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

Hearing Xiao Tao's call, several members of the hunting team looked up at the sky almost at the same time.

Yue Feng put his hands on the pergola and glanced in the direction Xiao Tao pointed.

Very high in the northwest sky, a few small black dots were circling with their wings spread out, riding on the midday updrafts.

Yue Feng carefully looked at the number of small black dots on the wing fingers and made a preliminary judgment in his heart.

This is the same bird of prey that fought with the Black and White Devils last time I came to Pheasant Meadow and was beaten up and chased away by the big black eagle.

Golden eagle.

The golden eagle is the largest bird of prey in the Changbai Mountain area of ​​Northeast China. The male weighs three to five kilograms and has a wingspan of more than 1.8 meters, while the female weighs six to nine kilograms and has a wingspan of easily more than two meters.

This thing occupies the top ecological niche in nature, almost the same position as the gyrfalcon. It is heavy, ferocious, and intelligent. Adult golden eagles of some subspecies can even hunt adult wolves.

Last time, Yue Feng judged that the pair of golden eagles should be the golden eagle couple breeding in Xuanyingjian mentioned by Uncle Zhao.

This pheasant meadow should be within their core territory, which is why they took the initiative to attack the intruder, the Black Hawk.

Now that he came for the second time, he not only encountered this thing again, but there were two more of them, which further verified Yue Feng's judgment.

Seeing this, some people may ask, does this thing live in groups?

The golden eagle couple was chased away, can they still get help?

There are four now, not two as last time.

What's up with the extra two?
Can people of the same kind live in peace and not fight over territory?

In most cases, top birds of prey cannot live in peace with each other because the total hunting ground resources are limited and the prey provided by the basic ecology cannot support too many top predators.

But there are exceptions. Many documents and documentaries can confirm that under certain circumstances, golden eagle couples live with their offspring for a period of time, sometimes even longer than six to eight months.

Golden eagle chicks are late-maturing. Under normal circumstances, it takes about three to four months from the birth of the fertilized egg to the hatching of the chick until it grows all its feathers and leaves the nest.

After a normal golden eagle chick learns to fly and hunt, its parents will feed it less and less often until it has the ability to survive independently. Then the parents will drive it out of the territory and let it survive independently somewhere else.

However, if food is abundant within the parental territory and a small group does not need to worry about survival, the time spent away from the nest will be extended.

The pheasant meadow is so large that there are not only a large number of pheasants, but also common prey such as fire foxes and rabbits. The golden eagle has no worries about finding food.

After saying so much, Yue Feng judged that the two extra golden eagles should be the cubs that left the nest and have not left their parents.

The golden eagle couple discovered the existence of the hunters and the dog gang, and called people over to claim their territory.

"Brother, what should we do? There are four big eagles in the sky!
Luckily, Big Black Hawk and Little White Hawk kept their hats on after being fed. If they were spotted while circling in the sky, wouldn’t it be a big loss for two to fight four?”

Xiaowu held the gun in his hand and looked at Yue Feng uncertainly.

Yue Feng grinned and said, "We won't suffer a big loss. Even if we can't win, we can still outrun them. It's impossible for a golden eagle to threaten a gyrfalcon during the day. We can tire them to death!

Gather all the dogs around and don't let them run around. Cook when it's time to cook, and rest when it's time to eat. Maybe after you've had your fill, these eagles will leave!"

"Can they do it regardless? Otherwise, I'll shoot them a few times. Maybe with luck, they can collapse!" Xiaowu asked while holding a gun.

Yue Feng shook his head: "It didn't provoke us, why are you hitting it!

It's not easy for these flat-haired beasts to survive, so we should try not to harm them if we can. What can we do by killing them? We don't need those two pieces of meat!"

"Alright! Let them go!"

After a brief chat, everyone continued to prepare lunch except for taming the hunting team's dogs.

Soon the chicken boiled in snow water was cooked. With the addition of some dried mushrooms and other seasonings, the chicken tasted great. It exuded a rich aroma before it was even out of the pot.

