Each year, a hardy group of falconers tow their campers and teepees far into the remote southwestern Wyoming desert, where they situate them around Steve Jones' customized school bus.
Hello, my name is Steve Tait, I’m a hood maker, artist, sculptor, taxidermist and falconer. I’ve been making hoods for falcons and hawks since middle school some 45 years now. I’ve always pursued a proper fit for all birds and believed I’ve done a good job of that over the last 2-3 decades.
My move out west for falconry would ultimately lead to me learning what falconry is in the first place. Recording an episode of our fledgling podcast with Steve Chindgren resulted in him inadvertently taking an aspiring falconer under his wing, and a friendship was born.
Five seasons of hard hawking seems to have earned this male perlin named “Stinger” the status of odd one out. It’s also earned him quite the reputation. From the first day of the meet, there was buzz being generated about him…
It’s not often that the activities of a hunt take my attention away from photographing it. But this was a flight for the ages, and while I didn’t capture it on camera, it’s forever etched into my mind.
It’s the House of Grouse. The place of falconry legend. Perhaps the singular most known falconry location, land-mark, building, in North America. It’s an old log cabin…
