Falconry as a “Sport”
The term “sport” implies a competitive and possibly frivolous pastime. For this reason, Falconers prefer to term their activity an “Art”. Falconry is an all-consuming pastime that requires passion and intuitive ability. Without this, any aspirant practitioner must fail. Hence its practice more closely resembles artistic activities such as ballet or playing music, rather than sporting activities, such as shooting or playing rugby.
Falconry is not a “competitive sport”. It is not a competition between falconers or even of falconer versus quarry. What allures the falconer is the challenge of establishing a working relationship with an independent creature that is both a supreme athlete and an apex predator. The falconer strives to attain excellence within the relationship, with the knowledge of what can be done and a dream to achieve beyond that. So, it is that one flight in a thousand, those transient seconds, when the efforts of the falconer and the hawk combine to produce a moment of heart stopping excitement, that is the raison d’être of Falconry. This is the essence of what falconers dream to achieve through years of daily involvement.