A few people then used wooden sticks to stick the white flour buns they brought up the mountain next to the fire and roasted them until they turned a golden brown color. They were fragrant and crispy when taken a bite, and they were delicious when eaten with chicken and mushrooms.

It took more than an hour from the time he rested on the spot to the time he had his meal. Yue Feng would look up at the golden eagle in the sky every once in a while.

These big guys were circling overhead at first, but when I looked up again after finishing my meal, they were nowhere to be seen.

Yue Feng had no intention of provoking this thing at first, so he wisely left to save Yue Feng and the others from having to find a way to drive it away and prevent it from interfering with the afternoon falcon hunting.

After eating and drinking, the few people carefully buried and extinguished the fire, then took off the falcon's hat again and continued to search and chase forward.

After resting for the whole afternoon, the Black and White Devils were still very efficient at work in the afternoon.

As we go deeper into the core area of ​​Yejidianzi, the number of pheasants begins to surge.

Just talking about the surge in numbers, some people may not have any idea. They are just long-tailed pheasants. How many more can they be?
When we arrived at the area where pheasants were active, we looked around and saw that the snow crust on the surface of the surrounding sedge grass was turned over in large pieces by the pheasants eating the grass seeds.

Sometimes, a searching dog accidentally runs away from a distance of several hundred meters, and a medium-sized flock of 10 to 20 pheasants will take off at the same time like a swarm of locusts, covering the sky and the sun.

If it were an ordinary peregrine falcon or hunter falcon, it would be difficult to lock onto the target when facing a flock of pheasants, and the actual hunting effect would be easily significantly disturbed.

However, the black eagle and the white gyrfalcon had already encountered a small flock of chickens in the morning and had gained experience from several actual combat operations.

As long as the pheasants are within the range of the dive attack, the flock will be driven up and a single eagle will be able to catch at least one chick in one dive.

If the pheasants were slow to react or took off in the wrong direction, the two eagles would successfully lay down three or even four chicks many times in a row.

After half an afternoon of work, the hunting team members were extremely excited.

With so many pheasant resources, the dogs and falcons working together make it seem like they are free and there is no way they can catch them all.

More and more pheasants are brought back alive by dogs.
One sack, two sacks, three sacks...

By the time the sun was setting and approaching four o'clock, three large bags were filled with the captured and tied-up pheasants.

When the guys first entered the mountain, they said they planned to fight until dark and go back in the dark. Now, each of them has a sledge loaded with a sack of pheasants, and they are a little numb from following the main group.

Xiaowu wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and said, "Brother, shall we go back?
These three bags of pheasants will definitely not be used up in the restaurant for half a month or twenty days! ! "

Yue Feng grinned and said, "Why, is that enough?

Pheasant Meadow is so large, and we haven’t even visited one fifth of it today!
Who said in the morning that we wouldn't get lost anyway, so we could go back later and catch more?"

"No more catching them. The big bag is pressing down so hard that we dare not stand them upright. We can only tie them horizontally to the sled, otherwise everyone underneath will be crushed to death!" Xiaowen couldn't help but express his opinion.

"Okay, let's hurry back before it gets dark!"

After consulting his brothers, Yue Feng decisively turned around and headed back while it was still light.

Just when I thought today's hunting mission was successfully completed, the big black hawk following above its owner's head in the sky made another rapid caw.

Yue Feng looked in the direction of the sound and saw the four golden eagles he saw at noon coming again.

Following the warning from the big black hawk, the two falcons immediately entered combat status.

Upon discovering the enemy, the black eagle changed from a leisurely hovering posture with its wings spread to a state of rapid flapping of its wings to accelerate its flight. It turned over twice in a row and displayed its claws to avoid the attack of the swooping golden eagle.

Four golden eagles besieged two gyrfalcons, and the other side had a certain advantage.

Especially when it just started to attack from a high altitude, the big black eagle and the little white spear were forced to scream continuously and use difficult flying skills such as extremely fast flips and accelerated dives to avoid the golden eagle's fierce attack.

However, this state of affairs did not last long.

When the six eagles in the sky descended from a height of 100 meters to a few dozen meters, the initiative of the battle changed significantly.

