Things You'll Need:
- Mews
- Weathering yard
- Falconry permit
- Hoods
- Jesses
- Perches
- Anklets
- Gauntlet
- Leash
- Telemetry
- Lure
- Game
- Frozen prey Items
- Trap
- Bait
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Step 1
Find an experienced falconer willing to take you on as an apprentice. Beginning falconers are required by law to complete a two-year apprenticeship. You may not legally begin training your first raptor unless you are apprenticed to a general class or master class falconer.
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Step 2
Trap your first raptor. Apprentice falconers may trap between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31 and may trap either a red-tailed hawk or an American kestrel.
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Step 3
Man your bird. This means getting your newly captured raptor used to human contact. Offer the raptor lots of high-quality food until it will readily feed from your hand and will fly to your glove to feed. Your raptor should receive food only from your fist.
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Step 4
Train your bird on jump-ups. Use a conditioned reinforcer--something like a click or whistle that tells an animal it has performed the correct behavior and that it will receive a food reward--to reinforce your raptor for jumping from a low perch to your fist. Try to teach your raptor to do at least 100 jump-ups each evening.
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Step 5
Train with a lure. Attach a falconry lure to a rope and swing or drag it until your raptor attacks it. Your raptor should return to your fist with the lure to receive a food reward from you.
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Step 6
Make sure your raptor will come to you from a significant distance before flying free at game. Practice until your raptor will fly to you from a distance of 100 yards without hesitation.
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Step 7
Hunt with your raptor. Travel to an area with abundant small game of a type that your raptor can safely capture. If you have done enough practicing with your lure, your raptor will wait until game is flushed, capture the game and return to your fist for a reward.
