15 STEPS TO BECOMING A FALCONER

1. Discover your interest in the sport.

2. Read all the literature that you can find on the subject.

3. Contact the Department of Fish and Game in your state, ask for a Falconry packet.

4. Study the Federal and state regulations.

5. Contact a nearby Falconer and ask if it would be possible to meet him/her.

6. Get yourself invited to go out hawking with a practicing Falconer.

7. Ask yourself if this is really for me, can I devote my life to this?

8. Locate a General or preferably a Master Falconer who is willing to Sponsor you.

9. Schedule to take the Falconry exam with Dept. of Fish and Game.

10. After taking the exam with a passing score continue with the list.

11. Build and have mews inspected.

12. Get together with your Sponsor and acquire the appropriate bird.

13. Spend the next 2 years working with and flying this bird. Take the bird through the molt.

14. Time for deep personal insight is Falconry really for you?

15. Spend the rest of your life in partnerships with some of the most temperamental, unforgiving, beautiful animals on the earth.

This is a brief outline on what steps should be taken in order to become a licensed Falconer in the United States. The order should not be considered set in stone but it is very close to being the ideal path in this endeavor. In addition to the above, if you have never had a State Hunting License you will be required to take a Hunter Safety Course, as in addition to a falconry license you will need a standard hunting license to hunt with your bird.....

For more detailed information check out the Falconry links that I have provided. I hope that this brief introduction of the requirements both legal and moral has given you, the reader a glimpse of how important this sport is to those of us who are Practicing Falconers.