The faster Big Black Hawk and Little White Spear changed from being the prey that were constantly chased and ambushed to being the hunters that counterattacked and pursued.

The two eagles tacitly locked onto one of the female golden eagles and launched continuous attacks again and again.

The big black hawk was seen accelerating and climbing, diving and kicking again and again, repeating this action after breaking away from contact and entanglement. The Peregrine Falcon's strong ability in level flight and vertical take-off and landing was perfectly demonstrated in actual combat.

Without the advantage of diving in exchange for speed from altitude, the other three golden eagles that were assisting in the level flight were completely unable to catch up, but their locked companions were repeatedly subjected to the big black eagle's diving attacks.

The chase soon lasted more than five minutes, and the physical strength of both sides began to decline significantly.

Especially the female eagle that was locked by the black and white evil spirits. It had consumed a lot of its energy reserves by flapping its wings vigorously, and it had begun to show signs of slight exhaustion.

The big black eagle chooses to kill you when you are sick.

Two eagles, one black and one white, swooped down and accelerated to kick and attack the golden eagle twice with an interval of less than three seconds. The golden eagle barely dodged the first attack by the white gyrfalcon, but had no room to dodge the second time and was kicked by the big black eagle in the waist.

The big black eagle took the opportunity and did not let the eagle go. After Huang Jin kicked it with his right foot, he grabbed the tail feathers below its waist with his left foot.

The next second, the female golden eagle had all its eleven tail feathers (normally it has 12, but one feather was plucked out in the last air battle and it has not recovered yet) had all its tail feathers violently plucked out.

The originally majestic golden eagle transformed into a bald-tailed eagle in a second.

Without its tail wing, the Golden Eagle’s ability to turn and steer is greatly reduced.

To put it bluntly, if Yue Feng did not interfere, in just a few more rounds, the big black eagle would be able to cooperate with its companions to shoot down the adult golden eagle.

But Yue Feng, who had been watching the battle, finally softened his heart.

It is extremely difficult for a bird of prey like a golden eagle to find its own territory in nature from hatching to sexual maturity. It has no core interests to pursue, and Yue Feng does not want to harm it.

huh~~~
At the critical moment, Yue Feng blew the whistle to call the eagle.

The big black eagle heard the whistle of its master and decisively gave up beating the bald-tailed eagle. It folded its wings and landed on Yue Feng's arm. Little White Spear saw that his wife had landed, so he also landed a little later.

The two eagles had been fighting and chasing each other for at least ten minutes, and now they were both gasping for breath with their mouths open.

Quack quack! !

The big black eagle was like a victorious general. He gasped for breath, puffed out his chest and barked at Yue Feng.

"Alright, alright! I know you two are powerful. Now that we win the fight, I'll take you home!

"Xiao Tao, take out the firecrackers in your pocket and light them. If the eagle is scared away, that's it!"

While calming his own falcon, Yue Feng gave instructions to Xiao Tao.

Soon, a whole bunch of large-sized white bombs were ignited by Xiao Tao, and an explosion like muffled thunder was heard in the meadow.

Honk! Honk! Honk! Honk!
……

The continuous explosion sound echoed in the meadow valley, and large numbers of pheasants and other birds were frightened and flew away in all directions.

The two falcons were so used to the sounds of gunfire and firecrackers that they had long been desensitized to them. They stood on Yue Feng's arms, stretching their feathers and resting their claws, not nervous at all.

But the four golden eagles in the sky were not so calm. They were frightened by the sound of firecrackers and screamed. They started flying higher and higher from the moment the first firecracker exploded. Before the firecrackers were finished, the golden eagles fled from the first scene of the air battle as if they were running for their lives.

Soon, brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu picked up all the tail feathers that had been plucked from the golden eagle.

"Brother, look! There are so many eagle feathers. Together with the one from last time, we can make a complete set!"

Xiaowen grabbed the thick and broad tail feathers of the golden eagle, stroking them while speaking.

