"Traditional Falconry is discussed as a matter of reference to this new way of falcon management. The traditional approach to falconry and its practices should not be abandoned but instead, they can be and I think should be, built upon. The more we advance our thinking about raptor behavior and development, the more we can establish the real partnership between man and hawk in this sport we call falconry. This new approach replaces the traditional interpretation of strict weight control as a life long management tool. Later in the book, I discuss the insightful wisdom of the traditional falconers who fully reclaimed falcons to their natural robust weights after the initial lower weights of training and manning.

American falconers in particular took the initial goals of weight reduction in falcon training and reclamation as the final goal of management. These interpretations of strict weight management resulted from the traditional literature not outlining weight management of falcons being flown at game. The wisdom of the traditional falconers knew wild taken falcons only needed to tolerate the falconer and then be allowed to return to their full capacity as an avian predator. And, the traditional falconers knew wild falcons did not need to be taught ‘how to fly.’ ‘Teaching’ falcons how to fly is relatively new in the falconry literature. For the most part it is not needed.

With these new perspectives on weight management, the developmental sequences of young falcons and the cognitive abilities of falcons, I soon abandoned training falcons. I began to understand what motivated my falcons to remain faithful when flying for extended periods of time at the limits of binoculars. Enlisting the natural growth and development of falcons and understanding the concepts of fidelity exposed me to another level of falconry that could be routinely experienced."



This Quote, is where the rubber meets the road for me. Way too often in communication, mostly with younger falconers, I have witnessed the disconnect between 'traditional' falconers and what is here discribed as the contemporary. Too many think that the best of ancient falconers exibit little insight, were dogmatic about training and flew falcons that exibited there limitations. In some, there is almost an arrogants stemming from the new teachings in amimal science, the idea that the traditionalist is ignorant, of the newest and therefore Best ways to TRAIN raptors.

Ed is obviously a pioneer in the realization in how to motivate the development of falcons to become more in the partenrship that falconry is, than any unaided wild falcon could ever be. There are many more falconers who have learned to understand how to fly falcons in the 80's and 90's. Much of this is due, to some varing degree, to Ed's inspirations, and in some lucky cases, his personal influences. There were several others that also had great insight that contributed and some very good articles have been printed in the HAWK CHALK, AMERICAN FALCONRY Magizine and other palces, over the many years.