Last updated 2026-08-19
TL;DR
Yes, you need a Colorado falconry license. Federal rules set an 80 percent exam, a facilities inspection, and at least two years as an apprentice with a sponsor. Permit fees change, so confirm them with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Most first-year money goes to a legal mews and daily food, then basic furniture and hunting licenses. Plan in years, not weekends.
How much does falconry cost in Colorado?
The permit is the cheap part. Confirm the current Colorado Parks and Wildlife falconry fee on the CPW license pages before you put a number in a spreadsheet. Commission fees move. I will not invent this year's figure.[11]
Most of the cash is the mews, the freezer, and your calendar. Federal rules require a facilities inspection before you get a bird.[1] That means a secure chamber or weathering area that meets the written standards, plus a bath and perches that will not foot the hawk. A tight DIY yard on a lot you already own can stay in the low hundreds if you own tools. A contractor-built mews with a hard floor can run to several thousand dollars. Nobody has published solid data on average Colorado build cost, and I have not found a study that would survive a citation check.
Food is the bill that never stops. A red-tailed hawk eats most days through a Front Range winter. Frozen quail, rats, or chicks become a monthly grocery line. Call more than one supplier and write the quote down. Do not trust a forum post from 2014.
Year-one furniture is dull. A glove, jesses, a leash, a swivel, a scale in grams, a bath pan, and a safe way to ride the bird in a vehicle. Telemetry helps when you fly big open parcels. Fancy GPS can wait. I would buy used analog gear before I bought a display hood.
Hunting licenses sit on top if you hunt. Adults usually need a habitat stamp under C.R.S. 33-4-102.5.[5] Migratory bird hunts also need Harvest Information Program registration.[13] Those renew. The hawk does not.
Fund a legal mews and a year of food before you order anything pretty. If cash is tight, wait on the bird. Do not wait on the inspection standards.
Do you need a license for falconry in Colorado?
Yes. You need a Colorado falconry permit before you possess a raptor for falconry. Wildlife in this state is not a backyard pet you can just keep. C.R.S. 33-6-109 says, "It is unlawful for any person to hunt, take, or have in such person's possession any wildlife that is the property of this state as provided in section 33-1-101, except as permitted by articles 1 to 6 of this title 33 or by rule or regulation of the commission."[4]
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is the federal floor under that. 16 U.S.C. 703 makes it unlawful to take or possess migratory birds except as permitted by regulation.[3] Hawks, falcons, and eagles sit in that system. Colorado Parks and Wildlife runs the state program that has to meet the federal falconry standards in 50 CFR 21.82.[1] You apply to CPW, not to a separate U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service falconry desk. Certified states issue the permit that counts.
C.R.S. 33-4-101 also requires a valid license, permit, or registration for the privileges those papers cover.[6] Colorado falconry is both a possession permit and, when you hunt, a hunting license problem. Do not mix the two papers up. One lets you keep and fly the bird. The other lets you take legal quarry.
An apprentice still needs the permit, a passing exam, a sponsor, and a facilities pass before the first bird. There is no hobby exception for a kestrel in a garage. If someone tells you otherwise, they are wrong.
Confirm the application packet, any local inspection contact, and the current class rules in Chapter W-6 (2 CCR 406-6) with CPW before you file.[8] I will not promise a processing time. Boards do not work on my calendar.
How long does falconry take in Colorado?
Count years, not weekends. Federal rules require at least 2 years at Apprentice class, including at least 4 months of maintaining, training, flying, and hunting the raptor in each of those years, before General class (50 CFR 21.82).[1] That clock starts after you are permitted, not after you buy a glove.
Getting to the start line is its own stretch. You have to pass the exam, find a sponsor who will actually sign, build or fix facilities, and get them inspected. Some people do that in a season. Some people spend a year looking for a sponsor on the Front Range or the Western Slope. CPW does not publish a median wait. Treat any date you hear in a comment thread as gossip.
