Getting Started

The decision to pursue falconry deserves careful thought because it is not a hobby you can set aside when life gets busy. A falconry bird requires daily attention three hundred and sixty-five days a year without exception. Every morning, you will weigh your bird, assess its condition, provide fresh water, and clean its living space. During the hunting season, which runs roughly from September through February in most states, you will spend additional hours in the field pursuing quarry. This is not a seasonal commitment that pauses when the weather turns cold or your schedule fills up. Your bird depends on you every single day, and there is no calling in sick from that responsibility.

Financially, most aspiring falconers can expect to invest between one thousand and three thousand dollars to get started, covering licensing fees, facility construction, basic equipment, and a telemetry system to track their bird in flight. Ongoing annual costs for food, veterinary care, equipment replacement, and license renewals typically run between five hundred and fifteen hundred dollars. These numbers are manageable for most people with steady income, but the financial commitment is real and ongoing. The larger investment, and the one that surprises most beginners, is time. During hunting season, expect to dedicate ten to twenty hours per week to falconry activities, and even in the off-season, daily bird care requires thirty to sixty minutes without fail.

The apprenticeship system is the backbone of falconry education and has been for centuries. Before you can practice independently, you must serve a minimum two-year apprenticeship under the guidance of a licensed General or Master falconer who agrees to be your sponsor. This mentor will teach you the practical skills that no book or website can fully convey: how to read your bird’s body language, how to adjust weight management based on subtle behavioral cues, when to push forward in training and when to step back, and how to handle the inevitable setbacks that every falconer faces. Finding a good sponsor is often the most time-consuming step in the process, but it is also one of the most important relationships you will build in your falconry career.

One of the most common misconceptions about falconry is that it is primarily about the bird, the glamour of a hawk on the fist or the thrill of watching a stoop. In reality, falconry is primarily about the falconer. It is about developing the patience to sit quietly while your bird learns to trust you, the discipline to maintain meticulous records of weight and feeding, the humility to accept advice from more experienced practitioners, and the resilience to keep going when a training session goes wrong or you lose a bird in the field. The people who succeed in falconry are not necessarily the most talented or the wealthiest. They are the most consistent, the most patient, and the most willing to put the bird’s welfare ahead of their own convenience.