So You Want to Fly an Eagle

February 28, 2023

By Joe Atkinson People say this to me all the time….. “I want to fly a golden eagle, it’s been my life dream”. So I thought I would give you some insight as to what it is like to fly […]

Flying Golden Eagles in the Sagebrush Sea

May 17, 2022

By Joe Atkinson Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly your eagle, or any falconry bird, in a land that is so big you can’t drive across it in a single day or even several days? […]

Flying a Dragon

August 8, 2021

By Joe Atkinson Vale, Oregon When I say “dragon” I am, of course, referring to the golden eagle; in my opinion, the finest hunting partner a falconer can have. Notice I said hunting partner, not falconry bird or just plain […]

Soaring Eagles and Fast Dogs

July 15, 2020

By Joe Atkinson Sometimes in life stuff just happens — without any planning or thought, it just shows up and away you go. With that said, however, you don’t just go out and play golf for the first time and […]

Hunting the Waiting-on Golden Eagle

July 8, 2018

By Joe Atkinson Living in eagle country or, more specifically, the high desert of eastern Oregon, has its challenges for flying golden eagles at jackrabbits (what we call our hares). In the high desert the open sagebrush plains go on […]

Widow in the Sky in Wyoming

April 16, 2014

By Joe Atkinson The last time we visited I had taken a short trip out to Wyoming with my female golden eagle, Widow, to attempt to hunt her on sage grouse. We had limited success although I was highly encouraged […]

A Lifetime with Eagles

February 25, 2014

By Joe Atkinson I caught my first jackrabbit with a trained golden eagle in 1976. I can remember that fight as if it were yesterday. Little did I know that that single flight would send me on a path flying […]

A Second Chance: Returning Golden Eagles to the Wild in Vale, Oregon

February 16, 2014

By Joe Atkinson After months of training and conditioning the female golden eagle we called Penny, she was, for all intents and purposes, ready for free flying up on the mountain, the next step for her return to freedom. Penny […]

The Desert Camp

February 15, 2012

The Third International Festival of Falconry UAE By Joe Atkinson published in Falconers & Raptors Conservation Magazine 2012   Sometimes your life can take completely unexpected turns and being asked to go to the Third International Festival of Falconry in Al Ain […]

Game Ready

January 13, 2012

by Joe Atkinson Vale, Oregon One of the biggest things one can do before the hunting season starts or before a meet such as the GOE is prepare your bird for what it will see in the field. I call […]

Hunting Valley Quail is Not Easy With a Falcon

July 29, 2011

by Joe Atkinson Published in American Falconry 2011 Valley quail are smallish game birds, just slightly smaller than a Hungarian partridge. They are very common in the western states. Their preferred habitat is places with lots of cover, berry brambles […]

Air Support

May 28, 2011

by Joe  Atkinson (published in The Austringer The Journal of the Welsh Hawking Club 2011) The weather has been extremely nice the last few days and today was no exception, high 60’s and clear. My team consists of a female […]

Tinkerbelle–The Highs and Lows

August 16, 2010

by Joe Atkinson Published in Falconers & Raptor Conservation Magazine 2010 Falconry is a funny sport; what I mean is, when things go right it looks easy. As an example, you load up your dogs and falcons or hawks or […]

Fun with Eagles

May 18, 2010

by Joe Atkinson Vale, Oregon, USA When I was asked to write an article about my experiences with golden eagles it caused me to reflect. I realized that I have been flying eagles for a long time, some 34 years. […]

Notes from an Eagle Falconer

April 30, 2010

Notes from an Eagle Falconer By Joe Atkinson Published in The Falconers & Raptors Conservation Magazine issue 81 2010 I get asked this question a lot.. Joe, what’s it like to fly a bird like that?  A question like that […]

Preview of newest DVD

April 15, 2009

EAGLE ROAD TRIP Cordi and I invite you to come along on our road trip as we hunt our two eagles, Jackhammer and Mini-Me, in the fields of Kansas and Texas. Once again Cordi has done a wonderful job, as […]

Reaching For the Sky

April 7, 2009

By Joe Atkinson Vale, Oregon, USA Published in International Falconer magazine issue 34 2009 For years I have flown golden eagles hunting them in a verity of ways but I have always wanted to fully explore the possibilities of flying […]

Dancing on the Wind

April 7, 2009

Soaring Golden Eagles in Eastern Oregon Published in American Falconry magazine 2009 by Joe Atkinson Vale, Oregon A year ago we moved to the high desert of Eastern Oregon from Northern California where I have spent all of my life. […]

I’m Stuck in the Mud and It’s Starting to Rain!

July 18, 2008

by Joe Atkinson One of the things that I like about the sport of falconry is its unpredictability. Each time a falconer releases his or her bird a new adventure starts and you can end up in the darndest places. […]

The First Hunt

July 17, 2008

by Joe Atkinson After nearly an hour of scouting livestock ponds I finally found what I had been searching for — a small pond roughly the size of a backyard swimming pool. I could not see the water from my […]

Windows of Opportunity Can be Magical

July 17, 2008

by Joe Atkinson You do all the necessary things; like checking the local TV stations, waiting for the talking heads to get through all the meaningless news and finally show the weather forecast. For me, news that does not directly […]

Eagle Journal Photos

July 17, 2008

Ballooning Photos

July 8, 2008

Hunting Golden Eagles In the Most Unlikely Places

June 18, 2008

by Joe Atkinson Clements, Cal, USA Published in American Falconry Volume 37 No matter what kind of bird you fly, perlin, goshawk or, in my case, golden eagles, the hardest thing is to find game to fly your bird on. […]

A Comparison of Styles

June 17, 2008

Hunting Blue hares in Scotland L-R Andrew Cordi Joe and Neil by Joe Atkinson Flying and hunting golden eagles in the United States has been around for many years. People like Morley Nelson were flying golden eagles many years ago […]

Morning Pheasant Hunt

June 17, 2008

A Morning Pheasant Hunt by Joe Atkinson The alarm went off at 4:30 am, which is early by my standards. For any other reason I would be reluctant to roll out of bed but, knowing that I was going hawking, […]

Eagle Journal – Day 16

February 15, 2008

Jackhammer(JH) 8.6 lbs. female 8.35 lbs. The plan was to hunt JH in the more difficult fields and save the better ones for the female. I went to the ware house field in hopes of finding a good slip in […]