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Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds.
- Overview
- History
- Types of birds used in falconry
- Terms and equipment
- Hunting and training techniques
falconry, the sport of employing falcons, true hawks, and sometimes eagles or buzzards in hunting game.
Falconry is an ancient sport that has been practiced since preliterate times. Stelae depicting falconry that were created by the Hittites date to the 13th century bce, and cave paintings from prehistoric sites may represent even earlier references to falconry. Merchants, adventurers, and Crusaders from Europe and England became familiar with falconry in the Middle East and on their return home took falcons and falconers with them. The sport flourished in western Europe and the British Isles in the Middle Ages among the privileged classes. During the 17th century, after the advent of the shotgun and after the enclosure of open lands and numerous social upheavals, falconry virtually died out, surviving in Europe largely through the enthusiasm of members of hawking clubs.
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In Great Britain the Falconers’ Society of England was founded about 1770 but ceased in 1838 with the death of the then manager, Lord Berners. Because of the scarcity of herons (a main quarry of the club’s peregrine falcons in East Anglia) and also partly because of the plowing up of the heathland over which the falconers rode, the centre of English falconry moved to the Netherlands, and in 1839 the Loo Hawking Club, an Anglo-Dutch society under the patronage of the crown prince (soon to become King William II) of the Netherlands, was formed. In 1853, when the royal patronage was withdrawn, the Loo Club expired. Falconry was kept alive in England by a few aristocratic amateurs and their professional falconers. Additionally, a series of clubs promoted the sport in Britain, culminating in the British Falconers’ Club in 1927. The reduction of the rabbit population by myxomatosis and the placing of many of the traditional prey species on the protected list had a profound effect on the sport after World War II. All British birds of prey came under the protection of the law, and a license was required from the Home Office before a falconer could take a young hawk for falconry.
Falconry clubs exist in other European countries. The French Club de Champagne went out of existence in 1870, but French falconers are organized in the Association Nationale des Fauconniers et Autoursiers Français. In Germany, the Deutscher Falkenorden (founded in 1923) is a thriving club. In the United States falconry is represented by the North American Falconers Association.
A revival of interest in the sport began in the 1970s. With the reprinting of old treatises on the art, in addition to new magazine articles and television programs on the subject, falconry began to attract new adherents.Michael Henry Woodford
Falconry is practiced worldwide, although it is considered to be a rare sport. Strongholds of the sport exist in Britain, the United States, Central Asia, and several Persian Gulf states—especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Punjab of India and Pakistan and the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan also practice falconry.
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By definition, falconry is the taking of wild quarry with trained birds of prey. All diurnal (active in daytime) birds of prey are termed “hawks” in the language of falconry—whether they are falcons, hawks, or eagles—and all hunt naturally in their wild state. The skill of the falconer is to harness this natural hunting ability by training a hawk to hunt in partnership. While the nature of the sport is the same universally, there are many variations in the style of hunting emanating from the laws of the land, the different species of hawks and falcons native to a certain region, and the type of terrain available for the falconer to hunt over.
The hawks can be divided into three groups—longwings, shortwings, and broadwings. The hawks in each of these three categories display different traits because of adaptation to their hunting environments and prey. Longwings are falcons, such as the peregrine, the saker, and the gyrfalcon. They mainly hunt other birds in flight. Because their pursuit of quarry can take them over considerable distances, longwings are flown over open terrain, such as desert or moorland, so the falconer can keep the falcon in sight. Shortwings and broadwings take predominantly ground game, such as rabbit and hare, or bird species close to the ground, such as a pheasant breaking cover. Physically structured to work in enclosed, wooded countryside, shortwings—which are the true hawks such as goshawks or sparrowhawks—usually hunt from trees, or directly from the gloved fist of the falconer. Finally, the broadwinged group includes eagles and buzzards. The broad wing-bases enable them to soar and they are best suited to hunting in rolling countryside and mountainous terrain, although buzzards can also hunt in wooded areas.
