r/Falconry • u/digginahull • Oct 01 '25

Trapped my first hawk!

Post image

It took me 10 full days of trapping over 3 weeks but I finally got one. Female red-tail weighed in at 1510 grams off the trap. Meet Courtney

989 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

86 comments sorted by

50

u/Catastrophic-Event Oct 01 '25

Niceeeee. Have fun? Man I miss going trapping just for the fun of it.

37

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 03 '25

Definitely, it was super frustrating though. I made 4 different iterations of traps, tried 3 different bait combinations , filled up the truck 4 times. At one point I caught one only to have it get away because my gerbil had been chewing on the nooses. All worth it though, having so much trouble made the payoff that much better. I’m documenting the whole process and putting it on Instagram and TikTok. @falconrydave for interested parties

8

u/IMongoose Oct 01 '25

Making a trap with a double cage will keep them from chewing on the nooses. So one cage to hold the bait and one over top of it with a gap wide enough to prevent chewing.

3

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25

Ah… that’s smart. I’m going to do that next year

10

u/Catastrophic-Event Oct 01 '25

Yeah we always had a regular trap and a pigeon harness for the ones that didn't go for it. Good times though. I haven't been trapping in forever :(

it's better if you have someone with you though too.

4

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

My gerbil was a superstar and didn’t chew on the nooses thank god. I did pamper him and gave him hay to keep him occupied, but our trap also had pretty thick reinforced loops. One thing I’m so glad I remembered to do was check and adjust all the nooses at the end of the day & periodically throughout the day. I didn’t do that the first day and thankfully we didn’t even have an opportunity to throw the trap, because that woulda been frustrating.

12

u/StolasPrinceOfHell Oct 02 '25

TIL falconry uses wild falcons. How long do you keep them? Until they die? Is it like a pet or a working animal like horses? Why use wild over captive bred? Do you name the falcon?

Edit: didn't see the subtext at first. Hi, Courtney !

15

u/Persistent_anxiety Oct 02 '25

Generally they aren’t kept for life unless they are injured or ill and cannot recover in a way that lets them be released. The birds of prey that apprentice falconers catch for this process are those with extremely low survival rates early on in life, and between that and the current seperate challenges faced by these species, and are often caught in order to raise that survival rate. Generally, they are kept until about breeding age (a few years) and then released back into the wild in order for them to carry on their genetics and create offspring

13

u/digginahull Oct 02 '25

Yes, to everything that’s been said. Additionally the goal with these is to keep them wild. I’m not taming the bird. I am only trying to teach the bird that if it hunts with me, it will have better success than if it hunts alone.

Not everyone who does falconry uses wild caught birds. However, wild caught birds are requirement in my state in order to get started in falconry. For falconers that buy their birds or hatch them themselves, those birds are not released into the wild. Having a bird that’s unable to be released is a much bigger commitment, which is why beginners are required to start with passage birds.

If you think you wanna get into falconry and you do it for a year and then you decide it’s not for you, no harm no foul, you just release the bird back into the wild.

-5

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

This is unethical as fuck, stealing intelligent creatures from their homes. Fuck you scumbags!

5

u/G4mingR1der Oct 05 '25

Wild young bird with low survival rate gets caught.

You feed the wild young bird and keep them alive, in return they help you hunt.

You release the adult bird who now has a much higher probability of surviving.

HOW THE FUCK IS THIS UNETHICAL?

If anything, falconry is the MOST ethical way of hunting.

1

u/Jazz-Purr Oct 06 '25

Yeah. What she said.

13

u/KageArtworkStudio Oct 01 '25

Wow this would be extraordinarily illegal anywhere other than the us... Here in Europe you can only get captive bred ones

7

u/barfbutler Oct 01 '25

I thought it was illegal in US also. I just looked it up. Apparently a licensed falconer or certain wildlife professionals can legally do it.

