Well April has came and went and I called back but the lady I spoke with said that her supervisor hasn't said anything to her and said she wasn't told any of the information that I gave her. Guess I'll have to call the other guy back and see what he says. I hope they get the new regs in soon. Won't falconry be canceled by Jan. 2014 in any state that hasn't accepted the new regs?
Maryland DNR finally released the new proposed falconry regs. They up for comments from local falconers. One issue I have with them is that they do not allow apprentice falconers to possess any species of owl. I would ask that anyone from around here ask them to change that to allow apprentice falconers to possess owls as the federal regulations allowed. Here is the link. You will have to scroll down about 3/4 of the way to the Wildlife section.
Why would an apprentice falconer need an owl ? They don't make good falconry birds and can be very difficult for anyone to train let alone an apprentice . If owls are your interest , try volunteering at a wildlife rehab .
Last Edit: May 21, 2013 6:58:58 GMT -5 by echotadog
It is good to have an end to Journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the End. - Ernest Hemingway
Personally, I don't see an owl as being a good choice for an apprentice. Add the fact that the federal regulations prohibit an apprentices from taking an eyas and an is owl pretty much is out of the question.
Post by Falcon Boy on May 21, 2013 17:42:19 GMT -5
I agree with Mark and Echo. I see absolutely no reason an apprentice falconer should have an owl. Falconry is about hunting, and very few individuals in the country (perhaps world?) have been consistently successful hunting with owls.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
I agree with the others as well about the owl thing. I wouldnt try to get people to comment trying to add it or change any thing at the moment either because if you do it will push the time line back even further. If you get them to agree to rewrite any thing first you will have to wait for this comment period to end before they start that then they will rewrite and then it will need to be put back up for public comment all this will push and push the date back that they can be accepted. Even if the comment period goes with out a hitch they still have to be sent to the Feds to approve as well and I dont know how long that will take. NY had ours come off of public comment almost 3 weeks ago now and we arnt expected to be under new regs for another 2-3 months at least.
I absolutely agree with the others, there is no reason an apprentice should have an owl. Owls are more difficult to train and require a lot of patience then most raptors. Apprentices should be more focused on training a bird to successfully take game, which would be better accomplished with a bird such as a passage red tail or ect... not an owl.
Post by itguyinthesky on May 23, 2013 23:20:57 GMT -5
I know this is somewhat intruding in the middle of the conversation. I'm an aspiring Falconer and would like to acquire information and connections via this forum and otherwise. If anyone could point me to the next social event in Maryland? I am currently serving actively in the military at Fort Meade, and am seriously considering this as a full blown hobby down the line. I'm not asking anyone to sponsor me yet (Unless of course you're totally fine sponsoring a highly motivated Soldier!), I'm just looking to make the connections that would make the sponsorship possible. Thank you all very much. I've been doing research on this for the past two weeks and find myself to still be studying it late into the night. I think I'm hooked and I haven't even gone to an event yet :/ lol
I know this is somewhat intruding in the middle of the conversation. I'm an aspiring Falconer and would like to acquire information and connections via this forum and otherwise. If anyone could point me to the next social event in Maryland? I am currently serving actively in the military at Fort Meade, and am seriously considering this as a full blown hobby down the line. I'm not asking anyone to sponsor me yet (Unless of course you're totally fine sponsoring a highly motivated Soldier!), I'm just looking to make the connections that would make the sponsorship possible. Thank you all very much. I've been doing research on this for the past two weeks and find myself to still be studying it late into the night. I think I'm hooked and I haven't even gone to an event yet :/ lol
To expand on this, I've already seen the directory of sponsors for Maryland, I just didn't want to start calling people without first finding some in an online forum (And thank God it exists!) that are relatively close to my location. I think I hit the jackpot for MD right here
First off, thanks for your service to this country.
Unfortunately you came looking at the wrong time of the year. Fall and winter are the active times for falconry. Most people have either released bird they flew last season or have put them up for the molt. At this point your best bet is just hanging out in the forums and see if you can find out when the Potomac Falconers Association has their annual picnic.
Good luck with it. Maryland does have some good falconers.
Post by Falcon Boy on May 24, 2013 10:35:20 GMT -5
Like Mark said the only club that is active in MD anymore (to my knowledge) is the Potomac Falconers Association. They don't have a website and I'm not sure who the president is anymore.
The VA falconry club is pretty active and quite a few of the MD falconers would go over there for their picnic/meets ~8 years ago when I lived there, so it might be worth the trip.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Post by chesapeakehawk on May 27, 2013 16:40:19 GMT -5
The MD club can be frustrating to get ahold of. The last person I talked to was Floyd Presley and he seems to keep in contact with a fair number of people, though the club he is in charge of is very secretive. That said, around your area there are quite a few falconers and you should be able to track one down.
I would also not recommend adding owls as an apprentice bird. The kestrel and the red-tail have worked well in the past and will continue to suit aspiring apprentices well in the future.
As an aside, I noticed that ospreys are no longer on the list of species which cannot be taken? Other than that, I didn't really see anything too surprising on the first read-through, though I will go back through it again and make my comments this week.