Consultant David Ehlen is an avid seeker of experience and adventure with a serious curiosity streak. Growing up steeped in the great outdoors, the head of ACME Business Consulting's Transaction Services practice took up a sport that may seem unusual, but is actually one of the oldest sports still practiced today: falconry. Ehlen is a Master Class Falconer, who started practicing the art after college. He says the birds are amazingly pure animals, and even explained some parallels between falconry and his profession.
Consulting: How did you get into falconry?
Ehlen: I grew up in the Midwest and on the prairies of South Dakota. Bird hunting, fishing, those sorts of things. I became aware you could actually keep these birds under a federal license and actually hunt with them. The more I got involved in it and the more I studied it, it became clear it was something that I wanted to do. It's pretty complicated to get a license—you go through a U.S. Fish and Wildlife test, then you have to be sponsored by a falconer who has at least a General Class license. There's an apprenticeship model and it takes a bunch of time. I think the reason for that is to shake out the passing interest in it. A lot of time people find they just can't care for them, so they build a bit of rigor into the process to get a bird to make sure you're really committed to it.
Consulting: What is a Master Class Falconer?
Ehlen: It's a level of permit from U.S. Fish & Wildlife. You start out as a Novice, move to General Class then to Master Class. The point of distinction there is centered around how many birds you're allowed to keep. A Master Class falconer can keep 3 when I last checked, and is qualified to apply for breeding permits.
Consulting: What are some of the overlapping skill sets between consulting and falconry?
Ehlen: Falconry is really rooted in process and discipline. There is a point you release the bird where you lose all control of what's going to happen. You've got some stop-gap measures in there, you can lure a bird down from the sky, you train them to come down as your way of controlling the situation, but most of that moment of releasing the bird is focused on preparation work. Are they flying in the right weight? Are the weather conditions conducive to them having a controllable situation where they're not soaring and getting out? These are birds that can literally be gone quickly. Part of the discipline around falconry is rooted in preparation and making sure you're very thorough. I think it's really process-driven. It's a really disciplined, process-driven sport. You also kind of get to learn all these different things, try different things, meet different people. Falconry is kind of an unusual thing to be doing but it's rooted in curiosity, which is a reason I think a lot of us do consulting.
Consulting: What's your favorite part of the sport?
Ehlen: For me the great part is checking into something that's really pure. The birds are just absolutely amazing in terms of what they are. Nine out of 10 birds of prey in the wild don't live past one year. The ones that do survive are perfect. They're top of the food chain predators, and are really interesting. I look at it as wiggling my way into a little slice of perfection. It's very humbling. There's a point where you just have to say you have no control over what happens next. That's pretty exciting. It also kind of keeps you grounded in that, I'm going to prepare to the best of my ability everything that I can control because there's this moment I have to let go.
Consulting: How does it know to come back?
Ehlen: They're not really social creatures, but they build this level of acceptance with you and they can imprint on you depending how young you get them. It's really this level of acceptance and trust, it's not affection like a dog. When things get kind of dicey they will start looking for you, but things happen pretty quickly at 150 miles per hour.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.