Last updated 2026-08-21
TL;DR
Hawaii does not run a state falconry program, so you cannot get a falconry license here. Federal rules still require a certified state, tribal, or territorial permit under 50 CFR 21.82. Importing raptors runs through HRS 150A. The Hawaiian hawk and pueo are not beginner birds. Confirm any change with DLNR and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Do not build a mews on a rumor.
Do you need a license for falconry in Hawaii?
You need the kind of license other states issue, and Hawaii does not issue it. No apprentice card. No general card. No master falconer permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. A federal migratory bird framework sits on top of that gap and does nothing to fill it.
Mainland falconry is a paper chain. You sit a supervised exam, you find a sponsor, your mews gets inspected, and a state wildlife agency issues a permit that meets 50 CFR 21.82. [1] That chain only works if the state actually built the program. Hawaii built wildlife rules and agriculture import rules. It never built that chain.
Do not treat a hunting license as a substitute. HRS 183D-21 makes a hunting license the paper you need to take game by legal methods. [2] It is not a raptor possession permit. Skip the used telemetry and the giant hood. Honolulu will not read them as intent.
Hold a falconry permit from a certified state already? That card does not let you house the bird here. Reciprocity is a federal idea among jurisdictions that adopted the federal standards. It still hits Hawaii animal import law on the way through the airport. Confirm with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife and with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Branch before you reserve a crate. Ask both offices in writing. Keep the emails.
People search falconry Hawaii because the rest of the country talks like the path is national. It is not. The federal rule assumes a state partner. Without that partner there is no beginner permit to apply for. That is the whole first answer.
Does Hawaii have a certified falconry program?
No. 50 CFR 21.82 lets a person practice falconry only where a state, tribe, or territory has laws meeting federal standards and then issues the actual permit. [1] Hawaii never stood up that program. You will not find apprentice, general, and master classes on a DLNR fee schedule the way you will in a certified state.
Federal falconry rules require a passing score of 80 percent on a supervised exam before a state can issue an apprentice permit (50 CFR 21.82). [1] The same rule sets a 2 year apprentice floor, with at least 4 months of experience in each of those years, before general class. Master class sits behind 5 years at general. Minimum apprentice age in the federal text is 12. Those numbers only bite after a state writes them into its own regulations and names an exam administrator. Hawaii has not done that work.
I keep saying confirm, because programs change and this page is not a permit. Read the current eCFR text yourself. Then call DOFAW and ask a blunt question: does Hawaii issue a falconry permit that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service treats as meeting 50 CFR 21.82? If the answer is no, stop shopping for perches.
Compare that to a state that runs the desk. California issues falconry licenses through its Department of Fish and Wildlife. [12] The contrast is the point. You can read a real paper path in falconry license in California and how to start falconry in California. Hawaii hands you nothing to file.
Can you import a hawk or falcon into Hawaii?
Not as a normal falconry move. Hawaii controls animal import under HRS chapter 150A. HRS 150A-6.2 is the animal import section that puts species onto prohibited, restricted, or other board-maintained lists and ties entry to that list status. [3] HRS 150A-5 is the inspection and arrival notice machinery at the port. [4] Raptors are not a casual passenger item. They are not a crate you hope agriculture waves through because you carry a mainland falconry band.
Do not try to walk a Harris's hawk off an interisland flight and argue federal reciprocity at the inspection table. That is how people get animals seized. It is also how you create a Lacey Act problem if the take or transport already broke another jurisdiction's law. [7]
Nobody has good public counts of how many people try this each year. The closest honest statement is structural. The board, not a falconry club, decides what live animals may enter. A special import permit, if one even exists for your species and purpose, is an agriculture decision. It is not a DLNR falconry license. Confirm the current list status for your exact species with Plant Quarantine. Use the scientific name. Do not ask about "a hawk."
A forum post says someone kept a falcon on Oahu in the 1990s? Treat it as a story. Stories are not permits. Building a mews in Hilo because a story exists wastes money. Spend the lumber budget after you have written answers from HDOA and DLNR, or after you have moved.
What about the Hawaiian hawk and the pueo?
They are not a starter bird path. The Hawaiian hawk, the ʻio (Buteo solitarius), is endemic. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed it from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in 2020 (Federal Register document 2020-01102). [8] Delisting did not turn the species into a falconry quota bird. State wildlife authority still sits with DLNR under HRS 183D-2. [9] Threatened and endangered listing at the state level is a separate HRS 195D-4 process. [10] Confirm current state status with DOFAW. A federal delisting is not an open season.
The pueo is the Hawaiian short-eared owl. Short-eared owls (Asio flammeus) are migratory birds on the federal list at 50 CFR 10.13. [13] The Migratory Bird Treaty Act still says, in 16 U.S.C. 703(a), "it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill" a migratory bird except as permitted by regulation. [5] Falconry take is one of those regulated exceptions. It runs through a certified state program. Hawaii does not hand you that exception on a beginner form.
