Hi John,
Yes very ancient. The hare, in one form or another, has been pursued with longwings since the sport’s earliest days.
Historically, many of the hares pursued have not been as big and tough as the brown hare of central and northern Europe (flights to the small Arabian hare being a good example). But big hares were flow – like the brown hares taken here in the UK at Elveden in around 1870.
The current European interest in this type of falconry certainly encompasses some of the toughest targets ever flown. Some very big brown hares have fallen to pure gyrs and gyr hybrids.
In the St