In this last jaunt of our Arizona Falconers Association series, we're joined by Greg Smith, who discusses how falconry life has been for him during his years in Kingman, AZ. This episode was a great learning experience, since Greg has imprinted and flown a fair amount of accipiters. He also is one of the few people we've been able to talk to thus far who has experience imprinting an ornate hawk-eagle, and it was very informative finding out about how he approached that process, as well as how he's approached imprinting and working with his other falconry birds over the years. We have one very special episode left in this series before we head off to record our series for South Africa, so we hope you join us for the Arizona Falconers Association series finale coming soon!

In this next episode of the Arizona Falconers Association series, we make our next stop in Tucson to visit and talk with Brian Wood. After a long day day of traveling and recording, it was nice to finish the day by getting Brian's take on experiences with Cooper's hawks, quail hawking, and career decisions inspired by falconry. It's always nice getting to hear from anyone who's had success with Cooper's hawks, and his perspective on raising and flying them is another welcome addition to the podcast! It was a pleasure getting to meet Brian's family as well, and we thank them for their hospitality for letting us stay there before having to head back to Kingman the following day to wrap up the series!

These next couple of installments of the Arizona Falconers Association series take us down to Tucson, where we met first with Tim Riordan. In this episode, on top of sharing his experiences flying imprint Cooper's hawks and various longwings, Tim also shares some of his initial falconry experiences as another one of the people starting in the sport before a lot of the regulations were put into effect, and what it was like later being involved with the process of getting peregrine take back for the state of Arizona. Being as Arizona was the first state to be able to take eyas peregrines again after being on the endangered list for so long, this is an episode that offers another good perspective on what goes on behind the scenes with falconry organizations as they work to keep our sport active.

In this second installment brought to you all by the Arizona Falconers Association, we make the trek over to Cornville to meet up with Randy Hale! It was great seeing this part of the state again after so many years, and we were fortunate to be able to see some great scenery while also hearing some great falconry stories that Randy was willing to share. During his time in falconry, Randy has flown several Cooper's hawks, as well as other species of hawks and falcons. Some of the stories that he shared with us were truly unique, as well as some of his perspectives resulting from many years in the sport, and we're happy to have been able to have met him during our circuit through AZ! Stop in with us the next couple of weeks as we head towards the bottom of the state to Tucson!

Thanks to the Arizona Falconers Association, we were able to do a series featuring falconers from all across the Grand Canyon State, including our esteemed guest for this episode, Harry McElroy! Harry and his wife Beth were kind enough to invite us into their home to discuss Harry's long tenure in falconry, which spanned several decades. At 93 years old, Harry is recently retired from falconry, but he has left behind a long legacy of contributions to the sport. While it's impossible to be able to fully encompass such a long life's worth of stories and experiences into an hour or so, we were happy to be able to share Harry's beginnings in falconry, his experiences living in Mexico, South America, and parts of the United States, and some of the knowledge that he's gleaned over the years flying several species of raptors and incorporating dogs and horses in falconry. We're truly honored to be able to do this series for Arizona and we hope you enjoy the rest of the episodes dedicated to some of Arizona's falconry heritage!

After meeting Krista for the first time at the Spring Rendezvous banquet, it became apparent that she had a unique perspective to offer in regards to her beginnings in falconry, and some of the other experiences that she's had since. We were happy to get a chance to find time late after the banquet ended to record this conversation about some of the adversity she faced initially getting into the sport, some of her many experiences getting to meet falconers around the world while doing falconry photography, and also reminiscing about one of her falconry mentors and sky trial goals. We hope everyone gets something positive from this episode and hope you enjoy! Check back soon for a memorable episode 100, and if you need any new falconry equipment, please check out @babayagagoshawk on Instagram or email maciejdzierwa@me.com for more info!