In some countries falconers may legally trap wild hawks, while in others only hawks bred in captivity may be used. In Britain licenses to take hawks from the wild were issued up until the 1980s, but, when sufficient numbers of hawks were domestically produced to meet the demand of falconers, the British government ceased to issue these licenses. In the United States hawks may still be taken from the wild under permit. A system of grading for falconers exists in the United States whereby a novice falconer is apprenticed to a more experienced general or master falconer for a period of two years. The only type of hawk that apprentices in the United States are permitted to train is a wild hawk that was trapped during its first year (before it entered the breeding stock of the species). Apprentices are not, however, allowed to take a young hawk from the nest or to purchase one bred in captivity, because if a hawk acquired from these sources is lost before its training has been completed, it will be unable to hunt for itself. General falconers (with two or more years of experience) and master falconers (seven or more years) in the United States can acquire permits to take wild hawks from the nest, or they may buy a captive-bred hawk. Other parts of the world regulate the taking of wild birds of prey according to the rarity of the species concerned and, in some cases, the experience or credentials of the falconer.
Falconry has its own language, much of which is universal. A young hawk taken from a nest in the wild or bred in captivity is known as an eyas. A hawk trapped during its first year in the wild is called a passager, and a hawk trapped in its adult plumage is termed a haggard. The female peregrine falcon is properly called a falcon, and the male—whic...
There are several different styles of hunting with a trained hawk, the majority of which have been practiced for many centuries. Longwings take prey either “out of hood,” whereby the hood is removed and the falcon flies in direct pursuit from the falconer’s gloved fist straight at quarry, or they are flown in a “waiting on” style, in which the falcon climbs high above the falconer, waiting to “stoop” at game flushed beneath it. Shortwings are natural sprinters and fly from the fist or from a tree in an accelerated burst of speed to close in rapidly on their quarry. Broadwings also fly directly from the fist (or tree) at game, but some, especially eagles, may be trained to soar while the falconer walks beneath them searching for quarry.
Falconers control trained hawks in flight with a combination of visual or oral signals—for example, walking in the direction they wish the hawk to follow or whistling—so it is important that the trained hawk remain in sight, even if it is high and distant, and preferable that it be in close enough proximity to hear a shout or a whistle. So essential is this communication between falconer and bird that the image of the falconer losing control is used in W.B.Yeats’s “Second Coming” as a symbol of chaos and anarchy:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold….
Styles of direct-pursuit hawking with longwings include rook hawking, crow hawking, and houbara hawking—i.e., the hunting of bustard in which Arabs use four-wheel-drive vehicles to follow their prey-pursuing falcons across the desert. An example of a “waiting-on” flight is “game hawking,” in which the prey are game birds such as grouse, pheasant, or partridge and trained falcons are flown over hunting dogs that point to indicate where game is lying in cover. Shortwings and broadwings, depending on their size, are flown at prey ranging from small birds to large mammals. In areas of Central Asia such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, golden eagles are flown at wolves, foxes, and gazelles.
A falconer would fly a falcon, an Austringer, a hawk (Accipiter), or an eagle (Aquila). Falconry became a regulated, revered, and popular sport and status symbol among the nobles and the clergy of medieval Europe. In some religious orders, falcons were even taken into religious services.
Aug 4, 2023 · Falconry is a hunting practice that involves the use of trained birds of prey, typically falcons or hawks, to catch game animals. It is an ancient art that requires a close bond between the falconer and the bird, with the falconer directing the bird's flight and using it to pursue and capture prey.
Jul 12, 2021 · To protect wild raptors and carry an ancient tradition forward, the international falconry community draws on a long legacy of conservation.
The meaning of falconry has changed recently and a falconer is regarded as anyone who flies a bird of prey. One of the most popular species nowadays is the Harris Hawk. It has changed the sport, considerably; as the species naturally works in groups, falconers can fly several at a time.
Falconry is an ancient hunting technique involving the use of trained raptors, typically falcons or hawks, to pursue and capture hunted species. It is practiced as both a sport and a centuries-old cultural tradition around the world.
