Shane says that he occasionally takes on an apprentice falconer to teach. He suggests that beginners interested in falconry should get on the Internet and read up on the subject.

He said the hobby is fairly inexpensive after the initial investment and only as time-consuming as one wants to make it. He spends a couple hours a few times a week in the winter, and during the summer, he just spends a few minutes feeding the birds while they molt their feathers.

Shane currently has two birds, a Gyrfalcon/Barbary Falcon hybrid named Mr. Hobbs and a prairie falcon named Lauvaun, which he named after Richards' wife.

As a master falconer, he is allowed to have three birds, and he said that he had a third falcon, a Gyrfalcon/Peale's Falcon hybrid named P.J. He said it was "amazing" and "one of the neatest birds I've ever had," but it died in an accident about a month ago.

"It was out flying, and there was an airplane sitting, warming up and getting ready to go," Shane said. "It flew down, chasing something, and it flew through the propeller. You know, they have a little brain. They don't reason like we do, and you can see right through a propeller. It had no idea that there was any danger flying through next to this plane. I'm still in mourning over that bird, a wonderful bird."

Shane said that he has lost other birds that have been killed by eagles, and it is not uncommon for a falcon to be killed by a great horned owl or a power line, but he had never heard of a trained bird being killed by an airplane.

"At some point, maybe I'll get another one," he said. "I'm still mourning the loss right now."