Do not pull an eyas off a nest on Hawaii Island and call it apprenticeship. That is take. It is not folk practice. If you care about the birds, watch them. Photograph them. Support habitat work. Do not invent a cultural loophole the statute book does not print.
Barn owls were introduced to the islands decades ago for rodent control. Introduced status hands you no falconry permit. Possession, take, and import stay legal questions. Ask DOFAW in writing before you even think about a trap.
How much does falconry cost in Hawaii?
There is no Hawaii falconry license fee to quote, because there is no Hawaii falconry license. Anyone selling you a dollar figure for a Honolulu falconer card is selling something else. Confirm every fee with the agency that actually prints the permit. Right now no agency prints this one.
The money people waste here is predictable. They buy a weathering yard kit. They order a GPS transmitter. They commission a giant hood that looks good on Instagram. Then they learn the bird cannot legally live in the house they already rent. That gear bill is a total loss if you stay. If you later move to a certified state, some furniture travels. The custom lava-rock mews does not.
Federal class rules still shape cost once you leave. An apprentice in a certified state is limited, and the 2 year clock does not start until the state permit exists. [1] Facilities have to pass inspection. Food is daily. Veterinary care for raptors is not a normal dog-and-cat invoice. I will not invent a first-year total for a state that will not issue the bird. For a real fee stack in a state that does this work, read how to start falconry in Arizona or falconry license in Arizona, then confirm those numbers on the agency page, not on a forum screenshot.
A hunting license in Hawaii has its own fee schedule under the wildlife chapter. [2] Pay it if you hunt legal game with legal methods. Do not fold it into a fantasy falconry budget and call the sum your first year.
How long does falconry take in Hawaii?
It does not take a number of weeks, because there is no application clock. DLNR is not sitting on a pile of falconry files. There is no published processing time to recite. Anyone promising you a 30 day Hawaii falconry card made that number up.
If the law changed tomorrow, you would still face the federal floor after the state wrote rules. That floor is an 80 percent exam, a facilities inspection, a sponsor, and 2 years at apprentice before general class. [1] Master class is 5 years after that. Those are minimums. States may be stricter. Confirm the new state's code. Do not use this paragraph as a timer.
The honest Hawaii timeline is a relocation timeline. Housing, shipping, the move itself, then the other state's packet. Alaska actually has a program, which is the contrast people miss when they lump "hard states" together. Read falconry license in Alaska and how to start falconry in Alaska if cold and distance are your comparison, not a myth that nobody in the Pacific can fly a hawk.
Do not wait in place for a bill at the legislature. I also will not tell you a bill is impossible. I do not have a hearing date. Watch the capitol site if you like watching paper. Build your life on a permit that exists.
What federal falconry rules still apply if you live in Hawaii?
The federal rule does not vanish at the reef. It just has nothing local to plug into. 50 CFR 21.82 is written for people who hold a state, tribal, or territorial falconry permit from a certified program. [1] Live in Hawaii without that permit and you are not a federal falconer who forgot a form. You are a person who cannot use the falconry exception.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act still covers listed species. [5] A standard MBTA misdemeanor take violation carries a fine of not more than $15,000 and up to six months in jail (16 U.S.C. 707(a)). [6] That is the federal criminal floor people skip past when they talk about "just flying a bird in the pasture." Felony provisions exist for sale and commercial traffic. Read 16 U.S.C. 707 yourself if you like penalty tables. I am not your lawyer.
The Lacey Act makes it a separate federal problem to transport wildlife taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of state or federal law. [7] That matters at the airport and in the mail. A bird that was legal in Oregon does not stay clean after an illegal landing in Honolulu.
Federal propagation permits, education permits, and rehab authorizations are different doors. Each has its own application and its own facility rules. None is a falconry license with the serial numbers filed off. If someone offers to "convert" an education bird into a hunting hawk on island, walk away.
What happens if you keep a raptor in Hawaii anyway?
You risk seizure, state charges, and federal charges stacked on the same bird. HRS 183D-5 is the wildlife penalty section on the state side. [11] HRS 150A sits on the import side. [3] [4] The MBTA and the Lacey Act sit on the federal side. [5] [6] [7] I will not invent a current fine schedule beyond the MBTA misdemeanor cap already quoted. Penalty numbers get amended. Read the statute text dated the day you need it, or ask a Hawaii attorney who does wildlife work.
Agriculture inspection at Hawaiian ports is not folklore. People declare fruit and get fined. A live falcon is not subtler than a mango. Do not coach a friend to "just not mention the bird." That turns a permit problem into a concealment problem.
