Hunting with large birds of prey dates back to thousands of years. This practice is known as falconry, and it is practiced worldwide. There are many different terms to know when it comes to falconry since it is the taking of wild quarry with any trained birds of prey. The birds that are used are diurnal birds, meaning that they are active during the daytime. Most of the time they are referred to as “hawks” although falcons, hawks, and of course, eagles are used to all hunt naturally like they do in the wild.
Hunting with Birds of Prey
The challenge of hunting with eagles comes with the skill of the falconer to be able to harness the natural hunting ability by training the eagle to hunt in a partnership. While the nature of hunting with a bird of prey is pretty universal, there are many different variations of hunting with them from styles and techniques, laws of the region, different species of eagles, falcons, and hawks, and the type of terrain that they can hunt in.
Training
So how do you actually hunt with an eagle? Being able to hunt with one requires some serious training before you are ready to legally own, hunt, and train with an eagle. It will take a great amount of care and time into training and maintenance with the bird before it is able to hunt. When you do start your training, one of the main aspects of it is putting a piece of meat on the glove to train it to get comfortable there and to sit.
Once it gets this down, you can start lure training. This involves tossing a rabbit decoy out and allowing your eagle to start practicing diving and retrieving it. As you practice this, you can start to increase the distance little by little. Over time, the eagle should get comfortable flying to and from your hand to “hunt”. With plenty of practice, the eagle should now be ready to hunt!
Hunting
Starting to hunt with your own bird of prey is an experience like any other. It is started by finding a good area where rabbits or grouse (or whatever prey animal you are pursuing) likes to live. Allow your eagle to see the area as their eyes are much better than yours. When an eagle spots some prey, it will fly up and dive down onto it, which is when you need to carefully approach. Very slowly and carefully take the rabbit from your eagle, and give your bird a treat. It is very important that the birds learn this so that they do not get aggressive over their kills.
Final Thoughts
Hunting with your own eagle or falcon is one of the most primitive and unique hunting experiences that you can have. While it will take some work, it can be well worth the effort!
For more great ideas on how to fish and hunt from the experts, check out the awesome articles on our Bradley Smoker Hunting & Fishing Blog for more great tips & tricks.
