Enough lurking I guess...

[AaronC]

Well I suppose it would be rude to keep browsing through posts and not at least say hello. My name is Aaron and I live just outside of Port Hope Ontario a small town famous for low level radioactive waste contamination and a well preserved downtown and probably the two are related. I've been interested in falconry ever since I was a little kid (I blame My Side of the Mountain) but I never really put much thought into actually doing it myself and it was something that I doubt a landlord would have tolerated anyway.

I've now got my own place with a bit of property and I'm getting ready to make the leap into something I've always wanted to do. I've been reading a lot of books and countless forum posts and I've got a space booked at the Ontario Hawking Club's Apprentice Workshop for a bit more firsthand knowledge to see what I'm getting into. My wife is less than thrilled that I've got a space picked out for a "giant birdhouse" as she calls it when I've put off building her the new garden shed she's been asking for the last three years. I figure the bird would probably appreciate it more and criticize my lack of carpentry skills less but she knows how long I've wanted to do this and has agreed to support me as long as I finish her shed sometime before hell freezes over.

Well hopefully this all pans out for me and I can start pestering people for advice and tips and eventually even start contributing rather than just living vicariously through posts and pictures.

[dbleyepatches]

Well I suppose it would be rude to keep browsing through posts and not at least say hello. My name is Aaron and I live just outside of Port Hope Ontario a small town famous for low level radioactive waste contamination and a well preserved downtown and probably the two are related. I've been interested in falconry ever since I was a little kid (I blame My Side of the Mountain) but I never really put much thought into actually doing it myself and it was something that I doubt a landlord would have tolerated anyway.

I've now got my own place with a bit of property and I'm getting ready to make the leap into something I've always wanted to do. I've been reading a lot of books and countless forum posts and I've got a space booked at the Ontario Hawking Club's Apprentice Workshop for a bit more firsthand knowledge to see what I'm getting into. My wife is less than thrilled that I've got a space picked out for a "giant birdhouse" as she calls it when I've put off building her the new garden shed she's been asking for the last three years. I figure the bird would probably appreciate it more and criticize my lack of carpentry skills less but she knows how long I've wanted to do this and has agreed to support me as long as I finish her shed sometime before hell freezes over.

Well hopefully this all pans out for me and I can start pestering people for advice and tips and eventually even start contributing rather than just living vicariously through posts and pictures.

Welcome and enjoy the ride. I too am new to falconry and finally I am just months from trapping my first bird.

My sponsor killed the two birds with one stone that you are talking about above. He build a two room mew that allows for the dual door set-up (where you are able to close a door behind you before opening the door and have access to the bird so if it happens to get out of the door, it is not free) and you could make the first room that you enter a garden shed. Just an idea to make her happy and get the building you want at the same time.

[Goshawk635]

My sponsor killed the two birds with one stone that you are talking about above. He build a two room mew that allows for the dual door set-up (where you are able to close a door behind you before opening the door and have access to the bird so if it happens to get out of the door, it is not free) and you could make the first room that you enter a garden shed. Just an idea to make her happy and get the building you want at the same time.

[AaronC]

Thanks for the welcome.

My problem with the shed isn't so much that I'm lazy (maybe partly I guess) but that my wife is a born and raised city kid. Her idea of a gardening shed and my idea of a gardening shed are very VERY different. I consider a shed someplace to keep the tools and lawnmower out of the rain and she thinks it should practically be a guest house. I'm fine with a shed but I'm not going to take out a second mortgage to build one. I wish I could find the picture she gave me for the chicken coop she wanted me to build it was miles away from the box with a roof and shelves lined with straw that I remember chicken coops being.

[Hughmetcalfe]

Hope you have a good time at the OHC workshop. There are plenty of falconers that would be glad to help you out and most are located within an hour and a half radius of the GTA.

The OHC field meets held every November are fun to attend and to allow you the chance to meet falconers who fly a variety of birds.

Hope to meet you this fall.

-Hugh

[AaronC]

The workshop was incredible and for any would-be Ontario falconers I highly recommend attending it before taking even another step. I learned a lot about the work that is required and about everything from housing to feeding to common medical problems. I also learned that five falconers in a room equals 15 different opinions about pretty much everything from which bird is better for ducks to what type of swivel is most appropriate for a particular type of perch.

What was really beneficial for me and I'm sure for all the other newbies is that everything that was said was pure and unvarnished truth warts and all and it gave a lot of folks some serious sober second thought. We started at 9am and by lunch out of the five at my table only two of us were still interested in pursuing it and from what I was hearing around the room that was about the norm. Watching a bird crap on the floor and devour what looked to be a very bloody half of a rabbit turned a couple of queasy stomachs, and listening to a harris squawk for an hour made people think long and hard about if they wanted that on their property I'm not sure if that was intentional but it did make an impression on the crowd that these aren't charming little canaries. I also recall a woman asking if there were boarding facilities for birds of prey like there were for horses but I don't believe that question was even entertained.

I think what really hit me the most is when they took out a red tail that wasn't trained and you could see how hard it was to just get the bird to perch on the fist and you could see that while watching a trained bird makes it all look easy it is a long hard road just to get it to stop trying to scratch out your eyes.

All in all a very worthwhile experience I'm still eager to get started AND it cut down on my competition to try and find a sponsor.

[Breeze]

Aaron! Enjoy the ride - it's a LOT of fun!

[Tom Scheib]

Aaron,

If you are truly serious and dedicated you will do well. Best wishes, and like has already been stated, enjoy the ride.