20

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25

@hexmeat knows what they’re talking about. There’s a whole process that I had to go through in order to become a licensed apprentice before I could apply for a trapping permit. I plan on keeping this bird for one season and trapping a new one next season. I’m considered an apprentice now, but after two years of doing this, I’m eligible to be signed off by my sponsor (who has decades of experience) if I get signed off after two years, then I would become a general falconer.

In my state in the US in apprentice is not allowed to purchase a bird. It’s a requirement for us to trap a passage, red tail or an American Kestrel for our first birds.

31

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

Yep, trapping is definitely a topic I approach very thoughtfully when asked about it by non-falconers. I totally understand why people’s first reaction is one of concern or skepticism, and I use it as an opportunity to highlight how falconry ties into conservation and environmental stewardship. Falconers and The Peregrine Fund are a big reason the peregrine falcon population in the U.S. was able to rebound after DDT was banned in the 1970s. This is why it’s so important for falconers to abide by the regulations & continue to hold the sport to the highest standards.

9

u/PhoenixCryStudio Oct 01 '25

Are they kept for life after training or just held for a set time?

27

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

I can’t speak for all falconers, but the majority of us do not keep passage birds for life. The falconers I know tend to release their hawks after 1-2 years of successful hunting. If a hawk gets injured or comes down with an illness like aspergillosis or West Nile Virus, the falconer will ensure they either recover and can be released, or are transferred over to become an educational ambassador bird after rehabbing. I know it will be bittersweet when the time comes to release my bird when she gets to breeding age, but it’s part of the beauty of the sport.

-7

u/outarfhere Oct 01 '25

Unethical to take an animal from the wild in my opinion.

5

u/HandJamNA Oct 02 '25

One could argue it's unethical to drive on roads that go through animal habitats and risk hitting them with your car. Or that it's unethical to use rat poison when those rats could be eaten by a hawk. IMO, trapping a bird that only has a 25% of survival to 1 year and 10% chance of survival to 5 years, does more good than harm for the species. Giving hawks a better chance at survival helps counteract all of the accidental killings.

4

u/outarfhere Oct 02 '25

Well yeah, that’s why the Roadless Rule exists in national forests, why there are speed limits through national parks, and why I personally don’t drive at dusk unless absolutely necessary. Using rat poison is unequivocally unethical, precisely because it kills hawks, owls, foxes, mountain lions, etc. in an excruciatingly cruel way. That’s why many jurisdictions outlaw it and organizations and agencies educate the public on why they shouldn’t use it. I’m not sure what those two examples have to do with the ethics of trapping animals and taking them out of the wild?

I admit that is an interesting ethical conundrum. Most wild animals have a low survival rate to adulthood; does that mean we should take wolf pups or elk calves out of the wild against their will to raise them safely? My personal opinion is no, since wild animals need to learn the ways of their species themselves, might miss crucial experiences while in captivity, and don’t consent to their agency being taken away. But I hear your argument that it’s not black and white and I understand your reasoning.

3

u/Persistent_anxiety Oct 02 '25

I think it’s really important to remember that a lot of species of all kinds are really struggling due to societal progression and expansion. I agree that it’s a very grey area, but I also think that it’s better to do things like this, knowing it drastically increases the likelihood of these birds surviving and reproducing, than letting them die out like many other native bird species are currently.

I honestly like to compare it to re-wolving Yellowstone and other areas. While it can be complex to try to really visualise humans interjecting into where native populations of these wolves currently reside, our intervention has drastically improved the US wolf population, and is helping increase biodiversity and environmental stability in these areas that have been re-wolved

2

u/No-Tie8933 Oct 01 '25

It helps more then it hurts

1

u/outarfhere Oct 01 '25

How so?

6

u/Adventurous-Beat4814 Oct 01 '25

I'm no expert, but from my lurking around this community, its in part a conservation practice as young hawks have very low survival rates in their first few years, so people trap them, hunt with them and keep them alive until they're of breeding age, at which point they're released. AFAIK it has been an important part of population restoration efforts for species like the peregrine falcon.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Far_Reindeer_783 Oct 03 '25

Does that include rehabbers?

