Hunting with a falcon

This morning I went with my oldest son, Jake, and his American Kestrel, Viator, on his first field hunt.  Jake is an apprentice falconer and trapped his falcon back in January.  He has been doing a different kind of hunting with him until now.  Lately, he has been training him to go out in a field, fly up, see what he can catch, and fly back to the glove. 

Of course, seeing any raptor soaring is amazing, but seeing V (a bird we have all come to know and love) up there in the sky doing what God created him to do made my heart happy.

 And to see him connected to my son enough to fly back to him everytime was pretty great too. 



Look close, V is right at the horizon line.



And now, back on the glove.



Resting on an old barn

He didn't catch anything this time, just scattered some sparrows but that is ok.  He did great for the first field hunt.

A tidbit of rabbit on the lure for a job well done.

 The three of us had a good time.

If you want to learn more about falconry or know someone who does, send them over to Jake's blog.  He is journaling his two year apprenticeship there.  You'll find a link in my sidebar.
Happy Hunting!