Falconry
In Alfred Brehm`s book Animal life in addition to numerous interesting stories, I came across the topic of falconry for the first time.
Mostly short passages in his book that described the relationship between a man and a bird of prey. It was a real surprise, for anyone who had any contact with any bird of that family could see for himself the unbridled wildness and indomitability of those creatures when they were near man.
Any thought of getting closer to them would seem impossible at first glance, but the truth is different.
It is feasible, but only with certain knowledge that the falconer must possess. At the same time, I understood that it was a skill that hides some secrets and knowledge, which have been de facto forgotten, at least here in our country. Nowhere before that I had neither heard nor seen any mention of falconry, except in certain movie scenes that looked attractive but fairy-tale like.
The way he described the falconers in his sentences awakened an indescribable desire for it in me, and reading the passages in a split second, in an inexplicable way, in a boyish way, an entire movie flashed through my mind in which the main role was me with a bird on my hand.
I knew I wanted it, I wanted to get close to the birds that have been admired by mankind for centuries!
I still remember that feeling to this day, and I can’t describe it in words. Unfortunately, many years passed after that, but I never stopped dreaming.
Birds of prey hold a special place in my life, and every encounter with any of them ignited my falconry imagination.
For a long time I could discover nothing more about it than Brehm’s records, so I spent a great deal of time in vain trying to do something about it, as there was no literature in our country dealing with the subject. I later found out that falconry was banned in our country, and the reason for the ban was because it resembled aristocracy and monarchy. After the Second World War, the communist regime suppressed everything related to any “monarchist” arrangement.
Many valuable things from the past suffered, and while the rest of the world jealously guarded their historical heritage, we destroyed them with some silly idea that we will create everything new and that we don’t need any of it, what an irony of this society.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, some new social climates and conditions for the return of some lost values were created, and thanks to a few enthusiasts, falconry is slowly returning to our country.
Immediately after the founding of the first falconry association “Nobilis Ars”, I came into contact with them and thus began a falconry career that has lasted twenty-two years.
