The Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast
The goal of this podcast is to present alternate viewpoints on falconry. Topics covered range from training philosophy, husbandry, and health of birds and bird dogs to conservation and management of raptors, their main prey species, and the respective habitat that they rely on. In addition, I’ll cover-off themes related to hunter ethics, fair chase, and access to public and private land. I’ll outline efforts that falconers can make to contribute to all of these topics of conversation.
The Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast
60. Game Hawker Edition with Matt Mullenix (Part 1)
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.