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

With the two-year-old duck-tiger putting on a good show, the three people in the shack were in high spirits.

From afternoon until evening, two more eagles flew over the eagle enclosure, and Yue Feng successfully caught one of them.

The unlucky creature caught in the net was a large male, known in the trade as "Old Leopard Flower," a useless animal. Yue Feng released it on the spot as soon as he caught it.

As the day's work came to an end, the sun began to set, and it would be dark in about half an hour.

"Shall we stay a little longer? Or should we pack up and head down the mountain? It's getting dark!" Jinlong asked casually, glancing at the blood-red sunset outside.

Yue Feng glanced at the time on his wrist: "Let's go! The wind has stopped, and the eagles nearby have most likely gone into the forest!"
Let's quickly scan the other few pieces that have fallen into the net, take a quick look at Grandpa Wang's sunny slope, and then head back down the mountain!

"Let's go! I wonder if Brother Xiao and the others have gotten any useful footage yet!"

The three brothers, carrying their lunchboxes, crawled out of the shed, collected the pigeons, and then went to take turns walking around the area where the pigeons had been caught.

None of the three nets fell down; only the part of the first net, closer to the north side, fell down.

Ye Xiaojun looked at the net hanging on the ground and asked, "What happened to this net? Did something come and you couldn't catch it, or did it fall down because it wasn't clamped tightly enough?"

Yue Feng was also a little curious. He had personally checked the details of the self-trapping net he set up, and it rarely had any problems.

After carefully examining the surroundings, Yue Feng shook his head: "It must have been blown down by the wind! Youzi is fine, and there are no signs of struggle on the ground!"

It's possible that the bamboo clip is a little loose! I'll just heat it up with a lighter to straighten it out!

After saying this, Yue Feng rechecked the clips on the mesh and reattached the upper corner of the mesh.

After this little incident, by the time the three brothers arrived at Grandpa Wang's eagle shop with the miniature eagle they had caught, it was almost dark.

Xiao Weimin's film crew had already packed up all their equipment and were preparing to transport it down the mountain. Grandpa Wang, who was quite old, had also put away his pigeons.

"How's it going, sir? Have you unloaded the goods yet?" Yue Feng asked proactively.

Grandpa Wang opened the satchel containing the hawks and said, "I caught three hawks!"
There are two old leopards and one old hawk, but neither of them are properly used for hunting; they're still in the hawk-flying arsenal. See if you can use them!

When they heard that three eagles had been caught, Yue Feng and his two brothers were quite curious, but after the old man told them about the species, Yue Feng lost even the desire to see them.

However, since the other person had taken it out of their bag, Yue Feng still took a couple of glances at it, which was quite accommodating.

Two ordinary eagles, and an old hawk with its head and face completely red.

Just as the old man said, they are not eagles that do the work.

"There's no need to bring this eagle down the mountain, it's useless!" Yue Feng waved his hand, directly rejecting the idea.

The next second, the old man picked up one of the ordinary ones and pretended to smash it to death.

"Hey, grandpa, what are you doing!"

When Yue Feng saw that the other party was about to throw the eagle, he immediately reached out to stop him.

Grandpa Wang said in a calm tone, "This thing is useless anyway. If it falls to its death, we can just clean it up and stew it with potatoes!"

Upon hearing this, Yue Feng objected.

"Don't drop it! These eagles are five yuan each, we'll take them!"

Yue Feng didn't want to argue with the old man about right and wrong in harming the eagle, so he directly resorted to the money-sprinkling method.

When Grandpa Wang heard that an eagle cost five yuan, he immediately stopped throwing it.

"Are you really going to pay?"

“We’ll give it to you as soon as we come down the mountain! We didn’t bring any money with us when we came up!” Yue Feng said.

"Alright, this thing doesn't even have much meat after cleaning it up!"
Five yuan each, do you differentiate by size? If not, I'll have my son practice single-winged eagle hunting by the river ford! There are lots of eaglets over there!

Yue Feng waved his hand: "Little Eagle, no thanks. I only changed my mind and gave you the money because I saw you throw the eagle!"

After saying this, Yue Feng, in front of the old man, untied the three useless eagles from his eagle-coated jacket and released them into the afterglow of the setting sun.

Seeing Yue Feng buy the eagle and release it on the spot, Grandpa Wang was puzzled: "You bought the eagle just to release it?"

