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
67. Game Hawker Edition with Matt Mullenix (Part 2)
In this final episode of Game Hawker Edition, Matt Mullenix joins me to finish out the second season of the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. Matt and I begin the episode talking about Matt's mindset as he continued to hawk his American Kestrel, "Coco", after having lost his merlin to a Cooper's Hawk. Matt then tells us about the benchmark he uses to evaluate the degree to which he is doing his hawk justice (Intended Quarry Per Hunt), and we discuss how far below and above that benchmark one has to be before they are no longer gamehawking). Matt then weighs in with his opinion on the relative importance of "place, time, and weight", including the ideas he calls "take two" and "take four". We then discuss "Coco's" season and Matt's plans for next season. We finish the episode with Matt book recommendation.