The Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this multi-episode series, I am joined by Matt Mullenix, Heath Garner, and Brian Millsap to discuss their views of falconry in the context of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAM; see Episode 33) and the Wildlife Values Report (WVR; see Episode 34).

The episode begins with each guest reporting on progress of the molt for each of their birds (as of late August). I then take advantage of having Brian Millsap present to get an update on normalization of take of peregrine falcons, Heath gives us a sense of NAFA's activities in this regard, and Matt offers his insights too. 

We talk also of the affect of the recent Supreme Court ruling to strike down Chevron Deference, a decision that will affect the way that agencies such as the USFWS will be able to conduct business.  

We then turn our attention to discussing the manner in which falconry is affected by the first of the seven principles of the NAM, the idea that science is the proper tool to discharge wildlife policy.

Matt, Heath, and Brian then engage in a wide ranging discussion (gatekeeping as it relates to permitting, falconry schools, the value of the internet) on aspects of falconry as it relates to the NAM principle that every citizen has the opportunity, under the law, to hunt and fish in the United States and Canada (i.e., Democracy of hunting).  

Thanks for listening to the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode with three prominent U.S. falconers.

In this Episode I talk to Thomas Baumeister of "Access WILD" and "Orion - The hunters Institute" about the question of hunting and the way in which hunters can develop an ethical framework. 

We begin our conversation with a brief reminder of the four ways  in which society generally values wildlife  (Traditionalist, Mutualist, Pluralist, and Distanced). We then outline the ways in which hunters and anti-hunters can be be classified.

We then turn our attention to "ethics" and the ways in which ethical philosophy can be applied to the question of hunting. Thomas then explains whether killing an animal can be ethically justified, and we discuss the concept of "moral residue".

We then turn our attention to "Fair Chase", first by defining it, and then by examining its origins. I then ask Thomas about "optimizing advantage" - the idea that hunting can be neither too easy, nor too difficult. We then discuss the importance of the hunting experience, and the way in which moral residue is an important part of the hunting experience.

Thanks for listening to the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode.

In this Episode I am joined by John Organ,  Chief Emeritus of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Program,  to discuss the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.  John begins by telling us about the people that were responsible for consolidating the model, He then describes the ecological and historical context that ultimately led to modern wildlife management.  We go back to the late Pleistocene to provide a sense of what the mega-faunal community looked like prior to the arrival of humans on the continent.  We then step forward in time to the wildlife fauna of the North American frontier, and outline the main species that were hunted, exploited, and those that were driven to extinction or near extinction. John tells us about the early advocates of wildlife conservation, and describes their major legislative and institutional milestones.  We then turn to detailing the seven tenets of the North American Model. We close-out the episode discussing what John sees as the three biggest threats to hunting, and given that hunters make up about 5% of the population in the NA, and that it would almost certainly be outlawed if the question of its legitimacy were put to a simple referendum,I ask John what he would advise hunters to do to encourage support for hunting in the non-hunting community.

 

In this final episode of my three-part series discussing passage merlins with Jeremy Bradshaw, author of "The Passage Merlin", Jeremy shares his views on having a merlin share the comings and goings of one’s home,  his views on weight management, and how he steps through the training sequence from hopping to fist to undertaking that first free flight, and ultimately to regular gamehawking. We also  talk about "carrying", and taking advantage of the natural tendency for merlins to cache their prey. And then before turning to my rapid fire questions Jeremy tells us how Al Ross shaped his ideas about flying merlins and influenced his life in general.

In this episode Jeremy Bradshaw author of the "The Passage Merlin" returns to me to talk about his love affair with the passage merlin. We begin this episode with Jeremy recollecting the events surrounding the first Merlin he trapped with, and for, fellow falconer and friend, Jeremy Roselle . He then tells us about trapping merlins in urban versus agricultural settings, including the various trap types, and his go-to favorite. He tells us about some hard-earned tips that have improved his trapping success, and some way to distinguish a passage bird from a haggard. We conclude the episode discussing Jeremy's preferred approach to the first attempt at un-hooding, feeding, and then, more importantly, that first attempt to re-hood a newly trapped passage merlin. Thanks for tuning into the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode. 