I have no public dataset on prosecutions I trust enough to turn into a rate. The honest line is that the legal structure exists to stop this, not to license it. If you already have a bird in the state, this page is not a how-to for hiding it. Call the agencies. Get counsel. Do not ask a website for a cleanup plan that doubles as a confession.
Waste of money, again: fake bands, painted plates on a mews, or a "therapy raptor" letter from a mainland clinic. None of that appears in HRS 150A.
If I move from Hawaii, how do I start falconry in another state?
You start the other state's packet on the other state's terms. Pick the state you will actually live in. Then download that wildlife agency's falconry regulations, not a national blog summary. You will still need the federal pieces the host state adopted: the supervised exam at 80 percent or better, a sponsor if you are an apprentice, and a facilities inspection. [1]
That is the first moment the usual kit talk becomes real. After you have a state that issues the permit, the work is the exam, a sponsor letter, and a mews that will pass. FalconryPath publishes a $149 one-time State Exam + Sponsor + Mews Kit if you want those paper pieces stacked. You can also assemble the same stack from the agency site and a patient sponsor. Do not buy it to "get ready for Hawaii." There is nothing to file here.
California, Arizona, and Colorado are ordinary examples of states with working desks. Use falconry license in Colorado and how to start falconry in Colorado if that is where the job is. Confirm every fee and form on the state page the week you apply. I will not quote another state's current dollar amount in a Hawaii article. Fees move.
Bring your written Hawaii agency emails with you. A new sponsor will ask why you have no bird and no hours. "My last state had no program" is a clean answer when you can show you checked. It is a messy answer when you show up with a seized-bird story.
Who do you call to confirm the current Hawaii rules?
Call the Division of Forestry and Wildlife at DLNR for indigenous wildlife, take, and possession. Call the Hawaii Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Branch for live animal import and list status. Call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Islands office if the species is federally listed or the activity looks like an MBTA take. Ask for the rule citation in the reply.
Write. Phone notes evaporate. A dated email that says "Hawaii does not issue a falconry permit under 50 CFR 21.82" is worth more than a memory of a clerk who sounded friendly. If they say the opposite, ask for the application number and the administrative rule that authorizes it. Then read that rule.
HRS 183D-2 is why DLNR is the wildlife desk. [9] HRS 150A-6.2 is why agriculture is the import desk. [3] Do not let a hunting counter at a sporting goods shop answer either question. They sell licenses under HRS 183D-21. [2] They do not certify falconry programs.
No one on this site can promise you an approval. FalconryPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. If you later live in a state that issues the permit, start with that agency packet. The kit lives at /start. It does not move DLNR.
Is a Hawaii hunting license enough to hunt with a hawk?
No. A hunting license is necessary for legal game take by legal methods. It is not sufficient for raptor possession or raptor hunting. HRS 183D-21 is the hunting license requirement. [2] Methods of take are a separate rules problem. Adding a hawk to a pig hunt does not make the hawk legal.
Falconry states usually stack a hunting license, a falconry permit, and sometimes a small game stamp or a nonresident license. Hawaii only gives you the hunting license layer for conventional methods. The falconry layer is missing. I would buy the hunting license if I were hunting legal game with a legal weapon. I would not buy it as a costume for falconry.
Want the feeling of field time without a raptor? Hunt the seasons that actually exist. Read the current DOFAW hunting booklet for units, dates, and weapons. Those dates change. Confirm them the season you go. Do not copy a 2018 PDF from a random blog.
Game birds on the hunting list are still not falconry quarry in a state with no falconry permit. The quarry conversation happens after the hawk is legal. The hawk is not legal.
Is there any legal path that looks like falconry in Hawaii?
Not one I would use as a substitute. Wildlife rehabilitation is a permit path in many states, including activities DLNR may authorize for injured indigenous birds. Rehab is release-first work. It is not hunting. Apply for rehab so you can fly a hawk at pigeons and you are applying in bad faith. Don't.
Education possession sits under federal special purpose rules plus whatever state possession law applies. Schools and facilities sometimes hold birds. That still is not an apprentice falconry license, and it still hits import law if the bird comes from the mainland. [3] [4]
Birding, banding under a federal banding permit, and camera traps are legal ways to spend time on raptors. They do not put a bird on your glove. If the glove is the point, move. If the islands are the point, drop falconry as a project. Plenty of people love hawks and never keep one. That is an allowed outcome.
Do not join a mainland club and list a Hawaii address as if that created a field meet on Molokai. Clubs do not preempt HRS 150A. They cannot inspect a mews the state will not recognize. Save the dues until you have a state that can print the card.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for falconry in Hawaii?
You need a certified state falconry permit to practice falconry under 50 CFR 21.82, and Hawaii does not issue that permit. A hunting license is not a substitute. Confirm any change in writing with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife before you spend money on housing or a bird.
How much does falconry cost in Hawaii?
