill in the gaps omitted by our much more skilled ancestors. The revivalist, Colonel Thornton, was a leading figure in the renaissance period in falconry (the mid 17th century), after which several clubs were formed, including the Loo Hawking club in Holland. This high society sporting club was patronised by William of Orange and attracted the very best nobles from across Europe. Their predominant sport was that of Heron hawking on horseback over the wide expanses of heath land and marshland in Holland. The assembled field (sometimes numbering over 100 hundred riders) would attempt to follow the pursuit and ringing flights of their falcons on Herons, which in an attempt to out-fly their pursuer would regurgitate any fish in their crops before mounting high into the sky flying in wide circles.  The falcon, or sometimes falcons followed pace, until eventually it was hoped that the Heron would be overcome by the pressure and harassment of its pursuer. Interestingly, very few of the herons caught were actually killed - they were preferably rung either on the leg or neck, to offer sport on another occasion.Our ancestors were only interested in the very best birds, generally trapped as adults in the wild. These birds were referred to as Haggards and enjoyed the success realised by just 20% of the species, surviving their first winter! These birds already had a full set of flying and hunting skills, and just needed to be humanised and trained to return to their handler before sport could be enjoyed. No so in modern falconry... All birds used legally for the sport in the UK must be legally held, usually born in captivity. These vastly inferior birds have no inherent flying or hunting skills and it is part of the role of the modern falconer to be able to educate and train these birds. Not an easy task for the uninitiated! Scotland is the spiritual home to many falconers across Europe, offering some of the last vestiges of wild places and more importantly wild game, to be found in the British Isles. It has to be said that the Red Grouse remains to my mind still one of the most spectacular quarries to hunt with a trained bird of Prey. So what do I need to start? The essential ingredients for good falconry are both spare time and access to ground rich in suitable quarry. Falconry is a winter sport, and falconers observe the same hunting seasons as any other sportsman. Next, you will need the help of an experienced mentor. Falconry in all of its forms cannot be learned on a short course (many of which are often advertised, and are on the whole a waste of time and money) There are several good clubs in the UK (Scottish Hawking Club, British Falconers Club) A good way to begin is to attend a club field meet, and find out if there is anyone locally to you who might be prepared to set you off down the right path. Alternatively, there are now several commercial establishments (mine included) who will train you over a longer period (normally 12 months, part time) in preparation to acquiring your first bird.  Choice of Bird:This largely depends on the ground you have available and more importantly the quarry you have there! Some families of birds are historically easier for the beginner to train than others such as the Buteos (Buzzards) and Para-Buteos (Harris Hawks), both of which are easily capable of taking Game up to pheasant size as well as rabbit and perhaps Hares (regularly with large Buteos). As a general rule of thumb, the more challenging the quarry species, the more difficult the bird species to train. Cost of a bird: Expect to pay anything between £200-£600 for a good Harris Hawk. Try to avoid purchasing a trained bird. Birds trained by someone else take time to adjust to a new owner’s differing ways and means, and much upset and wasted time can be saved by starting with a fresh untouched bird which can be moulded and bent into your own style and ways. Ultimately the results you achieve with a raw youngster start to earn you the coveted title of “Falconer”. A well bred bird isn’t usually too expensive, but the accommodation you provide and time you spend training can add up to thousands! Time: You are going to need a minimum of 2 hrs each day to train, hunt and keep your bird fit! This doesn’t sound like much until you try to steal this time from the short winter days! The accommodation needed by a falconer or Austringer (someone who trained and hunts with Hawk) needs to fulfil two roles. You will need somewhere a trained bird can be accommodated through the flying and hunting winter, and somewhere where this same bird can be turned free to Moult or change its feathers during the moult (usually March –Aug) Wire cages and Pens are of no use and simply damage feathers! You may need heated accommodation in particularly cold weather, and obviously good drainage as any bird accommodation needs to be kept scrupulously clean. In my experience good accommodation is best planned after spending time looking at other falconers setups and seeing what does and doesn’t work for them. Falconry assistants: As well as your bird, you are going to need a game finding/ flushing assistant in the form of a working dog or ferret. Ferrets are obviously only any use to someone who wishes to bolt rabbits, but working dogs used in falconry fall into two simple categories, Pointers and controlled flushers. Pointing breeds and HPR’s (Hunt point retrievers) fulfil just about every role you would ever need in a falconry dog but obviously require time to train, and if this is your intended route I would suggest getting your young pointer at least 2 years before the arrival of your first falconry bird. This will give you the time to train and prepare your dog for the arrival of a rather paranoid and slightly mental first bird! Flushing breeds such as spaniels and labs can be well employed with certain types of falconry birds, but generally lack sufficient flushing control to be truly as useful as a pointer. I know of several “Mutts” or cross breeds that have turned into incredible hawking partners, but generally most have taken years of training and experience to become poor relatives of the pure working breeds. Modern dangers: With the price of captive bred birds so low just now, please don’t fall into the trap that many new falconers do and buy several birds. The outcome for almost all of these people is several half trained and unfit generally kept in cramped, sub-standard accommodation. As a sportsman who has enjoyed many field sports over the years, including riding to hounds, driven shooting, wildfowling, stalking and punting, a good days hawking for me is head and shoulders above all other forms of sport. That said, falconry isn’t for everybody and a lot of serious thought and planning should be made before jumping into this ancient and often frustrating art. Falconry is alive and well in Scotland, and if practised by responsible people, I see no reason why our children and their grandchildren shouldn’t enjoy the sport of kings! For information on training apprenticeships, please call Adrian Hallgarth at Phoenix Falconry on 01764 682823 www.scottishfalconry.com or read his book “Falconry and Hawking for beginners” Published by Hancock House. |
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