Yue Feng retorted in a somewhat somber tone, "Otherwise what? These hairy beasts have a hard time surviving in the wild. Since we can't use them, why should we harm them?"
I won't let you suffer any loss. I bought these three eagles with my own money, and I owe you fifteen yuan. I'll give you the money when I get back to the guesthouse after we go down the mountain!
Starting tomorrow, you won't need to go up the mountain anymore! We've also temporarily requisitioned this eagle stable!

If you want to go elsewhere to catch eagles, and catch a bad one, we won't take it! If you'd rather die from a fall, don't do it in front of us; dispose of it however you like!

Hearing Yue Feng's words, the old man knew that Yue Feng was angry, and hurriedly waved his hand: "I don't want the money, okay? We don't lack these junks around here. In previous years, if we caught something that we didn't like, we would just throw it to our deaths!"

Yue Feng wouldn't have been so angry if he hadn't said those words, but seeing that the other party was still trying to explain and prove the rationality of their behavior, Yue Feng's temper flared up.

"Does it mean you can just drop an eagle to its death if you don't need it? It's not easy for an eagle to live from hatching in the nest to autumn."
Didn't your ancestors in Eagle Village pass down the rule of loving and protecting eagles when they were disciplining them? Now that every household has been allocated land, life isn't as difficult as it used to be, is your family really that short of meat?

After saying this, Yue Feng didn't even look at the people around him, and angrily turned around and went down the mountain.

Ye Xiaojun had known Jinlong and Yue Feng for several years, but this was the first time he had ever seen him so angry.

Seeing Yue Feng turn and head down the mountain, the two brothers quickly followed.

"Alright, don't get angry. Why take it so hard on an old man! Just talk it out!" Jinlong caught up and gently comforted him.

Yue Feng remained silent, walking ahead angrily without responding.

Jinlong knew that Yuefeng was still angry, so he stopped trying to persuade him and followed him down the mountain.

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, the people arranged by Secretary Li were still waiting down there. Yue Feng, unusually, didn't greet them and got directly into the car.

Soon, Jinlong and Ye Xiaojun followed and closed the car door.

Ye Xiaojun also tried to persuade Yue Feng: "Alright, Xiao Feng, these bad habits can't be changed in just a few words!"

When we get back, we'll emphasize the rules again during the meeting in the small square: if anyone dares to drop their eagle again, we'll take it away!
"As for the specific procedures, let Secretary Li arrange and supervise their implementation!" Yue Feng's anger had subsided considerably on the way down the mountain. He composed himself and said, "Sorry, it wasn't directed at you! I just couldn't hold back my temper!"
"Damn it, 'Eagle Village tradition,' my foot! He's lived most of his life, wasted his years, and doesn't even know the proper etiquette!"

Jinlong chimed in, "Alright, they don't understand the rules, so let's set some rules for them!"

"Bring this up at the meeting when we get back! Whoever violates it, we'll have Secretary Li deal with them!"

"Let's go back first. Brother Xiao and the others have a lot of stuff, so they probably won't be able to come down the mountain for a while. Let's not wait for them!" Yue Feng said, somewhat annoyed.

Jinlong replied, "Alright, hold on tight! Let's go back first!"

Soon, the car started and headed towards the town's guesthouse.

When we arrived at the guesthouse, there were already quite a few people waiting in the small square outside the entrance.

These villagers, who would have a brief morning meeting and then go back to set up their nets and start catching eagles, would usually not come home empty-handed by the end of the day.

On the ground at my feet lay eagle-shaped jackets made of various colored fabrics, inside which were wrapped the eagles caught during the day.

Jinlong parked the car, and Yuefeng got out and strolled around the small square for a while, his tense emotions relaxing considerably.

Many species of eagles were caught, including common eagles, as well as non-eagle hunting species such as white-tailed eagles and black kites.

On their first day of work, the villagers weren't sure what the leaders from the capital were specifically asking for, so they brought back any eagle that was large, regardless of its species.

Upon seeing that Yue Feng and his two brothers had returned, Secretary Li quickly received the news and rushed to the guesthouse.

"Leaders, how is it? Are any of these eagles useful to us? Did you find anything after going into the mountains?" Secretary Li asked in a very humble manner.