General class is not the end. Federal rules require 5 years at General class before Master class.[1] Plenty of solid falconers never bother with Master. The extra class is about bird limits and species, not a medal.
The daily time is the part people lie about. A hawk needs weighing, feeding, weathering, and flying on a schedule that does not care about your overtime. Hunting season is early mornings and short days. Molt is quieter and still not free. If you cannot give most days to the bird, do not start.
Do not plan a first wild take the same month you pass the test. Trap seasons are short, weather moves, and a green apprentice with a new mews has enough to do. Ask your sponsor what a sane first winter looks like. Then do less than that, not more.
What federal rules set the floor for Colorado falconry?
Colorado can be stricter than the federal rule. It cannot be looser. Read 50 CFR 21.82 first, then Chapter W-6, then whatever CPW puts in the current application.[1][8]
Federal rules require a score of at least 80 percent on the examination before an Apprentice class falconry permit can be issued (50 CFR 21.82).[1] The regulation tells states to test laws, biology, diseases, and facilities. The exact question set is a state paper. Confirm with CPW where you sit it and how they schedule it.
The same federal section sets classes (Apprentice, General, Master), age floors (12 for Apprentice at the federal level), possession limits, and facilities tests.[1] An Apprentice class falconer may possess only 1 raptor under federal standards (50 CFR 21.82).[1] Species limits for apprentices are written in that rule. Colorado may cut the list further. Check Chapter W-6 before you daydream about a prairie falcon.
The 2008 federal rule is why you no longer carry a separate federal falconry permit in a certified state. The Federal Register notice for that rewrite is still the clean public record of the shift.[2] Your live obligations sit in the current eCFR text, not in a club handout.
Facilities language is picky on purpose. Indoor chambers, outdoor weathering areas, tether methods, and protection from predators are spelled out so an inspector has something to measure. Build to the words. Do not build to a photo of someone else's mews in another state.
What mews and equipment do you have to buy first?
Buy the room before the bird. The inspection is about welfare and security, not curb appeal. A legal mews or weathering yard that closes, shades, and keeps dogs and raccoons out will pass sooner than a pretty shed with gaps.
Start with the federal facilities list in 50 CFR 21.82 and the state raptor chapter, then sketch on graph paper.[1][8] Measure the bird you are actually allowed to keep as an apprentice, not the bird you want in five years. Overbuilding for a gyrfalcon you cannot hold yet is how people waste lumber.
Perches should be honest wood or wrapped posts, not sandpaper tricks that wreck feet. A bath big enough to sit in matters more than stain color. A door you can latch with one hand while you carry a hawk matters more than a window wall.
Field kit can stay small. Glove, jesses, swivel, leash, scale, telemetry if you fly open country, a giant hood or box for the truck, and a first-aid kit your sponsor trusts. Skip engraved nameplates. Skip four hoods in different leathers. Skip a $400 vest until you know you will hunt more than six days.
FalconryPath publishes a $149 one-time State Exam + Sponsor + Mews Kit if you want the paper path in one packet. It is a study and checklist product, not a license, and it does not replace CPW or 50 CFR 21.82. You can do this with the free federal text and the state chapter alone.
Used gear from a retiring general-class falconer usually beats a new catalog kit. Ask your sponsor to look at it. A cracked grommet is cheaper to hear about now.
What hunting licenses do you buy on top of falconry?
A falconry permit is not a hunting license. If you intend to take rabbits, squirrels, or game birds, buy the Colorado license that matches that quarry. Confirm the current resident and nonresident prices on the CPW buy-and-apply pages. I will not invent them.[11]
Most hunters 18 and older also need a habitat stamp. That duty sits in C.R.S. 33-4-102.5.[5] The dollar amount has been amended over the years. Read the current statute text and the CPW checkout screen the week you buy.
If the quarry is a migratory game bird, federal Harvest Information Program registration applies. 50 CFR 20.20 is the HIP rule.[13] Colorado folds HIP into the license sale for those seasons. Do it before you fly a duck marsh, not after.
