An ‘Eagle’ eye on an ancient sport

Falconry is an ancient, honorable sport in Mongolia. Unhooded and hungry, a trained eagle falls like a hammer at more than 200 mph to slam an unlucky fox, or even small wolves. Writer-falconry enthusiast Stephen Bodio’s engaging search for eagle hunters catapults us into a no-holds-barred outback where guns and gasoline are carry-on baggage, and the Kirghiz live to be 100 eating nothing but mutton, vodka and salty tea.

Mongolia ain’t Kansas, as Bodio swiftly discovers while pursuing his boyhood dream to “hunt with the eagle hunters” in the remote province of Bayan-Olgii. Anomalies and animals abound in these sparsely inhabited, wind-swept steppes where snow leopards prowl.

Carnivorous Buddhists on horseback jostle devout Muslim tipplers in Mercedes heading home to their nomadic-domed tents, or gers. PC softies and vegetarians will flinch at this gutsy, raptorial adventure, while others will hoist a glass to wilderness men and their wild birds.

-- Susan Dworski