WATCH: KRDO13 shadows a Falconer as she hunts alongside her bird-of-prey
FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) - A Florence woman brought KRDO13's Bradley Davis along for a hunt to give us an exclusive look at what it's like to practice Falconry, one of the world's oldest sports where humans hunt alongside predator birds.
"Our birds that we hunt with at any point could say, 'I'm done. I'm going to go fly over there, and you are never going to see me again," said licensed Falconer and Founder of Nature's Educators non-profit Devin Jaffe. "Having the thrill of that bird choosing to come back to me, or choosing to hunt with me, that's way more exciting than hunting with a gun."
Ever seen someone hunt with a partner hawk?
— Bradley Davis (@DdavisBradley) January 16, 2025
We did, and it was awesome
You will too, tomorrow morning on @KRDO_13 pic.twitter.com/a9z6U0yW3d
Jaffe brought along her Harris Hawk, Prima. She chose Prima for her outgoing personality and being at ease around strangers. She also hunts with Eagles and owls.
"I don't have kids. I love teaching other people's children. I've never been interested in having my own, so these are my children," Jaffe said. "It's exciting when it's your bird, you've trained them up, and they catch something in their first hunt. I'm sure it's like when parents get excited, like, 'my kid is walking!'"
Jaffe and Prima targeted rabbits as their prey for the hunt. Jaffe warned you could go an entire eight-hour hunt without seeing any action. In two hours with KRDO13, she, Prima and Davis saw two rabbit chases, a close encounter in a rare daytime coyote sighting and an accidental chase into a prairie dog hole, where Jaffe had to pull Prima out, wings deep. KRDO13 got it all on video.
