We're back in Texas again for this episode with former NAFA president, Sheldon Nicolle. While at the Texas Hawking Assocation meet earlier this year, Sheldon discussed what his service as NAFA president was like, initially spending his early years in Zimbabwe before relocating to the United States, and different ways falconers can contribute back to the falconry community. There's usually not many dull moments with Sheldon, so we hope you have fun with us while listening!

While at the Archives of Falconry Spring Rendezvous, I had to pleasure of meeting this episode's guest, Jim Ince. I was bummed earlier this year to not get to meet Jim at the Texas Hawking Association meet, since I had heard great things about him not only as a falconer, but also as a bell and hood maker. Jim is another falconer that has been at it since the early days, and as it turns out, happens to be a pretty good guy also! While at the Rendezvous, I was happy to learn that Jim will be part of a Masterclass video series that the Archives of Falconry is going to be releasing for members, and hopefully by the time this episode is released, if not shortly after, his video on how to make bells should be released, so if you're not a member of the Archives of Falconry, now's the time to be! These videos will be another great membership bonus on top of all of the other great content the Archives offers, so head to falconry.org and sign up if you haven't! We hope you enjoy hearing about Jim's journey in falconry, including a pretty epic falconry tour through Europe, and then have fun checking out his wonderful bell craftsmanship!

This episode was another that was recorded while at the joint NAFA/IAF meet in Kearney, Nebraska. Santiago was one of the many international falconers who was able to come to the meet, and in between meet functions, he was able to discuss some of the different aspects of falconry in Spain, as well as talk about conservation and other important topics that we continue to face in modern falconry, no matter where we're from! It's always good getting more international falconers on the podcast!

Happy Dachshund Day everyone! Yes, you guessed it, you're getting a double dose of dachshund-inspired episodes this week due to the occasion! Paul Thomas of BlackHawk Kennels joins us for this episode, and after making the trip down for our annual Evansville falconry meet this past season, went into great depths discussing the historical details of dachshunds in the US, especially for use in falconry, his history in the sport, thoughts on breeding, amongst the other usual topics. While most people are familiar with the general details of the breed's origins in the US, I have no doubt there's details discussed in this episode that a lot of people may not be aware of, so for those of you who are continuing to enjoy hearing about this breed, this will be another good one for you! Special thanks to Paul as well for helping to support the podcast!

Out of all of the episodes I've recorded thus far for the podcast, this episode has to be one of the most unique. This episode features another New Jersey falconer, who was recorded last summer as part of the ongoing dachshund series, and hearing his falconry and overall life journey was truly inspiring! Pakorn Patithema discusses what he had to overcome in his youth to pursue falconry, and how falconry was what kept him on a good path, in what could easily have turned out to be a dangerous one for him. For those of you who are always looking for examples of how falconry can turn out to be a huge positive in people's lives, Pak's story is a great one!

While recording the bulk of the ongoing dachshund series last summer in New Jersey, Paul Eliya, Casey Everett, Pakorn Patimetha (who you'll hear from soon), and Erik Swanson decided to sit down and have a group discussion, highlighting different viewpoints on a couple of continual hot topics within the falconry community: the use of social media by falconers, and the US falconry sponsorship system. These topics can spawn some heated debates amongst the falconry community, but the participants in this episode wanted to come together to discuss their opinions. This is another first for the podcast, and while you all may or may not agree with the different participants' views on these topics, we hope that this episode inspires constructive thoughts and tasteful conversations/debates within the community!

This episode is another lengthy one, and it's packed full with a lot of good information and experiences! A lot of you, especially the falconry book collectors in the community, will probably recognize the name of our guest for this episode. Clayton White, who is the author of Peregrine Quest, and co-author of Peregrine Falcons of the World, gave me the better part of his afternoon a few months ago, so the jaunt was made down to Utah to discuss Clay's tenured history researching birds of prey. For those of you wanting to learn more about peregrines, and a lot about different aspects of the research and data behind their historical ebbs and flows as a species, get comfortable, and join us!

This is another nice change of pace episode for you all, featuring another husband and wife falconry duo. Jeff Redig was recorded at last year's NAFA meet, and while we were all in Wyoming to meet with and record other falconers. a recording with Lauren was able to get done as well. The decision was made to go ahead and combine their conversations into one episode, so here we go! A lot of different things are covered in these conversations, ranging from the trials and difficulties of falconry to the interactive culture within the falconry community. This is a lengthy two-parter, so enjoy!

This episode with Dennis and Alyssa Hurley was one of the last episodes recorded while in Tyler, TX, and is only one of a couple of episodes published thus far that features a father/daughter falconry tandem! It was interesting to hear about some of their experiences getting into falconry together, as well as some of the early hurdles they had to face. Their falconry path is another one that many should hear, particularly by those who are still very young and thinking about pursuing the sport!

We're back into dachshund talk again! Erik Swanson, another part of the crew I got a chance to record while in New Jersey last summer, is also the owner of East Coast Falcons, which offers a lot of different abatement services and has been featured in the New York Times, Philly Times, CBS News, and other media outlets. Erik has also owned and bred dachshunds for several years, and like many, the breed has had a special impact on his falconry, as well as his life in general. He has also done a lot to support the podcast, and the help has been much appreciated! If you want to find out more about East Coast Falcons and the services they offer, head to http://www.eastcoastfalcons.com.

