Which falconry book helped you the most as an aspiring falconer?

[Ricko]

Falconry for you
Humphrey ap Evans

Read this when I was 11....and never looked back

[Joby]

My Side of the Mountain and As the Falcon Her Bells

[Yeomanfalconer]

I don't know if it wasn't influenced more than "helped", but North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks, first edition (1964).haill

Helped, I would have to say Manual of Falconry by Woodford.

[Todd Brown]

Understanding the Bird of Prey, Nick Fox.

[ericedw]

Ronald Stevens, Observations on Modern Falconry

[christopher.vly]

This being my first year... The Falconers Apprentice by Bill Oaks

[NMHighPlains]

Falconry and Hawking- Philip Glasier. Bought it at The Falconry Centre in England during a month-long trip to the UK in '85 and read it during the trip. Really cleared up a lot of things for me.

[goshawkr]

How do you mean aspiring? As in a green horn aspiring to get your head wrapped around this, or as in aspiring to become one?

For the first one, here is my list:


Understanding the Bird of Prey, Nick Fox
Edmund Bert's treatise (because my obsession with goshawk pre-dates my involvement in falconry and combined well with my love of anchient language in that book)
Desert Hawking with a Little Help From My Friends, Harry McElroy
For the second possible meaning there was really only one:

North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks
As a pre-falconer, I read every book I could get my hands on, include one that I burned rather than give or donate because it was so aweful. I love books, but some really are only worth their value as tinder to spark a physcial (as opposed to a metaphorical) flame. Anyway, it was "the bible" that really got me over the hurdle to having a license in my wallet.

[Ricko]

As a pre-falconer, I read every book I could get my hands on, include one that I burned rather than give or donate because it was so aweful. I love books, but some really are only worth their value as tinder to spark a physcial (as opposed to a metaphorical) flame.[/QUOTE]



amennn

[jmnucci]

Ronald Stevens, Observations on Modern Falconry

Definitely one of the most insightful falconry books of all time and one that lets you peak into the mind of a falconer that truly understands falcons.

[Yeomanfalconer]

I don't know if it wasn't influenced more than "helped", but North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks, first edition (1964).haill

Helped, I would have to say Manual of Falconry by Woodford.
Just saying this, I looked in my Library for my copy of Woodford's Manual. I was not so sure that I might have sold it off, it had been so long since I looked at it.
There it was, I pulled it out and looked through it, memories of a long time ago flooded back. I can't tell you how many times I looked at that picture of a youngster placing his kestrel on its little block, or how much I studied that drawing of how to tie a falconer's knot. The other morning when I was tieing Pokie up in the dark with one hand, I did not take this action for granted and remembered my early practice attempts.

Reading about Rook and Magpie hawking held little relavance for a 12 year old boy at that time. How was I to know that here, some 40 years later I would be wondering how to position my tiercel peregrine, here in Idaho, so he might have a shot at the plentiful, yet smart "pies".

Books are wonderful, let them continue to have value.

The pages had developed some age spots since I last remember. I was very glad I had not sold it off. The dry air of Idaho is much kinder to books than the sauna that was Miami.

[Ricko]

My first book read "falconry for you" was not an all encompassing work but, it was enough for me to get excited about falconry at a young age.

[DustyBZoo]

Oh great, now I have about five more books to add to my collection:D At least amazon has good prices!

[Squirrelhawkin]

I started with a Redtail,so "The Red Tailed Hawk" by McGranaghan and "Buteos & Bushytails" were both a great help in getting my bird going.

I had about 50 other falconry books before I even got a bird and they all got me fired up,still like to reread them.:D

[MyAbusa]

Ronald Stevens, Observations on Modern Falconry

Definitely one of my favorites.

[Montucky]

the anthology, "gamehawking at its very best"

edmund berts "treatise on hawks and hawking"
E.B Mitchell's "the art and practice of falconry"
Ben Ohlander's writings on the passage goshawk....
Jameson's "Hawking of Japan"

[Frankie]

I read a few different books and magazines on falconry to help get me started and in love with this sport. But i think my favirote is still Falconry and Hawking by Philip Glasier. Awsome book, would totally recomend it to everyone.

[Icantmove]

I am an aspiring falconer now.
I have been beyond help for years.

[Ricko]

I read a few different books and magazines on falconry to help get me started and in love with this sport. But i think my favirote is still Falconry and Hawking by Philip Glasier. Awsome book, would totally recomend it to everyone.




I read Phiilip Glasiers "as the falcon her bells" at 12 years old...great book.

[Zarafia]

When it comes down to it, I think that NAFHH did the most for me as an inspiring young falconer. I knew that I needed to know it cover to cover in order to pass the exam that FL had at the time, plus it is an incredible book.
I will also mention that the chapter it had on HHs made me lust for a harris.
It was many years after I read the book, became an apprentice etc... that I finally got a FHH. But the book was right. A harris hawk is the perfect hawk for me.
I dream of longwings and their flights. I've raised eyass longwings (a kestrel and a saker) and I love the birds. But here in Florida, with no real longwing flying experience, falcons are a dream for the future for me :)

[Kenn Filkins]

If I picked only one:

Desert Hawking II by Harry McElroy

[bobpayne]

I read Phiilip Glasiers "as the falcon her bells" at 12 years old...great book.

