Reborn in the 1980s: I made my fortune hunting wild game in Changbai Mountain

That evening, after having dinner, Yue Feng and Jin Long did not go to bed early.

To tame an eagle as quickly as possible, shining a light on it before bedtime is an essential step.

Young eagles don't need to stay up all night to frolic, but holding them in your hand while they're covered in frost is very beneficial for increasing the eagle's affinity with humans.

The two brothers, each holding a small eagle, were drinking tea and chatting in the living room.

It wasn't until after 9:30 that the eagles had digested all the food in their crops, and then they washed up and went back to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, before dawn, Yue Feng got out of bed early.

After getting dressed, washing his face and tidying himself up, he flattened the tattered feathers on his chest, grabbed a stool, and set up the hawk in the yard.

To quickly place the magpie on this tattered, swaying chest, the eagle's aura must be on point.

What factors can affect an eagle's morale?

Continuous hunting cultivates strong confidence, while ensuring the eagle is well-fed and clean, so that it will be in good spirits.

High-intensity hunting is impossible for Yue Feng due to time constraints. Having been away for so long, he can only stay here for another two or three days at most before heading home.

If there's not enough time, then we can only focus on cleaning the entrails.

Putting the hawk up so early, letting the little guy work in people's hands, ensures that the hawk is in the best possible condition after dawn.

The man and the eagle stayed quietly in the courtyard until about 4:30, when the sky slowly began to brighten.

The wiry cat suddenly jerked its neck a few times, then began to shake its head rhythmically.

Yue Feng held the eagle still, quietly watching the eaglet's performance.

Soon, a shaft about the thickness of a thumb was flung out of the tattered eagle's beak.

This scruffy, shaggy creature wouldn't throw away bones or other scraps when it ate, its eating habits were extremely rough, and naturally, it ingested an extra lot of indigestible junk.

The hair shafts that were flung out of the mouth were almost as thick as the limit of the throat.

Yue Feng patiently observed the eaglet flick out its thick, long feather shafts, then bent down slightly to pick them up, pinched them with his fingernail, and pried them open to examine the details inside.

Details such as feathers, indigestible bone fragments, keratinous layers like bird claws, and a small amount of undigested wild grass seeds from the sparrow's crop are all clearly visible.

Although the hair shaft was a bit mixed, the shaft that came out was very healthy, tasted normal, and was in good condition. After examining it, Yue Feng had even more confidence in Xiao Ying's health.

Yue Feng casually picked up the kettle lid from the side, poured in a little water, and held it to the little eagle's beak.

After the eaglet swung its tail, there would definitely be residual digestive juices irritating its mouth. When it saw the water its owner brought to its mouth, it immediately lowered its head and drank some.

After a few sips of water, the eagle's beak-smacking movements decreased significantly, and soon its feathers fluffed up and it completely relaxed.

Yue Feng and Jin Long agreed last night to meet at 5 a.m. and leave, which is less than half an hour away.

During this period, Yue Feng intermittently fed the eagle cool boiled water three times, and the eaglet was able to drink a little each time.

Around five o'clock, the fluffy, lazy cat, which had been swaying its chest lazily, suddenly flicked its tail and then swooshed out a clear stream of water.

More than two-thirds of this eagle bar was water, with only a small amount of white uric acid and dark fecal residue at the very tip.

Strangely enough, after the tangled fur was stripped and swayed on its chest, the fine downy hair around its eyes immediately became fluffy to the extreme, and its bright yellow eyes darted around with a murderous look.

Upon seeing this, Yue Feng immediately relaxed with a slight smile.

When an eagle wakes up in the morning with no food in its stomach, drinking water and then rinsing its belly will, to some extent, aggravate its hunger. This is a training detail that only experienced eagle handlers know.

After this training, the tattered eagle's chest-swaying posture was completely transformed. Yue Feng was quite confident that, given the eagle's current condition, it would definitely be able to take down the black magpie if it encountered one.

Yue Feng glanced at the time, then rode the eagle to Jinlong's window and knocked.

"Young Master Jin, it's only a few minutes until five o'clock, get up!"

Hearing the noise at the window, Jinlong opened his eyes from under the covers.

"Get up, wait a few minutes!"

Jinlong jumped out of bed, quickly dressed, got out of bed, washed his face hastily, and left the room with his messy hair.

What time did you get up?

"Around four o'clock, when it's just getting light! Where's your hawk? You didn't take your hawk with you when you went out?" Yue Feng replied while reminding him.

Jinlong slapped his forehead: "Oh dear, I forgot about it! Wait a minute, I'll go back inside and give the eagle a good beating!"

