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

Judging from the eagle's cry, Yue Feng figured it must be a hawk that had fallen from its net and emerged from its hut, so he quickened his pace.

At the very least, it's a legitimate falcon breed. Even if its appearance and quality are just average, it can still be considered a good start and a lucky omen.

Seeing Yue Feng rush out of the shack, Ye Xiaojun and Jinlong also rushed out, and the three of them headed straight for the net.

From a distance, Yue Feng could see the net scooping up from the south side of the net, with an eagle struggling inside.

It was indeed a chicken eagle, with feathers the color of a sub-adult yellow eagle. Yue Feng glanced at it hastily and estimated that the little guy's color was probably that of a common bean-yellow eagle.

"Hehe, not bad, guys! We're in luck! A little yellow chicken eagle!" Yue Feng couldn't help but mutter a few words as he squatted down to adjust the weights on the net.

First, he lifted the weights at the top corners of the two nets, thus straightening the direction of the net holding the eagle. Yue Feng then covered the back of the chick eagle with an eagle-shaped cape, immediately took control of the prey, and began to remove the net wire with his other hand.

The mesh size of the net was just right, so removing the net was not troublesome at all. In the blink of an eye, the key net knots were cleared and untied, and the chick was completely removed from the net.

Yue Feng lifted his eagle-patterned jacket, looked the little chicken eagle up and down, and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"Hey! I thought it was just an ordinary item, but it turns out it's a good one!" Yue Feng couldn't help but exclaim.

"What a nice thing? What do you mean? Didn't you just say it was just an ordinary little yellow chicken eagle?" Jinlong asked curiously as he peered inside.

Yue Feng pointed to the little eagle's head and face: "Look at this little eagle's eyes, and then look at its nose! Watery white eyes, willow-green nose, and look at these tendon legs! The only flaw is that its claws are a bit lacking, but they're good enough!"

"Hmm? There's an importance to the quality, huh? What's this thing used for?" Ye Xiaojun chimed in, asking.

Yue Feng smiled and nodded: "Appearance is only one aspect. You might not have a sense of its quality until you handle it! This little chicken eagle, if weighed, would weigh at most a little over a pound! It's a miniature product!"

A typical chicken eagle usually weighs between 1.2 and 1.45 jin (approximately 0.6 to 0.6 kg), though some may be larger, reaching 1.7 or 1.8 jin (approximately 0.6 to 0.6 kg).

I have said more than once that any healthy bird of prey that survives in the wild and has unusual physical characteristics must possess extraordinary abilities.

Yue Feng touched the keel on both sides of the little chicken eagle. Its chest muscles were full and round, not the kind that was half-starved, thin, and on the verge of being eliminated by the cruel nature.

"A miniature item? Let me touch it!" Jinlong couldn't wait to reach out and touch it.

Yue Feng hadn't finished wrapping the miniature chicken eagle in its protective coat yet, so he didn't completely let go: "Don't rush, I'll wrap the eagle up first before you start handling it."

"This thing is quite rare. I've caught so many eagles, and I've seen plenty of big ones, but this is the first time I've caught such a tiny little chicken eagle with my own hands!"

As they spoke, Yue Feng called on his companions to lend a hand, and they quickly wrapped the little eagle tightly in an eagle-patterned coat.

Jinlong couldn't wait to pick it up and weigh it in his hand: "Tsk tsk, it really is! It's so light! Like a big hawk! You say this thing is rare, but what can it do?"

Yue Feng explained with a smile, "Big ones have their advantages. They have more stamina and strength, and they're less likely to be taken advantage of when working!"
Miniature things have their own charm!
This thing is small, so it must be fast!
Look at this shoulder blade, all single hairs and hard bones, when put together it's as thin as a piece of paper!
Eagles are small; their body length and wingspan are both one-third shorter than those of their kind!

Once trained by humans, they'll be much more useful than most hawks or eagles when used to hunt hamsters, tree crickets, or greyhounds in the woods!

Moreover, hawks are afraid of being bitten by small mammals such as weasels, and their claws are not strong enough to seal their beaks!
But this little hawk's claws are a whole size bigger than my big blue hawk at home! There's nothing to be afraid of!
If it were even slightly smarter, it could put up a fight even against prey the size of a pheasant or wild duck! With a quick grab and a neck lock, it could still get the kill!
Even a top-quality hawk weighing eight ounces would be extremely difficult to handle!

After listening to Yue Feng's very detailed explanation, Jinlong's eyes lit up.

"Hehe, now that you mention it, this is a great thing! Everyone else is comparing whose eagle is the biggest, but we can compete on size! Big has its advantages, and small has its own charm! Not bad, really not bad!"

When Yue Feng saw Jin Long's expression, he knew that Jin Long was somewhat tempted after hearing his analysis.

