Chapter 4: Riding Cage Net, Catching Young Hawks by the River
"Okay, as long as there's chicken to eat, I'll do whatever Second Brother tells me to do!" The youngest readily agreed.
Mom looked at the siblings' good relationship, no longer scolding the youngest, and said helplessly, "Ah, you just spoil her! It's still early before it snows, it's just early autumn now, the leaves haven't all fallen yet, where are you going to catch Sand Grouse for her!"
Yue Feng grinned, "Heh heh, I have my own clever plan!!"
...
Soon after finishing dinner, the sky had completely darkened.
Yue Feng took the only electrical appliance in the house, a flashlight, from the chest of drawers, and led his sister into the yard.
"Second Brother, what do you need me to help you with?" The youngest tilted her head and asked curiously.
Yue Feng pointed at the eaves of the storage shed made of straw stalks and said, "There are Sparrows nesting here, I can't get my hand in, help me reach in and catch them out, I have a use for them!"
"Sparrow? Cooked Sparrow is really tasty!" The little foodie Jingjing heard there were Sparrows under the straw eaves, completely ignoring what Yue Feng said after that, her mind full of eating cooked Sparrow.
Yue Feng shook his head, "No, I have a big use for these Sparrows! It directly relates to whether we can eat Sand Grouse in a couple of days, Jingjing be good, listen!"
"Okay!" In the little girl's mind, Sand Grouse was definitely tastier than Sparrow, and had more meat, so Jingjing reluctantly agreed, suppressing her cravings.
After the simple communication, Yue Feng held the flashlight in one hand and carried Jingjing in the other, approaching the eaves.
When it was getting dark in the evening, Yue Feng had already observed earlier, there were Sparrows nesting overnight under the straw eaves of the storage shed. If he wanted to catch a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) tomorrow morning, these Sparrows were essential as bait.
Yue Feng simply scanned the eaves with the flashlight, then chose a small straw hole about the size of an egg and whispered to his sister, "There should be one to two birds in here! Don't be scared or make a sound after you get them out, there should be more under other eaves, don't scare them away!!"
"Okay! I've done it before, I'm not scared!" Jingjing replied.
The next second, Yue Feng held the flashlight in his mouth, shining it into the straw hole, then lifted his sister with both hands, steadily approaching the eaves.
Yue Feng guessed correctly, Jingjing's small hand could just reach into the straw hole. She reached in and grabbed, pulling out two fluffy Sparrows.
"Second Brother, I got them, two!!" Jingjing was excited, but still remembered Yue Feng's instructions from earlier, keeping her voice low. She held the two Sparrows tightly in her small hands, not daring to let go at all.
"Don't be nervous, put them in the cage!" Yue Feng put the youngest back on the ground, then opened the small rolling cage at his feet.
The two Sparrows were put into the cage, and as soon as they entered, they began to struggle wildly.
"Good job, there should be two more by the window! Continue!"
"Okay okay!"
Soon, Yue Feng used the same trick again. After showing his sister the location, the youngest reached her chubby little hand into the eaves again.
This time there was a small accident. Jingjing only managed to hold onto one, the other struggled a few times and broke free from Jingjing's hand, leaving only a handful of tail feathers.
"One flew away! And it pooped in my hand!" Jingjing stuffed the one in her palm into the cage and grumbled a little unhappily.
"Alright, three are enough! Go inside and wash your hands, and go to bed early!" Yue Feng comforted his sister, then checked the rolling cage to make sure it was closed properly, before picking up the cage and going inside.
Early the next morning, just past five o'clock, as soon as the sky was faintly bright, Yue Feng got up from the heated brick bed early.
Mom was making corn porridge by the fire in the outer kitchen. Yue Feng didn't even eat breakfast, stuffed two steamed buns into his pocket, grabbed the cage, the hanging net, and the young hawk equipment set, and left home, heading straight for the small woods by the River outside the village.
