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

The iron-backed red eagle suddenly gripped the rabbit's hindquarters with its left claw.

With its claws clenched, the old rabbit, who had been struggling just a second ago, froze in place.

Half a second later, it seemed to come to its senses and desperately twisted its body and limbs in an attempt to break free.

Without hesitation, the iron-backed red eagle gripped the rabbit's neck with its other claw.

Other eagles, when catching rabbits, usually aim for the head, neck, abdomen, and lower body, rarely using their claws to seize them from the side of the spine.

This is determined by the rabbit's physiological structure. By grabbing its crotch and clamping its mouth, the rabbit is restrained and unable to move, just like a taut bow that cannot be fired, and can only be subdued on the spot.

However, grabbing the waist and neck from one side of the spine is a different method.

Although the rabbit's movements are restricted, its limbs and body are relatively free. It struggles constantly, and it takes more effort to subdue it.

Sure enough, even though the iron-backed red eagle had its claws firmly locked on the prey, it still couldn't control it immediately.

The old rabbit, carrying the falcon on its back, struggled forward for another five steps before collapsing in the wheat field, exhausted, and was subdued by the falcon.

Wow!
The desperate hare let out a shrill scream, and the falcon on its back spread its wings and, ignoring the prey's condition, lowered its head and fiercely pecked at the hare's fur.

Zhou Hongming, panting heavily, jogged up and, seeing his precious eagle had caught the rabbit, immediately approached it.

He pulled out a knife from his lower back and, without hesitation, stabbed Old Rabbit in the ribs, killing him instantly.

"Whew! This old rabbit is damn hard to deal with! Great Red Eagle is awesome!"

Zhou Hongming, panting heavily, praised the falcon's performance. He no longer cared about avoiding the rabbit's blood, and used the blade to cut open the wound, taking out the still-beating rabbit heart, liver, and other internal organs to feed the falcon.

The toad-headed, iron-backed, red-crowned eagle didn't stand on ceremony with its master. It ate the meat it was given, but after finishing its heart and liver, it was still not satisfied and lowered its head to peck fiercely at the bleeding wound.

It didn't eat much meat; its triangular head and the feathers on its face were stained with a lot of still-warm rabbit blood.

In an instant, the eagle's face was covered in blood, and with its triangular toad-like head, it looked even more ferocious.

Zhou Hongming knew there were four more rabbits waiting, so he didn't dare feed the eagle too much. After feeding it its internal organs, he immediately covered the eagle's claws with his sleeve and then lifted the blood-soaked falcon back up.

Throughout the process, Yue Feng kept his eyes narrowed as he carefully observed the details of his operation.

To be fair, Zhou Hongming's performance with the eagles now is significantly better than when he was playing with pine nuts in the spring.

Yue Feng remembered that this guy used to catch birds with a slack attitude, and didn't even know how to exchange food. He relied purely on brute force to snatch the prey from the eagle.

Now, after catching a rabbit, although it's covered in blood and a bit messy, at least the details like covering the paws, picking the prey, and laying out food are much more properly done.

At this moment, Jinlong leaned close to Yuefeng's ear and whispered, "Xiaofeng, how much did the eagle eat when it was fed just now?"
Didn't you say it was the toad-headed eagle...?

Jinlong didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.

To properly raise this type of eagle, it's crucial to carefully control its condition and temperament. If overfed, it can easily become unruly later on.

Yue Feng nodded: "We have indeed been a little too indulgent! But so far, it's been alright!"
If you add some extra food later and control the total amount a little, there shouldn't be a big problem!
If they continue to be fed like the first one, then it's hard to say what will happen!
If I were the eagle's owner, I certainly wouldn't give it so much blood, especially the most tender and nutritious internal organs!

"Then what will you give me?"

"Water-soaked meat! At most, dipped in a little rabbit blood as a token gesture!"
Did you notice something just now? This eagle was clearly well-fed and had plenty of body fat, but it was incredibly greedy when it ate, practically burying its head inside the ripped-open rabbit's belly!

“That’s really true. The previous eagles didn’t seem to eat this much. Look at yourself, your head and face are covered in blood, you’re so filthy!” Jinlong nodded.

"Let's keep watching! I estimate that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should have no problem securing a spot in the next round!"
As Jianjun just said, you need to catch four rabbits to qualify! Even ordinary falcons are blocked by the first three rabbits!

"Damn, that kid got lucky!" Jinlong scoffed, his tone a little annoyed.

"What are you afraid of, given how the Toad Head Iron Back Red Eagle chased the Old Rabbit? Every cloud has a silver lining. Maybe it makes it to the finals, only to be kicked to death and crippled by that old rabbit in the end!" Yue Feng comforted him in a low voice.

