I was talking to someone who spends a lot of time around falconers in the Gulf and I genuinely had no idea how serious it gets at the top end. I always assumed the expensive part was just buying a really good bird but apparently some of these guys have trainers, specialist vets, travel arrangements, breeding contacts, tracking gear the whole thing.

He was telling me that a lot of the serious owners don’t even deal with random people directly anymore, everything goes through people they already know. He showed me a Kibu pod with a few trainers and people involved with the birds and said that’s basically how they keep everyone coordinated when they travel or when plans change. It honestly sounded more like managing a racehorse than owning a bird. For people who have been around falconry in the UAE/Qatar/Saudi side of things, how expensive does it actually get once you’re doing it seriously?

I've been buying day-old chicks from a local supplier but they're inconsistent on freshness and I've had a couple of batches that smelled off when I thawed them. I want to find a more reliable source, ideally US farm-raised so I know what I'm getting. Any recommendations?

Hello all, I've been really trying to understand the arguments on hunting, specifically within the UK, but everywhere else, too. I'm interested in ecology and conservation and can see how they can all intersect, but find the hunting communities in the UK particularly aggressive, so I'm unsure how to interact to ask questions!

Does anybody hunt with their birds but disprove of non natural hunting with guns? I find the idea of falconery quite good (perhaps because it can be seen as "natural"?) but dislike practises such as fox hunting as I believe it is cruel and too much of a sport. I don't approve of humans killing for sport, but falconery feels different as it's sort of working with a bird of prey. Maybe that's naive.

I also can understand hunting for overpopulation of animals, i.e., deer in the US. I don't know. I'm rambling, but I'd just like to hear people's opinions as it's a really hard thing to find any balance on. Where do you stand on hunting? Where do you draw the line? Do you find trapping birds of prey to not be unethical? (It's not legal in the UK) Do you legitimately enjoy the "killing" part, or do you see it as necessary?

Other than the mews, what are all the basic starter equipment needed? Whats the minimum equipment you NEED? Along with some suggested items.

I know you need a hood, jesse’s, anklets, leash, glove, bells, perch/scale

And where are some suggested places to buy these items? (in the US)

Trapped this female anatum last day of trapping season, Aug 31. Posted a little about her here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Falconry/s/HbafVa5guW

She killed her first head of game, a hun, today. From only a 600’ pitch. She’s been giving me about 700 average with a couple over 800 and one over 900 in the past 7-10 days. Flying really nice - has killed (unintentionally) 3 of my nice homers already. Really a hard flying bird, pumps constantly, none of the setting and gliding.

Huns are in a population trough (it seems to be a 10 year cycle and it’s been over 10 since the last crash) and grouse - both the sharptail and sage grouse - are declining in my valley year over over and this year is no different. But we should be able to put another handful (or two) of head in the bag before season end, and she is motivated with the pigeons so I suspect I’ll have her pitches well over 1000’ by season end.

Happy hawking , everyone!

Getting started with a kestrel and trying to figure out frozen feeder options. Most resources mention either quail or chicks as the standard, but I've also seen people mention frozen mice and rats for smaller raptors. Is there a genuine nutritional or practical reason to choose one over the other, or is it mostly about what's available?

So, I've noticed in images of these buteos that their wings are pointed, so does this make them noticeably fast or anything?

I'm pretty young not gonna say my age cuz Reddit will kick me off the app but I'm young and I'm just getting in to falconry I'm in my state club I've been on a hunt went to the apprentice workshop and I know a icon in the community his name is Frank Taylor and he's been great help but even with that I still want to soak up all the knowledge I can so if anyone has any advice I'm all ears

NAFEX is dead and this is the only social media I have so I’ll ask here.

I trapped a passage female peregrine Aug 31. Had her flying free in 25 days. She is giving me 700ft +\- now with 2 flights in the past week over 800 and yesterday’s over 900. It’s gets better every flight and she is fully into the program. She pumps her wings nonstop not setting and gliding (unlike the last passage female I flew a while ago) and flies better than the chamber female I flew, too. Sticks with me as I move and has figured out good position, staying upwind. She will be over 1000 in no time and by end of season who knows. She is a nice bird, lets me just pick her up, rides the fist well, eats politely on the lure or pigeon.

She’s already killed 2 of my homers in fair flight (unintentional) and it’s just a matter of time on game (tomorrow - tomorrow is the day!) Bird numbers are low this year but we’ve had two flights on huns, one in 20+ wind where she still put herself 300 upwind and had one dump on her as she closed and the other when she was only 550, too wide , and just barely got beat as they made the creek and cover. We’ve also had 2 hun slips ruined with dog on point, her mounting, and a prairie falcon (same field same bird) coming in causing the two of them to go at it ending up with no flight and me chasing her down. Plus one sharptail ‘missed’ flight.

