Chapter 63: Falconry
The prey from the four eagles, after deducting the feed for the eagles at home, basically sold for one hundred to one hundred eighty yuan in cash every day.
As the lead falconer, Yue Feng took a large portion of the money from the sales. During this time, he had saved over three hundred yuan in cash. If he hadn't been busy staking out that Great Black Eagle on the mountain, Yue Feng would have already arranged to buy back the No. 16 shotgun from the neighboring village.
After the guys exchanged simple greetings, Xiao Tao skillfully tallied everyone's harvest for the day, then carefully loaded it into the wicker basket on the back of his bicycle and rode off to deliver the goods.
When Xiao Tao returned with the money from selling the wild game, he settled the accounts with Meng Yulan. Then, everyone at home lifted the pot lid to eat. After eating their fill, the day's earnings were distributed, and everyone went home to rest.
Generally, the team members would go home before 8:30. It was around the same time today. After everyone left, Yue Feng went to the heated brick bed in his west room early to catch up on sleep and rest.
At one o'clock in the middle of the night, Yue Feng was woken up by his Dad. Yue Feng got up, washed his face with cold water, and then took the Great Eagle perched on Yue Lei's arm.
For the past week, Yue Lei had basically put the eagle down to sleep before midnight. Today, his son said he wanted to stay up all night doing Falconry, so Yue Lei went to bed an hour later.
At this moment, the Tie Bei Hong on his hand also felt a bit sleepy. Normally at this time, it should have been sleeping.
Yue Feng held the Great Eagle, initially getting used to the feel. Then, he began to stroke the patterned feathers on the eagle's chest with one hand while trying to touch the eagle's head.
A Great Eagle with strong wildness is very resistant to being touched on the head and chest feathers. After all, in its perception, these are vital areas.
As soon as Yue Feng touched it, the eagle would perk up for a while. When it calmed down a bit, Yue Feng would touch it again. After several repetitions, Yue Feng's 'harassment' expanded from the eagle's head and chest feathers to other parts like its talons, tail, and back.
No matter where he touched, the main purpose was the same: to prevent the eagle from sleeping and to gradually accustom the eagle to human touch, reducing its wariness towards people.
The depiction of Falconry in many films and TV shows is the eagle and the person staring at each other, competing in willpower, as if the eagle will surrender if the person ultimately wins.
This statement is actually incorrect. There are many detailed techniques involved. For example, Yue Feng's set of 'wandering hands' touching the eagle all over is one of the true meanings of Falconry.
The process of Falconry is a process of programmed desensitization for the eagle, allowing it to gradually let go of its guard against people, knowing that humans will not harm it. Coupled with weight reduction and clearing the digestive tract, these two methods combined will slowly adjust the eagle into a hunting state where it is not afraid of people and is still hungry.
Theoretically, the most ideal state for a newly trained Hunting Eagle is to be completely unafraid of people, hungry, and still have enough physical reserves to confront Rabbits and pheasants in the wild.
Yue Feng held the eagle, changing his sitting or standing posture in the room every so often. Unconsciously, two hours passed.
After 3:00 AM, the eagle's sleepiness clearly set in. It no longer reacted to regular touching, preening, or even touching its talons. Its eyelids closed, and the downy feathers on its head and face completely relaxed.
Seeing that the eagle was completely relaxed (literally 'opened its face'), Yue Feng switched to the next technique.
Rotate the wrist!
With a gentle twist of the wrist covered by the falconer's glove, the eagle on his hand lost balance and flapped its wings, struggling a few times. This commotion immediately made the eagle much more alert.
Every so often, Yue Feng would twist his wrist, constantly preventing the eagle from resting. During this time, he combined it with various touching techniques, doing his best to wear down the eagle's physical strength and spirit.
Throughout the entire night, Yue Feng didn't blink. It wasn't until the sky outside began to lighten and the village roosters crowed that Yue Feng finally let out a sigh of relief.
The first big night was finally over.
Yue Feng, holding the eagle, walked from the room into the courtyard. He first went to the outhouse in the southwest corner to urinate, and then slowly paced around the courtyard with the eagle.
As soon as it was light, the eagle became alert. Yue Feng didn't close his eyes last night, and it didn't get any rest either. However, biological rhythms were at play; with the arrival of daylight, similar to how people feel less hungry after being overly hungry, the eagle also became energetic again.
At this time, various chirping sounds from Sparrows, small birds, etc., gradually began to ring out in the courtyard and on the street outside. The eyes of this Tie Bei Hong also became lively.
This lively-eyed state was different from the way a trained Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) looks around when going out to work. To sum it up in one sentence, it was a contradictory emotion of being somewhat hungry, instinctively wanting to find food, but feeling unsafe because it was being controlled by a person.
Seeing this scene, Yue Feng knew that the effect of staying up all night was beginning to show.
Yue Feng decisively took the Great Eagle back into the room. Then, he dipped a clean white cotton cloth in water and began dripping it onto the eagle's beak.
The eagle hadn't slept all night and was already quite thirsty. Seeing water dripping onto its beak, it smacked its beak a few times. After trying it and confirming it was safe, it quickly began to drink large gulps.
Yue Feng knew that this cold water was the best thing to reduce the eagle's wildness. As long as the eagle kept drinking, he would keep giving it water until it turned its head away and stopped drinking.
After satisfyingly feeding it water, Yue Feng once again took the eagle into the courtyard.
He sat for a while, then got up and strolled around. When he got tired of strolling, he would go back to the long bench and sit for a while longer.
In less than an hour, the eagle that had drunk water arched its tail, and with a 'plop', it produced a watery dropping.
What is a watery dropping? A normal eagle's dropping is white and black, forming a straight line, with the white part closer and the black part scattered furthest away.
However, this Great Eagle hadn't eaten for eight days since being captured. Its stomach was already empty of food, so what it dropped was basically watery, clear-like feces. This is a watery dropping.
After it produced the watery dropping, Yue Feng knew that the opportunity to introduce food to the eagle had arrived.
Holding the eagle, he turned and went back into the room, taking down a small bowl that had been prepared long ago from the stove counter.
In the small bowl were a few pieces of Sand Grouse breast meat. At the bottom of the bowl, there was a little dark red blood that had seeped out from the lean meat.
Yue Feng used one hand to take a little water from the jar and poured it into the bowl, then carried the bowl out of the room.
After adding water, the dark red blood in the bowl was diluted, becoming a faint light pink. Yue Feng used his right hand to restrain the eagle's talons, then picked up a piece of red meat with his left hand and rubbed it against the eagle's beak.
The eagle didn't eat, it just habitually smacked its beak, tasting the bloody water that had gotten onto the meat.
Plain water had no taste when swallowed, but this bloody water was different. The faint smell of blood it contained directly amplified the eagle's sense of hunger.
Yue Feng held the meat in his left hand and continued to entice the eagle near its beak. This time, not only did he dip it in bloody water, but he also deliberately hooked it onto the tip of the eagle's beak.
The eagle's beak was equally sharp. With Yue Feng's deliberate enticement, a strand of meat stuck to the Great Eagle's beak along with the bloody water.
When the Great Eagle smacked its beak and drank the water, this strand of meat was swallowed.
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