Land permission is separate paper. State wildlife areas, city open space, and private ranches each have their own access rules. Some units ban raptors. Some want a walk-in note. None of that is on the falconry permit.
I hunt the license first, then the map, then the bird. The other order gets people cited.
What does an honest first-year budget look like?
There is no official Colorado first-year falconry budget. CPW publishes fees and rules, not a shopping list. Anyone giving you a single statewide number is guessing.
Here is how I would build a private spreadsheet anyway. Line 1 is the current CPW falconry permit and any application charge, copied from the live fee page the day I apply.[11] Line 2 is the small game or other hunting license plus the habitat stamp if I will hunt.[5][11] Line 3 is the mews, with a 20 percent waste factor for wire and hardware. Line 4 is twelve months of food at a written quote. Line 5 is the dull furniture. Line 6 is a vet retainer call before the bird exists, because an after-hours raptor visit is ugly if you never asked who will see the bird.
Do not put a hybrid falcon, a new truck, or a GPS suite on that sheet in year one. Those are later choices, and they warp the apprenticeship. A passage red-tail or a kestrel, if that is what the current class rule allows, teaches the same weighing and slipping habits for less money and less heartbreak.
Unexpected costs are real. A foot infection, a lost transmitter, a heat wave that forces a shade rebuild, a move that needs a new inspection. Keep a cash buffer. If you cannot keep a buffer, you are not ready.
Compare that posture with how other states talk about money. Not to shop jurisdictions, but to see the same federal floor show up everywhere. The falconry cost in Arizona writeup and the falconry cost in California piece hit the same exam and sponsor structure with different field seasons.
What is a waste of money in year one?
A custom hybrid. You will hear the sales pitch. An apprentice with one slot and a two-year clock does not need a four-figure bird that outflies the handler.
A show mews. Inspectors look for security, sanitation, and weather protection. They do not score cedar tone. Money in shade cloth, predator-proof wire, and a floor you can scrape beats money in trim.
A wall of hoods. One hood that fits is a tool. Six hoods are a hobby inside the hobby.
Brand-new telemetry when a used receiver from a trusted general-class falconer is on the table. Learn the beeps. Upgrade later if you are still flying.
Impulse trapping gear you do not know how to set. Your sponsor should stand there for the first bal-chatri or bow net. Buying three trap styles before that conversation is how people collect wire.
Online courses that promise to replace a sponsor. Federal rules still want a real general or master sponsor who has held that class.[1] Video can help you study. It cannot sign the form.
I say this with some sympathy. The catalog is fun. The hawk does not care.
How do you get a sponsor and pass the exam in Colorado?
The sponsor is the bottleneck. Federal rules require a General or Master class sponsor for an apprentice.[1] Colorado implements that in Chapter W-6.[8] Clubs, NAFA's beginning pages, and working falconers you meet in the field are the usual path, not a state matching service.[10]
Ask in person. Offer labor. Clean mews. Hold a creance. Drive. Sponsors sign for liability and time. They do not owe you a bird.
Study the current federal standards and the state raptor chapter until you can explain facilities, possession limits, and take rules without notes.[1][8] Then study hawk health at a basic level: mute, crop, weight, and what a sore foot looks like. The exam is written to keep people from killing a first bird through ignorance. Federal text requires that you "correctly answer at least 80 percent of the questions on an examination administered by the State, tribe, or territory."[1]
Confirm with CPW how Colorado gives that test. I will not invent a sitting calendar, a question count, or a retake rule. Those are board facts. They change.
Do not pay a stranger online to "be your sponsor" across three states. If they will not stand in your yard, they are not your sponsor.
Can you trap a wild hawk as a Colorado apprentice?
Often yes, inside a narrow box. Federal apprentice take is limited by species and by the one-bird possession cap.[1] Colorado can narrow seasons, counties, and methods in Chapter W-6.[8] Read both the week you intend to trap, not the week you passed the exam last year.
Wild take is paperwork, not a movie scene. Bands, reporting, and transfer records run through the federal 3-186A system.[9] If you cannot file that report, you are not ready to close a trap.
