Chapter 11: Releasing the String
The Da Qing Yao's progress in training for calling far was faster than Yue Feng expected. It only took three pieces of meat and less than ten minutes to be able to call from eight meters away.
This game of calling far, where the Hawk Keeper interacts with the Hunting Eagle, cannot be played too much every day. After all, with each success, the eagle eats a lot of meat. When its stomach is almost full, the eagle's little schemes will increase, and training at that point will be less effective.
After the third successful calling far, Yue Feng picked up the prepared eagle food bowl and began properly feeding the eagle.
Today, three prey were caught, and the eagle's physical strength was depleted quite a bit. Therefore, Yue Feng gave the eagle plenty of food this time. The pieces of Eurasian Turtle Dove meat in the bowl, mixed with fine down wet with blood, were all fed to the Da Qing Yao. By the time the meat was finished, the little eagle's crop was already bulging.
Based on Yue Feng's extensive experience, the Da Qing Yao ate about eighty percent full this meal!
The poor Da Qing Yao, from being caught in the net and brought home until now, finally had its first full meal.
In Yue Feng's mind, after consolidating the calling far distance again tomorrow, giving it a medium meal of about fifty percent full to stretch out its spirit for a day, it should be ready to be released on the string the morning after tomorrow!
After feeding the eagle, Yue Feng stayed with the eagle on his arm until lunchtime.
The dish cooked for lunch was Sand Grouse stewed with potatoes. Before it was even out of the pot, the house was already filled with the savory aroma of chicken. To ensure everyone in the family could eat meat, his mother cut the two Sand Grouse from today into small pieces. Although there wasn't much meat, the family of four ate with great relish.
After the potatoes and chicken were finished, the chicken broth at the bottom of the basin was also delicious. Breaking the steamed buns into pieces and putting them in the basin to soak up the broth, then picking them up with chopsticks and putting them into his mouth, the feeling of that fresh and savory taste exploding on his taste buds was even better than eating the chicken itself.
Although there still wasn't enough meat, seeing his Yao Mei'er and parents' satisfied smiles, Yue Feng's heart also felt happy.
As long as he worked hard, life would always get better! When the eagle could be released smoothly and start hunting, that would be the time to achieve Sand Grouse freedom!
Yue Feng muttered silently in his heart.
In the afternoon and evening, he continued to perch the eagle, comfort it, and illuminate it with a lamp. The next morning after getting up, Yue Feng again carried the eagle and left the village early.
It was still the same hunting ground by the River as yesterday. Today, Yue Feng was busy with the eagle until past nine o'clock, acquiring a total of three Sand Grouse, plus one gray magpie, ending the hunt.
The Da Qing Yao, which had eaten eighty percent full yesterday, was still in a stable state when it went out hunting today. After returning home, Yue Feng prepared the eagle food and continued to consolidate yesterday's calling far training.
Just the first time calling far surprised Yue Feng.
At a distance of 15 meters, he raised his hand and showed the meat, called out, and it came immediately!
For the second calling far, Yue Feng extended the distance to twenty meters. For the third time, he simply went out of the courtyard gate, and the result was still that as soon as the command was given, the eagle flew straight along the ground.
In the words of old Falconry practitioners, the flight was perfectly straight, and it was ready to be released on the string steadily.
Because the Da Qing Yao was producing results, Yue Feng's lunch standard had risen sharply in the past two days. Yesterday, two Sand Grouse, today, three, all cleaned and put into the pot. Lao Yao Mei'er ate them with great happiness.
After finishing the calling far training, he fed it about fifty percent full, and the afternoon and evening were the same as usual.
When the next day arrived, Yue Feng got up just as dawn broke, carried the eagle, and wore a side bag. He didn't even bring the tire cord used for the string, aiming for a simple and light setup.
Since this Saker Falcon was caught in the net, the number of prey caught by Yue Feng had already reached almost ten. This truly matched what the older generation of eagle handlers said: the more the eagle hunts, the tougher it gets, and the more its spirit becomes sufficient. When it goes out to hunt, its eyes dart around, and it can spot the slightest trace or movement from a long distance away.
Without the influence of the string, Yue Feng's timing for releasing the eagle became much more flexible. In the past two days, he only dared to let go when it was within ten meters, but today he released it beforehand from over twenty meters away.
Sand Grouse, a small quail-like bird, is not good at flying. Unless it starts escaping forty or fifty meters away, otherwise, when the distance is closed to within twenty meters, even the most physically fit individual in the flock has no chance of survival against the powerful pounce of the Da Qing Yao.
The few flocks of Sand Grouse active around the bushes in the small woods by the River were caught by Yue Feng in less than a morning, totaling nine birds.
Continuously attacked and caught by Eurasian Sparrowhawks, this flock of Sand Grouse had also become wary. They liked to dart into the bushes at the slightest rustle.
However, this small difficulty didn't trouble the experienced hunter Yue Feng. Seeing the birds hide in the bushes, he picked up a stick and knocked around to drive them out. When a bird came out and took flight, he raised his hand and released the eagle.
Without the influence of the string, this Da Qing Yao performed various mid-air flips and grabs. It hadn't missed a single Sand Grouse so far, with a hundred percent success rate!
Seeing this, some might ask, how much work can a top-grade Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) do in the hands of a Hawk Keeper in a day? How many prey can it catch?
Yue Feng didn't know the theoretical limit, but he remembered his record for hunting with a young eagle in his previous life.
One year in autumn, Yue Feng used a trap net to catch a light-colored, peach-breasted Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) that was slightly inferior in quality to the Da Qing Yao. He took the eagle out hunting from dawn until three in the afternoon, harvesting a total of 33 prey of various sizes. He gave a few away on the way back to the village and stewed a large pot after cleaning them at home.
Unconsciously, it was nearing noon. Yue Feng looked at the Sand Grouse tightly wrapped in socks in his backpack, feeling quite satisfied, and decided to go home for lunch.
Because he was catching Sand Grouse, Yue Feng had gone around to the other side of the small River. It wasn't worth going back the same way, so he simply walked back along the forest path by the small River.
He hadn't walked far when he heard a faint, sharp, and clear 'zizizi' sound coming from the other side of the hill.
The next second, Yue Feng suddenly stopped in his tracks!
People who don't live in the mountains might not know what animal makes this sound, but Yue Feng knew. This was the famous Flying Dragon!
As the saying goes, among earthly delicacies, there is dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat on the ground.
The dragon meat in this saying refers to the Flying Dragon bird.
The Flying Dragon's scientific name is Hazel Grouse. It is a forest-dwelling bird that lives in woods. Its size is slightly larger than the Sand Grouse, by about half a size. A male bird is about one jin, and a female is slightly smaller, about seven or eight liang.
This Flying Dragon bird is now a national second-class protected animal, but in 1980, there was no Animal Protection Law. At this point in time, there were plenty in the Changbai Mountain forest!
If he could catch a few of these alive and take them back, they could sell for a high price!
One reason Yue Feng wasn't in a hurry to release the eagle to catch the more valuable Flying Dragons was that the newly released eagle hadn't stabilized yet. Its performance when released on the string today was good, which also gave Yue Feng enough confidence.
Thinking of this, Yue Feng carried the eagle and hurried towards the direction where the Flying Dragon had called just now.