Chapter 15: Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) hunting wild chicken, this business is beyond its scope!
The stable Da Qing Yao currently maintained a terrifying 100% success rate in hunting. Every time Yue Feng chose a target and sent it out, it never returned empty-handed.
The more it hunted, the stronger the Hunting Eagle's confidence became. When it caught the last small female Flying Dragon just now, he sent the Hunting Eagle out from about thirty meters away and still took it down in one round!
Climbing mountains was not like walking on flat ground, and Yue Feng, feeling a bit tired, found a grassy area to sit down and rest for a while. He also gave the Da Qing Yao a couple of mouthfuls of meat and a little water. After about fifteen minutes, he crossed the rocky area, traversed the ridge, and arrived at another mountaintop.
Yue Feng had now made up his mind. The Hunting Eagle's condition was basically at its peak. He would wander around the mountain all day today and see how many prey he could catch!
Over the next two hours, Yue Feng walked east along the ridge of the second mountain slope, covering another mountaintop on foot.
The harvest was very good, catching another six Flying Dragons, plus two Sand Grouse.
As of eleven o'clock in the morning, Yue Feng's backpack already contained thirteen pieces of prey.
And the Hunting Eagle in his hand was still full of fighting spirit, showing no signs of fatigue!
Walking in the mountains was very physically demanding. The porridge and Steamed Wotou he ate in the morning were digested within a few hours. Yue Feng was hungry and his legs were a bit tired, so he found a shady spot to rest for a while. He ate two Steamed Wotou he brought from home, washed down with the water and pickled vegetables he carried in his military canteen.
People needed to eat and rest, and so did the Hunting Eagle. Yue Feng spread out his hand and let the Hunting Eagle stand on his thumb joint, gave it water again, and provided two mouthfuls of meat. One person and one Hunting Eagle rested temporarily on the mountain like this.
After about half an hour, the Hunting Eagle defecated, and Yue Feng was also well-rested. He picked up the Hunting Eagle again, put on his bag, and continued forward!
This walk lasted for another two and a half hours.
Around noon, both Sand Grouse and Flying Dragons were hiding in the shade of trees or bushes to rest, so Yue Feng's hunting success was much lower, catching only three Flying Dragons, plus two quite plump Sand Grouse.
The prey in his backpack had increased to eighteen. He hadn't brought enough socks, so Yue Feng gritted his teeth and stuffed two Sand Grouse into one sock. It was a good thing the socks were elastic, otherwise, they wouldn't have fit.
Time had unknowingly reached three o'clock in the afternoon. It would take at least forty minutes to walk back to the village from this mountain ridge, so Yue Feng decided to end today's hunt here and go home to rest!
Having made up his mind, Yue Feng gave the Hunting Eagle some more water. The remaining half of the Sand Grouse from yesterday had been pecked mostly clean by the Hunting Eagle. Yue Feng was not in a hurry to feed the Hunting Eagle on the mountain and decided to wait until he got home.
Just like that, Yue Feng carried the Hunting Eagle and walked down along the mountain ridge, heading towards home.
When he was still dozens of meters away from the winding path down the mountain, Yue Feng suddenly spotted a small flock of Sand Grouse again.
Next to a fallen tree, many secondary branches had sprouted. Several Sand Grouse were taking a dust bath under the branches.
Yue Feng would certainly not miss such an opportunity presented to him. From about twenty meters away from the base of the tree, Yue Feng directly sent the Hunting Eagle out.
The next second, he saw the Da Qing Yao fly straight towards the prey.
Just when Yue Feng thought it was a sure thing on a small scale, suddenly there was a fluttering sound from nearby, like a helicopter taking off.
Cluck! Cluck cluck!!
A male wild chicken weighing at least three catty suddenly emerged from the bushes not far away and flew directly towards the opposite mountain hollow.
The Da Qing Yao was at most three meters away from its original target. After discovering the large wild chicken taking flight, the silly Hunting Eagle, for reasons unknown, gave up the readily available Sand Grouse, made a turn in mid-flight, and chased after the large male chicken.
Seeing this scene, Yue Feng's heart sank.
Damn it, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) hunting a wild chicken, this business is beyond its scope!
For normal falconry, to catch an adult male wild chicken weighing two to three catty , it was only stable to use a Chicken Hawk (male Northern Goshawk, weighing about 1.2 to 1.5 catty) or a Rabbit Hawk (weighing about 2.1 to 2.5 catty).
A large male chicken had plenty of stamina. Even carrying a seven liang heavy Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) on its back, flying hundreds of meters was not difficult at all. If the Hunting Eagle chased the male chicken without conserving energy, it was easy to catch up, but very difficult to subdue.
This Da Qing Yao is a bit foolish!
Although a large male chicken was also a chicken and under the Hunting Eagle's domain, the huge weight difference was evident. It was by no means easy to catch an adult large wild chicken with a seven liang body.
A newly trained Hunting Eagle couldn't be ruined like this.
Thinking of this, Yue Feng didn't care about anything else and ran wildly in the direction the Hunting Eagle had flown.
Fortunately, the Da Qing Yao attacked by surprise and only scared the wild chicken up when it was almost there, so the actual pursuit distance was not long.
The male wild chicken flew less than fifteen meters before the Da Qing Yao used a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) flip and latched onto it.
It latched on, but the size difference was too great. The Da Qing Yao couldn't control the male wild chicken at all. One Hunting Eagle and one chicken fell from the air to the ground and thrashed wildly in the grass.
By the time Yue Feng arrived, breathing heavily, he was completely stunned by the scene before him.
The Da Qing Yao used a double-claw tiger-holding-head posture, gripping the wild chicken's head tightly, with all its weight pressing down on the male wild chicken's head. Its wings and tail were fully spread out, barely maintaining body balance.
The large male chicken certainly wouldn't sit still and wait for death. It kept shaking its head and jumping, trying to break free from the control.
When Yue Feng got within one meter, the male wild chicken seemed startled and paused for half a second. Taking advantage of this brief moment, the Da Qing Yao lowered its head and pecked the wild chicken's left eye.
One peck directly blinded the left eye, and blood immediately flowed out. The large wild chicken struggled even harder!
Yue Feng quickly intervened to control the wild chicken. After pinning it down, he looked up and down at the Da Qing Yao frantically pecking at the chicken's head!
Hunting large prey easily injured the Hunting Eagle. Not to mention major external injuries, even breaking a large feather would pain Yue Feng for a long time.
This fellow is too fierce! Not only did it use the double-claw tiger-holding-head to catch an adult male wild chicken, but it also knew to seize the opportunity to peck the eyes. Yue Feng had lived two lives, and in his previous life, he had raised Hunting Eagles for at least ten years, but he had never heard of anyone having such a fierce Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female)!
A single Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) hunting a wild chicken - he had found a treasure!
After a simple check, the Da Qing Yao was completely intact and unharmed. Only then did Yue Feng slowly relax.
He had originally planned to go down the mountain and go home, but unexpectedly caught another male wild chicken. This trip out was definitely a complete success.
Although the male wild chicken was large, its meat was not as tasty as Sand Grouse or Flying Dragon. As the first wild chicken caught by the Da Qing Yao, Yue Feng didn't plan to substitute meat and take the wild chicken back alive.
A young Hunting Eagle daring to take on a big task like this was a rare find. Since it successfully took it down, the Hawk Keeper wanted to further increase the Hunting Eagle's confidence through encouragement and had to let the Hunting Eagle eat its fill.
Thinking of this, Yue Feng took out his small hunting knife from his bag and directly made a cut at the male wild chicken's neck artery.