Passage birds (birds in their first fall or winter, depending on the current wording) are the usual apprentice path. Eyas take, if it exists for your class at all, is a different ethical and legal pile. I would not start there.
Trapping on land you do not control is how people get arrested for a hobby. Get permission. Watch utility rights-of-way and highway rights-of-way. They are not automatically yours.
Captive-bred birds are a legal alternative when the rule allows them for your class. They cost more up front and remove the trap day. Some sponsors prefer that for a first season. Some do not. Listen to the person who has to help you when the bird bates into a wall at 10 p.m.
Where can you fly and hunt with a hawk in Colorado?
Wherever the landowner and the game laws both say yes. The falconry permit does not open city parks, reservoir trails, or every state wildlife area.
Eastern plains grassland is classic red-tail country. Foothills and parks along the Front Range are crowded. Winter wind on the high prairie is real. I would rather drive farther for permission than fly a bird over a dog-walker lot.
Public land is a unit-by-unit read. CPW properties, BLM, and national forest each post their own tools and access notes. Some close to all hunting. Some close to falconry only. Confirm the current brochure or kiosk sheet. Do not trust last year's memory.
Municipal rules can ban feeding or flying birds even when state falconry is legal. Denver, Boulder, and the suburban belt write their own animal codes. Call before you weather a hawk in a visible yard if your HOA already hates chickens.
If you want a feel for how other states handle the same federal skeleton on different land, the falconry cost in Idaho and falconry cost in Alaska guides are useful contrasts. So are the falconry cost in Florida and falconry cost in Illinois pages. The exam score does not change. The habitat does.
What records does Colorado expect you to keep?
Keep more paper than you think. Acquisition, transfer, loss, and death of a falconry raptor go on the federal 3-186A report.[9] Do it when the event happens. Backdated forms are how quiet problems become loud ones.
Your state permit, hunting licenses, and habitat stamp should live in the field bag, not in a kitchen drawer.[6][5] An officer in a wheat stubble field does not want to wait while you drive home.
Facilities can be rechecked. If you move counties, assume you need a new look at the mews. Confirm that with CPW. I will not invent their transfer checklist.
Weights, meals, and molt notes are not always a statute duty, but they are how you notice a sick bird two days earlier. A cheap notebook beats a fancy app you stop opening.
C.R.S. 33-1-106 is the commission's authority to regulate take and possession.[7] Chapter W-6 is where that authority becomes raptor rules you can fail.[8] Read them when you are calm, not after a citation.
If you still want a single packet for exam study, sponsor questions, and a mews checklist after you have read the primary rules, FalconryPath keeps that $149 kit on /start. FalconryPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not CPW. The statute and the eCFR win every argument.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for falconry in Colorado?
Yes. You need a Colorado falconry permit from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, plus a passing exam, a sponsor at apprentice class, and a facilities inspection. Possessing a hawk without that paper runs into C.R.S. 33-6-109 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. A hunting license is separate if you take quarry. Confirm the current application with CPW.
How much does falconry cost in Colorado?
The permit fee is usually the small line. Confirm it on the live CPW fee page. Most first-year money is a legal mews, a year of frozen food, basic furniture, and hunting licenses plus a habitat stamp if you hunt. Nobody publishes a solid statewide average. Fund housing and food before anything decorative.
How long does falconry take in Colorado?
Federal rules require at least 2 years as an apprentice, with at least 4 months of real maintaining, training, flying, and hunting in each of those years, before General class. Master class needs 5 more years at General. Getting the first permit can take months because of the exam, sponsor, and inspection. CPW does not guarantee timing.
How old do you have to be to start falconry in Colorado?
Federal rules set a 12-year minimum for Apprentice class. Colorado can set a higher floor in Chapter W-6. A parent or guardian still has to make the mews and the time work. Confirm the current age line with CPW before you promise a kid a hawk. The exam and sponsor rules still apply at any age.
