Seeking A Sponsor

Hello. My name is Michael and I am from Addison, TX. I've always had a facination for raptors every since I was a little boy, and I've just recently been looking into Falconry. I think it's a beautiful and awe inspiring sport. I've read that Texas trapping/capturing season is from Sept. 15th - Dec. 31st so I'm trying to find my sponsor soon before the season ends. I'm in the process of gathering all of the necissary equipment/facilities and hunting with local falconers. If anyone is interested in helping me out please email me at michael.ritz55@yahoo.com. Again, I need to find a sponsor soon before the trapping season ends. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi Michael and welcome to the forum and to falconry. Have you taken your test yet?

There are several guys here from your area that may be able to give advice. Have you joined the Texas Hawking Assoc?
http://www.texashawking.org/2008/Public/

Here is their apprentice section...
http://www.texashawking.org/2008/Pub...tice_info.html

Also, you will have a lot of questions that can be answered by an archive search here and by reading through the Modern Apprentice website.
http://www.themodernapprentice.com/

Furthermore, click on the link below my name and read through that.

Thank you for your greeting and advice AK Rev. I have been to both of those sites, joined THA as a member, but I have not taken my test yet. The person I contacted at TPWD said I need a sponsor first. I have ordered the California Apprentice study guide and apprentice guide and will be recieving them via mail tomorrow. I am how ever collecting my equipment and constructing my facilities. I will go through and revisit those links though. Again thank you so much for your assistance.

Thank you so much for your help AK Rev. I have already visited both of those sites, registered as a member for THA, and will be recieving my california appentice study guide and apprentice guide books tomorrow via mail. The person I contacted at TPWD said I need a sponsor before I can take the test. I will revisit the links you have provided though to refresh. Again thank you so much for your help.


Michael.

Michael, not sure where you are getting information, but Texas is under the new regulations and you can trap year round now. Call me if you would like to discuss.

817-751-5775

Leave a message if I do not answer.

Howdy Michael.

Have you attempted to make contact with any of our fellow Texans via THA channels?

I'm a new prospect as well, and have found 3 THA members in my immediate area and will be conducting my first face to face link up this week. I feel more than confident that I will be able to find a sponsor through them, however, my goal differs from yours in that I don't plan on trapping until next season.

Good luck regardless.

dirthawking;

I can't recall exactly where I found those dates, but I'm glade to hear that they were wrong. Because it is late, I will call you tomorrow afternoon. Is that alright? My number is (972)800-0679.

James Idi;

That's where I've been getting my contacts. I've had three so far that said they would allow me to hunt with them, but I only have one scheduled date so far.

Michael

Michael, I don't want to burst your bubble, but you are not going to find a sponsor by asking on a forum. Any decent falconer is going to require you to spend some time out in the field with them for a while before agreeing to sponsor you. It is our way of ensuring you have the dedication needed to practice falconry. It also gives you time to learn the basics before getting a bird of your own.

My advice is for you to slow down and get out hunting with other falconers. Take your time to get to know several falconers and the rest will fall into place. And as Mario said, trapping is legal all year here in Texas. Here is a link to the current regs: Texas Regs and Federal Regs There aren't too many falconers in the Dallas area, but there are a bunch of us in the Fort Worth area. You are welcome to come out hunting with us anytime.

I would love to come out hunting with you and anyone that would like the company. Since I had the capture dates wrong I will slow down a bit. I was just concerned thinking I would have to wait until next winter. I think I came off a bit strong with my original request. I am more than willing to come out and proove my devotion/dedication to the local falconers. I am free to hunt/visit Monday - Saturday after 6:00pm and anytime Sunday. I have one scheduled hunt on Nov. 20th and I'll be out of town Nov. 22nd -29th, but I'm available anytime before or after that.

Although I'm a non-resident member of the THA, I'm not familiar with their regs. I leave that to Mario, Krys, Brandi, etc. Having said that, is the state's recommendation to build facilities BEFORE having a sponsor located? That surprises me. That really takes something away from the whole sponsor/apprentice relationship.

I did not think that was part of the sponsor/apprentice relationship. I have almost 15 yrs of experience with animal care in both the public and private secters so I thought nothing of building my own facilities. I thought it would look good to would be sponsors.

That background should be helpful to you. However, if TX is not asking you to do it in advance (can't imagine why they would), I and many others would tell you to wait to get some feedback from your sponsor. That's a critical part of the apprenticeship.

You see...falconers are uh, opinionated.

I can appreciate that. Working with others that care for animals I know how each individual (including myself) has their own views on do's and don't's. I have already built a 6x6x4 foot mesh box for the weathering area and I want to build a 3x5x8 foot mews for an indoor enclosure for either a kestrel or screech owl. I have all the plans drawn up, I just have to build it. It includes a door with a bared window and a variety or different sized perches placed at varying heights.

Hey, you're at a good place to show plans to someone. Nothing wrong with having ideas, plans, etc. to discuss. That shows initiative. A weathering yard is one thing to have built (not a big deal) but to put a lot of time into a permanent mews and find out it's not right is unpleasant and expensive.

It's too dark to hunt now by 6/6:30. Certainly not a time to start a hunt by any means. So in essence you are available on Sundays. TX does not require or recommend building facilities prior to having a sponsor and I would hold off on that. Also there was a falconry "incident" in Addison years ago that lead to falconry pretty much being illegal in the city. Not sure how that affects you just having a bird inside the city limits but you may want to look into that as well. Good luck in your search.

