62. Game Hawker Edition with Steve Chindgren (Part 3)

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.

Corey Roelke returns to the program to tell us about the progress that he has made with his three peregrine falcons. We begin the episode discussing Corey's dog, duck numbers, and local weather conditions. We briefly talk about "flushability" of diving ducks, before moving onto an accounting of the way the season has gone for each of his birds, starting with his tiercel "Sky Daddy" - yes, that's his name. We then turn our attention to "Beebe" (or maybe it's "Bee Bee", or even just "BB"), Corey's wild-caught, intermewed female peregrine, now in her 10th season, and causing a bit of grief for Corey. We then talk about "Veenar" or is it "Weiner", or maybe "Weener", Corey's 2024 passage female peregrine trapped in Arkansas. We refer briefly to the danger associated with golden eagles, which turns to discussion of Bubo, red tailed hawks, and cotton rats.  We conclude the episode talking about the NAFA meet and next steps for Corey's season.  Thanks for tuning into Game Hawker Edition, I hope you enjoy Corey's update.

Jeff Broadbent returns to the program to update us on his progress with "Jafar", his gyr-peregrine tiercel. We begin by reminding listeners of Jeff's team and how he is situated falconry-wise. Jeff's work requires that he endure a rather long commute - he tells us a little about why that's the case, and explains how he goes about ensuring that he experiences almost no down time at all. We then turn our attention to what has transpired hawking-wise since late October, and of course, I ask him about his most recent outing.  Jeff follows-up with his favorite flight thus far, plus others, including an uncharacteristic evasive strategy employed by a tricky sharp-tailed grouse. We conclude the episode with Jeff telling us about his addition to his hawking team. Thanks for listening,  I hope you enjoy his episode of Game Hawker Edition. 

Dale Guthormsen returns to give us his first update on his season. After telling us where his team currently stands, Dale details his approach to getting falcons to take and maintain an upwind position while waiting-on. He also gives us insight into the way that grouse use the wind to their advantage, and we talk about how to manage a slip in order to confer advantage to the falcon.  We finish of the episode talking about the way that Dale intends to manage "Whiskey Jack" for the remainder of the winter hawking season. Thanks for listening, here's hoping that you enjoy this episode.

Jeremy Roselle joins me for Part 1 of his Game Hawker Edition series. We begin the episode describing Jeremy's wide ranging background including where he is located, the birds he flies, and the dogs he runs.  We then turn our attention to his current efforts and Jeremy tells us about the landscapes in which he hunts, the quarry that is available to him, and the importance of having a good dog that can work in either forested or open landscapes.  Jeremy tells us about some of the challenges associated with winter hawking at latitude 53 degrees north, his preferred game hawks and the styles he want to see from his birds. Jeremy then recounts his most recent flight with his long wing, and a memorable flight on ruffed grouse with his American goshawk.

Steve Chindgren returns for Part 2 of his Game Hawker Edition series, and he brings along a surprise guest.  Steve gets us started by talking about the character traits of each of his birds.  We then talk about how the grouse have adjusted to the onset of winter. We then turn our attention to the effect of colder weather on pitch, and Steve shares a tip or two on how to get a bird to take a better pitch. I ask Steve when he thinks it's too cold to hawk, and we talk about cold weather weight management. Our surprise guest offers some additional insight too.  I wondered whether Steve had seen the usual influx of golden eagles since we last spoke, and he highlights some of the unanticipated problems that can occur. On this topic, our surprise guest offers an opinion on mobs, murderous mobs. Steve tells us about the various guests he has hosted at the House of Grouse this season, and then we conclude episode with our surprise guest recounting the events of a recent flight. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy Steve's update.

Heath Garner joins me to tell us about his season thus far with the passage tiercel peregrine that he trapped in 2023.  Heath starts the episode telling us why he had to hawk snipe without the assistance of his two German short-haired pointers for a short time. We then talk about season start dates, how they vary based primarily on latitude, and when migrant quarry typically become available in Arkansas. Heath outlines the timing of his falcon's molt, and describes the transition from blond brown bird to adult plumage. He then talks about this passage peregrine in contrast to others he has trapped and flown. We talk about his hawking grounds and how environmental conditions have shaped quarry numbers. Heath describes his preferred approach to reclaiming a falcon from the free-loft mews post-molt. We conclude the episode recounting a couple of early season flights, and Heath praises the organizers and volunteers of the upcoming NAFA field meet in Liberal, Kansas in the first week of December.