The Hawking Club held its annual statewide meet in DeWitt Township last week. "Some of the more interesting things that are going on are not written in books." "There's so much information in the sport of falconry that is not written down," he said. The best way to learn is to hang out with other falconers, Koch says. "This is not a pet-keeping thing."Ī bird trapped from the wild can re-adjust fairly easily after being returned to the wild, Cleveland said.Īfter completing an apprenticeship, falconers spend five more years in the general class, after which they can apply to become a master falconer. "Most of our falconers have a lot of history training hawks or training falcons and they are really looking at this as a hunting experience," Cleveland said. Would-be falconers must pass a written test, build a habitat for the bird and have it inspected by a conservation officer and apprentice themselves for two years to an experienced falconer. "You can train a new red-tailed hawk every year or you can keep the same one for years and years."Įither way it's a commitment. Pleasant, a master falconer and communication coordinator for the Michigan Hawking Club, a statewide falconry group. "There are so many types of birds to fly and so many different quarries to hunt," said Kory Koch of Mt. Michigan falconers also are allowed to trap birds in other states, following those states' rules, and bring them here. Some keep the birds for the duration of their lives others return them to the wild after a season or two of hunting. Many falconers trap young red-tailed hawks - less than a year old - in the fall, train them and then hunt through the winter. Michigan issues up to four permits per year for goshawks, two for great horned owls and just one for a snowy owl. Michigan will issue up to 80 permits per year for trapping of young hawks, including red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, sharp-shinned hawks, rough-legged hawks and Cooper's hawks. In Michigan, the majority of birds used in falconry are red-tailed hawks, which are abundant in the wild. "You have no control, really, over the raptor, and what you're watching is a real-life reality show with predator and prey," he said.Īlthough some falconers do hunt with falcons, the name of the sport refers to any hunting done with birds of prey. The rewards can be great, said John Shuell, a master falconer from the Oakland County community of White Lake with more than 20 years' experience. Whitburn is one of about 120 licensed falconers in the state of Michigan, people who follow centuries of tradition in using birds of prey to hunt small game. If you don't want to go, you don't have to go." "Here is the falconer on the ground blowing a whistle and waving a glove. "The falconer is basically trying to create a condition in which the bird looks at hunting with the falconer as more advantageous to its survival," said Karen Cleveland, all-bird biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
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