There's also a knack to choosing where to set the net for catching young hawks. Small birds of prey like Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) (Eurasian Sparrowhawk) and Japanese Eurasian Sparrowhawk have a relatively long migration period this season. The elders say they wait for the wind, which is air currents, and fly south collectively carried by the air currents.
Spring migration for hawks is reproductive migration, returning from wintering grounds to breeding grounds, and the period is relatively short, at most half a month.
Autumn migration for birds of prey has a longer duration. Different birds of prey are distributed in multiple batches from the start of 'End of Heat' until 'Minor Snow'. In addition, some hawks in low-lying forests choose not to migrate and winter in their breeding grounds.
It's just after 'Cold Dew' now, and there hasn't been a strong north wind in the past few days, so birds of prey will choose to be active in places with abundant food.
Where is food abundant in the wild? Places near forests and water sources.
The place Yue Feng chose to set the riding cage net was such a spot for catching young hawks.
This is a small mixed forest of Manchurian Ash and Yang Trees. The area is very clean, and there are some small bushes in the outer area near the River bank.
Yue Feng walked around this patch of woods by the River and quickly chose a suitable location to set the riding cage net.
The so-called riding cage net is actually very simple. You choose a suitable spot, then hang the net piece on trees on both sides, temporarily fixing it with slip knots. In the area under the net, a long rolling cage is placed perpendicular to the net line, with bait inside the cage.
This way, if there are birds of prey active nearby, they will easily spot the bird in the rolling cage. When the bird of prey attacks the bird in the cage, the bird will run wildly back and forth in the long tube-shaped cage. In the process of chasing, the bird of prey accidentally hits the net, which then pulls open the slip knots.
The net falls under force, trapping the bird of prey inside.
This single-piece riding cage net is very simple and convenient for catching small to medium-sized birds of prey. If conditions permit, you can set up multiple net pieces in different locations to increase the success rate of capture.
Of course, Yue Feng only had one net piece now. After quickly setting it up, he leisurely walked around by the River.
In the woods at the edge of the village in the morning, various bird calls rose and fell. The temperature was around seven or eight degrees Celsius, not too cold, but not too comfortable either. As he walked, his trouser legs picked up some dew, but Yue Feng didn't care. He walked around leisurely, observing everywhere, checking for subtle traces.
Before the snow fell, traces by the River were not easy to identify, but Yue Feng still relied on his eyesight to find traces of Yellow Weasels and Sand Grouse activity.
He silently kept these traces in mind. Once he got and trained the hawk, this area would also be within Yue Feng's hunting range.
Slowly, the sky became completely bright, and the sun rose.
Unconsciously, several hours had passed. Yue Feng circled back to the location of the riding cage net.
From a distance, he saw that the two slip knots on the riding cage net had come undone.
Yue Feng quickly walked over and soon found the young hawk trapped in the net next to the rolling cage.
An autumn-patterned chest (a juvenile female Japanese Eurasian Sparrowhawk).
Female birds of prey are always larger than males, and the Japanese Eurasian Sparrowhawk is no exception.
This young hawk weighed about three liang (approx. 150g). Its eye pupils were narrowed into needle points due to fright. Its entire body had the feather patterns unique to juveniles, which anyone knowledgeable could recognize at a glance.
Yue Feng's target today was a female Eurasian Sparrowhawk, which is a size larger. This autumn-patterned chest that had only been out of the nest for a few months was not his target. Yue Feng gently took the hawk off the net and released it casually.
He rearranged the riding cage net, checked the bait under the net again to confirm there were no issues, then found a large thick tree about thirty to forty meters away from the riding cage net to hide behind, sitting under the tree, basking in the sun and dozing.
In less than half an hour, just as Yue Feng was starting to feel sleepy, he heard a rapid, sharp chirping sound.
He glanced towards the riding cage net and saw that another hawk had hit the net.
From dozens of meters away, Yue Feng noticed that the hawk that hit the net this time was clearly a size larger. Its wings were currently tangled in the net, and it was struggling constantly, but the more it struggled, the tighter it got tangled.
Yue Feng quickly went forward, took just one look, and then busied himself crouching down to handle it.
Caught a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female)!