The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is taking public comments on changes to regulations for falconry. D-N-R Wildlife Research Supervisor, Chris Ensminger, says the changes would allow you to use native birds.”We’re looking at the possibility of providing people the opportunity to take falcons for use in hunting. So, it’s not harvesting obviously falcons obviously, it using them for hunting scenarios,” Ensminger says. He says the change is due in part to the resurgence of the birds in Iowa.”Those populations have grown and are doing very well,” Ensminger says, “We also have a large number of bird that migrate through the state. And so there’s opportunities there for those individuals who participate in falconry to use that resource.”

Falcons can be trained to hunt various prey by those licensed to do so. “There’s different seasons for those things… what we are looking at is possibly expanding those opportunities,” Ensminger says. The public comment period is open through November 8th.  Comments should be emailed to wildlife@dnr.iowa.gov.

(Radio Iowa)