68. South African Game Hawker with Andre Cilliers, Cam Coley, & Francois Breedt
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.
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1:07:04
67. Game Hawker Edition with Matt Mullenix (Part 2)
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's book recommendation.
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50:35
66. Game Hawker Edition with Heath Garner (Part 3)
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.
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33:08
65. Game Hawker Edition with Corey Roelke (Part 3)
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.
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27:41
64. Game Hawker Edition with Jeff Broadbent (Part 3)
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.
The goal of this podcast is to present alternate viewpoints on falconry. Topics covered range from training philosophy, husbandry, and health of birds and bird dogs to conservation and management of raptors, their main prey species, and the respective habitat that they rely on. In addition, I’ll cover-off themes related to hunter ethics, fair chase, and access to public and private land. I’ll outline efforts that falconers can make to contribute to all of these topics of conversation.
South Africa