Chapter 56: The Business of Training Great Eagles
The news of the Zhu family and Yue Family fighting, and Old Man Zhu getting a slap in the face from Second Young Master Yue, quickly spread throughout the village.
Originally, the Yue Family's purchase of a bicycle was the top news in the village. Now that the Yue Family had fought with the old Zhu family and won a great victory, the Yue Family's status in the hearts of the villagers was even higher.
Even the Zhu family, the village bully, was dealt with. This Second Young Master Yue is capable.
In the following few days, Yue Feng, as usual, went up the mountain with everyone in the morning to hunt and returned in the afternoon to ride his bike to the city to deliver wild game.
He went to the city every day, brought back the money from the sales, and distributed it to the brothers who went with him. Every few nights, they would prepare a few dishes and have a drink on the heated brick bed, living a pleasant and comfortable life.
On the other hand, Zhu Erhai was having a difficult time. His father's beating with a belt kept Zhu Erhai in bed for three days.
Zhu Jianshe wasn't idle these past few days either. His son was laid up, but the work of training the Great Eagle couldn't be put down, so he and his wife stopped going up the mountain to collect mountain goods and took turns staying up all night with the eagle.
From the time this Great Eagle was netted two days ago until now, about a week has passed. For five or six consecutive days, the eagle has barely closed its eyes while on a person, but it still shows no sign of yielding at this moment.
Old falconers know that one year is 'Yellow' and three years is 'Dragon'. This refers to the age of the Hunting Eagle.
Three-year-old 'Dragon' doesn't just mean the eagle is skilled; it also means this old fellow isn't easy to handle. A fledgling subadult 'Yellow' eagle has a smaller temper and less wildness, making it relatively easier to tame.
An eagle that has lived in the wild for three years has grown from a subadult to a mature bird. Besides being rebellious and untamed, its energy is astonishingly high.
If Yue Feng were to handle this eagle now, in addition to keeping it on the perch and staying up all night, he would definitely combine it with continuous swinging and controlling food intake to reduce the eagle's physical reserves.
But Zhu Jianshe doesn't understand these methods. To feed this eagle, Zhu Kaishan went everywhere to set mouse traps in the soybean fields to catch field mice. Although this eagle was exhausted from being kept awake, after it started eating from a person's hand, it was able to eat its fill every meal.
The eagle's stomach always had food, its weight didn't decrease, and it was even slightly heavier than when it was first netted. In this situation, expecting the eagle to yield is absolutely not something that can be achieved with just a few nights of staying up with it.
Judging from an objective outsider's perspective, to wear down the eagle's spirit, it would take at least ten more nights.
Of course, even if the eagle's spirit is mostly worn down, there is still a long way to go before it can be used for hunting. These things were already predetermined when this eagle was chosen.
In a flash, a week passed.
That evening, Yue Feng rode his bicycle to Second Canteen to deliver goods. After counting the quantities and settling the payment, he was pulled aside into the lounge by Niu Fusheng.
"Big Brother Niu, is something wrong?" Yue Feng glanced at Niu Fusheng, not knowing what was up.
"Xiao Yue, can you do me a favor!"
"Ah? Please say it, if I can do it, I definitely will!"
"Things have been a bit restless here at our canteen recently, I feel a bit of pressure!" Niu Fusheng said vaguely.
"Hmm? What do you mean? Just say it directly, with our relationship, there's no need to beat around the bush!"
"Old Fu over at First Canteen, somehow, also got a lot of wild game! Now the status of our Second Canteen is a bit unstable!
These leaders eat Flying Dragon and Sand Grouse every day, and they seem to be a bit tired of it! Can you help me think of a way to get some other wild game to add more variety!" Niu Fusheng said somewhat awkwardly.
Niu Fusheng knew that Yue Feng was just someone who used small eagles for hunting. Now asking Yue Feng for help to catch other wild game was somewhat asking for the impossible.
Hearing this, Yue Feng wasn't too surprised. No matter how good something is, if you eat it every day, there comes a time when you get tired of it.
"What kind of variety do they have?"
"They have pheasants, Rabbit, and occasionally Roe Deer and wild boar meat! They also have Flying Dragon and Sand Grouse, but very few are alive, most are dead!" Niu Fusheng counted on his fingers, listing them off as if they were treasured possessions.
"They're all spicy, right?" Yue Feng's mouth curled up slightly after hearing this, and he guessed with a smile.
"How did you know?"
"What's so hard to guess? Without heavy seasoning, it's hard to mask the earthy smell of unbled game!" Yue Feng explained.
"That's true! Can you get these things? If so, consider it a favor for your brother, the purchase price is negotiable!"
Yue Feng nodded and casually asked, "Okay! I'll look into it! Besides the Sand Grouse and Flying Dragon from before, the future demand will mainly be for pheasants and Rabbit, right?"
"Yes! Mainly pheasants and Rabbit, I can occasionally buy Roe Deer and wild boar meat at the Ghost Market. Pheasants and Rabbit are best if they are fresh and alive. I want them to know what real skill is!" Niu Fusheng said very confidently.
"Alright, I'll try to find a way as soon as possible. If everything goes smoothly, it will take about ten days to half a month!"
"That long?"
Yue Feng nodded and explained, "Yes, dead ones are easy to get, but live ones are hard to catch!
To reliably catch pheasants and Rabbit, the eagles at home can't do this job. I need to go up the mountain to catch Great Eagle. From netting a new eagle to it being ready for hunting, it takes at least seven to ten days!"
"Okay, I'll endure for a few more days! I'll wait for your good news!"
"Then I'll head back first!"
...
Leaving Second Canteen, Yue Feng got on his bicycle and headed home.
Along the way, Yue Feng thought about many issues. The current business model of using eagles to catch pheasants and sell them is a bit too single .
Relying solely on the few Eurasian Sparrowhawks (Female) at home to catch Flying Dragon and make money isn't impossible, but it's limited by the Hunting Eagle's abilities, and the variety of prey is slightly too small.
No matter how fierce the Northern Goshawk at home is, the largest prey it can catch is about the size of a pheasant at most, and each time it hunts a pheasant, it's an adventure that could be described as staking the entire hunting season's prospects. A slight mistake could risk losing the eagle or even injuring it.
To expand his Falconry career, he needs to continue to expand the categories.
He had originally planned to save enough money to buy guns and dogs directly and transition to large-scale hunting, but now it seems this idea is somewhat idealistic. To maintain the business line of supplying wild game to the coal mine canteen, which is a cash cow, he cannot avoid the hurdle of training Great Eagle.
The Great Eagle mentioned here refers to the female of the Northern Goshawk. According to the statement passed down by old falconers, the female Northern Goshawk is called Great Eagle, also called Rabbit Eagle, and mainly catches prey as large as Rabbit, pheasants, and Leopard Cat.
The male Northern Goshawk is called Chicken Eagle, and mainly catches prey ranging from Sand Grouse to Flying Dragon to pheasants. A regular Chicken Eagle basically does the job of a top-notch Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female), the difference being its larger size, which prevents it from being at a disadvantage when catching pheasants, unlike the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) whose job is beyond its scope and carries such high risk when catching pheasants.
Seeing this, some people might ask, since Yue Feng is skilled at Falconry, and there is market demand, why does he seem hesitant and reluctant to get involved?
Yue Feng indeed doesn't really want to train Great Eagle; it's simply too much trouble.