I basically watched him crack out of the shell, and he's been with me his entire life. There are two branches of falconry, one that uses true falcons, such as T.G., and the other devoted to hawks, which are not easy to raise in captivity. But hawks are abundant in the wild, says Phil Bozenhard, state wildlife biologist for southern Maine, and the small number captured by beginning falconers has no adverse effect on the population. Falconers themselves have worked hard to ensure that not just anyone gets into this sport. Under Maine's regulations, which Fanning helped develop in the early 1970s, gaining a falconry permit requires scoring at least 80 on a comprehensive test of 100 questions and entering into a two-year apprenticeship under an experienced falconer.
Falcons return because there's a bond that's built with the owner.
Novices begin by capturing and training a young red-tailed hawk, Fanning says. It takes another five years to become a master falconer, who can hunt with falcons. They want to keep the sport a real high-quality sport. They don't want just every Tom, Dick and Harry getting a hawk or a falcon . . . It's not easy to raise or train a raptor.