Forty some years ago, it was the only falconry book I could get my hands on, and I checked it out of the library repeatedly, I used it for examples for equipment and furniture I made for my first hawks.

[Ricko]

Forty some years ago, it was the only falconry book I could get my hands on, and I checked it out of the library repeatedly, I used it for examples for equipment and furniture I made for my first hawks.



amennn

[sharptail]

I don't remember, but it sure was a treat when American Hawking came out because it was the only other, besides NAFHH that dealt with falconry in the Americas, and American falconry birds, in word and picture!

[Ricko]

I don't remember, but it sure was a treat when American Hawking came out because it was the only other, besides NAFHH that dealt with falconry in the Americas, and American falconry birds, in word and picture!


Jeff....interestingly, I never even heard of NAFAHH until just recently. All of the books that were in the public library system at the time of my initial interest (1968) were from British or European authors.

My Grandparents took me to the Berkeley public library just to read King Fredrick II "the art of Falconry". It was a reference book so you couldnt check it out. That book was an epiphany for me. It was way beyond me in terms of experience. But, none the less, I loved reading about Gyrfalcons taking cranes. I NEVER dreamed that someday Id be flying a Gyr hybrid....

Im blessed.

[Rabbit Jaeger]

by Humphrey Ap Evans. I read that when I was 15, the only falconry book the library had, back in the dark ages. Great book that stimulated my interest in falconry. I have a copy of that book in my humble collection, and still enjoy reading it.

[Tony James]

I read Phiilip Glasiers "as the falcon her bells" at 12 years old...great book.

I was about the same age when Philip Glasier signed a copy for me. I still have it today, the first of hundreds of falconry books to find their way into my library.
However, the two books that had the greatest impact on my falconry were Ronald Stevens' Observations, and Ray Turner's Gamehawk.

Tony.

[Ricko]

[QUOTE=Rabbit Jaeger;221136]by Humphrey Ap Evans. I read that when I was 15, the only falconry book the library had, back in the dark ages. Great book that stimulated my interest in falconry."

Absolute dittos....

[Martin Hollinshead]

Many years ago I was browsing the bookshelves in Hay on Wye, a little village whose fame as a Mecca for book worms has surely spread beyond these shores. Well, four up and three across there it was: an immaculate first edition of North American Falconry and Hunting Hawks. And what did I do? I put it back on the shelf and walked on!!!!
Isn’t life just full of stupid mistakes!
Martin

[tbality]

My sponser gave me the NA Falconry & Hunting Hawks book when I was his apprentice; he gave it to me at a dinner w/several falconer friends of his including Hal Webster and Hal signed it for me. He's been good friends with "Webster" since the 1960's and I get to see Hal annually at either breakfast or picnics at my friends house. He's a great guy, about 84 now...we trapped a Cooper's hawk one year in Dec at the breakfast, and Hal helped me put anklets and jesses on him...then a group photo of several falconers that are well known including Dave Remple and Jim Enderson, both authors. Great memory for me!

[Martin Hollinshead]

My sponser gave me the NA Falconry & Hunting Hawks book when I was his apprentice; he gave it to me at a dinner w/several falconer friends of his including Hal Webster and Hal signed it for me. He's been good friends with "Webster" since the 1960's and I get to see Hal annually at either breakfast or picnics at my friends house. He's a great guy, about 84 now...we trapped a Cooper's hawk one year in Dec at the breakfast, and Hal helped me put anklets and jesses on him...then a group photo of several falconers that are well known including Dave Remple and Jim Enderson, both authors. Great memory for me!
I met Hal Webster at the British Falconry Fair maybe ten years ago. The late Frank Beebe I met some time later, again at the Fair. This meeting with Beebe led to another one of those mistakes: I failed to get his signature on a book I had in the boot of my car!
Martin

[tbality]

Oh wow, and hear I am talking to yet another author! Cool! You have a chapter in their book don't you? I know I've seen your name, was thinking that is where I've seen it...

[Martin Hollinshead]

Oh wow, and hear I am talking to yet another author! Cool! You have a chapter in their book don't you? I know I've seen your name, was thinking that is where I've seen it...

No, unfortunately no chapter. Though I was lucky enough to correspond a little with Frank Beebe and receive his help with one of my own books. Which makes not getting that book signed even more irritating. (I could tell an interesting story about Part IV in Beebe’s The Compleat Falconer, but it might take us tool far off thread…).
Martin

[Martin Hollinshead]

That should of course read too far of thread. Not tool!

