LET ’ S GO HAWKING
But how does a falconer actually get a bird to fly back to them ? To the uninitiated , it seems like a kind of black magic . Maybe that ’ s where the pagan goddess thing comes in ?
“ These are smart birds ,” Anastasia tells me . “ They learn very quickly , and in the beginning stages , you have to show the bird you ’ re not going to harm it . What that entails is allowing it to sit on your glove . It has special equipment on it , which we call “ the jess ” and “ a leash .” So , when you catch your bird , you put anklets on it . Then “ jesses ”, which are basically straps . And then the leash , which you attach to the jesses . That allows them to have full movement of their feet . They can reach out and grab things , but they ’ re attached to a leash . The goal is to train the bird to calm down and not feel the boundaries of the leash .
And when you ’ re sitting with them on glove , you have a large piece of food for them . Maybe it ’ s a big piece of quail sitting on your glove . When animals are stressed out , they don ’ t eat . They ’ re not thinking about food or digestion , they ’ re thinking about survival . So , you offer food , but it probably will choose not to eat it for the first few days . Eventually , its desire for food will get the best of them . And at that point , they have probably spent several days with you . Although they may have been scared , they ’ ve never been harmed . So , eventually , they eat . And the process begins . As soon as they eat food with you , the ball starts moving . The next time , instead of just giving them the food , you just put them on a perch or a chair a foot or two away , and while still on the leash they have to hop to your glove to get that food . Then you bring them outside , which is where they ’ ve grown up . They know that they can leave if they want to . But , now they know - I got easy food ! The next step is you bring her to the hunting field , and you let her go . She ’ ll fly to a tree , and it ’ s not that different than what we were just doing before . So , she ’ s looking to me , like , Hey , where ’ s my food ? She ’ s waiting
54 VERMONT MAGAZINE