Here is another wrinkle. Suppose you never trap a bird, you buy one. Now suppose you lose this bird. You track him down but he won't come back. You could trap the bird. But since you never have trapped you likely do not own a trap. You don't know how to use the trap, what bait works well, how to throw it, or even where to throw a trap to safely get your bird back.
Trapping is alot of fun. But it also teaches you about the bird you will be flying. Where to find them, It's habits and habitats. And if you ever need to re-trap you at least know what you are doing.
Last Edit: Oct 29, 2011 10:48:04 GMT -5 by nanahawk
Post by icantwaittillim14 on Oct 30, 2011 11:37:44 GMT -5
Sorry for butting in but im 11 and if i study about the birds i can get when 14 as an apprentice. Do you think i should start at 14 and i will be commited to work with the bird every chance i get and i've worked with animals all my life and i have a very good environment for the bird. I have dove,sometimes pigeons, and alot of bats that fly at sunset. But thats for when im ready to hunt like that. Another thing how do i get it to stay with me when i get the bird? sorry for all the questions but im very commited to this.
Sorry for butting in but im 11 and if i study about the birds i can get when 14 as an apprentice. Do you think i should start at 14 and i will be commited to work with the bird every chance i get and i've worked with animals all my life and i have a very good environment for the bird. I have dove,sometimes pigeons, and alot of bats that fly at sunset. But thats for when im ready to hunt like that. Another thing how do i get it to stay with me when i get the bird? sorry for all the questions but im very commited to this.
now i am going to point out many things wrong in this post and thread.
was that first part a question?
knowing the laws.
bats are very protected by law, so i wouldnt count them as falconry game. dove have seasons, so i would be very careful as to hunting dove in fields with shotguns. pigeon are fair game year round.
to kids under 16 wanting to be an apprentice. there is alot of responsibility in being a falconer, you are barely able to see a PG13 movie and you are looking to train a bird that lives to kill. it can be scarey, how are you going to feel the first time your bird tangles with a cat or someones dog? there is alot of emotion when you are trying to compose your self to seperate the 2 and asses damage to both bird and other animal.
and what if the owner of the animal is there to witness it? who is responsible for the attack? you? your sponsor? your parents? i can tell you that at age 14 you wont be paying for it, but mommy and daddy will. mom and dad have enought to worry about besides an unneeded vet bill to save fido. i say wait till you are working age so you atleast have the ability to support your hobby. but that is my opinion. i have a son that wants to be a falconer and i wont let him till he is at least 16 if not 18.
and i ask the dog and cat question cause i have had it happen to me. lucky for me they were stray animals.
Last Edit: Oct 30, 2011 17:26:21 GMT -5 by killjoy
killjoy, slow your roll man. This is an eleven year old kid you're talking to. Do you really expect him to have all of this stuff straight at that age? We should be encouraging youngsters to get into this sport. All of the things you pointed out that were wrong with his post are things he will learn with time and exposure to falconry. I don't know who made you the gatekeeper of falconry, but talking down to a kid like that is uncalled for.
"...no hobby should either seek or need rational justification. To find reasons why it is useful or beneficial converts it at once from an avocation into an industry, lowers it at once to the ignominious category of an exercise undertaken for health, power or profit." -Aldo Leopold
Tampa, the questions i asked are real. i know what an 11 year old will do cause my son was there when it happened. i had another incident the other day with my bird going after and attacking a barn owl. the act of falconry is not the hard part, its the mistakes of falconry that are hard. my son freaked out, their thought process goes a little hay wire when fido is yelping and a HH has its foot in its eye. my son has my 3 years time in falconry and another 2 working with a rehabber. he has a ton of experience with BOP, but these events are kind of hard for a kid to digest. like i said, thoes experiences are from first hand experience, with a bird and an 11 year old.
the act of taking a rabbit is celebrated by hunters every where, but in america dogs and cats are our friends and pets. I freaked out my self, but i had to compose my self to keep the bird from getting hurt by the dog and to minimize the damage to the dog.
your right tampamat, i do encourage kids of all ages to ask questions about the bird and the sport. but when i see an 11, 12, 13.....on up to 17 say they can handle it and they are mature. they are mature for the known parts of it, but when they is an unforseen event, getting OUT of the event while keeping your head shows how ready you are. chances are they might not have an event, but there is a story here in texas where an imprint Harris attacked a girl riding a bike. the hawk was ordered to be euthenised by the courts and the falconer had to pay. dont know how true it is, but scarey if it is true.
killjoy - I don't think it is or should be up to you whether someone is ready for falconry or not. That decision lies with their prospective sponsor and with their parents.
Posting such a heavy handed and condescending response will only serve to scare youngsters away from our sport. First impressions count for a lot, and if you are the first falconer that this kid communicated with, well thats a shame. As complicated as some would like to make it sound, falconry is not rocket science, and is certainly something a properly supervised 14 year old could participate in. I'm not saying everyone that age is up to the task, but those who are should not be prevented from participating because somebody who doesn't know them thinks they are too young/not ready.
Last Edit: Nov 7, 2011 13:06:23 GMT -5 by tampamatt
"...no hobby should either seek or need rational justification. To find reasons why it is useful or beneficial converts it at once from an avocation into an industry, lowers it at once to the ignominious category of an exercise undertaken for health, power or profit." -Aldo Leopold