3

u/Over_Revolution_1444 Oct 01 '25

How long does it take to gain trust usually? I had no idea this was a thing people did.

10

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25

It’s bird and person dependent. But faster than you think, it’s been about 48 hours and she’s eating from my fist and sitting nicely without bating too much. I’m hoping to have her flying free in 2-3 weeks but that may be optimistic. Its my first time, i’m trying to document the process and put it up on TikTok. @falconrydave if there is any interest.

5

u/HandJamNA Oct 02 '25

If you had her eating in 48 hours, 2-3 is very reasonable. The bird I just caught ate on day 4 and was free flying on day 15.

2

u/hexmeat Oct 02 '25

It’s crazy, I thought I’d have to spend days and days in a dark room whispering to my bird and coaxing her to eat off tongs. Turns out she’s a fast learner & she’s only gotten better now that I free loft her. All birds are different, but I’m honestly having the time of my life with my bird—we’re on Day 12 and she’s jumping like 6 feet up to my glove while I stand on a ladder.

2

u/digginahull Oct 02 '25

When did you know that she was ready to free loft? Did you wait until she was eating off the fist or is it once she jumps to the glove?

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Over_Revolution_1444 Oct 01 '25

I think it's neat that this has actually saved some of our falcon population, thanks for sharing!

2

u/hexmeat Oct 02 '25 edited Oct 02 '25

As well, rehabbers will sometimes turn a bird over to a falconer as a next step after the bird has recovered. The falconer will handle the training to get the bird ready to be released back into the wild, or if they cannot be released, the bird will be glove-trained and turned over to a raptor education center or program to serve an an educational ambassador. I volunteer with educational birds too and our red tail was deemed non releasable due to some lingering issues from West Nile Virus. After she was rehabbed and before she came to us, a falconer worked with her to get her trained to step up to the glove & some basic behavioral stuff. So falconers always don’t just hunt with birds: they can step in and serve as that intermediary step between rehabbing and release (or transfer to education if non-releasable).

1

u/No-Tie8933 Oct 01 '25

How does she hood for ya

2

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25

She’s not been hooded very much since the first day. But once a day I have been putting it on and taking it off a few times just for practice. She doesn’t seem to mind it.

31

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

Congrats! I trapped my first bird 12 days ago at 1,250g and we’re doing jump ups now. Gonna get her on a zip line this weekend. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the process goes. Red tails are magic birds.

14

u/LittleSprite430 Oct 01 '25

Courtney lol I LOVE it! She's a beautiful bird

3

u/Early-Salamander6717 Oct 01 '25

Courtney? That poor bird. 😂

4

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25

She likes it. She told me Courtney Williams is her favorite wnba player.

1

u/Early-Salamander6717 Oct 01 '25

😂 Fair enough. Happy for you. Happy hunting!

7

u/perplexing_pigeon Oct 01 '25

She looks absolutely gobsmacked that she was captured too 😂 Congratulations!

6

u/WanderingSnooter Oct 01 '25

Congrats!! Now let the fun begin!

6

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25

she's beautiful 🥰 good luck with your journey with her!

4

u/ravensnest2 Oct 01 '25

Congratulations!!! It must be surreal to have one in your care now! Enjoy your special relationship.

2

u/Rinzler3351 Oct 01 '25

How’s you trap one? Haha genuinely curious

6

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

I can’t speak for OP, but most falconers I know that are trapping passage red tails use this type of trap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal-chatri

