Has anyone gotten into micro-falconry? I'm always fascinated by bird of prey, but they are not legal to own in my state except for purpose of falconry/hunting. Some people have gotten around the legislation by just doing "micro-falconry" - e.g., owning small bird of prey like kestrel (which is much lower cost and maintenance), then going out to the field once a week or once every two weeks and have their kestrel just kill bunch of rats and pests. Sounds like it can be fun.
>>4798135A kestrel isn’t as noob friendly as a larger bird and costs just as much a larger bird too; food is the only thing you’d spend less on. I guess you’d be fine with a cheaper thinner glove instead of a gauntlet or even going barehanded, but most other equipment, housing, and maintenance supplies are going to be about the same and they still should be flown as often as possible. With the metabolism on a kessie, I don’t even know if you’d have a smaller volume of shit to clean up either. Their behavior is pretty fun though. So is watching em catch a fat grasshopper in midair.Most of the annoyance of training a kestrel is just that you don’t have as much leeway for keeping them at the right weight to cooperate with you, they’re really really easy to just overfeed. Small fractions of a gram are enough to A) go flying away forever because they certainly aren’t hungry enough to hunt and don’t want anything you’re offering, or B) flying away forever because they were so hungry they immediately gorged on their catch before you could trade a tidbit with them and now they’re back to being in the mood for option A before a larger predator decides to ambush them.
>>4798135What >>4798168 said.Falconry isnt something to dabble in. Your best bet for getting into it is to apprentice a professional, and they'd probably require you to have some previous experience and/or qualifications working with animals, specifically birds.
>>4798168>>4798176Thanks bros. I guess falconry ain't for me. I'll just try to volunteer at my local raptor rescue in the summer and see how it goes.
>>4798210This is the best thing to do. You can get all the enjoyment with no real responsibility because you just do what you are told. As the other anon said, Kestrels are very difficult to keep and larger raptors like Red-Tailed are the most common 'beginner' bird for a reason. In addition, in my state this loophole would not work because you have to have an apprenticeship with a master falconer to own any raptor regardless of size.
>>4799385I was inspired by this news piece about falconryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKvkNxCv6jwI don't mind taking apprenticeship, seems like a cool hobby and good way to meet people. But my living conditions now (I live in apartment, 1st floor, with a small yard) do not allow for owning such large bird like redtail.
>>4799897My state requires a dedicated mews with a minimum size for any raptor, apartment dwellings would not be allowed even for a Kestrel. By all means look into it but it is a lot of work and any mention of your original rationale for looking at Kestrels would be a red flag to any potential mentor. Raptors, if you are looking at them from the perspective of owning a bird as a pet, are really poor choices because of how much more work it is to care for them properly.
Whats with all the regulations around falconsIts a fucking bird. We dont regulate dogs with wolflike child eating tendencies (shitbulls) even nearly this much. Instead, people want the regulation itself banned even though such dogs basically “belong in the wild” where they wont eat their owners children. What’s really stopping me from stealing some falcon eggs and getting my own bird?
>>4800688I assume you’d get arrested if you’re found like with possession of any wild animal but yes there is a lot of red tape around raptors/falcons for some reason
>>4801084The reason is precisely to stop retards like >>4800688 from owning raptors.
>>4798135