This episode concludes (for now) the series featuring falconers from Canada. While at this past year's NAFA meet, Nathan Hyland was finally able to come onto the podcast to discuss using modern technology to film hunts, flying falcons, goshawks, Harris's hawks, and other species in Canada, and other fun topics. Hopefully in the future, we'll be able to coordinate other in-person recordings with other guests from Canada at a meet, but until then, thanks for listening to the series, and hope you've enjoyed it!

While at the New Jersey meet earlier this year, Bob Glass joined the podcast to discuss his new book, A Journey with Red Tails, and the process involved with writing it. We also discussed different aspects of being musicians, NAFA, the New Jersey club, his sponsor and mutual friend, Bon Lozaga (sorry Bon!), and he also shared one of the craziest stories I've ever heard in regards to potentially disastrous hawk encounters with farm equipment! Pick up Bob's book at http://www.ajourneywithredtails.com!

We're back in Eastern Texas again for this episode, in which Robert Carter joins us to discuss his transition from his early falconry days flying longwings on ducks, to flying red tailed and Harris's hawks on squirrels. He also is one of the first falconers I've talked to that has incorporated poodles to help in his falconry. This is also another good episode that goes into depth more on living by the falconry principle of adapting your falconry to the quarry and opportunities you have available to you, and many thanks again to Randy Watson for helping to make these episodes recorded in Eastern Texas happen!

Brian Bradley of Skyhunters in Flight joins us for this episode of the podcast. This episode not only takes us back to more dachshund talk, but Brian also discusses different kinds of trapping, as well as other important aspects of falconry that he's had a lot of experience with. This was another fun episode recorded while visiting the falconry crew around the New Jersey/New York area, and again, highlights just how much dachshunds can add to the falconry experience in the right areas!

We're coming down to the last couple of episodes of the series featuring falconers from Canada. There's still one left after this episode (for now), but the guest for this episode, Dale Guthormsen, is a well-traveled and experienced falconer. Dale is full of knowledge and stories, and I'm glad that we got a chance to talk about all kinds of odds and ends, including standards in falconry, certain training techniques with longwings, learning from others' mistakes, and special birds. There's no doubt everyone can learn something from this episode, which is always important to do when possible. Enjoy!

This was one of handful of episodes that was recorded at the 2023 NAFA meet. This last NAFA meet also happened to be the international (IAF) meet, and presented the chance to sit down with a few falconers from other countries. In this episode, Michael Calvin sits down to discuss and clarify the current state of falconry in Australia, raptor rehabilitation in Australia, and what brought him to eventually settle in Australia in the first place. There's a lot of good information in this episode pertaining to falconry in yet another country, so this is another one you'll want to make sure not to miss!

This episode features the current president of the Texas Hawking Association (THA), Dr. Corey Roelke. Corey is a biologist and also teaches at the University of Texas at Arlington, and thanks to him and the Texas Hawking Association, you all will get to continue to hear more about falconry in other parts of Texas, particularly the Western part of the state! This episode and many others were recorded in Lubbock during the THA meet in January, and during this conversation, we discuss more about the THA, duck hawking with peregrine falcons, and some of the differences between younger and older generational approaches to falconry, amongst other things. Many thanks to the THA and Corey for helping to bring more falconry stories from Texas to share with you all!

This episode continues the ongoing dachshund series! Madison made the long drive to New Jersey from Eastern Tennessee to join us all while we were recording a lot of the initial episodes for this series. After taking in some of the sights of the surrounding area, she sat down to discuss some of her highs and lows in the worlds of falconry and dachshunds, including discovering falconry as a teenager, and also having to work through losing one of her previous hunting partners. Stick around, there's plenty more of these fun dachshund episodes left to come!

In this next episode featuring falconers from Canada, Louise Engel joins the podcast to talk about some of her experiences with flying and breeding barbary falcons, as well as flying a perlin (cross between a peregrine falcon and merlin). Amongst many other things, she also discusses how some of her early interest in falconry took shape when she found out about bird abatement. There's still a couple of episodes left with falconers from Canada, so be on the lookout for them in the coming weeks!

This is another special episode that brings many falconers together to recognize the contributions of another one of their own: Teddy Moritz. After much debate on when would be a good time to release this episode, the decision was made that now would be as good as any, being that none of us are getting any younger, and there's still so many more stories to share! The contributions that Teddy has made over the years, not just to the world of falconry and dachshunds, but also to the personal lives of many, have been exceptional. Some of the people who have been impacted by Teddy decided that they'd like to come together to contribute an episode to that earned legacy. Some of these falconers you've already heard in previously released episodes, some you'll hear from in the near future. In this episode, you'll hear from (in this order after the introduction):

-Tyler Sladen

-Casey Everett

-Phil and Paul Eliya

-Brian Bradley

-Pakorn Patimetha

-Madison Abell

-Erik Swanson

-Harrison Dalby

-Zack Bohn

-Ryan Corlew

-Aaron Kincaid

-Kevin Stahler

-Paul Thomas

-Bill Boler

Teddy, thank you again for not only all that you've done for the worlds of dogs and falconry, but also to enrich the lives of so many people. Until next time... Hunt hard, Kill Swiftly, Waste Nothing, and Offer No Apologies!