🎯 Hunting & Training · 5 min
Field manners
Why this matters
Most days in the field include other people, and a small number of habits keep those days from ending badly.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- State where a companion should walk relative to the falconer
- Describe what a visitor should do while a falconer calls a bird
- Explain why hunting frequently is itself good husbandry
Which side to walk on
Hawks sense strangers quickly and are uneasy with unfamiliar people behind them. So a companion walks on the side opposite the hand carrying the bird. Right-handed falconers traditionally carry on the left hand, so the companion walks to the right. After a few trips out, most falconry birds settle to the presence of other people.
While the bird is being called
A visitor should stand still and stay quiet, and keep well clear: both of the sensible answers, together. A bird coming to the fist is committing to a target, and any movement in the field is a reason to change its mind.
Hunt often
The benefits of hunting your bird frequently are, again, all of them: fitness, skill, a bird that behaves, and a bird that stays healthy. Some hawks lose condition very quickly when they are not flown regularly. There is no substitute for vigorous flying, and wing-flapping or bating at the perch is not one.
Equipment in the field
Carry the lot: lure, telemetry, spare jesses, a knife, a hawking bag, glove. The lure is the indispensable item. Without it you are just a person standing in a field, as far as your bird is concerned.
A word on ethics
The manual closes its regulations section on this note and it belongs here too: falconers are bound by the ethics of the sport, by New York's regulations, and by tradition, to always leave at least one young in any eyrie. Leaving young in the nest lets the adults finish their breeding cycle, which establishes their tie to the site and brings them back to it.
This lesson is part of the NY Falconry Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.