Yue Feng took it and counted them. There were 11 feathers in total, and 12 in the whole tail feathers. Including the last one, it turned out that the whole set of feathers had been plucked by the black eagle.

A serious bald-tailed eagle.

"Keep it, go back and find a bookcase to keep it!"

Yue Feng gathered the feathers and spoke lightly.

The frequency at which golden eagles shed their feathers is relatively slower than that of other birds of prey. According to the knowledge Yue Feng obtained from the Internet, golden eagles in the wild shed their feathers about twice every three years. Plus, there are only a few golden eagles in existence, so these tail feathers are quite rare in the eyes of those who know the trade.

Xiao Tao curled his lips and said unwillingly: "Brother Feng, you are too soft-hearted.

If I hadn't blown the whistle to call the eagle, the big black eagle and the little white spear would have worked together to cut off the bald-tailed eagle! How dare they show off to us!

Damn it, four against two is no match for them, what's the point of having such a big body? It's bullshit!"

Yue Feng grinned and touched the back of the big black eagle: "What's the point of cutting it off? I can go home and pluck the feathers and stew them in a pot to taste.

The meat of birds of prey is not tasty. If they are injured and fall down, we have to go home and treat them with good food and drink.

With the Big Black Hawk and the Little White Spear as the main force of the hunting team, and we don't expect to train the eagles, we might as well just spare the eagles!

After all, we have invaded its territory and robbed it of its land and prey resources!
It is good to have a little respect for these beautiful creatures. It is not easy for them to survive in this icy and snowy place!"

Xiao Tao shrugged and said, "Okay, let's spare its life this time and see if it learns its lesson! After two fights, its tail was plucked out by the big black eagle. I don't know how long it will take for a new one to grow!
By the way, this thing has lost its tail feathers, so it won’t be affected in its survival in the wild, right?”

Yue Feng picked up a tail feather and looked at the root and said, "If it is the main flight feather on the wing, the end of the feather is connected to the cartilage. The damaged cartilage recovers slowly, and it will probably take two months to grow back!
As for the tail feathers, they recovered much faster. You see, there is no blood on the roots, which means they just fell off and there is no serious organic damage to the roots.

It won't be long before new feather buds start to grow at the root of the quill, and it's estimated that everything will be fully restored in less than a month!

As for the function of the tail feathers, the tail feathers of birds of prey are mainly used to adjust flight posture, assist in turning, and increase hovering lift.

Even without tail feathers, you can still fly, but it will be affected when turning, and it will take more energy when taking off and landing!
Overall, it's not a big problem, it will heal after a while! ”

Xiao Tao nodded: "It's almost dark now, let's hurry back!"

"go!"

The brothers dragged the sled and carried the eagle, and hurried down the mountain. By the time they returned to the end of Chaiji Road at No. 59 Forest Farm along the bottom of Yejidianzi Valley, it was almost six o'clock.

It was already completely dark, and the brothers all turned on their headlights.

It’s definitely a bit late, but don’t worry, because you don’t need to go home and drive the tractor to haul things today.

There were three large sacks of live pheasants, one sack was placed on each of the two tricycles, and the last sack was towed by a sled, using the power of the motorcycle engine to easily drag it down the mountain.

After getting on Chaiji Road, it was quick to go home. In less than an hour, the motorcycle arrived at the entrance of the village. We stepped on the accelerator and arrived at the door of Yue Feng's old house.

After entering the village, the eight dogs returned home early, so when Yue Feng and his brothers arrived, their mother Meng Yulan had already turned on the door light in the yard.

The incandescent bulb emitted an orange-yellow light. After hearing the noise, Meng Yulan led her little daughter out of the north room and waited quietly at the door.

"Mom! Why are you waiting here? It's so cold!" Yue Feng shouted and got off the motorcycle.

"aunt!"

"Aunt..."

"Hey! Are you freezing? Come in quickly. I've saved dinner for you in the pot! I've stewed a big pot of braised pork and steamed rice! Eat your fill before you go back!"

"Hey, good!"

"Second brother, did you go into the mountains to hunt chickens today?" Jingjing asked in a concerned voice.