While at a recent trip to the Archives of Falconry Spring Rendezvous in Boise, ID, we got a chance to meet up with some longtime friends, and make some new ones. Our guest this episode, Tony James, is one of those new friends, and we're glad we got a chance to pull him aside for a bit to discuss some of his past and present falconry endeavors. This episode was going to happen during the UK series, but better late than never! On top of being an established falconer of many years, Tony is an avid falconry book connoisseur with a very large library, and is responsible for recently helping to bring about the English translation of The Art of Taming, Training, and Managing Hawks by P. De Gommer. We also have a few new series in the works for you coming up in the next couple of months, so enjoy! We would also like to introduce a new sponsor for the podcast, Baba Yaga Crafts! If you're in the market from some high quality, handmade equipment, Baba Yaga is worth checking out! Head to @babayagagoshawk on Instagram, or email at maciejdzierwa@me.com for more info.

Our second series featuring falconers from Mexico concludes with Eduardo García Espino. Eduardo was heard previously acting as translator for Leonardo Santana, and before heading back home to the US, we get a chance to discuss his falconry career, consisting mainly of flying Harris's hawks and goshawks primarily on quail. Eduardo also utilizes dogs with his falconry, and he's also known for breeding dogs, particularly his favorite breed, the vizsla. Thank you all again so much for continuing to listen, and to NAFA and the Falconry Fund for the small grant that helped fund us so we could make it for you! We hope you enjoyed the series!

This episode of our second series featuring falconers from Mexico brings you veterinarian Ayax Soleil Camacho, who is mostly known for flying aplomado falcons and Harris's hawks. This is another episode that required translation, provided courtesy of our host Gerardo Calderon. Along with discussing his experiences flying aplomado falcons and Harris's hawks, Ayax shared some of his other experiences with other species, as well as discussing some aspects of his veterinary practice. We thank you for continuing to join us on our journey, and keep an eye out for the conclusion of our second Mexico series next episode!

This fifth episode in our second series featuring falconers from Mexico brings you Gerardo Calderon. Gerardo was our host for the week, having been referred by Rodrigo Munro-Wilson, and his hospitality and planning are largely what made this second series possible. Having flown several species throughout his falconry career, with his current passion being flying peregrines at snipe and ducks, Gerardo's experiences bring a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. Gerardo has used dogs in falconry for a long time too, and his family is known as one of the first to breed Vizslas in Mexico. We can't thank Gerardo enough for his help during this series, and we hope you enjoy hearing about his falconry career!

This fourth episode in our second series featuring falconers from Mexico takes us to our host Gerardo's ranch, where some more amazing duck hawking took place. Shortly after Leo's falcon took a duck, we sat down with Leo to discuss some of the different species he has flown, some of his personal preferences and experiences with some of those species, and some interesting techniques he's used with Cooper's hawks. This episode marks another new experience for the podcast as well, with another new friend and guest on the podcast, Eduardo Garcia, translating for Leo during this conversation. We hope you enjoy! For more info on NAFA and the Falconry Fund, whose grant helped make this series happen, head to http://www.n-a-f-a.com and http://www.falconryfund.org.

Our second series featuring falconers from Mexico continues with Daniel Rassvetaieff, who was kind enough to invite us to his home in Toluca after a good morning hunt. Daniel is most known for his experiences hunting with barbary and peregrine falcons, which he primarily hunts snipe and ducks with. He is also one of the first people in Mexico to fly barbary falcons. On top of being an accomplished falconer, Daniel is also an established lawyer, and was kind enough to share some of his experiences in falconry with us during our trip. Thanks again to NAFA and the Falconry Fund for the small grant program that helps make projects like this possible!

This second episode of our follow up series featuring more falconers from Mexico takes us into Mexico City, where we joined Raul Ducoing Arjona at his home. We then sat down in his library and discussed his massive collection of falconry books and publications, some of his experiences trying to introduce new falconry regulations to Mexico's government, and his beginnings and stories in falconry. This is one that'll be particularly enjoyed by the book collectors and aficionados out there!

