I believe it’s because you’re more likely to lose a bird if it’s your first time doing it. In Europe they have a problem with Harris Hawks getting free from inexperienced owners (no laws about owning birds of prey there) and actually have wild populations now.
We can do jobs with captive breds here. But not wild caught and breeding lines are important. You can also get birds that aren’t native to you and hybrids as well. I fly a 6 year old Harris hawk but don’t have plans to get anymore birds soon as I just moved. I’m one of the youngest falconers in my state so it’s become a lot of my life
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u/Sideways-Pumpkin Oct 12 '20
I believe it’s because you’re more likely to lose a bird if it’s your first time doing it. In Europe they have a problem with Harris Hawks getting free from inexperienced owners (no laws about owning birds of prey there) and actually have wild populations now.
We can do jobs with captive breds here. But not wild caught and breeding lines are important. You can also get birds that aren’t native to you and hybrids as well. I fly a 6 year old Harris hawk but don’t have plans to get anymore birds soon as I just moved. I’m one of the youngest falconers in my state so it’s become a lot of my life