Falconry for survival in a SHTF scenario.

I ran a search and was surprised to find no threads discussing the potential use of birds of prey for hunting in a survival situation.
It seems to me that in the often discussed scenario of having 'escaped' to the wilderness after or before the SHTF that as a silent and effective method of hunting, falconry would be a usefull tool for the survivor that would not draw attention to your location as the noise associated with gunfire does or require limited supplies of potentially difficult to manufacture ammunition. By using owls hunting could also be caried out under the cover of darkness. This is especially true for surivors in nations such as the UK where guns are few and hard to come by.
With senses far keener than ours and the ability to cover a large area regardless of the topography of the terrain, it seems to me that a hunting bird would be invaluable, especially one of the larger eagles that can take a wider variety of prey, in some cases even small deer, wolves or smaller feral dogs as the case may be for the survivor. Realistically a bird of prey that is used for hunting regularly would represent a minimal drain on your resources, requiring only fresh water as it catches it's own food. Also in desperate times a gun cannot be eaten, whereas a falcon can.
The only downside apparent to me is that arguably to become proficient in the art takes much longer than it does to learn how to aim a rifle but in a post SHTF world where pest animals such as rats, rabbits and in my country deer will flourish when their populations are no longer controlled by humans it may be realistically possible to breed or capture more raptors whilst again, the manufacture of firearms may be impossible. Furthermore I can imagine a trained hunting bird being extremely valuable in trade.
Has anybody else considered this? It strikes me that people only focus on hunting with dogs and although there are many other benefits to keeping mans best friend close at hand when TSHTF I think it is important to consider the merits of other hunting animals and would be very interested to see the opinions of some of the experts here.
Should ferrets also be considered? Even birds like cormorants, hand reared and tamed, will return to a boat or platform on water with fish that cannot be swallowed by the bird if a small collar that slightly constricts the birds gullet is worn. This causes no harm or pain to the bird but prevents it from swallowing its catch before it can be retrieved and in this fashion birds such as these can catch enough to feed themselves and their owners in areas with plentifull fish stocks.
Video: Eagle preys on goat
Video: Eagle preys on young deer

Holy C#^*! I had no idea they go for such large prey. Falconry is definitely useful in survival situations. That is why it's been developed in the first place. For survival techniques sans technology one need only look at the way people live in places like Mongolia, or how people lived four or five hundred years ago. Our ancestors knew how to get around without a large percentage of the things we have available to us now. That's why they had herds of cattle, goats and horses. Animal husbandry is a great way to survive. Learning how to fashion one's own weapons is also important. Bows and arrows, spears, traps,...... it's all worth combining for best results. Unlike growing crops which can take two seasons and you are forced to stay in one area, animals can be herded from place to place, traveling in the same fashion that many Native American tribes did back in the day.

How about just raising chickens. You get eggs almost everyday and you can raise the young for food. We've learned to domesticate for a reason. A smart person won't have to hunt long. Why hunt something like a rabbit when you can capture a few and breed them for food?

it's a good plan, but your falcon would last about 25 mins until some other post-apocalyptic survivor shoots it down with his last .22 slug and grills him over an open bbq pit.

In falconry, a young, but fully-grown, raptor is trained through operant conditioning using the reward of food as a positive reinforcement. Unlike pets, raptors are non-affectionate animals, having no ability to deal with dominant or submissive roles (except the Harris' Hawk). They do not "love" the falconer, they will not aim to please him; they are simply opportunistic and learn that life with the falconer affords the easiest and most reliable source of food and protection. Continuing the relationship, then, is a matter of convenience for the raptor. However, it is often thought there is a bond between bird and falconer, through which each trusts the other. The bird trusts the falconer not to steal its food and provide protection, and the falconer trusts the bird to come back.

**SOURCE HERE**

this takes a long time to do i know this is my job.
it takes 3 years for a bop to be at it Peak KILLING Performance.
eagles lol takes 6 years for it 1st molt as i said (non-affectionate bird)

so in one word NO




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What if the Falcon gets shot down by an ill fed combatant looking for food? Oh and I live in the UK, hence the name, and there are 2 gun shops close to me. We need a licence to have a gun just like in the USA but Guns are not hard to come by in the UK.

Falconry is really cool. It's just a bitch to get into if you're not already acquainted with people who practice it.

You have to apprentice for a while, build a proper habitat for one, get tested, inspected and licensed, then find a bird from the wild to train.

Once you have the ball rolling its awesome. There isnt anything like it. But if you've never done it, never known anyone who has done it and are starting from complete scratch it's a long and expensive process to get going.

Star and Flag for a completely different idea!

My cousin works at a landfill and they occasionally hire a falconer for the day to kill seagulls. It's illegal to poison or shoot them so it is deemed the most humane way to dispose of the pests. The guys they hire get paid ridiculously good money. It's like £50 an hour.

The great thing about these birds is they can kill animals much larger than they need to eat for their metabolism. So you can chow down on the rest!

Originally posted by DanUKphd
Guns are not hard to come by in the UK.

edit on 15-2-2011 by DanUKphd because: more info

Agree to disagree.

Originally posted by audio assasin
In falconry, a young, but fully-grown, raptor is trained through operant conditioning using the reward of food as a positive reinforcement. Unlike pets, raptors are non-affectionate animals, having no ability to deal with dominant or submissive roles (except the Harris' Hawk). They do not "love" the falconer, they will not aim to please him; they are simply opportunistic and learn that life with the falconer affords the easiest and most reliable source of food and protection. Continuing the relationship, then, is a matter of convenience for the raptor. However, it is often thought there is a bond between bird and falconer, through which each trusts the other. The bird trusts the falconer not to steal its food and provide protection, and the falconer trusts the bird to come back.

this takes a long time to do i know this is my job.
it takes 3 years for a bop to be at it Peak KILLING Performance.
eagles lol takes 6 years for it 1st molt as i said (non-affectionate bird)

so in one word NO

edit on 15-2-2011 by audio assasin because: (no reason given)

I fail to see how affection from the bird is relevant to what I'm suggesting but I suspect some experts would disagree with you, and though it might take 6 years for an eagles first molt they can certainly hunt extremely well long before that point. Investigation will reveal that in places like mongolia and khazakhstan where eagles are used for hunting the bird is put to good use from much younger age.

Great read Man flies with rescued golden eagle.