The pigeon racers of Australia have long been very successful killers of Peregrine Falcons...

Here for the first time on the internet, is the tried and proven method of trapping Peregrine Falcons in Australia, which the pigeon racers of Australia have handed down to each other for many decades.

To successfully trap a Peregrine Falcon you will need at least four rabbit traps, linked together - I'll explain below why this is necessary, a dead racing pigeon - freshly dead if possible and a steel spike or tent peg.

This method isn't like going out and catching fish - you'll need to actually see the Peregrine Falcon attack or put a pigeon down into a tree or on the ground for this to work.

Remember that when a Peregrine Falcon attacks a pigeon or a mob of pigeons, whether or not a pigeon is put down, the falcon is generally not sure itself whether its attack was successful. More often than not, when a pigeon is attacked by a diving or straight flying Peregrine Falcon the falcon will depart the attack zone and generally head for a nearby tree where it will watch for signs on the ground of a fresh kill or a flapping, wounded pigeon.

The tree or vantage point where the Peregrine Falcon positioned is not normally any more than 500 to 800 metres away. Remember that Peregrine Falcons can see for nearly twenty kilometres when searching for prey from a vantage point such as a large, dead tree. The photo below (Pic. 1) was taken some 800 metres away from where the trap photographs were taken.

If you can see the Peregrine Falcon, then you're in luck but even if you can't see it anywhere, there is still a good chance that it will be watching from somewhere. This is why it is important to watch where the Peregrine Falcon goes after it has attacked a pigeon or pigeons.

Let's just say that you've spotted a Peregrine Falcon up in a tree, then you need to get your traps together - many pigeon racers carry these with them when they take their racing pigeons on training runs - time is of the essence, because you don't want the Peregrine Falcon to decamp.

Get your traps to the dead or injured racing pigeon, if it's dead okay, but if it's not you should despatch it quickly because it will be pretty well stuffed anyway. The four traps should be securely attached to each other and arranged around the dead racing pigeon as shown in Pic. 4, with one trap placed on each wing, one at the head and another trap at the tail.

It is also a good idea to drive a stake through the dead racing pigeon (see Pic. 5) so that the Peregrine Falcon can't miss the traps altogether and simply fly off with your pigeon.

What happens next is amazing. The Peregrine Falcon, if it is sure that the coast is clear, will descend onto its quarry and commence eating the dead pigeon then and there. Most Peregrine Falcons will try to carry a dead pigeon away with them, but it is generally only a mature female Peregrine Falcon which has the strength to carry a full sized pigeon.

When eating the dead pigeon, the Peregrine Falcon will be extremely wary as it is too can quickly become prey to a bigger predator - but it will continue to devour as much of the pigeon as it can. The Peregrine Falcon's wariness is also its downfall, because it will stop eating momentarily to look out for any threats - it is at this point that the Peregrine Falcon will try to increase its range of view and when it is most likely to stand on one of the traps and when caught, the trapped Peregrine Falcon will initially thrash around somewhat, sometimes even being being trapped in two traps.

This all results in a very trapped Peregrine Falcon which cannot get away. There you have it, the proven Australian pigeon racer way to trap Peregrine Falcons.