"Hmm, that makes sense!"

Upon hearing this, Jinlong instantly relaxed.

……

The battle on the field continued. Zhou Hongming, holding the giant eagle, rested for less than a minute when the iron-backed red eagle's feathers tightened and it flicked its tail, unleashing a long eagle serpent.

Then, the eagle's feathers fluffed up, and it stood on its owner's arm and shook itself several times. The feathers were very textured, and made a rustling sound when it shook them.

Yue Feng also noticed the detail of the eagle's tail, which matched his earlier prediction: the eagle had food in its chest, meaning it definitely hadn't eaten or pooped out yesterday.

If we catch a few more rabbits and feed them meat and offal, their future behavior is quite unpredictable.

Once the eagle had regained its strength, Zhou Hongming carried it back to the area where the competition was being searched, heading towards the next possible trigger mechanism.

As soon as I stepped on the pedal, a young rabbit suddenly darted out from less than five meters away.

At a distance of five meters, only slightly farther than the rabbit kicking a ball at its feet, the Ironback Red Eagle instantly gave chase.

This young rabbit didn't have as many skills to dodge and escape as the old rabbit. It only darted less than ten meters with the eagle, turned a corner, and was then grabbed by the eagle's rear end, which held it upside down and pinned it to the spot by brute force!
With the second rabbit captured, Yue Feng had a preliminary assessment of the eagle's combat effectiveness.

Yue Feng's assessment of this eagle was simple: it was similar to the situation of his own Ironback Red Eagle when it first came down to earth during its first hunting season.

This is also a reckless type of player who relies on his physical talent to do things head-on rather than using his brain and relying on skills.

It's understandable that the older rabbit's scalability is affected by the many variations in its chasing motion, but the younger rabbit just now was still using this obviously laborious method of catching.

In Zhou Hongming's hands, this iron-backed red eagle never received any conscious guidance or training from its owner.

When Zhou Hongming sprinted up to the eagle, Jinlong stared wide-eyed at Zhou's feeding of the eagle.

"Give it more, give it more! Feed it another set of heart and liver! Feed it another set!" Jinlong muttered to himself like a sulking child, hoping that Zhou Hongming would feed the eagle more meat to cause it problems.

With the second rabbit easily caught, Zhou Hongming's tense nerves relaxed considerably. He used the same knife he used to kill his prey to stab it again.

Just like the first time it fed the eagle, the rabbit ripped out its heart and liver, blood gushing out, and fed them to the eagle. The bloodstains on the iron-backed, red-headed eagle's face, which were still wet, were now stained with even more fresh blood.

With his extensive experience, Yue Feng knew exactly how to handle this toad-headed eagle.

However, Zhou Hongming was unaware of these things.

The advice he received from his second-rate mentor was that, after winter arrived, when raising eagles, they should be caught and eaten alive, feeding them the freshest blood and flesh. This would prevent the eagles from getting sick and ensure they were physically strong. Zhou Hongming kept these instructions in mind and resolutely carried them out.

Normally, there wouldn't be much of a problem, but in a typical real-world battle, the pace of combat isn't this fast. In a short period of time, you have to face the challenge of five rabbits.

Feeding an eagle a rabbit heart and a rabbit liver may not seem like much, but feeding it several rabbit entrails in a row is a different story.

With the two rabbits in hand, Zhou Hongming fed the eagle, took the water bottle from his waist, gave the iron-backed red eagle a capful of water, rested briefly for a minute, loosened his feathers, and then started a new battle.

The third one was another young rabbit. It was easily defeated in two rounds with almost no trouble.

At this moment, the Ironback Red Eagle's record is now on par with the other hunters, and the time it takes to pursue them in the next round is not much different.

The success of easily capturing two young rabbits gave Zhou Hongming considerable confidence. In his excitement, he fed the eagle the heart and liver of his prey.

After three servings of heart and liver, the falcon's crop bulged slightly, indicating it was about 30% full.

After Zhou Hongming finished feeding the eagle, Ye Jianjun asked from a distance of more than ten meters, "There's only one left to qualify. Do you want the eagle to rest and recuperate a bit, or do you want to continue the competition?"

Zhou Hongming patted the blood-covered, rather imposing Ironback Red Eagle: "It's alright, let's continue the competition! Once we catch the last rabbit and qualify, we can take a break!"

Next up, Master Li will be bringing his eagle and dog to give everyone a real-world combat demonstration! Time to rest!

Ye Jianjun nodded: "Okay, I'll do as you say!"

