High-flying peregrine falcons: The tactics that make the difference!

Last hunting season, we had the opportunity to join three experienced falconers and their female peregrine falcons. Together with Gernot Jost and Marko Groß from Austria, and Rainer Hussong from Germany, we hunted wild pheasants in Hungary.

The landscape consists of open fields, interconnected by hedgerows and reed beds. When working with high-flying female peregrine falcons, maintaining altitude through proper training is essential. Equally important is using the right hunting tactics.

Game must be flushed correctly, giving the falcon a real opportunity to perform a successful flight from extreme height(often over 300 meters, and sometimes as high as 500 meters). Wild pheasants do not remain stationary, they tend to move quietly forward through cover and often escape unnoticed.

To counter this, we first block the escape routes using other people. A second line of people is then positioned in the opposite direction, effectively holding the pheasants in cover. This significantly increases the chance of flushing the bird at the right moment, when the falcon is in the "correct position" overhead.

In this way, pheasant flights of 500 to 1,000 meters are created. When a female peregrine falcon stoops from such heights, her immense speed produces an impressive sound, often compared to that of a jet fighter.

It is a unique experienc, an intense and demanding form of falconry that continually challenges us to improve the quality and precision of our flights.