40. Ralph Rogers on "Falconry's Three-legged Stool"

In this Episode, my guest is former NAFA President, Ralph Rogers. Ralph argues that the practice of falconry hinges of three prerequisites (i.e., the legs of his metaphorical stool); legal access to the raptors with which we hunt, a fair regulatory framework, and access to abundant quarry. Ralph points out that both "access" and "regulations" are now historical challenges that a unified falconry community worked to overcome. He says we need to do that again to solve the much bigger problem associated with the widespread declines in quarry that have affected populations of game species in the United States and elsewhere.

After introducing himself Ralph begins describing some of the historical aspects that affected access to raptors, and he points to times when the regulatory framework for legalized falconry was absent, as well as a period of time that the framework was considered to be overbearing. He argues that things have never been better from the standpoint of both access the regulatory framework 

Ralph then describes the way in which he sees contemporary falconry, and to use his words, says it has been “redefined, drastically altered, or has disappeared.  He then provides some international examples for why he believes this to be the case. 

I then ask Ralph about his experiences, and those of his North American colleagues, including how the decline in quarry has manifested itself when it comes to practicing the sport.

Ralph then provides what he believes are concrete actions that falconers should take to reduce the current rate of declines in game species. We conclude the episode looking back to an occasion when Ralph was most worried for the future of falconry, and counter that with an occasion that he believed that North American falconers had never been more unified.