Jinlong turned around and went back into the house. Soon, Jingmao Xiaosongzi came out with a wary look on his face.

This little guy had been tied to the I-shaped scaffold inside the house. In the morning, he wasn't flattened in my hand like a pile of rotten feathers to deepen our 'affection'. Compared to before he went to bed yesterday, his state in the morning was slightly different.

"My clean-feathered eagle shed a feather shaft this morning!" Jinlong said proactively.

“That’s normal. Even a ruffled feather on the chest can cause problems! You eagle, you woke up late this morning and are a bit rebellious!” Yue Feng said truthfully.

"Is everything alright? It's only five o'clock, and it's already relapsed?" Jinlong scratched his head after hearing this.

Reason told him that Yue Feng was right, but another voice inside him felt that he wasn't exactly lazy, just not as diligent as Yue Feng.
Yue Feng replied, "It's nothing serious. It should feel better after a while. Once it's wound up, it shouldn't delay the firing too much!"

"That's good. You're really diligent, getting up at five o'clock. I think I've already reached my limit!"

"Let's go, it'll take a while to get to Ditan Park. Let's walk, and by the time we get there, it'll be broad daylight!"

"it is good!"

The two brothers reached an agreement and each carried their eaglets out the door. May is the breeding season for various birds, and even before they left the alley at dawn, they could already hear the noisy chirping of birds as they foraged and played in the distance.

Jinlong, holding a clean-feathered pine cone, was still wary and hadn't gotten into the zone yet, but Yuefeng, holding a rotten-feathered pine cone, was already eagerly searching around when he heard the bird's call.

If you want to challenge a black magpie by flapping your tattered feathers, you can't just release your hawk whenever you see a bird on the ground like you did yesterday. Once you have food in your crop, you're more likely to slack off.

In addition, if the two brothers bring the eagle out together, and Yue Feng throws away the bird as soon as he sees it, it's not good for Jin Long either, as it doesn't give his brother any face.

Based on this consideration, there were at least four or five good opportunities to release the hawks along the way, but Yue Feng did not release the hawks to work. He just endured the hardship and walked with Jinlong to Ditan Park.

When they arrived at the entrance of Ditan Park, Jinlong scattered the clean pine nuts in his hand, making them stand upright in the tiger's mouth instead of flattened in his palm.

After passing through a line of flat-faced eagles, the eaglet's eyes softened noticeably, and its gaze brightened when it saw birds in the distance.

Seeing this, Yue Feng said, "Your little eagle eyes have come to life! The little guy's temper is limited; you'll see results after handling it for a while! Move forward, find a good opportunity, and fire it!"

Jinlong nodded: "Okay, whatever you say, we'll do. It's a professional matter, I'll listen to you!"

Soon, Jinlong strung up the little eagle, and then the two brothers went into Ditan Park one after the other.

At this time, a certain military supply depot had just been moved from Fangze Altar and Huangqi Hall in Ditan Park, and the Ditan Park Management Office had just been established and was in the stage of preparation, construction and management improvement.

There are no tickets required to enter or exit. The area is lush with vegetation, and many elderly people from the neighborhood do their morning exercises there. At the time, Qigong was popular, and you could often see groups of people practicing together.

Jinlong and Yuefeng came here to release eagles, so they naturally wanted to avoid the elderly people who were doing their morning exercises. With a glance, the two brothers bypassed the most crowded area of ​​the small square and moved deeper into the area along the path.

They hadn't gone far when they saw several sparrows hopping and playing on the ground, foraging for food. Yue Feng didn't say anything, but stepped aside to give them a better view, while gesturing to Jinlong with his chin.

Jinlong glanced down his chin and immediately knew that the opportunity to release the hawk had arrived.

Approaching sideways, the flat eagle swings its arms while simultaneously pushing the eagle out horizontally.

After recognizing the bird, Jingmao Songzi made its move, darting through the gaps in the holly bushes like a nimble swallow, and in a flash, it shot towards the sparrow less than ten meters away.

This little eagle is very good at using small terrain features as cover to launch surprise attacks. Even though the straight-line pursuit distance is the shortest, it chooses to go around a green bush and attack from the side.

They were fast and knew how to use the terrain to their advantage for surprise attacks, so the result of the first round was naturally the same.

In the blink of an eye, before the sparrows on the ground even had a chance to take flight and escape, they were pinched to the ground by the clean-feathered little pine nut.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
The sparrow's scream as it fell to the ground immediately startled its other nearby companions, sending them flying into the air.

The clean-feathered little pine nut, with its delicate yet powerful talons firmly planted on its prey, looked up to see where its master was while spreading its wings to try and drag the prey away.