There is no Hawaii falconry license fee because there is no license. Gear you buy here is a likely loss if you cannot keep the bird. After a move, expect exam, inspection, food, and vet costs in the new state. Confirm every fee on that state's wildlife page. Ignore forum price lists.
How long does falconry take in Hawaii?
There is no processing time, because there is no application. If you relocate, federal minimums in certified states include an 80 percent exam and 2 years as an apprentice before general class. States may add more. Confirm the host state's clock. Do not wait in Hawaii for a date that is not on a calendar.
Can I bring my licensed falconry bird to Hawaii on vacation?
Do not assume yes. Hawaii animal import law under HRS 150A controls live entry, and port inspection is real. A mainland falconry permit does not replace an agriculture decision. Ask Plant Quarantine about your exact species before you book. If they say no, leave the bird home.
Is the Hawaiian hawk legal to fly for falconry?
Not as a beginner falconry take. Federal ESA delisting in 2020 did not create a Hawaii falconry season. The ʻio remains under state wildlife authority. Taking or possessing one without the right permit is still take. Confirm current status with DOFAW. Watch the bird. Do not trap it.
Does a federal permit work alone in Hawaii?
No. 50 CFR 21.82 is built around a state, tribal, or territorial falconry permit from a certified program. Hawaii does not run that program. Other federal permits (rehab, education, propagation) are different activities with different forms. None of them is a silent falconry license.
Can I practice falconry on a military base in Hawaii?
Do not count on a base exception. Installations still sit inside federal wildlife law and usually still look for a valid state falconry permit plus written permission from the installation. Hawaii has no state falconry permit to show the game warden. Confirm with the base natural resources office and USFWS. Get it in writing.
What if I already have a master falconer permit from California?
The California card proves class in California. It does not rewrite HRS 150A or create a Hawaii mews inspection. You still cannot park the bird in Honolulu on reciprocity talk alone. Leave the bird in a legal state or complete a legal import decision first. Ask both CDFW and Hawaii agriculture before the bird moves.
Are there falconry clubs or sponsors in Hawaii?
A club cannot issue the missing state permit. A sponsor letter only starts the federal apprentice clock inside a certified program. If someone in Hawaii offers to sponsor you onto a bird that will live here, ask which statute authorizes the bird. If they cannot name one, walk away.
Is hawkwatching or rehab the same as falconry?
No. Watching wild ʻio and pueo is legal and worth your time. Rehab is a separate permit aimed at release, not hunting. Mixing those missions is how people lose both privileges. If you want rehab, apply for rehab and mean it. If you want falconry, move to a state that licenses it.
Who inspects mews in Hawaii?
Nobody, for falconry, because there is no falconry facilities inspection program to assign. Certified states inspect housing before they issue the permit under 50 CFR 21.82. Building a mews here will not create an inspector. Confirm housing rules only after a real agency says it will issue a permit.
Will Hawaii add falconry soon?
I do not have a bill, a hearing, or a date. I would not lease land or buy telemetry on the hope that one appears. Watch the legislature and ask DLNR if you want to track policy. Live your next two years on a permit that already exists in another state, or pick a different hobby.
Sources
- eCFR, 50 CFR 21.82 Falconry standards and falconry permitting: Federal falconry requires a certified state, tribal, or territorial permit; supervised exam at 80 percent; apprentice, general, and master class minimums including 2 years and age 12.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 183D-21 Hunting licenses required: Hawaii requires a hunting license to take game by legal methods; that license is not a falconry permit.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 150A-6.2 Animal import: Hawaii law controls which animals may be imported or possessed and uses board-maintained lists and permits.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 150A-5 Notice of arrival and inspection: Imported articles and organisms are subject to Hawaii arrival notice and inspection rules at the port.
- 16 U.S.C. 703, Migratory Bird Treaty Act taking prohibition: It is unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, or kill a migratory bird except as permitted by regulation.
- 16 U.S.C. 707, MBTA penalties: A standard MBTA misdemeanor conviction carries a fine of not more than $15,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.
- 16 U.S.C. 3372, Lacey Act prohibited acts: It is unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase wildlife taken or possessed in violation of federal or state law.
- Federal Register, Removing the Hawaiian Hawk From the Federal List (document 2020-01102): The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Hawaiian hawk (Buteo solitarius) from the federal endangered list in 2020.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 183D-2 Powers and duties of department: DLNR has statutory wildlife management duties, which is why DOFAW is the state wildlife desk.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 195D-4 Threatened and endangered species: Hawaii has a separate state process for listing threatened and endangered species that is not the same as a federal delisting.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes 183D-5 Penalties: Violations of Hawaii wildlife chapter 183D carry statutory penalties administered through this section.
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Falconry Licensing: California operates a state falconry licensing program, unlike Hawaii.
- eCFR, 50 CFR 10.13 List of Migratory Birds: Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is a federally listed migratory bird, which covers the pueo subspecies for MBTA purposes.