Name?

Tim Jessell

How long have you been an OFA member?

Coming up on 25 years. Wow.

Positions in OFA?

Vice president, president. Alan Jenkins wouldn't let anyone else be treasurer.

Where do you live?

Stillwater

Job or School?

Self employed illustrator. http://timjessell.com, facebook: tim jessell, illustrator

Family?

My wife Ragan, Abby, 15, Ben, 12, Molly, 9

What got you interested in falconry?

Fascinated w/ animals virtually from birth. Was in New York City, and my baseball playing days were now done, so I was subconsciously looking for something. I about literally stumbled onto a statue in Central Park called "The Falconer". As corny as it sounds , it was an epiphany. I said to myself, "That's what I want to do." I pursued it since that day.

Who was your sponsor? (or mentors and influences?)

Mark Waller and Richard Day, who was his apprentice at the time (Richard and I hawked redtails together, he helped me a bunch w/ field craft, etc.). It was when I told Mark I wanted to fly a longwing that I finally put Waller to real work. ;)

What birds do you currently fly?

Imprints: Spike, 9 year old Gyr/Peregrine hybrid, Bolt, the off the scale world's loudest 100% peale's tiercel, but a flying s.o.b

What birds have you flown in the past?

Redtails and larger falcons.

What was your favorite bird and why?

Spike. Size, power, speed, ability, pleasure to be around. He often kills grouse w/ one blow. He's pretty darn good.

What birds do you plan to fly or would like to fly?

I spent some time w/ goshawks back in Indiana, and really like them, so if I ever gave up longwinging... otherwise my answer would've been a tiercel peale's, but thats' now scratched off the "bucket list".

Favorite Quarry?

Sharptails, Prairie Chickens, Huns.

Do you have other animals?

Do homing pigeons count? 3 dogs (not for falconry - I like to keep it simple there), Kuma, male Shiba Inu, Miko, female Shiba Inu, and the puppy (my wife's spoiled brat), Saki, half Shiba Inu, half Klee Kai

Favorite falconry story?

Gosh, I have lots of great days in the field hawking.... but, I guess, even though it's 2nd hand, but it's just so bizarre (like Mitch Wishon's bird recover story in downtown OKC) --the day Mark Waller was in his office in a skyscraper in downtown Tulsa, and an ex falconer(of all people) walks into his office, and is stunned to see a (wild) peregrine sitting on Mark's window ledge, outside the building. He was wondering how Mark trained a bird to do that. I mean what are the odds of all the windows in Tulsa?

Funniest falconry story?

Easy. Hawking early season ducks w/ Matthew Kirkwood in western OK, years ago. Teal were flying back and forth between two ponds, w/ a gravel road in between. His young bird wanted them but was not "closing". I said to Matt, if you want one of those you better get wet. He stripped right down to his tightey whiteys. Meanwhile, a gentleman pulls up in a van. Casually gets out, and asks what's going on. I tell him we're hawking ducks (he has not spotted Matt yet). He had seen falconers before, so we continued chatting. About then, Matt comes running up from the ditch, in his now dirt brown soaked underwear, sprinting barefoot across the road to the other pond. I say nothing....the guy just slowly turns his head and totally deadpans it, watching this "nutcase" running around in his underwear out in the boonies. He wished us a good hunt and moseyed on down the road. It was sublimely hilarious, Monty Python-esque. Oh, and a wild female peregrine joined the flight that day to boot.

Favorite quote?

"Everyone has a plan...until they get hit in the mouth" - Mike Tyson.

What is the best tip that you would give someone new to the sport?

You get out of it what you put into it. Falconers are born and not made: The internet makes it almost a little too easy to access info (but it certainly has it upside positives). A falconer's deep seeded desire and initiative, if strong enough, should overcome many many hurdles along the way to becoming a falconer and a good one at that. I'm total old school in that way.

Who have you sponsored?

Matthew Kirkwood (longwing sponsor in effect), Brian Rhitaller(sp?). I don't think he's active anymore.

What goals do you have for your falconry experience?

I think I have reached a lot of them? Now it's just balancing quality hawking w/ family life phase I am in (young kids that still sorta of listen to me). It's why many new OFA members have not seen me: Usually coaching traveling baseball during OFA picnics, and coaching traveling football and basketball during the hawking season... and making a living where the vacation pay stinks!