Chapter 62: No Fate?
In his understanding, the raptor of that size just now looked about the same size as a Great Eagle that catches Rabbits, it shouldn't have such large claws.
To verify his guess, Yue Feng took out the high-quality Iron-backed Red Eagle from his backpack and compared its claws to the wound on the Pigeon's back, using the Tie Bei Hong's claw as a reference.
With this comparison, Yue Feng's judgment was verified.
This Iron-backed Red Great Hawk, weighing at least two jin and four liang, had such sturdy and developed claws, yet they were still half a size smaller than that strange black Eagle.
In an instant, Yue Feng, this fickle guy who likes the new and dislikes the old, felt that his registered high-quality Iron-backed Red Eagle was no longer appealing.
First, let's talk about the feather color. Yue Feng was certain that pure black Eagles should not exist on Changbai Mountain.
Among naturally occurring raptors, the one closest in size to the Eagle just now is the Northern Goshawk, but its back feathers are black-gray, and its belly is gray-white.
As for that strange Eagle just now, the first impression was like an extra-large Crow, its whole body was shiny black, without a single different colored feather.
Being able to take off vertically within a four-sided self-falling net 1.5 meters long and 1.3 meters high without touching the net indicates that this Great Black Eagle's physical hardware quality is incredibly terrifying.
The way the Eagle climbed to high altitude after taking off also verified this point. In the blink of an eye, it flew dozens of meters high, seemingly effortlessly.
Furthermore, it had just eaten a whole Pigeon in the morning, and then came back to eat Pigeons in the evening after only one day. This Great Black Eagle's appetite is also a bit exaggerated. A regular Great Eagle would waste quite a bit if fed one Pigeon a day, but this strange black Eagle eats two Pigeons a day, more than twice the appetite of a regular Rabbit Eagle.
Not only that, what Yue Feng liked even more was that this Great Black Eagle's intelligence and eyesight also far surpassed its peers.
The self-falling net Yue Feng used to catch Eagles had a mesh size of five fingers wide. A net with such a large opening would not be noticed by ordinary sub-adult Eagles at all, nor would they associate it with danger. Only a very small number of old fellows who have suffered losses and luckily escaped the net have this kind of survival experience.
The Northern Goshawk, this kind of raptor, doesn't have such high intelligence. Otherwise, after being trained well and left alone for a few days, it wouldn't become wild again and not recognize people after a while.
In contrast, this Great Black Eagle consecutively harmed three of Yue Feng's Pigeons. The first time, it brushed off the net panel and wasn't caught, and the Pigeon was eaten. The second and third times, it perfectly avoided the net panels and left the self-falling net like pulling up green onions from dry ground.
No, no, no! If I can get my hands on this Great Black Eagle and train it, wouldn't I be going to heaven and standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun?
Not long ago, Yue Feng was still thinking that after going down the mountain, he would officially start training the Great Iron-backed Red and increase the intensity starting tomorrow. Now, Yue Feng decisively changed his plan.
Tomorrow, I'll continue going up the mountain. As long as that Great Black Eagle dares to come, even if I have to sacrifice another ten or eight Pigeons, I will get my hands on you.
Filled with anticipation, Yue Feng packed up the self-falling net and went down the mountain.
After returning home, while putting the leg jesses on the Iron-backed Red Great Hawk with his father, he mentioned the strange black Eagle he encountered on the mountain. Yue Lei also clicked his tongue in wonder and supported his son going up the mountain for a few more days.
The one 'chicken Eagle' and one 'rabbit Eagle' brought back home, the 'rabbit Eagle' was handed over to Yue Lei to be responsible for the initial exercising and reducing fat, while the 'chicken Eagle' was tied up and kept in the storeroom for now, waiting for them to finish being busy before making a decision.
Over the next week, Yue Feng still went up the mountain on time every day. Gradually, he caught a Purple Eagle with a pointed tail weighing 2.3 jin when netted, and a Little Great Eagle weighing 1.9 jin when netted (Little Great Eagles are female Northern Goshawks that are slightly smaller than average. This type of Eagle can also catch Rabbits. Because they are slightly smaller, their flight speed is faster, but their physical endurance is slightly worse, and they can easily suffer disadvantages when facing large prey).
Three more Eagles were added to the household, but the Great Black Eagle that Yue Feng had been thinking about never showed up again.
Many times, the most feared thing when doing something is not the lack of results, but putting in a lot of effort and not seeing any hope at all.
Since Yue Feng witnessed this Great Black Eagle up close, even after rearranging the self-falling net and placing the Pigeons back in the same spot, this Great Black Eagle never came back to harm the bait.
A week later, Yue Feng completely gave up the idea of continuing to stay on the mountain to get his hands on this Eagle. On the last day, when he packed up the net and prepared to go down the mountain, Yue Feng let out a long howl towards the sky.
Damn it, I'm not reconciled!
No matter how unreconciled I am, I can't endlessly waste time here gambling on that slim chance. Yesterday, Xiao Tao went to deliver goods, and Master Niu urged him once and sent a message to Yue Feng. According to the date Yue Feng promised Master Niu, staying on the mountain any longer would mean running out of time.
After packing his things, Yue Feng returned to the village.
His father, Yue Lei, was training the Eagle under the big tree outside the house entrance. From far away, he could hear the crisp ringing sound of the Eagle bell on the Great Eagle's tail.
A circle of village children watching the old Eagle gathered around, which actually provided a natural advantage for the Great Eagle to get used to faces, saving the trouble of having to take the Eagle to the market.
“Dad! I'm back!” From dozens of meters away, Yue Feng greeted him from afar.
“How was it today? Any sign?” Yue Lei was also quite concerned about the Black Eagle his son mentioned. The first routine thing he did every day after coming home was to ask about it.
Yue Feng shook his head: “I didn't see a shadow of it. Forget it, maybe we have no fate! I've brought back the net and the bait. I won't be going up the mountain tomorrow!”
Yue Lei nodded and comforted him: “It's fine if you don't go! This Iron-backed Red is enough for catching Rabbits and pheasants!”
“How much does the Eagle weigh today?”
Yue Lei brushed the Eagle's tail with his left hand and replied: “I weighed it with a water strip this morning, it's still a little over two jin and two liang!
This Eagle is really tough! Besides sipping a little water every day, it still hasn't started eating. It hasn't eaten for a week and has only lost two and a half liang!”
Yue Feng examined the Eagle from all sides. Now this Iron-backed Red was standing very steadily on the sleeve of Yue Lei's right arm, unlike the first few days when he got it, it kept drooping its wings and opening its mouth, scared to death.
Yue Feng observed that the downy feathers around the Tie Bei Hong's eyes showed signs of loosening. Its watery white pupils were no longer in the state of extreme panic like when it was just netted. This indicated that his father's daytime exercising over the past week had achieved initial results, and the wildness of the newly netted Eagle had also been worn down to a certain extent.
Yue Feng judged that it shouldn't be long before it starts eating on a human's hand.
Yue Feng said: “Not eating is because we haven't trained it in the latter half of the night! Tonight, the two of us, you take the first half of the night, and I'll take the second half, we'll train it all night. It should start eating almost tomorrow!”
“Alright! Let's train it for one night first!”
...
The father and son chatted for a while longer at the entrance. The Li Family and the Zhang Family brothers, Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu, also returned one after another.
During the nine days Yue Feng was on the mountain, the four people who went up every day had increasingly stable harvests. On average, each person with one Eagle could catch around 25-30 chicks. When it was time to use that Northern Goshawk, the harvest from the outing was significantly more, consistently over thirty.
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