Thanks for joining us as we kick off part two of our Mexico series! Taking place mostly in areas around and just outside Mexico City, we start our second series featuring falconers from Mexico by talking with Rodrigo Porraz Medrano, who has been practicing falconry for decades. Rodrigo has flown Harris's hawks, peregrine falcons, aplomado falcons, and other species for a long time, and also has experience breeding raptors along with his brother, who is also a falconer. Special thanks again to the North American Falconer's Association (http://www.n-a-f-a.com) and the Falconry Fund (http://www.falconryfund.org), whose small grants program helps make projects like these possible! We can't wait to share the rest of these new stories and experiences from Mexico with you all!

We kick off our fifth season of the Falconry Told podcast with a golden eagle Q&A with Lauren McGough! In this episode, Lauren tries to address the rising interest in golden eagle take by answering many questions about the current golden eagle take process, manning, how to age eagles, and other important topics! There's a lot of good information in this episode that isn't always easy to find from one source, so if golden eagles interest you, you'll hopefully find this episode very informative. Thanks for joining us again after our short hiatus, and we'll continue on next week by starting part two of our Mexico series!

Our series featuring falconers from the UK concludes with it's seventeenth installment, which features John Mease. John is known in the UK for hunting with golden eagles, and is one of the few currently employed to do so as well! His story of how he has dedicated his life to falconry and ended up in his position hunting with eagles professionally is one you can't miss! We'd like to once again send a very special thank you to Simon Tyers and Neil Davies for helping to make this series happen. Without them, it definitely wouldn't have! Please head to http://www.thespecialistfalcon.com and http://pursuitfalconry.co.uk and check out their respective book and publication if you haven't yet, they're well worth it!

Due to previous time and logistical constraints during and around the time of The Game Fair, the last two installments of our UK series had to be recorded remotely. Fortunately, we were able to get the recordings coordinated, and in this sixteenth episode featuring falconers from the UK, we're joined by Jose and Charlotte Souto! Jose has been a guest previously, and while he's a renowned chef, he also helps his wife Charlotte with their birds of prey exhibition and education business, CJ's Birds of Prey. This episode offers other important perspectives not just for the hunting aspect of falconry, but also for what goes into educating the public and fostering positive perception for it as well. For more info on CJ's Birds of Prey, head to http://cjsbirdsofprey.co.uk. We thank you all for your continued support, and look forward to you joining us next episode for the conclusion of this series!

This fifteenth installment of our series featuring falconers from the UK is the product of another unique opportunity that doesn't come around very often! Simon Tyers was able to coordinate a visit to Falcon Mews, which is currently one of the largest commercial falcon breeding facilities. Peter Gill, who is our guest this episode and a co-owner of Falcon Mews, was generous enough to give us a tour while we were there, as well as discuss his history in falconry and propagation. If raptor propagation is a topic that interests you, this is a can't miss conversation!

This fourteenth installment of our series featuring falconers from the UK takes us to the British Archives of Falconry, where Mark Upton joins us to share some memories and nostalgia, as well as show us the archives! Mark comes from a background rich with falconry heritage, and this episode was a treat to record while surrounded by the atmosphere and aesthetics of the archives. This episode is another must listen, so hope you enjoy! There's only a few episodes left in this series, so stay tuned, and if you want to check out more info on the British Archives of Falconry, head to https://britisharchivesoffalconry.org.

In this thirteenth episode of our series featuring falconers from the UK, Andrew Ellis joins us to discuss his beginnings in the worlds of art and falconry! Those of you who are art collectors are probably already familiar with much of his work, so we're very happy to be able to bring you this episode full of insights into the beginnings of one of the more well-known artists and falconers in our community. It's always a treat to be able to get a glimpse into anyone's artistic world, let alone someone so versed in two artistic worlds at once, so we're very happy to be able to bring this conversation to you all! If you're interested in obtaining any of Andrew's works of art, please visit https://andrewellisart.com.