Getting and keeping the license

What 173.2(d) requires of everyone

A score of eighty percent or higher on the department's written examination.
Equipment and facilities for housing raptors that meet or exceed the standards in 173.6. Your housing must be approved before you may obtain a bird, and you must have jesses or the materials to make them, a leash and swivel, a bath container, and appropriate scales.
A valid New York State hunting license authorizing the hunting of small game.

Application and renewal are on forms provided by the department, under ECL 11-1003 and 173.2. The DEC currently offers the exam several times a year; there is no fee for the exam, two hours are allotted, and a passing result stays valid for three years. Always confirm current dates and details with the Special Licenses Unit.

Term, fee, lapse

All falconry licenses expire on December 31 of every fifth year following issuance. Not annually.
The fee is forty dollars.
Lapsed fewer than 5 years: reinstated at the previous level with proof of certification at that level.
Lapsed 5 years or longer: you complete the 173.2(d) steps again, exam included.

The annual report

Under 173.2(i), all falconers must submit an annual falconry report by December 31 each year, on department forms. It states, for the preceding year, the band numbers, species, sex, age, dates of acquisition, and where or from whom each raptor was acquired.

This is required whether or not you hunted. "An annual report is only required when a falconer's activities included hunting" is false.

Non-residents

A non-resident may practise falconry in New York without a New York falconry license provided they hold a valid New York non-resident small game hunting license, written proof they are legally authorized to practise falconry where they reside, and written proof they legally possess the raptors they are using.

Carrying your paperwork

You must have your permit or legible copies in your immediate possession whenever you are away from your facilities and trapping, transporting, working with or flying your birds. You must also have your license on your person specifically when capturing raptors.

How you lose it

Under 173.2(g) the department may seize and place your raptors if you fail to provide proper care in a way that jeopardises the bird, let a raptor become a public nuisance, no longer hold a valid license, fail to comply with license terms, fail to renew properly, or exceed the possession limits for your class. Under 173.2(h), DEC may deny or refuse to renew a license for anyone convicted of, or settling by civil compromise, any ECL violation within the previous three years. Suspension and revocation are the State's responsibility, not the federal government's.