Introduction

Staffordshire Gamehawks is a collaboration between a falconer and a breeder that had its origins in 2010. At Staffordshire Gamehawks we firmly believe that every young peregrine free from defects of mind and body has the potential to become a high-flyer. Of course we also acknowledge that there are hawks that just seem to be ‘naturals’ and over the years there have existed lines of peregrines from Lundy over a century ago right up until the Dixon-line of recent years that have been described thus. We do not believe that any of these hawks can turn into a high-flyer regardless of the efforts of the falconer but they certainly have the advantage over others when it comes to what has been termed as trainability and it appears that these hawks are more precocious and forgiving during the process of attempting to teach them to mount high and wait-on. Equally there exist those lines of peregrines that are clearly a more challenging prospect when it comes to turning them into high-flying gamehawks. We have seen the difference between the two ‘types’ defined by some falconer/breeders as ‘gamehawking lines’ and ‘crow hawking lines’ but this is far too simplified an explanation at this relatively early juncture in captive breeding history. The key is to get the best out of each young prospect whilst not detracting from those skill-sets that every peregrine possesses almost right out of the egg. In order to do this we follow the basic process first described by Lynn Oliphant as “The Four Week Window” since we agree that there is a prescribed timeline for each young peregrine to move along in order to fulfil its potential. Further to this there is no doubt in our minds that what has been termed as natural ability can be viewed solely as being a relatively longer period of time that certain peregrines remain receptive to being taught important lessons. Some developmental windows will be relatively fixed and common to all peregrines whilst others will vary amongst certain breeding lines and individuals. We see these ‘windows’ as being key in terms of creating a peregrine which flies high and waits-on in the expectation of being served quarry by the falconer below. In line with this philosophy we term our method of developing a gamehawk the "Key Window Framework”.