“If you see a squirrel, yell HO HO HO as loud as you can!”
My instructions the first time I saw falconry, with Bill Davis hawking squirrels in North Carolina.
It was an adrenaline rush of an experience that lasted for hours as I pursued the man that would set the standard for me, by which I would measure every falconer, including myself, to this day. I could barely keep up with a man in his mid seventies on that first hunt, and I was barely 15. This guy was passion incarnate, there was not a squirrel in the state of North Carolina that did not fear the presence of Bill Davis and his mighty Red-Tailed Hawks.
Taking one, two, three squirrels in quick succession told me successful game-hawking is what falconry is all about, and in my early teens, I set out to emulate Bill Davis. Though success as he lived it seemingly so easily is a benchmark that he set so high I expect a lifetime’s work to come close, lies before me or any who wishes to practice falconry at its highest echelons.
I have not met a man with a greater love for the Red-Tailed Hawk. With decades of flying them under his belt, he always made a great show of his reverence for Buteo jamaicensis. Reliably present at every North Carolina Falconer’s Guild meet, Harris’s Hawk flyers and Goshawkers alike knew to brace themselves for the raucous exclamations of Red-Tailed prowess hurled at them from the one man who held the right to do so! Davis was an undeniable force in the forested countryside and briar-covered openings of North Carolina. To a youngster such as myself, it appeared every hunt was the ultimate competition, and if you were coming along on Bill’s team, maximum effort was what you found yourself putting into the challenge of finding game for the—usually giant—Red-Tailed Hawk commanding the woodlands from a perch high above! Which is to say Bill’s energy was infectious, it was a thrill to shake vines, whack hollow trees, and storm briar thickets like they were the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
That first hunt with Bill Davis I witnessed things that made me question why every person on earth was not a falconer. I remember telling Bill, “This should be filmed, this is incredible, the world needs to see this!” To which his famous warm smile and delightful laugh of agreement brought me out again to the next meet, this time with a camera. So on it went, and I began posting these videos on YouTube.
Falconry Told was born.
Bill Davis was an early North Carolina falconer, and a better role-model could not be had for a definition of what a falconer should be for so many North Carolinians who entered the sport because of him, or through him as his apprentices. Of which he had so many, partly because of his enthusiasm for seeing others delight in his same passion, partly because his declining health and failing limbs benefited greatly from having someone to assist scaling fences, towards the end when he could use help even handling his beloved Red-Tails.
As a boy, for me such a giant of a life could never end, would never end. He may as well have been on this earth hunting squirrels with Red-Tailed Hawks forever, and certainly, he’d continue to do so, forever.
Bill Davis made squirrel hawking with Red-Tailed Hawks not just cool, but actually the greatest thing on earth! An honor to watch, a magnificent privilege to actually practice oneself! This at a time when falconry in North America was still in its youth, where Red-Tails were not the globally recognized gamehawk they are now, and when squirrel-hawking was yet a niche at best in the hawking world.
There was no, “well Red-Tails are a required beginner’s bird and squirrels are the only game near me” with Bill Davis. To him and those who met him, it was “squirrel hawking with Red-Tailed Hawks is the pinnacle of the sport, and the ultimate adventure one could ever experience in their life.” The next hunt was always the most anticipated event in one’s life! To so many North Carolinian, and East Coast falconers, this gave us all a sense of pride in our way of hawking.
It was something we could do, that so many others couldn’t, and because of Bill Davis, we did not take it for granted. We basked in the camaraderie of being known as a “squirrel-hawker” with Davis as our standard-bearer.
Bill Davis hawked literally every chance he could, and that was pretty much every single day. I dare say, few falconers exist with as much game tallied in the bag as this man. They exist, and most of us know who they are, but few falconers, whether austringers, longwingers, come to mind when considering the caliber of game-hawking Bill practiced at such a hard-core, driven level.
No excuses. Red-Tailed Hawking was his way of life.
His life touched so many of us.
From the first time meeting him, to the news of his passing, through the rest of my life, there will never be a Red-Tailed Hawk atop a telephone pole, in a soar, or on a falconer’s glove, who does not bring Bill Davis and his undeniable legacy to mind.
“HO HO HO!”
Thank you, Bill Davis.
Listen to the Falconry Told Podcast Bill Davis Tribute Episode
“A program to create a memorial plaque in honor of Bill Davis and the many contributions he has made to falconry in NC and well beyond has been set up at the Falconers Wall of Remembrance at the World Center for Birds of Prey. You can make a secure donation by going to https://peregrinefund.org/archives-falconry . Choose the Remembrance Wall and put his name in the memorial section. Use his full name William Layman Davis. Please join in whatever way you can to participate in this. The club will be making a donation as well. We will provide more information on services for Bill as we can.I can say that they are a few weeks out at this point.”
Bob Pendergrass,
NCFG President