"This tiny little pheasant, if we take it back to Beijing and show it off at the exhibition, it'll definitely be a highlight!"

"Haha, what a great start! I'll admire it for a while! I wonder if it'll be easy to train!"

Jinlong held the wrapped miniature chicken eagle in his hand and looked at it again and again, clearly taking a liking to it.

"Small in size, not big in temperament! Probably only slightly stronger than a hawk! It won't be long before the lamplight makes it unafraid of people!"

"Hehe, that's great! Let's hurry back. Was that the eagle that flew away overhead just now?"
"Don't let them take advantage of our visit to see if they can launch a surprise attack!"

"Let's go, now that the net has been repaired, let's go back to the shack and continue guarding it!"

Yue Feng hung the net back up in its original position, then turned and walked back.

When they returned to the makeshift shack with its hand-held net, everything around them seemed normal.

"It's alright, that eagle should have flown far away!" Yue Feng said in a deep voice.

"This little guy can really howl. It's not quiet even after it came back. It keeps chirping whenever I touch it. I hope it doesn't scare away the other eagles!" Jinlong asked curiously, holding his trophy.

Yue Feng waved his hand: "It's nothing. The back and neck are the eagle's vital areas. It's just stressed from being caught in the net, that's why it's making noise! ​​Give it some water later and it'll relax!"

"profound!"

……

After this auspicious start, the three brothers in the shack were all in high spirits.

When they had nothing to do, the three brothers focused their attention on the miniature chicken eagle, and time passed quite quickly.

Before we knew it, it was noon.

The three brothers' stomachs were growling with hunger. They thought they could only make do with the dry food in their bags and would be able to have a hot meal when they came down the mountain in the evening.

Just after midnight, villagers started bringing food boxes up the mountain to deliver meals.

"Gentlemen, have you not eaten yet? Our Party Secretary asked me to come and bring you some food!"

Local villagers came to the perimeter of the new eagle farm and stood about forty or fifty meters apart, shouting and calling out.

Upon hearing the call, Yue Feng immediately crawled out of the shack.

"Did they send us food?"

"That's right! Hunting eagles isn't something that can be done in a short time. Since you're here, we definitely need to make sure you have a good logistical support. Our Party Secretary said we must make sure you can have a hot meal! Um, it's lunchtime now, so just grab something to eat for now!"

"Okay, thank you!" Yue Feng said gratefully, walked over and took the combination wooden lunchbox from the other person.

This lunch was clearly prepared with great care. It felt very heavy in my hand, and even before opening it, judging from the feel, it must have at least four dishes and a soup.

Yue Feng then asked, "Have you gone to deliver food to the old man on the sunny slope? Our film crew is there!"

"I've already delivered them! Everyone received one!"

"Have the hawks flown over that sunny slope?"

"It seems not! I asked Grandpa Wang, and he said he hadn't seen a trace of it!"

"Okay! Leave the lunchboxes here for now, we'll take them down the mountain!" "Alright! I won't interfere with your eagle catching. Secretary Li has arranged people at the foot of the mountain, just let us know if you need anything! They'll be there whenever you call!"

"okay!"

……

After watching the villagers who brought him food go down the mountain, Yue Feng carried the lunchbox back into his shack.

"Lunch is ready! Secretary Li has gone to great lengths, sending someone to bring hot meals to the mountaintop!" Yue Feng called out, immediately opening the lunchbox layer by layer.

The wooden lunchbox has a nested structure, with two dishes on each layer.

As you open the layers, you'll find four hot dishes, two cold dishes, and a hot soup at the bottom.

Six dishes and a soup, the hot dishes were still steaming hot, clearly prepared in the kitchen and delivered immediately.

This level of logistical support was unprecedented for Yue Feng, despite his numerous trips into the mountains to hunt eagles.

"Tsk tsk, Secretary Li really gets things done!" Jinlong picked up a pair of chopsticks, grabbed a soft, large white steamed bun, and started eating.

Ye Xiaojun was also hungry. He didn't care about his image in front of his two best friends, Jinlong and Yuefeng, and used his chopsticks to stick a steamed bun in his mouth and started eating.

The three of them ate a hot meal of six dishes and a soup in the cramped shack, and finished it off in less than half an hour.

"Not bad, this chef's skills are excellent!" Ye Xiaojun couldn't help but exclaim.

Yue Feng pursed his lips and joked, "With you two brothers, my treatment has improved! I can eat six dishes after catching eagles on the mountain! It would be really unreasonable if I didn't catch more eagles!"

"Haha, this is because Secretary Li put a lot of effort into providing us with logistical support. We've forgotten about the time when we went into the mountains and had to eat cold, dry rations!" Jinlong couldn't help but reveal the truth, and the three of them burst into laughter.

