Flying High and Hunting Low with Falconry | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Flying High and Hunting Low with Falconry

Sasquatch, the red-tailed hawk, and Jim Webber, president of Oregon Falconer’s Association, find partnership through mutualism and trust

Flying from treetop to treetop through canyons in the Central Oregon high desert, you can find Sasquatch, the red-tailed hawk, spreading her wings and hunting cotton-tailed rabbits with her falconer, Jim Webber. Dating back to 4,000+ years ago, the ancient sport of falconry is defined as the hunting of wild game in its native habitat using a trained raptor, such as a falcon, hawk, owl or eagle. The relationship between falconer and bird is about mutualism and commensalism — defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm,” according to Webber, president of the Oregon Falconers Association. These birds are far from pets.

click to enlarge Flying High and Hunting Low with Falconry
Allie Noland

Webber has been the president of the OFA since 2019. Over the course of his 28 years of sport, he has trained dozens of predatory birds, typically red-tailed hawks, and released them back into their native habitats with hunting skills, increasing lifespan and success in the wild. 

“When I capture a young hawk, it doesn’t know, but it’s just won the lottery,” Webber said. “Because it’s getting food. It’s getting shelter. It’s getting medical attention as needed. And it’s also getting its career. It’s getting experience hunting larger things than just voles or mice. Because during the winter when the voles or mice disappear, they’ve got to go after rabbits and squirrels.”

Around 70% of raptor chicks will die during their first winter due to starvation, disease and other environmental factors, Webber told Central Oregon Pets. Falconers are only allowed to take first-year raptors from the wild, because birds older than a year have passed the test of time and are a part of the strong gene pool. 

Falconry is a heavily regulated sport for protection of the ecosystem. Completing the apprenticeship takes at least two years. Becoming a master falconer takes at least seven years. Just becoming an apprentice takes ample time, money, education, experience and dedication.

Apprentices must find a general or master falconer to sponsor them, study for and pass a 100- question exam, create a hawk house, or mews, meeting federal specifications, pass an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife equipment inspection and complete their hunting license and raptor capture authorization from ODFW. After all that, falconers serve a two-year apprenticeship before going on a solo hunt as a general falconer. Then, it’s another five years to become a master falconer. 

Before a falconer starts training a hawk, they must capture it out of the wild. A common method is using a Bal-Chatri trap. Small game is put into the wire mesh box-like part of the trap. Dozens of mono-filament line nooses cover the top. Designed to trap talons without harm, the birds dive upon the live quarry and get its talons caught in the nooses. Then the falconer approaches the trap to release the bird. If the bird is suitable for falconry, they are put into a hawk box and are taken to its new mews, and if not, they are released back into the wild. Once the hawk is safely in its new hawk house, training shortly follows with food, glove and lure techniques. Webber typically trains hawks for seven months, capturing in the fall, training in the winter and releasing in the spring.

Right now, Webber is training and working with Sasquatch, taking her out for hunts around five times a week. This female bird has some of the biggest talons Webber’s ever seen, so the name seemed fitting. Though the relationship is seen as a partnership and is pretty much all about food, Webber said he holds a special love, respect and appreciation for the birds he works with. 

“[Every bird] is different,” Webber said. “Some birds are great and calm on the glove, others are just crazy. So you just have to adapt and adapt your training program for the personality of the bird.”

click to enlarge Flying High and Hunting Low with Falconry
Allie Noland
Webber with Sasquatch showing off his beautiful wings.

Sasquatch and Webber work as a team on hunting outings, which requires specific equipment. It all starts when the hawk comes out of its hawk box. On one of her ankles, a little bell is tied on, so Webber can hear where she is flying without having to constantly keep an eye on her during the hunt. On the other, is a leather Aylmeri anklet. The anklet is like a collar, and the jess is like a leash. The jess is a leather piece that tethers the falcon to the gauntlet, or falconry glove, between hunts.

After Webber puts on his glove, everything is one-handed from there. He takes Sasquatch out of the box, invites her to perch on his glove, ties on the jess, fits a tiny tracking ankle piece around her ankle and sets out to the canyon. Webber untethers her when he’s ready, inviting her to find her perch in a nearby tree. One might think that the bird would fly away once it’s free to fly, but it stays close. With a simple whistle, Sasquatch returns back to the glove.

“After a while, they recognize that I’m their bird dog,” Webber said. 

As Webber and his Brittany hunting dog, Rue, walk through the canyon trying to scare the wild quarry on the ground, Sasquatch follows while searching the ground for a diving opportunity. Once she sees some scurrying game, Sasquatch flies down and kills with her talons. If the attempt is successful, Webber approaches the bird, swaps out the rabbit for a “lure,” a small object with meat tied around it, and puts the rabbit in his bag. After Sasquatch has eaten the offering, it’s back to hunting. 

click to enlarge Flying High and Hunting Low with Falconry
Allie Noland

Webber invites Sasquatch to perch on his glove with a whistle between attempts. The hawk’s immediate responsiveness to Webber’s queues is fueled by trust. If she sticks with him, she receives care, gets food and gets to learn even more. In the spring, Webber plans to release Sasquatch back to the wild with strong hunting skills and take on a new bird in the fall. 

“Falconry does not include the keeping of birds of prey as pets or prestige items, for captive-breeding purposes, for rehabilitation or education purposes, for shows, renaissance fairs and the like, or for purely scientific purposes. The justification for falconers to possess raptorial birds is the sportsmanlike pursuit of wild quarry,” states the North American Falconers Association Ethics Policy.

Allie Noland

Allie graduated from Gonzaga University with a degree in journalism and public relations. She loves writing articles that have anything to do with the outdoors and culture. When she’s not writing, you can find her skiing, playing volleyball, backpacking, gardening or sitting at a local coffee shop.
Comments (0)
Add a Comment
View All Our Picks
For info on print and digital advertising, >> Click Here