"Hehe, caught him! We've made our first sale!"

Jinlong was very excited, after all, this was the pine nut hawk that he had personally trained from start to finish to become a hunting hawk.

Yue Feng glanced at the eaglet's attempt to escape with its prey and knew that the eagle was still a bit immature. He quickly whispered, "Don't rush over! You'll scare the eagle!"

Jinlong immediately stopped in his tracks: "Oh, hehe, I got a little too excited just now!"

"Don't move yet. Wait until the eagle is steady before slowly approaching. Don't be in a hurry to reel it in. This eagle is a bit unfamiliar and afraid of people!"

"it is good!"

The two brothers stood still, quietly watching the clean-haired pine nuts a few meters away.

The little eagle has a string hanging from its foot, so it can't escape no matter what, and there's no need to be too nervous.

After realizing that its owner had no intention of attacking it, the little pine cone slowly relaxed, drooped its wings slightly, and then began to pluck its feathers in preparation for eating.

After a few minutes, the sparrow's back was completely plucked bare. Yue Feng then reminded it, "Try going over slowly! Don't try to steal the bird from it!"
If you want to keep releasing them, use your fingernails to pry open the sparrow's skull so the eagle can eat some of its brains, then remove the bird while still covering it with your claws!

"Okay, alright!" Following Yue Feng's instructions, Jinlong slowly crouched down.

They successfully obtained the eagle and the bird, then peeled off the eagle's head and fed it its brains.

The eaglet loves to eat parts like brains and internal organs. Seeing its owner helping, it immediately lowered its head and pecked open the sparrow's skull, then began to feast.

Jinlong carefully let the eagle finish eating the brain, then covered the little eagle's claws and somewhat awkwardly picked the first sparrow and stuffed it into his waist pouch.

"Phew... This guy is so nervous, it's like he's going to hunt a golden eagle for the first time!" Jinlong breathed a sigh of relief and slowly retracted the bowstring that the eagle had unfurled.

Yue Feng smiled and comforted him, "Isn't this a pretty standard way to handle it? Don't be nervous. Just do it a few times, and you'll get more and more skilled. Once the eagle gets used to its master, you can be more relaxed with the rest of the operation!"

Jinlong reached out and touched the eaglet's tail, nodding: "Yeah, we also relaxed and played around last spring, but back then we just bought trained adult eagles and let them roam freely! Today, with you, it's like starting from scratch and learning in a proper manner!"

“Let the eagle rest for a bit, then we’ll continue releasing it. If it can catch three or four sparrows today, that’ll be good enough! Did you notice this guy’s hunting habits just now? Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to molt completely. This one is a smart one!” Yue Feng continued.

"Hmm? I didn't pay much attention. There's more to it than meets the eye." Jinlong scratched his head. He was too nervous earlier and had overlooked some important details.

Yue Feng explained with a smile, "Eagles have different temperaments and work styles!"

For example, yesterday my old, worn-out swan-like bird used to catch birds by swatting them! It would shoo the birds up from the ground and then chase them at low altitude, reaching out with its claws to snatch the prey!

This method of catching birds is more like the behavior of eagles catching birds, which shows that eagles are very confident in their physical strength, speed in pursuit, and flight posture, and rely on their innate advantages to force their way into prey.

But your clean-feathered bird has a different approach to work. Just now, it could have flown straight over to catch the sparrow on the ground, but it deliberately circled around to the side of the holly and swiped at it. The little bird didn't even have time to react before it was pinned to the ground!
Eagles that use this catching method prefer to take advantage of gaps in the field of vision by using small terrain to launch surprise attacks. Eagles that use their brains save energy and have a higher success rate in catching birds!
The only disadvantage is that when flying a hawk with the bowstring taut, sometimes the bowstring can get tangled in obstacles in complex terrain!
"The hawk isn't used to being released yet. It's best to release it in an open area first. Once the bowstring is drawn, then we can take it to a more complex terrain. That way, its full range of skills will be on full display!"

After listening to Yue Feng's explanation, Jinlong looked at the little eagle with much more affection: "Oh my, now that you mention it, it does seem to be different. Looking at it this way, we didn't make a mistake buying this clean-feathered eagle! When can we start training the eagle?"

"Tighten the bowstring? That's a long way off! If you want to tighten the bowstring, the eagle must be completely freed from bad habits and trained to call far like a great eagle."

In addition, there are requirements for the eagle handling skills. If there is no certainty about the prey, the eaglet should not be allowed to take the bait!
If the timing isn't right, and you're even a little unlucky and startle the eagle, then you can only look up at the sky with tears in your eyes! (End of Chapter)