James Mathe’s writing – 2013-2019

You’re probably wondering why you found James Mathe’s writing on this “Vercant” guy’s website. Well, here’s the details. From roughly 2009-2017, James Mathe and I worked together in a variety of ways. I was first his store manager, early playtester on Minion Games and occasional copy editor, then his business partner, and ultimately his friend. …

Constructing a mews

One of the most intimidating pre-apprentice tasks for me was constructing my mews. Largely, I found this a bit overwhelming because I lacked essentially all of the knowledge and skills necessary to make a building, excepting perhaps laying shingles. Each step had to be researched, second guessed, and researched again prior to doing it. I …

On manning a hawk

Manning a newly trapped hawk is the great pleasure that I most anticipated upon my second year as a falconer. “Manning,” the process by which a wild hawk is acclimatized to humans and handling, is a process of slowly building trust and discipline. The hawk must trust you, at each step, or she will simply …