[tbality]

LOL...I got that...I do that alot, hit send and see an error! oops! Well if you want to tell the story, I'd love to hear it! Your name is very familiar, so I'll have to look up the books you've written as I know I've seen it. ;)

[Martin Hollinshead]

LOL...I got that...I do that alot, hit send and see an error! oops! Well if you want to tell the story, I'd love to hear it! Your name is very familiar, so I'll have to look up the books you've written as I know I've seen it. ;)
And I just see that there is an error in my correction! Too far of.. Instead of off!
The story isn’t too fascinating but it does show how I made yet another blunder. I’ll try and get to it now, but I might have to post in the morning.
Martin

[Martin Hollinshead]

So my little story…
At the end of the 1980s I decided to write what would be my first book. As a passionate ‘Dirt Hawker’ I wanted to focus on what I saw as a neglected branch of the sport. However, in order to gain the largest audience possible, I wanted to include some text on feathered game and asked Frank Beebe if he would get involved. To my astonishment he agreed and wrote up some of his experienced in Canada. It was terrific stuff. Absolutely great.
And then trouble. My publisher pulled out and, as the project came to a halt, David Hancock of Hancock House Publishers phoned to say they were now going to use the Canadian material at the end of book Frank had written for them. Which of course was only fair. So, the text intended for my little book became Part IV (My Falconry – Hawking in Southwestern Canada) in The Compleat Falconer, published in 1992.
But the story does have a bit of joy in it for me too. I eventually re-worked my own book and with much help and encouragement from David Hancock, had it published by Hancock House 1993– now carrying the title Hawking Ground Quarry.
Martin

[Lowachi]

"As a Falcon her Bells", found in my high school library, was the first to fan the flame, followed by some de Bastyia. "Falconry for You" was the first book loaned to me by a falconer. I acquired a copy from the Archives a few years ago, just to have. Stevens' "Observations.." made me think more. NAFAHH was the first I bought, followed by Michell & Woodford's works, & Mavrogordato's. As the aspirations grew, Harry's "Desert Hawking" was gleened, Haak's works, and Ray Turner's all have "added to the moment" depending on what I was/am flying at the time.
I talked to an accomplished grouse hawker recently, and he told me he concidered himself an apprentice still, for everyday he learned something new. And since there are flights I still aspire to achieve, I guess the list continues for me as well.

[Saluqi]

The first books that I read were Falconry For You and A Manual of Falconry, but for a 10 year old kid in 1972 who wanted to trap a sparrow hawk (American kestrel) those two books sort of confused me, and really didn't have any useful information. Took me a while to figure out a Euro sparrowhawk was so different from an American one. Then I found an ad in the back of Field & Stream for a falconry pamphlet called "The Bal Chatri Method", it was put by Hawkhaus of Lompoc, CA and cost $1. It had plans for building a BC and an Anglo-Indian hood pattern, I made both. A while later there was another ad in F&S for "An Introduction to Hawking" by Jameson & Peters which cost $4 - finally a book that was written in a language that I could understand! I still have both the Hawkhaus pamphlet and An Introduction to Hawking.

[tbality]

Hi Martin,
I'll have to look for your book as presently, I have a Harris and a Red Tail (just trapped the RT 3 weeks ago). I'm interested in reading your book!

[Peregrinus]

Understanding The Bird of Prey - Nick Fox

Observations on Modern Falconry - Stevens (The chapter on hooding is worth the price of admission)

The Peregrine - J.A. Baker (Not a falconry book, but the observations are so astute that it taught me to look at wildlife and predation with new eyes...)

[James Idi]

Understanding The Bird of Prey - Nick Fox

I just got this book and it straight up rocks. Period.

Loads of information. Loads of illustrations.

The clinical approach he uses to relay some of the information is exactly what I was looking for in a book.

[canvibe]

One book that comes to mind in my 150+ book library is
E.B Mitchell's "the art and practice of falconry".

[Martin Hollinshead]

I was lucky in that I went to a school – a great rambling Victorian place – with a library holding Woodford, Ap Evans, and others already mentioned. It also held T H White. And with him, a confession: he eventually vanished from the shelves!
Martin

[Lowachi]

I was lucky in that I went to a school – a great rambling Victorian place – with a library holding Woodford, Ap Evans, and others already mentioned. It also held T H White. And with him, a confession: he eventually vanished from the shelves!
Martin

:D

[ukroper]

A Manual Of Falconry (saw it in the film Kes!)...by Michael Woodford,,& to get to hawk on 'his' stomping ground

Also ,in latter times...Hawking Ground Quarry by our own Martin H..superb imo....clapp

[carlosR]

There have been a few books that have helped me and more importantly I have enjoyed reading and rereading over the years. Reading "The Flying of Falcons" has provided some of the greatest insights in flying and hunting my goshawk. The funny part is if I listened to my wife, she has been telling me many of the same things.
My latest greatest insight from this book has been letting him eat all he wants from every kill. I'm amazed at how he is ready to go in a day or two at the most, and flies really well. He's an imprint. No screaming, very little bating, a hunting attitude when he's out of the giant hood. I am not even weighing him anymore, watching his attitude then when he's ready, we go.
If you haven't picked up a copy, get one.

[Hawkmom]

I am wondering if any of you have any rumors/knowledge of a re-make of My Side of the Mountain movie. Heck they now can have sequels due the book now having three sections. I had heard a while ago that Disney was working on it but the project was shelved for some reason.