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.

Ethan Pippitt of Standing Stone Kennels joins me to talk about training of bird dogs. Using my 2-year old female German wirehaired pointer, Ethan and I step through the various stages of training that I completed from the time I received her at 10 weeks of age starting with the basics, including something Ethan refers to as "charging the clicker". Ethan explains why he uses "tug-of-war" play with his pups, and tells us why it shouldn't lead to a "hard-mouthed dog", if done correctly. We talk about impulse control and how it's a precursor to steadiness. We briefly talk about heeling and loose-leash walking before moving on to the concept of "teach, condition, generalize", and what collar conditioning is. We conclude episode one discussing the use of the "positive pigeon" drill as an introduction to "whoa" and it's use to bring out both pointing behavior and prey drive. Thanks for listening.

https://www.standingstonekennels.com

Heath Garner (North American Falconers Association Vice President) joins me to tell us about trapping of passage peregrines in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) of Arkansas. He tells us about the MAV, and the challenges associated with trying to find and trap passage birds in the region. Heath briefly reminds us of the timeline from listing of the species to the events that led to re-instituting of a legal harvest, and describes the role that NAFA played in advocating for legal harvest. It took a few trapping seasons to build sufficient local knowledge that now makes Arkansas trappers regularly successful each trapping season; Heath leads us through that learning curve. He talks about the influence of weather on migration timing, and offers up what he has learned about trap sets and best locations.  Heath has trapped, trained, and flown his fair share of passage birds since 2009 (when they first became available to our generation of falconers), and he tells us about the birds that he has hunted with, and the ups and downs that he has been through.

Kevin Harcourt of Marshall Radio Telemetry and I continue our discussion on the Marshall GPS system. We turn our attention from what Kevin refers as the user-selectable modes (HD, ECO, EXT, and SLEEP) to the two automatic modes that users do not have direct control over, those being Turbo mode and Reserve mode.  We talk in detail about the factory settings associated with Reserve mode, including the implications associated with battery longevity in the event that the factory settings are modified.  We conclude our discussion on the system with a brief reminder that the GPS transmitter also houses an RDF beeping module, and we discuss the temptation to forgo use of a backup transmitter. Before turning our attention to various field scenarios,we go over the system start-up sequence (start AV, then power-up the PL, followed by the transmitter, then allowing a 5 minute soak time, starting record, and then releasing the bird); I ask whether the start-up sequence critical, and if not, why should falconers still follow the recommendation? We close out the episode discussing several field scenarios that encompass varying degrees of uncertainty ranging from a typical straightforward flight with low uncertainty to an extended chase where uncertainty is high. 

Welcome to the first episode of Season 2 of the Fat Bird, Ugly Dog Podcast.  In this episode I talk to Kevin Harcourt of Marshall Radio Telemetry.  Kevin tells us a little about the company, its philosophy, and how he came to be part of the Marshall Radio team. We then distinguish between Radio Detection Finding (RDF)  technology and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, including components of each system and the way in which each system combines component-specific functions that allow users to keep tabs on a hawk's location. On the GPS side of things, we talk about the LED displays, how to interpret the various LED colors on the transmitter and the pocket link, and how to get additional information from the LED display on the pocket link when trouble shooting or tracking a lost hawk.  Kevin also describes raw data and derived data.  We finish out Part 1 of this 2-part episode discussing the trade off between battery longevity and data acquisition associated with each of the four user-selectable modes (HD, ECO, EXT, and SLEEP).  

In Part 3 of my series with Ronnie Moore, we discuss Ron's  recollection of  implementation of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, how it came about, and its pitfalls for practicing falconers.  Ron talks about his second shot at immortalization after he received an invitation to fly Ailsa on  Bleasdale Towers estate. He recounts how the largest scotch and lemonade turned into two, and the unfortunate events that followed.  He tells us about an outing where he and Diana Durman-Walters were caught out in less than ideal weather while hunting "Ailsa". Ron describes one particular flight where he believes that after flying into the next dale to find better wind, Ailsa followed two hikers and their dog. "Ailsa" typically took fur, but on least one occasion she obliged her taste for feathered quarry…Ron tells us that story. When transporting "Ailsa", Ron initially had her on a perch in his vehicle…he tells us why he had a change of mind, and switched to using a transport box.  Ron acquired "Ailsa" in his early thirties, and was still hunting her into his sixties; he tells us how decades of hunting began to take its toll. Ailsa’s death marked the beginning of the end of Ron's falconry career – he tells us about the period of time after Ailsa’s death. In closing, Ron recounts the  “three big ups” of his life, and he answers my rapid fire questions.

In this episode, I am again join by Ronnie Moore, author of "Memoirs of a Hunting Falconer".  At the end of Part 1, Ron described how he came to acquire “Ailsa”, We start this conversation today with Ron's first interactions with her as he began the process of training her for falconry.  Once he had gained Ailsa’s trust, and she was ready to fly free, he encouraged her to hunt from the soar as he had done with “Mort” many years prior, and he recounts how he got her entered on quarry.  Ron tells us the story where he feels that all his Christmas’s came at once.  Initially Ron had typically allowed her to take a full feed off of her first kill, but he eventually got to the point that he needed to remove kills from her if he was to be able to hunt for long periods over which multiple kills had been made...he tells us how you went about that process.  As with all training of all hawks, setbacks and mistakes are inevitable, Ron recounts once such experience, and explains why he opted to stop using his dog "Linnet" while hunting with "Ailsa".  Ron recounts  how lucky he was  to be allowed into Ailsa's world. and follows that with a tale about why hunting alone is not without its risks. We learn about Ailsa’s first encounter with a blue hare, and conclude the episode hearing about Himalayan monkey skin, burning arm pits, the downside of wearing a damp tweed  jacket.

In this Episode Ronnie Moore joins me to tell us about his early childhood experiences and how they led to his love of the outdoors and hunting pursuits.  Ron describes how he came to acquire one of his first falconry birds, a European buzzard he named "Mort" - Ron released "Mort", but that was not the end of their time hunting together.  Although  Ron is likely best known for his golden eagle “Ailsa”, he also flew goshawks and falcons achieving much the same standard of falconry with them that he achieved with "Ailsa".  We talk about his goshawks, "Ratty" and "Kojak", his falcons "Alice" (a prairie falcon) and "Nasty Louis" (a tiercel peregrine) - Ron is natural story-teller, and his adventures with his birds are most entertaining to say the least.

In this episode Vickie Joseph joins me to talk about Clinical Avian Pathology Services and she tells us which items falconers should carry in a Med Kit.  We also talk about "supportive care" and what it entails. We talk about the importance of hydration, the various types of fluids that can be administered, and how to administer them.  We talk about diet and discuss the quality of wild food compared to quail. We talk about impact injuries and bite wounds including those associated with venomous snakes. Vickie walks me through a basic triage protocol, and talks about use of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications.  We conclude our discussion with two cases involving falconry birds that were injured whilst hunting, and my rapid fire questions.

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