State
ALL THINGS OKLAHOMA
Training Feathered Dragons
The ancient art of falconry gives an Oklahoma native hands-on experience with birds of prey.
F
LAUREN MCGOUGH WORKS WITH ILL OR WOUNDED EAGLES TO HELP THEM LEARN HOW TO HUNT AGAIN. PHOTO COURTESY LAUREN MCGOUGH
alconry is often thought of as the extinct hobby of medieval knights, yet hunting with birds of prey thrives in the state. Lauren McGough, an Oklahoma City native and a licensed, practicing falconer since age 14, describes the sport as a sort of destiny. “As a kid, I was always fascinated by birds of prey – eagles in particular – and longed to interact with them,” she says. “To me, they were these incredible, feathered dragons.” Starting out, McGough says watching them in the
wild was too removed, and she wasn’t sure how to nurture her interest. “I had no idea [falconry] was something that could even be practiced today,” says McGough, who stumbled across a book about falconry in her local library and was immediately captivated. “I knew I had to do it. I had to be a falconer.” She wrote the book’s author, Steve Bodio, a letter, and “he wrote me back,” she says. “He was in the middle of a trip to Mongolia then. He was one of the first western falconers to go there to experience APRIL 2019 | WWW.OKMAG.COM
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