Chapter 9: Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips
The Da Qing Yao's thick, large ring-claw nails effortlessly pierced into the Eurasian Turtle Dove's back muscles. With just one grip, the Eurasian Turtle Dove spat out blood.
It seems this Da Qing Yao has experience catching Eurasian Turtle Doves in the wild. It wasn't this fierce with the Sand Grouse it caught yesterday. Eurasian Turtle Doves have loose feathers; when pursued by a raptor, they can easily shed feathers to escape. So, in the Da Qing Yao's eyes, it specifically increased the intensity, gripping firmly in one go, causing direct severe injury.
Yue Feng reeled in the safety line, then squatted there, letting the young Hunting Eagle pluck the Eurasian Turtle Dove's feathers.
Once the neck feathers were mostly done, the young Hunting Eagle tore off a few bites of bloody skin and flesh to eat. Yue Feng then repeated the trick, using his glove to cover the Eurasian Turtle Dove.
When the Hunting Eagle loosened its claws, Yue Feng held up the Hunting Eagle. Then, with his left hand, he stuffed the hidden Eurasian Turtle Dove into the side pouch on his left hip.
After becoming an adult Hunting Eagle a few times, the Hunting Eagle's hunting drive was completely aroused. Yue Feng felt the time was right, so he decided to push the Hunting Eagle a bit. That's why the Eurasian Turtle Dove he just caught was hidden away after only a few bites.
The Hunting Eagle's crop didn't have much food. It could hunt again after resting for a few minutes. As long as Yue Feng controlled the Hunting Eagle's physical reserves and didn't exhaust it, there would be no problem.
Whether it's Falconry or dog training, assuming a certain innate talent, more hunting skills are improved through actual combat. What the Falconry practitioner does is simply create or provide better actual combat opportunities while fully understanding the state of their hunting partner.
Just like that, Yue Feng walked with the Hunting Eagle for a few more minutes, took out his water bottle from his pocket to give the Hunting Eagle a sip of water, then held it low and continued to search for prey.
Unconsciously, Yue Feng arrived at the River's small woods area.
When Yue Feng was catching the Hunting Eagle before, he noticed many traces of Sand Grouse activity here. If he wasn't mistaken, there should be a flock of Sand Grouse active on the side of the River near the bushes.
Yue Feng held the Hunting Eagle low and cautiously walked around the bank. The Hunting Eagle in his hand began searching around again.
Suddenly, the young Hunting Eagle twisted its neck, its eyes fixed on the bushes dozens of meters away, motionless.
Yue Feng knew there was a chance and immediately walked towards the direction of the bushes.
The Hunting Eagle's drive was very strong now, but Yue Feng didn't train calling far to expedite the hunt. This meant that during the process of releasing the Hunting Eagle, he temporarily had to use the safety line as a precaution. Otherwise, if the Hunting Eagle failed to catch prey or was startled and flew up a tree and couldn't be called back, that would be a big problem.
Using the line as a safety rope has the advantage of not easily losing the Hunting Eagle, but it also has disadvantages.
If the distance is too far and the terrain is too complex, the safety rope can easily get caught on branches or other debris. So, the best way to increase the success rate is to get close enough.
If every prey were as bold as the spotted one just now, the success rate of this outing would be quite astonishing.
Of course, this is an exception and not the mainstream in Falconry. In most cases, the hunter still needs to hold the Hunting Eagle low and approach slowly, minimizing the impact of the surrounding environment catching the line on the hunt.
Yue Feng tiptoed to within ten meters before decisively holding the Hunting Eagle low and releasing it.
The Da Qing Yao, who could no longer restrain itself, flew directly after being released, skimming just above the height of the bush tops. When it reached the edge of the bushes, it suddenly changed direction and plunged down.
Rustle!
A flock of Sand Grouse suddenly took flight from under the bushes. Almost simultaneously, from under the bushes, came the screams of Sand Grouse caught by the Hunting Eagle.