Is the Colorado falconry exam hard?
It is written to a federal 80 percent pass mark. People who read 50 CFR 21.82, Chapter W-6, and basic raptor care usually pass. People who skim a quizlet usually do not. Confirm sitting dates and any retake policy with CPW. I would not schedule a trap trip the same week as a first attempt.
Do you need a mews inspection in Colorado?
Yes, before you possess the bird. Federal facilities standards and the state raptor chapter are what the inspector measures. A secure, clean, shaded space with a bath and sound perches beats a pretty shed. If you move, ask CPW whether they want another look. Do not install the hawk and hope.
How much is hawk food per month in Colorado?
It depends on species, molt, and what you can buy frozen. A red-tail eating quail most days is a real grocery bill. There is no official CPW food index. Get current quotes from more than one supplier and multiply by twelve. That line will outlast the glove you thought was expensive.
Do you need a hunting license as well as a falconry permit?
If you take legal quarry, yes. The falconry permit covers possession and the practice. The hunting license covers the rabbit, squirrel, or game bird. Most adults also need a habitat stamp under C.R.S. 33-4-102.5. Migratory birds add HIP registration. Confirm this year's products at checkout.
How many birds can a Colorado apprentice keep?
Federal apprentice standards allow only 1 raptor, and only from a short species list. Colorado may be tighter. Read the current Chapter W-6 and 50 CFR 21.82 the week you apply, not a blog from a decade ago. Do not hold a second bird as a "favor" for a friend. That is still possession.
Can you move to Colorado with an out-of-state falconry permit?
You can often transfer into a certified state's program, but you still have to meet Colorado facilities and any extra state rules. Deadlines are short in the federal text. File with CPW before you assume the old card works on a new address. Confirm the current reciprocity steps. I will not invent them.
Is telemetry required for falconry in Colorado?
The federal facilities rule does not make a transmitter a permit condition. Losing a hawk on the plains is still a welfare problem and a public problem. I would fly open country with working telemetry. Used analog gear is enough to start. Confirm any club or sponsor rule your signer insists on.
Who inspects a falconry mews in Colorado?
A CPW officer or the person the division assigns. It is a state inspection against written federal and Chapter W-6 standards, not a courtesy walkthrough by a friend. Be home, have the latch working, and keep the chapter printed. Ask CPW who to call in your area. Do not show up at a regional office unannounced with lumber questions.
Sources
- eCFR, 50 CFR 21.82 Falconry standards and falconry permitting: Federal falconry classes, 80 percent exam, 2-year apprentice period with 4 months of activity per year, age floors, 1-bird apprentice limit, facilities inspection, and sponsor rules
- Federal Register, 2008 falconry regulations rewrite (E8-23759): Federal rewrite that shifted day-to-day falconry permitting to certified state programs meeting national standards
- U.S. Code, 16 U.S.C. 703 Migratory Bird Treaty Act: It is unlawful to take or possess migratory birds except as permitted by regulation
- Colorado Revised Statutes, C.R.S. 33-6-109 illegal possession of wildlife: Possessing Colorado wildlife is unlawful except as permitted by Title 33 or commission rule
- Colorado Revised Statutes, C.R.S. 33-4-102.5 habitat stamp: A habitat stamp is required for specified adult hunters and anglers in Colorado
- Colorado Revised Statutes, C.R.S. 33-4-101 license possession: A valid Colorado license, permit, or registration is required for the privileges those papers cover
- Colorado Revised Statutes, C.R.S. 33-1-106 commission authority: The Parks and Wildlife Commission has authority to regulate take, possession, and use of wildlife
- Colorado Secretary of State, 2 CCR 406-6 (Chapter W-6, Colorado falconry rules): Colorado's raptor and falconry rules that implement the federal standards, including class, take, and facilities specifics
- North American Falconers Association, Begin Falconry: National practitioner path for finding the sport, a sponsor, and the apprenticeship structure
- eCFR, 50 CFR 20.20 Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program: HIP registration is required to hunt migratory game birds