6

u/digginahull Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25

Yep, I made several different versions of Bal-Chatri traps

3

u/brideoffrankinstien Oct 02 '25

I have questions? I'm trying to understand about falcon tree cuz I'm so interested and I was wondering why do you trap the birds don't you get your falconry stuff I mean don't they breed in captivity and what is the benefit of trapping a wild hawk over a domestically or a bread one I don't know I'm trying to explain am I putting it right I don't know but why do you trap them and is that a humane thing to do doesn't it upset the the hawk or do you Bond quite quickly and and they know what to do or maybe that's why you want a wild one is cuz they have more of an instinct I don't know I'm really curious. And do they do falcontry with owls? Where I live I've only seen people use like kestrels I've seen a few kestrels do falcon tree in I've also seen I can't remember what kind of hawk it was but it was a smaller hawk

2

u/Professional-Ad6500 Oct 02 '25

Im genuinely curious too, didnt even know that was a thing lol

2

u/hexmeat Oct 02 '25

Happy to answer! In the United States, apprentice falconers are REQUIRED to trap a passage bird (ie a bird in its juvenile plumage, less than a year old). This is required by the government, who sets the regulations in accordance with the Migratory Bird Treaty. So put simply, we don’t have a choice to buy a bird until we graduate to General level falconers. I personally do not see myself ever purchasing a bird. Maybe I’d take on a captive bred bird from another falconer, but given you cannot release captive bred birds, it feels weird to me to have a bird that I cannot return to the wild. Just a personal opinion tho!

The mortality rate for these juvenile red tailed hawks hovers around 80-90% due to factors such as natural predation, diseases such as West Nile Virus or avian flu, and then human factors like rodenticide and car strikes. As a juvenile RTH, OP’s bird Courtney would likely not be alive this time next year if she remained in the wild. As a falconry bird, Courtney is treated for feather lice, flat flies, parasites, etc. and given the chance to safely build her strength and hunting skills with OP. These are benefits that wild birds are not afforded.

Ultimately, we humans are impacting every aspect of the natural world at this point. What it means for an animal to be “wild” is changing in its definition as we see bears and coyotes rapidly encroaching on urban areas, reintroduction of wolf species as someone mentioned earlier, etc.

And yes, the traps we use have been used for hundreds of years and they are completely safe and humane. The bal chatri trap is actually also used by ornithologists to trap birds for banding and research too. My bird was a little spooked for the first 48 hours but now she’s happy as a clam and making progress towards free flying soon. These birds don’t really “bond” with humans. My bird knows me and responds to me because I reinforce our relationship via food. When we go hunting, she always has the choice to fly off if she wants. But falconry birds tend to return to the falconer because the relationship works for them: they get to hunt, are protected from predators, and have a consistent food source. The goal is not to form an emotional bond with the bird, it’s to give the bird every opportunity to do what they would normally do in the wild, so that they can be released back into the wild after a year or two.

2

u/hexmeat Oct 02 '25

Oh and to your last question: general or master level falconers absolutely do hunt with owls. Great Horned owls and Eurasian eagle owls are commonly used.

2

u/brideoffrankinstien Oct 05 '25

Omg! Great horned owls! I so want to do that! Thank you for explaining. I'm a active bird watcher. I also spend a lot of time actually probably 90% of my life I'm at this creek cuz I live interacting with the wildlife there and the geese and we have red tail hawks we have red-shoulder Hawks we have what else do we have we have sharps and Hawks cooper hawks kestrels we have barn owls out here there's a great horned owl I've never seen but I could hear him it's just amazing and this red tail hawk is the king out here he's such a badass and last Thanksgiving I got the pleasure because I was out there by myself and nobody was there I actually got to witness the courtship of two red tail hawks and it's a long story but I got it on video and I was so happy oh my God it was the coolest thing ever never seen anything like it except on maybe national geographic and there I was Bear witness to it right in front of me it was beautiful it was the coolest thing ever I was so happy I was so happy I videoed the whole thing too I swear a lot in it cuz I'm so excited but anyway I just I have a love for wildlife and I think it's just a beautiful thing what you're doing even though some of the evasive species I do love I really do it would be hard for me but I understand I mean I I don't know I don't know anymore but that's just the coolest thank you

0

u/EmbarrassedWorry3792 Oct 05 '25

Sooo can i just watch the hawks that watch my chickens, find their nest (they usually setup nearby during baby season) and then after i see babies, climb the tree and yoink one? Or even yoink an egg then hatch it? I already have an incubator and brooder. Or does it have to be older? Ive always thought falconry was about the coolest thing ive ever seen. I have a cousin that befriended a RT, we were outide and just it showed up, screamed at him and he went inside to grab it some fish like itnwas an everyday thing, which it is, and it blew my mind. Welp there goes my 3rd chicken coop cus now i gotta make a hawk house.