In this episode Jeremy Bradshaw author of the "The Passage Merlin" joins me to talk about his love affair with small raptors, in particular, the passage merlin.  Jeremy begins the episode giving us some insight into the three sub-species of merlins in North America, and tells us how Jack merlins differ from female merlins.  I then ask Jeremy about his views on weight management, and how it can make one a better falconer. We then talk about the benefits of keeping a merlin in the house rather than outdoors. Before discussing technical aspects of lure flying and how much fun it can be, Jeremy provides us with his views on merlin equipment,or furniture as some call it.  We then talk about the importance of telemetry, and get Jeremy's views on which of the various mounting methods is his preferred choice. Jeremy built a solid reputation as a maker of merlin hoods - he tells us what makes a good merlin hood, and references several other falconers that took the time to become proficient in making merlin hoods. We close out the episode talking about the importance of water and feeding whole-bodied avian prey.  Thanks for tuning into the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Vickie and I begin our conversation discussing her "Wellness Program" in recently-trapped birds, which for obvious reasons, the falconer has no medical history and there is the potential that a recently captured raptor is carrying a sub-clinical parasite load, or has a bacterial or viral infection. Vickie starts by classifying types of pathogens that a falconer should be aware of, and describes  typical symptoms that may be present and which organ systems are most commonly implicated. We then turn our attention to physical injuries, nutrition deficiencies, and how the stress of capture can exacerbate injury and disease.  We then discuss Vickie's three main concerns when it comes to wellness of eyasses, and issues related to nutrition and tethering.  We conclude the episode with Vickie's recommendations for annual work-ups for intermewed hawks.  Thanks again for tuning into the "Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast, and I hope that you find this episode both interesting and useful.

In Part 2 of my two-episode series with Matt Mullenix, author of "Four Falconry Fundamentals",  we continue where we left off in episode 1 with Matt’s answer to a question regarding slip management and re-flushing of quarry. After getting Matt’s ideas on hunting and the future of falconry, I asked him to tell us about a very recent addition to the Four Fundamentals Project,  one-on-one tutoring sessions he calls "Fundamentals Coaching". Thanks for tuning in to the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog podcast. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode with Matt Mullenix.

Get Matt's  previous two books plus (signed) copies of Four Falconry Fundamentals and the Concept Cards from Western Sporting here.

To those who purchase the Fundamentals materials, get one-on-one "Fundamentals Coaching" via Zoom, sign up here: https://www.missionmedia.biz/fundamentals 

 Matt Mullenix, falconer and author of three books joins me to talk about his most recent book, "Four Falconry Fundamentals". We begin our discussion with Matt acknowledging the people whom have be instrumental to his falconry and writing. Matt tells us what his goal was for the book, and then provides a brief outline of each of the fundamentals (prey base, husbandry, recall, and slip management). Matt then describes various hi-lights of each, and we spend time discussing an important link between the concepts of 'husbandry' and 'recall', that being 'weight management'.  Matt outlines the school of thought he learned from Harry McElroy, and contrasts that weight management system with one that's a little less precise.  We conclude this episode with discussion regarding a Matt's rule of thumb when it comes to hunting weight.  Thanks for tuning in to the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast; I hope you find this episode useful and enjoyable.

In Part 2 of my conversation with Ethan Pippitt of Standing Stone Kennels we continue talking about training of my 2-year old female German wirehaired pointer. After discussing the Positive Pigeon  Drill as an introduction to whoa from Part 1, Ethan and I pick up the conversation on my use of the steady lead and the place board to develop steadiness.  We then turn our attention to the use of pigeon launchers in combination with the “whoa” cue. Ethan describes use of the belly collar to condition whoa, and we talk about introducing a dog to gunfire. We talk about the off season, the tradeoffs associated with spaying and neutering, and then turn our attention to "taking away the chase" in an effort to teach steadiness to wing. Before asking Ethan my regular rapid fire questions, he and I finish up part 2 discuss how to avoid collar dependence. Thanks for tuning in the show. I hope you enjoy the remainder our conversation.