"Hey, catching some pheasants is a piece of cake! Let me tell you, we raided a pheasant's nest today. These three big bags are all pheasants we caught alive!"

While Yue Feng was reporting to his younger sister, he helped Xiao Tao to carry things down.

Soon, the brothers helped to unload the things and temporarily stored them in the warehouse, and then went into the house to wash their hands and eat.

The fragrant rice, coupled with the soft, sweet, fatty but not greasy braised pork, the hungry brothers devoured the meal in no time.

They were all real friends and no one pretended to be nice to each other. After finishing the food in their bowls, they scooped it up with a spoon. The big pot of braised pork was completely finished by the four brothers in one meal, and even the last bit of soup was shared and mixed with rice.

After finishing his meal, Xiao Tao said hello to the two Zhang brothers and went back. Only Yue Feng was left in the room. He took out the golden eagle tail feathers he had picked up today from his hunting bag and showed them to his youngest sister.

"Jingjing, guess what kind of feather this is? We picked it up in the mountains today!" Yue Feng asked while rubbing his sister's face.

Jingjing scratched her head and looked again and again: "This... seems to be similar to the feather I brought back from home last time! Is it the feather from the eagle's tail?"

Yue Feng grinned and said, "Yes, and no!
To be more precise, this is the tail feather of a golden eagle. It was plucked off by a black eagle during a fight on the mountain!"

He looked around quietly and cleverly arranged the tail feathers according to the order in which they grew on the eagle's butt.

The structures of the eagle's tail feathers in different positions are slightly different.

Only the two middle feathers of the main feather pole are completely centered, and the others will be slightly wider on one side and slightly narrower on the other side to ensure a certain curvature, so that they fit tightly when unfolded, and are not too dense or thick when folded.

After the eleven tail feathers were arranged in order, Jingjing turned around and went into the house, took out the one from the last time from the pen holder and arranged it at the very edge.

In this way, a set of tail feathers is arranged. The subtle changes in the lines and the transition between width and narrowness look quite harmonious, presenting an alternative wild beauty.

"Brother, these two feathers are from the same bird?" Jingjing said very cleverly in an affirmative tone.

"Yeah, that's right! This time the fight was fierce. If I hadn't blew the whistle in advance to stop it, the big golden eagle would have been killed by the big black eagle!"

"Our big black eagle is so powerful! The golden eagle is bad! He deserves to be beaten!"

……

Children’s logic is actually quite simple. They will think that things at home, even if they are just a pile of dog shit, are good. But things outside, no matter how good they are, will naturally be in opposition to them.

This is a typical case of helping relatives but not helping others.

The brother and sister were playing with the golden eagle's tail feathers when the cry of the Canglong was heard again at the gate of the yard.

Yue Feng knew without leaving the house that it must be Wang Xiaona who came. Canglong was a smart boy and knew that she was his "boss lady". The tone of her voice was different and there was a fawning temperament in her voice.

Yue Feng immediately went to pull the switch of the yard light, and then Wang Xiaona pushed the door open and entered the yard.

"Xiao Feng, have you eaten enough? There's a call from the village office looking for you. The person on the other end said it's your friend, surnamed Ye, and he wants you to call him back because he has something to talk to you about!"

"Friend named Ye? Is that Brother Jianjun? Come in first!" Yue Feng pulled his wife's hand into the house and asked casually.

Yue Feng only knows two friends with the surname Ye, Ye Jianjun and Ye Xiaojun. In the past year, he has had little contact with Ye Xiaojun, except during the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Yue Feng asked someone to bring some gifts to him.

Could it be that Brother Jianjun has something to ask me?

"It's not Brother Jianjun, I can recognize Brother Jianjun's voice!"

"What else did the other party say?"

Wang Xiaona replied: "Nothing else. The other party's tone was a bit aggressive, not as polite as Brother Jianjun. I asked him what was going on, and he said I would know after I called him back!"

With this said, the result is obvious. By the method of elimination, the only one left is Ye Xiaojun.

Why did the young master of the Ye family call me at this time? Is there something important? (End of this chapter)