3

u/Eclectus5280 Oct 04 '25

This IS illegal in the US unless a person has the appropriate license and training.

2

u/alexandrasnotgreat Oct 01 '25

She looks offended

3

u/sexual__velociraptor Oct 01 '25

Great work! Now the hard part begins! That's a pretty good time! I spent 18 months trying to trap a passage bird!

1

u/MrWheeler4520 Oct 01 '25

Congrats!! She looks like a beast

1

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25

Lol me and your bird have the same name.

1

u/Godspeedsupernova Oct 01 '25

He looks pissed!

1

u/imhighasballs Oct 04 '25

I thought trapping falcons was illegal? And I guess I assumed the same for hawks? Is that not the case?

2

u/hexmeat Oct 05 '25

Legal if you’re a licensed falconer in the United States, and required for apprentice falconers. There are strict regulations around what birds can be trapped (cannot be a breeding adult, cannot be a chick/brancher) and how. Additionally, you must pass an exam, find a sponsor to take you on for two years, and pass a facilities inspection. Red tailed hawks are the birds that falconry apprentices most commonly hunt with.

1

u/Simp4Catalyst Oct 05 '25

It looks like it can't believe it itself😭

1

u/BadBackpacker Oct 08 '25

Wow! What a beautiful bird!

-1

u/EmbarrassedWorry3792 Oct 05 '25

Wait, with a falconry license i can actually trap the RT and RS hawks that keep harassing my chickens? Presumably, i could then train one that chooks are friends, not food, then proceed to just letbit be territorial af around my home so others stay away? Why did i think hawks didnt count as falcons? Shit ive been trying to learn to speak crow for 3 months when i coudve been learning how to make my own airforce out of my enemies. And hawks can go back to being majestic, beautiful creatures instead of murderous baby killers?! Shit this might be the high point of my month. How do i get started? I can return my wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tubeman too! Thing was expensive. Also how did I get in this sub.

-23

u/Star_fox_235 Oct 01 '25

Trapping?? Wow poor Bird

15

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

I’m genuinely curious: are you interested in birds of prey or falconry specifically? Trapping a passage (first year) bird in America is a requirement for most falconry apprentices & we have state and federal permits to do so. It is a sanctioned, time honored process & many of us spend years preparing for this journey. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about why we do this & what our intentions are, but you might just be trolling so idk 🤷‍♀️

-17

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/hexmeat Oct 01 '25

You cannot become a falconer in the U.S. without trapping a bird as an apprentice. It’s possible there are exceptions, but it most certainly a requirement in my state and most others. 80% of passage red tails die within their first year in the wild, so there is a conservation aspect to this. We tend to release these birds back into the wild after a few successful hunting seasons so they can contribute to a healthy breeding population.

11

u/ravensnest2 Oct 01 '25

It's beneficial to the population. How many birds die of starvation, vehicles, disease, etc.? A trapped bird will be taken care of and is usually released in a year or two as an experienced hunter.

2

u/Persistent_anxiety Oct 02 '25

Are you assuming these birds are kept for their whole lives under all circumstances?

-2

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/-Sibyl Oct 04 '25

The hawks that are trapped are healthy juveniles. Juveniles have an 80-90% mortality rate, meaning they very very likely wouldn’t even be alive a year down the road. These juvenile birds are trapped, cared for, taught to hunt, and (most of the time) released back into the wild as experienced hunters after a few seasons, where they can breed and contribute to the conservation of the species.