STORY BY TIM RHYS
PHOTOGRAPHY JIMMY IENNER , JR .
Let ’ s Go
Hawking !
New England Falconry in Woodstock is fueling a new passion for an ancient sport that to some is an ideal blend of beauty and brutality
IF you know anything at all about falconry , you ’ ve probably heard it called the “ sport of kings ,” its popular moniker for a Millennia . What you may not know is that this rarified pastime is undergoing something of a 21st Century renaissance , that the brave little state of Vermont is a hotbed of that renewed interest , and that these days the sport isn ’ t just for males anymore , royalty or not .
One accomplished falconer who could easily be cast as a pagan queen in some latter-day pastoral adventure fantasy is the graceful , articulate Ms . Anastasia Nicholas , a striking 30-year-old with long , flowing dreadlocks , strategic piercings , and deep brown eyes who teaches at New England Falconry , the renowned raptor education center at the Woodstock Inn and Resort in Woodstock , Vermont .
Even if you don ’ t need another reason to feel fortunate that you ’ re living in or visiting the Green Mountain State , you can now officially add Anastasia to your list . For those of us who deign to admit that we don ’ t know the slightest thing about falconry , she and her colleagues are here to help us understand the staying power of this ancient sport and the genesis of its unlikely resilience . They ’ ll tell you about the sport ’ s origins as an ingenious innovation by nomadic Bedouin peoples living in a harsh desert climate who learned to train their region ’ s most skilled hunters as their partners in order to supplement the protein in their diets . They ’ ll explain that the survival skill of falconry eventually became an artform that was central to Bedouin and Arabian culture . And they ’ ll let you know that today it is one of UNESCO ’ s “ Intangible Cultural
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