After eating and drinking his fill, Yue Feng poured the remaining food into a soup bowl, then put the lunchbox back in its place in a corner next to the shack.

After eating and drinking their fill, the three brothers nestled in their hut, waiting for the surprise to arrive outside.

We waited until 2:30 pm, when a mountain breeze slowly picked up, and more and more dark shadows flashed across the sky.

The wind was blowing from the south, which put the eagles' enclosure on the north-facing, shady slope at a slight disadvantage.

According to Yue Feng's assessment, the situation in Yingpu on the south side should be much better at this moment.

Eagles rely on the wind for their movement, and once they reach the back side of a hill, they can easily fly away in a flash, making it even harder for them to spot the bait at the eagle enclosure.

The solution was quite simple. Yue Feng simply abandoned his previous concerns about protecting the decoys from exhaustion and injury, and used the pigeons he brought up the mountain as consumables. He held the rope that was used to tie the eagle's crutch, and every now and then he would tug it a few times, making the pigeons tied to the crutch flutter incessantly.

And it actually worked!

Before three o'clock, a dark shadow flew at least a mile away with a single wing carried by the south wind, but after seeing the struggling movements of the bait pigeon that Yue Feng had pulled, the eagle in the sky turned back against the wind.

Upon spotting its predator, the pigeon froze on the spot, too afraid to move. Sensing this, Yue Feng carefully peered through the observation port above his head.

The shadowy figure was about fifty or sixty meters above their heads. Judging from its outline, it should be a falcon, because Yue Feng saw that its wings were relatively long and narrow, and there were no wingtips at the wingtips.

Considering the current timing of the hawk migration, which is not yet the time for falcons to migrate, Yue Feng guessed that it was most likely a peregrine falcon.

Sure enough, the dark shadow circled overhead a few times before locking onto the trapped pigeon.

With a fold of its wings, it plunged down like a diver, skimming the sun.

Yue Feng seized the opportunity and, in the brief moment before the shadowy figure touched the bait, flipped the net over.

The net traced an arc in the air, trapping the swooping eagle perfectly inside.

"Quack quack!"

The birds of prey trapped in the eagle net were cawing and struggling incessantly.

"Hey, that timing of pulling the net just now was awesome!" Jinlong watched Yue Feng's performance from beginning to end and couldn't help but exclaim.

Yue Feng crawled out of the shack and ran off to select an eagle.

It was indeed an adult female peregrine falcon. Judging from the pattern on its breast, it should be a two-year-old individual.

A two-year-old duck-tiger, the nominate subspecies.

Judging by its size, it was quite ordinary, and it was an old guy that had molted. Yue Feng immediately lost interest.

"How's it going? What kind of eagle?" Ye Xiaojun asked from behind.

"Old Duck Tiger, you're useless!" Yue Feng replied while picking up the net.

The falcon's beak was quite formidable. After being caught, it put up a stubborn resistance. During Yue Feng's process of choosing the net, it tried to bite him several times, but Yue Feng reacted in time and dodged each time.

As a last resort, I had to cover my head with an eagle-feathered jacket for safety.

After the eagle was caught in the net, Yue Feng didn't even bother with any follow-up actions; he simply picked it up and tossed it above his head.

"Go on, go find a husband and hatch your eaglets!" Yue Feng muttered to himself as he watched the duck tiger, which had just been caught in the net, leave.

"That duck-tiger circled around my head several times before finally landing! I saw it!" Jinlong couldn't help but say.

Yue Feng nodded, dusted off his hands, and said, "Even among falcons, there are smart ones and fools! That one was a little smarter!"

"What would the reaction be if someone were a little less intelligent?" Ye Xiaojun continued to ask.

"The dumber ones won't circle around to observe; once they spot their prey from afar, they'll charge straight at it from the direction of the sun!"

I remember one year I was catching eagles in the mountains and encountered a very bold little hawk. I had barely finished setting up the net and walked five meters away when it jumped down! It wasn't afraid of people at all!

"And then? You let it go?"

"Hmm! I touched the flesh on both sides of the keel, it's almost as thin as a knife! It's a chick that just left the nest in autumn, and it can't find food! I've already taken it off the net, but it's still clinging to the pigeon and won't let go!"
For these wild eagles, survival isn't easy!

Yue Feng's seemingly casual remark caused a subtle but noticeable change in the atmosphere inside the shack.

"So, you only catch the eagles you need, and release the rest when you don't? Just like you did just now!"

"Yes! That two-year-old duck-tiger will be able to mate and breed next spring, and then it will be able to hatch another brood of eaglets!"
"There's no use in keeping it if we catch it, so let's cherish it while we can!"

Yue Feng uttered a few words of reflection, and his attitude towards the raptors filled Ye Xiaojun and Jinlong with awe. (End of Chapter)