How I Met Rudy

I guess since I am starting this Blog about my falconry experiences and this may go beyond just what Musket and I do together, I’ll start from the beginning. Summer of 2007, I met my sponsor, a seasoned falconer named Rudy Howell. A good friend of mine, Jim Garrison, introduced us one day when we were down at the FWC regional office. Rudy was there working on painting something and he and Jim struck up a conversation. Rudy was talking about his last bird, a merlin (small falcon), that he caught from the wild and let go because frostbite had gotten to its toes and they were turning black and falling off. That instantly caught my attention. I dropped what I was doing and listened in.

For those of you who don’t know, I have been interested in Falconry since my early years of college. I took all the classes UC Davis had to offer about birds of prey, participated in road surveys, and volunteered at the campus Raptor Rehabilitation Center cleaning cages, handling sick birds, and participating in outreach events with resident birds. It was always so fun to strap this powerful amazing bird to your fist and talk to people about it. I loved it! I wanted to be a falconer to develop my own bond with one of these powerful animals, but I didn’t have the time, money, or ability to go out and actually kill things having been a vegetarian at the time.

Here I was almost 10 years later, having lived in North Florida for 3 years, working check stations, gutting deer, shooting squirrels, dealing with nuisance wildlife. I had long given up my vegetarian ways. At last I felt a full understanding of where meat came from and, having participated in hunting activities, could finally see myself actually hunting my own meat. I felt that I had the right to eat it now. (I know that doesn’t make sense to most people, but that is how I feel about it.) So, I was faced with this falconer, who seemed really friendly and knowledgeable, so I asked him if he’d be willing to take on an apprentice, and he looked at me surprised and said, “well sure!”

And that was the beginning of my relationship with Rudy Howell, my sponsor, teacher, and mentor in this endeavor.