New falconer in Northern California

RedTailRandall

New member
Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
2
Location
Northern California
Greetings folks...
Randall here. I'm 60, handicapped, and will be finishing my 2 year falconry apprenticeship at the end of June 2019. I feel like that's a lot on a plate, but it has given me a whole new perspective on living and it's just about the most exciting thing I have ever done. 42 years ago I injured my spine while serving in the Air Force as a crash and rescue firefighter on the flight-line. Amazing how something seemingly so inconsequential (at the time) could develop into a life changing condition later down the line. Over the years this injury has become more and more debilitating up to the point I became mostly unable to work about 30 years ago. Well.. that's not the point of this post, but it does bear consideration. It certainly affects how I am able to do falconry and hunt without getting myself into a lot of trouble.
Five years ago I joined a local wildlife rehabilitation organization and I worked with raptors. Had always been very interested in them and I thought I had died and gone to heaven doing this work. Along the way I came into contact with several falconers and it really brought back the desire I had when in high school to pursue it again. Note though that I have never really hunted before. I always thought of myself as an advocate of the wild animals, not someone to go out and shoot them unless it was with a camera. Don't get me wrong, I was never the hypocrite telling people not to hunt, I knew where my food came from and I loved getting wild game surprises from my hunter friends now and then. I just never grew up with hunting and was totally removed from the concept.
One of the requirements for getting a falconry license is taking the hunter safety course. I thought it was going to be a waste of time. My bird was gonna do the killing, not me - no guns involved! I was totally wrong and I came away from the class with a very improved respect for hunters and hunting. I am sure it helped that the guys that gave the class were so passionate about it. I was now actually thinking about even the possibility of gun hunting. Mmmm.. wild boar? Well, we'll see
So over the last year I have been taking my bird out, she's killed 3 times with me. They were training kills, but she knows what she's doing. My biggest problem at the moment is finding appropriate hunting grounds. I want to take her out on jack rabbits at the moment, then next year for upland game birds.. I have a couple of friends that hunt but for various reasons it's not likely we will go out together. So I feel pretty much on my own and it is daunting. I have been trying to find hunter resources online and one of them led me here. I have been going through the BLM websites, CDFW websites. I live on the very outskirts of Tahoe National Forest, literally 2 miles away.
As I have said, I have met a few falconers and one would think, try them? I have, but as you might not know, there are not a lot of falconers. We are fairly well spread out. And though I am happy to drive a ways, the closest are quite a ways off. So for the most part, I am doing this on my own.
I was truly hoping there would be a magic website with maps and all the public lands laid out in easy to digest bites with all the hunting regs easy to understand. Haha. But I'll take whatever help you can throw at me. Thanks so much and I look forward to perusing the rest of the site.
Cheers
Randall
 
I don’t know anything about CA, but welcome to the forum. I hope you share pics of your hawk.
 
Welcome from a exCApat in NM....just disabled according to some on here...lol
Did some hawk hunting in my yute.
 
Hi again...
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, gents! While I appear to be no closer to finding that elusive hunting ground, I have met a couple of people that are helping me find my way. I guess that you guys are all used to it by now, but I find all the hunting rules and regulations to be incredibly complex and off-putting. Surprised anyone can actually hunt in California after all that. But I am threading my way through all the mumbo jumbo and trying to figure it out. Until then, as asked for.. here are a couple of picture of my Red Tailed hawk, Isabeau.
Enjoy!
Randall
 

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Hi again...
Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, gents! While I appear to be no closer to finding that elusive hunting ground, I have met a couple of people that are helping me find my way. I guess that you guys are all used to it by now, but I find all the hunting rules and regulations to be incredibly complex and off-putting. Surprised anyone can actually hunt in California after all that. But I am threading my way through all the mumbo jumbo and trying to figure it out. Until then, as asked for.. here are a couple of picture of my Red Tailed hawk, Isabeau.
Enjoy!
Randall
Beautiful bird! I had always dreamed of getting into falconry but that was to hard of a nut to crack with regs and laws just to keep the birds. If you can do that I know you'll figure out hunting regs.

A great resource would be to just call up or go into the front desk of your local fish and game. As a relatively new hunter myself, I know here in Montana they are gate keepers to tons of useful info and making sense of it all. And if they don't know, they probably know who does.
 

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