by GREG NIKKEL of the Weyburn Review
While most Weyburn residents were preparing to go to work or to school last week, an international group of falconers were gathered each morning in River Park ready to head out for a day of hunting in the area.
Weyburn played host to the biennial Canadian Falcon Meet from Oct. 5 to 10, with around 30 falconers converging at River Park with their trained birds of prey. This is the third time the city has played host to the event, serving as the home base for the falconers who head out in search of duck ponds in the surrounding regions.
"We chose Weyburn at the beginning for the primary reason the hunting is good. The town has always been receptive to our group," said Bob Rafuse from Rockglen, one of the event's organizers along with Doug Busch of Estevan.
Some of the falconers have come from as far away as Scotland and South Africa to take part in the meet, while others drove in from Montreal, Toronto and other Ontario towns, Nebraska and Minnesota, as well as from points all over Saskatchewan and Alberta. Some of those who made the drive from Ontario or Quebec are staying on in the area for another week, including Ken Roczniak from Freelton, Ont., who is here hunting with a peregrine falcon and a European goshawk.
Roczniak said his goshawk hunts differently from the falcons, going after fur-bearing prey as well as the feathered varieties, while falcons almost exclusively hunt for birds, in particular ducks. He likes the area around Weyburn, saying it's a lot more conducive to falconry than southern Ontario.
Mick Boon, who lives in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, said the Weyburn meet was the first falconing event he's attended outside of Europe, and had high words of praise for what he's found here.
"I'm amazed at the amount of quarry you've got over here. The space is just incredible; you don't appreciate what you've got. It's wide open with loads of duck ponds and ducks. It's a falconer's utopia, it really is," said Boon.
His experience in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe is there are many falconer enthusiasts vying for the few areas available to hunt in along with hunters with guns, and usually the landowners will charge for the privilege of hunting on it.
"Here you just ask permission and they give it With a falcon, you do it for the spectacle. You don't do it for what you get. You fly a bird for a short time only," said Boon.
Gary Warren, originally from South Africa and working in London, England, attended the meet as an observer, learning tips and techniques that he can use back home.
"I relate to this area because it's very similar to what we do in Africa. The terrain is very similar to the high veldt, or high plains, near Johannesburg One of the reasons I come to these international meets is to watch how they fly their birds, and ask questions. It's falconry on a different scale," he said, adding for the two weeks he's in Canada he was unable to bring his own birds here, due to the length of quarantine required.
Mark Williams formerly lived in the U.K., and now calls Spruce Grove his home. He likened falconry to a way of life more than just a sport like hunting with a rifle, due to the time and effort spent with the birds.
"It's the oldest field sport known to man, and was brought over to Europe in Medieval times from Southeast Asia. Now in North America, it's practised at as high a standard as anywhere in the world," he said, noting falconers like Weyburn because it's central for many falconers, has friendly people and is in a region that provides excellent supplies of quarry.
"The people in Saskatchewan are without question the friendliest, and we certainly are appreciative of the friendliness and the co-operation of landowners to let us hunt ducks and upland game," said Williams.
Those who hunt with birds don't take a lot of prey either, he said, pointing out that with 20 falconers going out on Thursday, only three or four ducks were caught altogether.
Most of the falconers are hunting for ducks, although some permits were also issued for upland game birds such as grouse and partridge.
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