Kevin Triolo
President
Kevintriolo@hotmail.com

I have never been casual about my falconry. After nearly 40 years in the sport I have never grown bored or tired with it and never missed a season in all that time.

I do not know what drives me; I do not want to know. Falconry is best when it no longer requires the will, when it evolves into something sort of like landing a fish and all objectivity is absorbed into the moment and introspection becomes a dry sterile plane.

I am always seeking to banish error, stay progressive, always seeking to sharpen my perception of the whole; how quarry and predator demand excellence from one another, how the lay of the land, the wind shapes every flight.

Ours is a sport of voluptuous extremes and heavy irony; those birds I have had that survive the greatest risks of pitch and distance and weather, where every flight from that razor's edge has the potential to put her down dangerously far from you with quarry are the birds that I have valued the most. I am continually urging myself to be bolder, to risk more when in the field; on that razor's edge is where the juice is, where the amps are the highest.

Falconry is the antidote to life as a bore. It is a revolt against ordinary standards seeing, rescue from the dead, fake landscapes of rampant urbanization.

Is Falconry an art? It may be just prententious enough an activity to be an art. I don't know. It is probably made even more pretentious by attempting to consider it an art. No, for me it is not an art.

In my falconry I am always caught between insisting on control and cultivating the unexpected, reaching for the highest levels of risk, the most reckless, brutal degrees of fun to be had, where the best flight sometimes happens so fast it is difficult for you to look back and recall what it is you have just seen,

THE IMPORTANT THING IS NOT TO BLINK !!!

Mike Maxcy
President
killerflight@yahoo.com

I am a lucky man, for the past twenty-five years I have been able to practice the sport of falconry. The relationship that can develop between a man and a raptor on the field and in the sky is something to be treasured. The pure power of a goshawk exploding off the fist in a near vertical rise colliding with a pintail 80 feet above me in a darkening sky and the elegant yet persistent stoops of a merlin shadowing a sparrow across a sea of grass until the two become one with a puff of feathers signifying success are images burned into my consciousness never to be forgotten. I cannot imagine what my life would be like without falconry, this sport has given me a reason to rise in the morning and dream at night, it has given me purpose, it has given me passion, it has shaped my life. Falconry has taken me places both physically and spiritually where at times I have been overwhelmed with an appreciation for life and all it has to offer. I am a lucky man.

Brad Felger
President
coastfalcons@yahoo.com

My name is Brad Felger and I have been a gamehawker since 1970. I have flown almost all of the North American raptors suitable for falconry and have found that my passion is flying my gamehawks on feather. I truly enjoy seeing the true wild predatory styles of each trained raptor of mine and I am always striving to "raise the bar" on how my birds fly when hunting.I have hunted with red-tailed hawks, all the North American accipiters, all of the American subspecies of merlin, several prarie falcons, peales and anatum peregrines, barbary falcons, and several hybrids. I am currently breeding barbary falcons, red naped shaheens, red nape/barbary, and various hybrids. I breed the types of falcons that I love to fly. I am currently flying a 3x intermewed female barbary/peregrine (see photo), and a 2x intermewed female gyr/barbary. They are both awesome flying gamehawks and are hunted regularly on waterfowl.

I am very concerned about the protection of our sport and want to see us falconers protected against unreasonable legislation in the future and that us falconers are well represented by lobbying hunting organizations so that we can keep moving forward to have falconry laws that are written with our best interest in mind to be able to practice the higher levels of the sport of falconry. I want the California Gamehawkers Association (CGA) to represent YOU the falconers and to have your input and ideas heard so the CGA can best represent all of us! The CGA is OUR club and you as a gamehawker are important to the CGA.

Thanks, Brad Felger

John Milan
Webmaster
john@milaninstitute.com

I’ve been involved with falconry for over 24 years. I spent my early years flying tiercel red-tail hawks and later a cooper’s hawk, peregrine/praire and a barbary falcon. For most of my life, I’ve mainly flown merlins and tiercel praires. The highly addictive pursuit of the small, agile and speedy feathered game keeps me coming back for more action year after year. This is why I believe that falconry is the perfect action packed pursuit.

Keeping the free spirit of falconry alive, is why I became involved with the California Gamehawkers Association. I want to be a part of maintaining and protecting this hunting tradition for years to come.

I have been involved in the art field as a graphic designer and advertising art director for my whole professional career. I took the opportunity the CGA presidential panel bestowed on me to mesh two of my life’s passions.

I live in southern California and I’ve been married to my wife Judith for 12 years. We have two children, a very active 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. Currently I’m juggling my family, ad agency, CGA duties and a jack merlin.

Bob Herrick
Treasurer
tntvet@aol.com

Hello, my name is Bob Herrick and I have been a falconer for 20 years. I live in central California, and have been blessed with an abundance of local game and the land to hunt it on. I have only flown broad and short winged hawks, having never flown a longwing. My passion is Goshawks. I love the tenacity and focus that they exhibit in everything that they do. I am a strong proponent of wild take, and greatly enjoy my annual sojourns into the Sierras to look for Goshawk nests.

I believe in contributing to the causes that I feel strongly about, and that is why I have joined with other dedicated gamehawkers to help organize the California Gamehawkers Association. I believe that no one else will represent my interests better than a group of like-minded, hard working individuals with similar goals. I am also on the boards of the Wild Raptor Take Conversancy, Back Country Horseman and the agricultural advisory committee of our local college.

My Grandfather instilled my love of the outdoors in me. He allowed a small boy to tag along on his hunting and camping adventures. While accompanying him, my eyes were opened up to many of the wonders that nature had to offer, and all of the good times that could be had. I devote the majority of my free time enjoying all that nature has to offer. I feel fortunate that my two sons have been exposed to this lifestyle as well, and have embraced it. I am proud to say that my youngest son is also a falconer, and we are able to share many experiences together.

On a professional level, I am a partner in a small business that helps pharmaceutical companies develop veterinary products for farm animals. I have been married to my lovely wife for 23 years, with both of us being native Californians.

Elisa McCormick
Legal Advisor
mejasale@yahoo.com