Zhou Hongming nodded, hoisted the eagle, and carried the wooden staff, continuing forward to search the area of ​​the next mechanism.

He stepped on two trigger points in a row, but missed both. When he stepped on the third one, a sharp string sound rang out from the wheat field fifteen meters away. Another robust old rabbit broke free of the mechanism and began to run wildly across the field.

"Cat!" Zhou Hongming shouted confidently, and with a flick of his arm, the eagle gave chase.

The Ironback Red Eagle, now completely bloodthirsty, was in good shape. It had food in its belly and had won several easy battles, which gave it a lot of confidence.

However, this state did not last long. In the first round of trying to catch up with the old rabbit, they suffered a loss.

Flying low, the eagle's talons grazed the old rabbit's fur, but it failed to catch its target.

At the crucial moment, the old rabbit actually lay prone on the ground, relying on its low, ground-hugging posture to dodge the fastest and most vicious attack.

Having dodged the first attack, the old rabbit quickly got up again, turned around, and fled towards an open space to the side.

The eagle struggled to turn and change direction in mid-air, then quickly flapped its wings and caught up again.

This time, when the old rabbit eagle was about to strike, it suddenly jumped up from its spot and easily dodged the iron-backed red eagle's second attack attempt.

After landing, it adjusted its direction and sped off again.

In the third round of pursuit, Old Rabbit once again used a very typical left-right change of direction and sudden stop, easily shaking off Ironback Red.

Fourth round, fifth round...

The old rabbit on the field was like a battle-hardened escape master, always managing to deal with the eagle with ease whenever it was about to launch an attack.

In the later rounds, it stopped even trying to escape and instead wandered leisurely through the wheat field, toying with and exhausting the falcon's stamina time and time again.

To be fair, from a psychological standpoint, this old rabbit is far more experienced than the first rabbit in the game.

The Ironback Red Eagle is strong, but lacks skill. It launches attacks back and forth but is unable to establish an advantage for a long time.

Seeing this, Zhou Hongming became somewhat anxious.

He was still eager to end the battle as soon as possible and move on to the next round. Judging from the situation on the field, this old rabbit was clearly not afraid of its eagle and dared to act arrogantly.

"Grass!"

Zhou Hongming spat on the ground, grabbed a wooden stick, and strode forward.

"Wow~~"

He ran while yelling loudly, swinging his wooden staff with a whistling sound.

The old rabbit isn't afraid of the eagle, but it's definitely afraid of people. If the eagle can't catch it, it gets hit by a stick, which counts as a result in the competition.

Seeing the hunter charging towards it with a stick, the old rabbit visibly panicked for a few seconds before suddenly accelerating and changing direction, running wildly towards the earthen wall on the west side.

As mentioned more than once before, the terrain of the kiln pit is such that, apart from the gentle slope on the east side which is fenced off with netting, the other three sides are all earthen walls.

There's a drop of almost two meters from the base station to the ground below; a rabbit simply couldn't climb up.

The old rabbit darted straight to the bottom of the earthen wall, tried to jump up with all its might, but only managed to jump about a meter before falling down because it couldn't find any leverage.

The eagle caught up again, but the rabbit rolled on the spot to dodge it once more, then turned and ran in a different direction.

The old rabbit's slippery and unyielding performance kept Zhou Hongming on the edge of his seat, but the spectators on the field were thoroughly entertained.

The eagle pursued the rabbit relentlessly, using every trick in the book, but still couldn't do anything about it.

Zhou Hongming's interpersonal relationships are generally average, so naturally fewer people offer him encouragement and support.

Every time Old Rabbit dodged a falcon's surprise attack, the crowd would let out a low gasp.

So Zhou Hongming, stick in hand, ran after it for at least a mile, but still couldn't catch the cunning old rabbit.

Looking at the Ironback Red again, its pursuit speed had visibly slowed down.

Such a high-intensity chase is very physically demanding. The silly eagle doesn't know how precious stamina is. It didn't hold back at all during the previous chases, but now it's starting to run out of energy.

The old rabbit was being chased by a man and an eagle, circling the earthen wall on the west side of the field until it reached the south side, but it failed to escape after several attempts.

Zhou Hongming was panting heavily, completely enraged.

"Damn it! I'll fight you to the death!"

Zhou Hongming took off his hunting bag, water bottle, and other personal belongings and threw them on the ground. He then picked up a stick with one hand and continued chasing after them.

When they caught up to within about twenty meters of the rabbit near the south earthen wall, Zhou Hongming used his shooing stick as a javelin and threw it about ten meters ahead of the rabbit. (End of Chapter)