This episode marks the start of a new series, South African (SA) Game Hawker. Thanks to Andre Cilliers for suggesting that we follow the northern hemisphere version of game hawker with a  South African edition.  Andre and I are joined Cam Coley and Francois Breedt in this introductory episode.  Before asking the guys to introduce themselves, we begin with a geography lesson to give listeners a sense of country.  We then turn our attention to the SA regulatory framework, and then talk about the raptors and the quarry available to falconers in SA. We finish off the episode with some game hawking stories from each of the guests.

In this final episode of Game Hawker Edition, Matt Mullenix joins me to finish out the second season of the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. Matt and I begin the episode talking about Matt's mindset as he continued to hawk his American Kestrel, "Coco", after having lost his merlin to a Cooper's Hawk.  Matt then tells us about the benchmark he uses to evaluate the degree to which he is doing his hawk justice (Intended Quarry Per Hunt), and we discuss how far below and above that benchmark one has to be before they are no longer gamehawking). Matt then weighs in with his opinion on the relative importance of "place, time, and weight", including the ideas he calls "take two" and "take four". We then discuss "Coco's" season and Matt's plans for next season. We finish the episode with Matt book recommendation.

Heath Garner returns to Game Hawker Edition to round out his 3-episode series. After a brief reminder describing Heath's hawking circumstances, he and I talk about the mystery book that Heath received just after he returned from the NAFA meet.  Heath then gives us an update on his approach of removing his dog from the field to encourage better pitch from his falcon, "Finn". He also describes progress with regard to his bird's beak injury from a collision with hog wire fencing. I incorrectly assume that "Finn" had stopped carrying and had made it home after each day's outing.  Heath gives us a run down of the 4th Annual Snipe Hawking Invitational, and describes his plans for next season. We finish off with a description of Heath's most memorable day of he 2024/25 hawking season. I hope you enjoy this episode of Game Hawker Edition.

Corey Roelke is back to finish off his 3-part series. He begins  the episode by  telling us about "Hela" and her new litter of pups. Then we talk about how the season finished for each of his three peregrine falcons, his plans for each of them, and his plans for next season.  Corey talks about why he chose to fly three birds and the relative risks of flying ducks despite the presence of avian influenza.  We finish off, discussing the relative importance of consistent hunting weight versus consistent hunting time, and we get Corey's book recommendation for the off-season. 

Jeff Broadbent returns to wrap-up his Game Hawker series. I provide a synopsis of Jeff's accounts of his season told in Parts 1 and 2, and then we discuss progress of his recent addition to his team, "Captain Jack", his English setter. Jeff then describes the events of a particularly disastrous day for him and his hawking partner, Arnaud Van Wetter. We then turn our attention to Jeff's plans for next season, including some change he intends to make.  Jeff then offers his opinions on the relative tradeoffs between managing for hunting weight, hunting time, and feeding time. Before concluding with Jeff's suggestions for off-season reading, he recounts his most memorable day afield this season.  Thanks for listening to Fat Bird, Ugly Dog - I hope you enjoy this episode.

In this episode Dale Guthormsen joins me to finish out his three episode contribution to Game Hawker Edition. After I briefly remind listeners of Dale's hawking season, he and I discuss this season relative to others he has experienced and what he intends to do differently next season.  We then turn our attention to a common theme that I've been talking about with guests on Game Hawker Edition; the relative importance of keeping a hawk within a narrow range in body mass and the idea of maintaining a consistent hunting time. I then get Dale's opinion on managing hunting weight using ounces rather than grams. We then talk about what Dale means when he discusses the concept of "first day high" and "second day high". I ask Dale to comment on the quality of falconry today in comparison to what is was three or four decades ago, and I find out what are the "aesthetics" that Dale is looking for in his falcons. We finish off the episode with Dale's most memorable day this season.

Steve Chindgren joins me for the last episode of his 3-part series of Game Hawker Edition. We begin the episode with a brief discussion of what each passing season means to Steve who is now in his 70s and still hawking hard. We then talk about the attributes of a good falconer as passed down to Steve from his mentor.  Steve tells us why he switched from flying in the mornings to flying in the evenings, and we talk about the tradeoffs between managing for hunting weight versus hunting time.  We then talk about Gerald Richards and the Utah Sky Trials. Steve then outlines his plans for next season, and gives us his opinion on the quality of North American falconry today in comparison to what it was half a century ago.  Steve then describes his most memorable day of hawking for the 2024/25 season. I hope you enjoy this episode.  Thanks for listening.  

Well, the UK falconry season wrapped up for Simon Tyers on January 31, and he returns to the program to give us run down of the changes he made at the outset of the season, whether he believes they were of value, and what changes he might make for the 2025/26 season. I then ask Simon about his views on the importance of maintaining consistency among three aspects of gamehawking - the location where one hunts, the weight of the hawk, and the time of day. We then turn our attention to the process that Simon likes to follow when returning his hawks to the free-loft mews. Before concluding the episode with a book recommendation for the off season, I ask Simon about his most memorable day of the 2024/25 season. Thanks for listening to Game Hawker Edition.

Well, Matt Mullenix is back, this time as one of the cohort of falconers participating in Game Hawker Edition. Matt trapped a passage jack merlin this season, and we begin the episode discussing the backstory associated with Matt's acquisition of "Artie the Artful Dodger". We then turned our attention to Matt's experience with "Artie's" training, beginning with feeding on the fist and hooding, and culminating with "Artie's" first free flight and then his first kill while Matt was on the road visiting friends in Texas and hawking in Liberal, Kansas at the NAFA meet. On returning home, Matt leads us through his time over the Christmas and New Year's break. We conclude the episode with "Artie" dominating his quarry and forcing Matt to work hard for the chaos created by each flush, which undoubtedly led to attracting the attention of at least one of the members of the local free-living raptors also engaged in securing a meal.

Heath Garner joins me to give us his first update of his hawking season. Heath begins the episode by telling us about the way his dogs have adjusted after their brouhaha in November, and he tells us about a gift that was mailed to him, presumably  to help him manage his dogs. Heath and I then have the obligatory discussion about weight management before turning our attention to the hawking period leading into the NAFA meet.  I then ask Heath about managing his time at the NAFA meet given his responsibilities as NAFA VP and the need to maintain his hawking routine. Once back home from the NAFA meet, Finn (Heath's passage peregrine) had two separate adventures, which Heath details for us. We conclude the episode discussing the upcoming Arkansas Snipe Invitational.  Thanks for tuning in, I hope you enjoy this episode.