What is Falconry?
Falconry is the sport of taking quarry with a trained bird of prey and then sharing in the bounty. It is the sport of kings with a rich and global history.
Falconry and our history
Falconry is believed to be a 4000 year old sport, but at the Abu Dhabi Symposium on “Falconry: a World Heritage” in September 2005, many experts met and discussed falconry and its origins and found that “In documented Iranian history the one who used birds of prey for the first time was Tahmooreth, a king of the Pishdadid dynasty, 2000 years before Zoroaster who himself lived around 6000 BC. This could mean hunting with falcons has a background of 8,000 to 10,000 years.”
https://iaf.org/a-history-of-falconry/
There have been many famous falconers through out all of history that you may have heard of:
Henry VIII
Henry VIII was a huge falconry enthusiast, and probably the most important falconry enthusiast since Fredrick II. In fact Henry VIII almost lost his life on a falconry outing with his other nobleman. His bird caught quarry across a creek and Henry decided that he would pole vault himself over with a flag pole. When he attempted to do this, the flag pole broke and he got his head stuck in the mud. Had his noblemen not been there to pull him out, he would have likely died and imagine how this would have affected history today! This famous scene is actually played out on the Showtime series “Tudors”, but unfortunately they left out the detail that it was a falconry outing.
Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, king of Sicily and Jerusalem.
Fredrick is considered by many to be the greatest falconry enthusiast of all time. He wrote a book on falconry, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (The Art of Falconry), that took him 30 years to complete! It was written in the 1240’s and it is still considered the backbone of all falconry. Interestingly, Fredrick’s love and obsession with falconry often disrupted his ability to lead; He once lost a campaign because he decided to go hawking rather than continue a siege on a fortress.
Kublai Khan
In 1276 Marco Polo reported that when Kublai Khan would go out on a hunt, he would take more than 500 raptors and they would be attended by 10,000 falconers. These numbers in all honesty were probably very exaggerated, but none the less, they show the impression that Kublai Khan’s bird collection had. Kublai Khan is the grandson of the famous Genghis Khan.
The Boke of St. Albans
According the The Boke of St. Albans, written by Dame Juliana Barnes, prioress of Sopwell nunnery in 1486, you were only permitted to have a bird that equated with your social ranking.
Emperor: Golden eagle, Vulture and Merlin
King: Gyrfalcon (Male or Female)
Prince: Female Peregrine Falcon
Duke: Rock Falcon (Subspecies of the Peregrine)
Earl: Peregrine Falcon
Baron: Male Peregrine Falcon
Knight: Saker Falcon
Squire: Lanner Falcon
Lady: Female Merlin Falcon
Yeoman: Goshawk or Hobby
Priest: Female Sparrowhawk
Holywater clerk: Male Sparrowhawk
Knaves, Servants, Children: Old World Kestrel
Falconry Today
Falconry is still practiced all over the world. It is legal in the USA with the exception of Hawaii. Falconry Laws are very strict guidelines that ensure the birds safety and health as well as the ethics of the sport. So much so, that Falconry is the most regulated sport in the USA.
To become a falconer in the United States you must first go through a 2 year apprenticeship under a master falconer. This phase includes taking a state exam covering general raptor knowledge including biology, general and medical care, housing, and regulations. The apprentice must also build a mew (facility for a bird of prey) and have it inspected by the state. An apprentice may be no younger than 16 years of age. The next falconry class is general which may be no younger than 21 years of age. A falconer must be general class for at least 5 years before progressing to master class.
The best way to become a falconer is to go through your states local club in order to meet Master Falconers that are willing to take on an apprentice.
