Great Hearts Roosevelt Art Teacher Shares Passion for Falconry

Great Hearts Roosevelt teacher Steve Lachones is inspiring young artists as a third through fifth-grade art instructor by day and pursuing the extraordinary hobby of falconry by night, or at least after school. This ancient sport, which involves hunting with trained raptors, has been a lifelong fascination for Lachones, offering him a unique connection to nature and history.

Falconry, the art and sport of hunting live game with a trained raptor, is a centuries-old tradition that Lachones has been passionate about since childhood. Though many refer to hawks, eagles, and falcons as “birds of prey,” he explained that even small birds who only hunt insects would be considered a “bird of prey.” Lachones clarifies that the proper term is “raptor,” referring to their distinctive sharp beaks, talons, and powerful feet that enable them to hunt effectively. He added that the talons play the most important role in capturing prey.

WARNING: The following video contains brief depictions of hunting, which may be sensitive or disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Lachones is a dedicated falconer who works with his three-year-old male Harris’s Hawk, not a falcon as many may presume, named Jax. Jax primarily hunts rabbits and is an integral part of Lachones’ falconry venture. “You’ve got to hunt with your bird,” he explained. “Otherwise, you’re not doing falconry.”

His love for the sport began when he stumbled upon a book on falconry as a child, and his interest only grew as he attended falconry conventions and met other falconers. Falconry requires a structured progression of skill and experience, categorized into three levels: Apprentice, General, and Master Falconer. Lachones is currently in the early years of his General Falconer stage, a five-year period that follows a two-year apprenticeship. Only after five years as a General Falconer can one achieve the rank of Master Falconer.

Training a hawk like Jax is a meticulous process requiring patience and dedication, but according to Lachones, when done properly, hawks can be trained very quickly. He describes the initial stages as a period of trust-building. “He’s a wild animal. He doesn’t know I’m not going to eat him. And so, for the first week or two it’s a lot of… basically you sit with him for hours on the glove watching TV and just relaxing,” he explained, noting this time on the glove helps the hawk understand that you’re not a threat. Once the hawk begins eating from the glove, the training advances to jumping to the glove, creance training (a method using a long line for controlled flight), and eventually, free flight.

While Lachones maintains that Jax is not a pet, the hawk does live with him and his wife, and Jax did make his way into last year’s family Christmas card. According to Lachones, a key part of the relationship and mutual respect between them is ensuring that Jax always receives a portion of the prey as a reward for a successful hunt

Falconry has deep historical roots, with references dating as far back as Aristotle’s Historia Animalium in the 4th century BC. Aristotle wrote about boys using hawks to flush out small birds, which they would then catch with sticks. Marco Polo also documented the grandeur of falconry in the court of Emperor Kublai Khan, where an astonishing ten thousand men participated in organized hunts. “…And no wolf is able to get away from them,” reads the ancient text.

For Lachones, falconry is a living connection to an ancient tradition. He believes that sharing his knowledge of falconry is a wonderful way to introduce others to a sport that has not only shaped human history but continues to offer unique opportunities for learning and engagement today. “It’s been around for a really long time,” he says, “It’s a great opportunity for people to know something about a really old sport and learn about what falconry can do for people and help people today.”

Through his passion for falconry, Lachones provides students at Great Hearts Roosevelt with an extraordinary window into the past, blending classical education with the wonder of the natural world.

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