I'll try to post more details about my mews design this evening. I just got back from Lowes and priced everything I'll need at around $120 - $150 for a 3(wide)x5(long)x8(tall) mews(internel dimensions would be 2' 8" x 4' 8" x 7' 8"). Does anyone think that a mews that size would be wrong for a screech owl or American kestrel. Right now I'm busy cleaning and rearranging my place to open it up a bit. Thanks for the heads up about Addison. My wife says we don't live in Addison though. Our address is 14332 Montfort drive Dallas, TX. Its somewhere between Addison and Richardson, but I'll look into it, thanks.

Oh my study guide and apprentice mannual arrived. I'm going to burry myself into those books. I've heard the exam is tough. I have an off topic question though. How can you take a one week vacation? I mean what do you do with the bird(s)?

I did a few measurements, and the location where I was going to put the mews wont work. I'm going to speak with my wife, but I might switch to a 8(L)x4(W)x6(H), but the overal design will remain the same. I was thinking of sections of astro turf for the floor.

Triple post, well done! Slow down there buddy...try searching and reading a lot more. Much of this can be found and should be discussed with your sponsor.

After a long and thorough discussion with Mario, I realized that I have more to consider than I realized. Thank you.

Mario is a good source of info. You can trust what he says.

I was reading the new Texas regulations and it says that an apprentice may not possess an imprinted raptor. Is it possible to acquire a non-imprinted raptor and have it become imprinted, and if it happens would said apprentice give up his/her bird?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelR

I was reading the new Texas regulations and it says that an apprentice may not possess an imprinted raptor. Is it possible to acquire a non-imprinted raptor and have it become imprinted, and if it happens would said apprentice give up his/her bird?

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It is my understanding that in order to imprint, the bird needs to be raised from a very early age (eyas) by humans. This wouldn’t be possible for an apprentice because they’re not allowed to start with an eyas as far as I know.

As a second year apprentice the excitement of all the possibilities falconry has to offer is still very fresh in my mind. Heck, during my pre-apprentice time my wife almost had me convinced I needed to start out with a Saw-Whet owl because she thought they were so cute. :-o The fact of the matter is, as a pre-apprentice or apprentice there’s just no way of knowing what is truly involved in falconry & what it takes to keep a healthy bird or harder yet, keep the bird happy (It’s been my observation that a raptor is not truly happy unless it’s out hunting live quarry) until you’ve actually kept a bird under the guidance of a sponsor.

I guess where I’m going with this is that it’s my opinion there are good reasons that imprint’s aren’t available to apprentices. Unlike our UK friends we have the fantastic opportunity of trapping passage birds. As an apprentice this is a win win situation. We get to learn how to care for a bird that is already fully capable of taking care of itself. This means the mistakes we make in training the bird (and we all make mistakes as apprentices) don’t have to follow us or the bird for the rest of its life. We can release the passage bird (after certain preparation of course) at which time it should revert back to its wild state & resume hunting as it did prior to capture. In turn, the bird has taught us many valuable lessons that will help us with our future birds. Imprints are not releasable, therefore making an apprentices mistakes more harmful to both the bird & the birds caregiver for the extent of the birds life.

So my first hunt was fun. While we only found one rabbit and the hawk did not see it, I got to have a nice long conversation with the falconer I was with about a lot of things falconry related. At the end of it he even said he might be able to sponsor me. He would prefer I choose a red tail as my first bird, but may be open to a kestrel. I would prefer to have a kestrel, but I am still open to a red tail. I just need to figure out how I could house a red tail in my apartment. Here is a link to the floor plan of my apartment.

http://www.villasatmontfort.com/libr...5UaMQIUkbxjKpl

I hope Mario chimes in on this as he said he knows of someone that has a red tail in an apartment, but anyone else is more than welcome to put.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MichaelR

So my first hunt was fun. While we only found one rabbit and the hawk did not see it, I got to have a nice long conversation with the falconer I was with about a lot of things falconry related. At the end of it he even said he might be able to sponsor me. He would prefer I choose a red tail as my first bird, but may be open to a kestrel. I would prefer to have a kestrel, but I am still open to a red tail. I just need to figure out how I could house a red tail in my apartment. Here is a link to the floor plan of my apartment.

http://www.villasatmontfort.com/libr...5UaMQIUkbxjKpl

I hope Mario chimes in on this as he said he knows of someone that has a red tail in an apartment, but anyone else is more than welcome to put.

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Well, it would also depend on what your apartments rules on pets are. I know of a falconer who just this year had to release his RT after the owner found the RT. From there, according to the new regs., you can keep a raptor housed inside now. Will be a lot more cleaning up, and I'd definitely seriously consider molting a bird indoors, lots and lots of feathers everywhere. It's possible, just more work on your behalf. Good luck, and remember, take your time, it's not a race. One season observing and helping a falconer beat brush out in the field will go a long ways. You'll be surprised the things you learn just helping, weight control, learning to read a birds body language, and handling them. (By weight control I mean if the falconer you're with bounces the weight some you'll see the change in the bird.) I would hunt with a guy that had.....very loose weight control, and one day may be great, the next a lot of sitting. (No, not my sponsor) So good luck, read everything you can, and get out and meet some local falconers, there are several not to far from you. Semper Fi.