She is flying great.

What’s not great is standing on a perch. The first day I put her in my weathering area unhooded, she took one look at the bath, hopped in, then sat and dried for 30+ minutes before any bating started. Since then, she has not taken a bath and barely minutes after the hood comes off the bating and banging starts. It’s been a couple weeks of this. I put her out there hooded after flying. She sits nice, preens, rouses, tucks a foot. As soon as the hood comes off, the bating starts. I’ll give her 20 minutes of this, pick her up and sit with her on the fist in the sun for 15-30, then put her back in there hooded a while before taking her in.

It is infuriating. My first three peregrine (passage female, chamber female, chamber tiercel) and a passage prairie falcon have all been easy to get weathering and bathing. My last tiercel and her have been nonstop. The tiercel was especially bad. He would not only bang constantly, he’d stand on the perch wings out and turn circles causing his jesses to wrap his legs, even the plastic bullet jesses I switched to would occasionally wrap. Two years of constant stress for me, despite him being and absolutely incredible flying bird, over 2000ft pitches his second season, killing a lot of huns and plenty (too many) of my nice homers on the days we didn’t get points, often remounting for second (and occasionally third) flights.

With the last one I tried moving the weathering yard multiple times. Switching to a shelf perch in the weathering yard. Going to a shelf + block so he could jump back and forth (which did help a bit).

With this one I’ve moved the yard a couple times but no difference. Right now it has two side solid walls, two open, with a shade cloth over top. Doesn’t matter if I am sitting out there with her or not or if the dogs are out running around or not. Constant bating. She isn’t bating to me or away from me, just bating. I’ve never fed her on the block or anything and she is fairly full when she goes out with partial crop. Maybe a full crop after taking a head of game will help, I don’t know.

Any suggestions? What can I change to make her more comfortable?

If it doesn’t get better by end of season then I will make sure she is in great condition, feed her up, then release her in the spring. No matter how nice she is otherwise or how well she is flying. The stress isn’t worth it as I learned with the last tiercel.

Just curious on those (especially in the US) on how much you guys spend a month? or even a year, on your birds. Especially food. I’m also curious on where you source food. I plan to try to start falconry soon, within the next year, i’m just trying to get a general idea of costs and places to shop lol

I’m also curious on how much (on average) the costs are for all the equipment starting off (not including the mews)

Hi! I'm really interested in falconry and would love to meet some falconers and other people who share this interest.

I'm still learning about falconry, and I have lots of questions and things I'd love to learn about. I'd really like to have someone to chat with privately rather than make a separate post for every question.

I'd also love to hear about your personal experiences, learn more about working with birds of prey, and hopefully make some friends along the way!

If anyone would be up for a chat, feel free to send me a DM! :)

Went to check on my girl today, she’s heavy at the moment so didn’t expect to work with her much. To my surprise she had caught a squirrel in the mews! Thought it was pretty cool.

i was not at this funeral, all i’m told is that director came up to coworker after the casket was lowered into the ground, handed coworker the falcon wrapped in a towel and asked him to place on top of the casket. i know they’re hard to get licenses for if it was actually his

at first i thought they placed his old pet with him as if it was a taxidermy or something but different coworker said it was definitely not stuffed and head was dangling loosely. confused why it wasn’t put within the casket, is there some sort of tradition with falconers? and if it was dangling loosely i imagine it recently died, so obviously makes me think they killed it to place with the person. i doubt the bird died same time as owner unless it was like an old man who had been dead for a while and nobody checked on him. idk definitely one of the more odd stories i’ve heard while working at the cemetery

Hey everyone!
WISCONSIN here :)
I am beginning my falconry journey from step one.
I have been familiarizing myself with the lifestyle and I have done the small game hunting license requirement. My next step would be to take the exam.
Besides the reading materials listen on the DNR websites and falconry websites. Are there any study materials you found particularly helpful? What should I keep in mind during the exam or for the exam?
Thanks!

I’m incredibly interested in trying to get into falconry. I haven’t yet begun the process to get a license and would like to see if I can see a hunt in action before I try my hand in this.

It was pretty cool to be this close to a bird of prey (I've only taken photos in the wild)

(Photos taken with a crop sensor and a 500mm f4)

I’m very interested in falconry. Before I go through the time intensive process of apprenticeship and getting my own bird, I wanted to see if someone in Northern Utah would be open to me tagging along for a day. I need to better acquaint myself with everything that goes into this. Please send a DM if you’re open!