This time, the Da Qing Yao caught a very fat male Sand Grouse. One Hunting Eagle claw held the chicken's head, and the other claw stepped on the root of the Sand Grouse's wing. Two creatures of nearly equal weight, yet at this moment, they showed an overwhelming disparity in combat. The wonder of the Creator was evident.
Seeing that he had caught it, Yue Feng decisively took out the Eurasian Turtle Dove that had been partially eaten earlier from his backpack. He covered the Hunting Eagle's claws with his glove, then placed the Eurasian Turtle Dove in front of the Hunting Eagle. Seeing the Eurasian Turtle Dove's red meat, the young Hunting Eagle immediately released its claws, stepped on the Eurasian Turtle Dove, and began to eat again.
Yue Feng took the chicken off, took out a sock from his backpack, and just like he had tied the Hunting Eagle before, he directly tied up the Sand Grouse and stuffed it into his backpack.
After the Hunting Eagle caught the prey, Yue Feng let it eat a few bites of meat steadily. Then, he covered the prey again with his glove and took the Eurasian Turtle Dove from under the Hunting Eagle's claws.
He held up the Hunting Eagle and gave it another sip of water to replenish itself. After about three to five minutes, when the young Hunting Eagle started preening, it meant its strength had recovered. He held the Hunting Eagle low again and continued walking forward.
Sand Grouse don't fly very far; they generally stay in familiar areas. The flock just now looked like about ten birds. After one was caught, the others flew into the bushes on the opposite side of the small River to hide.
Yue Feng didn't know how many of these things he had caught in his previous life while Falconry, so he was very familiar with their habits. After the Hunting Eagle rested, he continued to wander with it held low, circling outside for a bit, and then slowly approached the area where the flock of chickens was active.
Two successful hunts in a row that morning greatly boosted this Saker Falcon's hunting confidence. At this moment, a little Eurasian Turtle Dove meat in its crop, although not full, had replenished its energy to some extent.
The Saker Falcon, full of drive, quickly returned to its state of looking around wildly and frantically searching for prey.
From a distance of dozens of meters, the young Hunting Eagle quickly locked onto the location of the Sand Grouse flock again. Yue Feng repeated his trick, cautiously approached, and then held the Hunting Eagle low and released it again.
With the recent surprise attack, the Sand Grouse flock seemed a little more alert this time. As the Da Qing Yao made its move, the Sand Grouse also flew out from the bushes.
The next second, a scene that thrilled Yue Feng immensely occurred.
He saw the Da Qing Yao charge directly towards where the flock of chickens rose, doing a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips, its strong, powerful Hunting Eagle claws grabbing a Sand Grouse mid-air!
"Holy crap!"
There's an idiom 'Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips', but most ordinary people have never seen a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) up close, let alone witnessed a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) doing such a high-difficulty hunting move as flipping and grabbing mid-air during a hunt.
Let's put it this way, even within the Eurasian Sparrowhawk species, not many individuals of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) (female Eurasian Sparrowhawk) can perform the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips move during a hunt. It's more often the male Eurasian Sparrowhawk (thin-chested) that are masters of this, flying gracefully and catching skillfully.
Having witnessed the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips with his own eyes, Yue Feng excitedly reeled in the line and chased after it.
By the time he arrived, the Sand Grouse had been pinned down by the Da Qing Yao again. It was the same old posture, one claw on the head, the other pinching the root of the wing.
Having caught three prey in a row, Yue Feng had reached his predetermined goal for this outing. Yue Feng took out the old actor, the dead Eurasian Turtle Dove, and skillfully swapped out the second Sand Grouse.
According to the original plan, now was the time to let the Hunting Eagle eat its fill, go home to digest, and continue the process of holding it up and getting it used to people's faces.
However, after having just witnessed the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) Flips with his own eyes, Yue Feng suddenly conceived the idea of changing his original Falconry plan.