Yue Feng said, "Most of them are useless eagles! I also saw a few decent falconry species; I'll take a closer look later!"

"Alright! Keep the useful ones, and let them go of the useless ones!" Secretary Li nodded in agreement.

When Yue Feng heard Secretary Li offer to let him go, his heart sank.

Was the other person saying this on purpose, or was this what they were thinking all along, and they just mentioned it casually?

Yue Feng wasn't sure, but he didn't dwell on the detail. He went straight to the point: "Secretary Li, we met with Grandpa Wang on the mountain just now and found some very uncivilized behavior. I hope you can find a way to resolve this!"

"What's going on? What kind of uncivilized behavior? Don't worry, as long as you point it out, I'll immediately urge them to correct it!"

When Yue Feng briefly mentioned the incident of the eagle being thrown on the mountain, Secretary Li's expression immediately changed.

Although a wildlife protection law has not yet been promulgated, the local officials are certainly more aware of the importance of wildlife protection than ordinary mountain dwellers.

After listening, he immediately patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, leave this to me! Eagles are the root of our Eagle Village culture, and this kind of behavior is short-sighted and destructive!"
From now on, anyone who dares to drop or harm eagles will have their eagle-catching license revoked! They will face severe fines and public criticism!

"Calm down, everyone. These villagers have all come from hard times; they wouldn't waste a single piece of meat! Ignorance is no excuse, but when Old Wang gets back, I'll give him a serious talking-to!"

After receiving such assurances, Yue Feng's anger completely subsided. Killing someone is just a matter of beheading them; since they had already gone this far, there was no need to make a scene any further.

Soon, Secretary Li brought up the matter of the eagle being thrown in public and announced the punishment rules to everyone. Then Yue Feng began to check the species and specific appearance of the eagles that were suitable for eagle hunting.

As the old saying goes, many hands make light work. With dozens of people deployed in the eagle-catching team, the effective harvest in a day was quite substantial.

The first day's catch included two large, yellowish-brown eagles, one weighing 2.2 jin and the other 2.3 jin. Both were ordinary mainland specimens, nothing particularly outstanding.

Back then, there were three chickens and eagles, all weighing an average of 1.3 to 1.4 jin (approximately 0.5 kg). Two were yellow and one was red, all of ordinary quality.

The only thing that caught Yue Feng's eye was a Puya tiger that a hunter had caught years ago, and it was in quite good condition.

Its chest is decorated with a proper dark diamond pattern, its back is fish-scale colored, its frame is sturdy, its paws are quite exaggerated in size, it has blue paws, blue nasal membranes, and blue eye sockets, and it weighs two pounds and three and a half ounces.

This quality of ordinary subspecies of guinea pig is good enough to be used as a standard characteristic sample of the species, and it looks quite good in all aspects.

None of the other eagles were selected, and at Secretary Li's request, they were all released on the spot, except for the large Puya that Yue Feng had chosen.

After settling the two falcons they had captured that day, Xiao Weimin's filming team returned a little later.

The four were invited to a restaurant behind the guesthouse, where Secretary Li personally accompanied them, and they were warmly entertained again that evening.

What happened in the evening left Yue Feng feeling a bit uneasy, and he wasn't quite in the right frame of mind at the dinner party that night. None of the guys were the type to enjoy drinking parties, so they went through the formalities and then moved on to dinner.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill and returned to the suite at the guesthouse, Xiao Weimin approached Yue Feng.

“Xiao Yue, before you came here, I didn’t believe you when you said the atmosphere and traditions here in Yingtun were far from what we’d expected. But after you left, I heard from that old man surnamed Wang that there are at least a dozen eagle hunters here who go up the mountain to hunt eagles every spring and autumn. They keep the good eagles to sell, and they even kill the bad ones and eat them!”

Yue Feng pursed his lips, picked up the teapot, poured tea for everyone, and then couldn't help but sigh, "If all raptor enthusiasts in the country had the same idea as Grandpa Wang today, in just a few years, more than half of our eagles would disappear! Aren't they afraid that parasites will kill them?"

Xiao Weimin picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said unhurriedly, "That's a bit of an overreaction!"
Falconry is, after all, a niche profession; it's unstable and unsustainable! Only a minority of northerners do it!

Conversely, some areas in the south are actually high-incidence areas for the consumption of wild game such as birds of prey!
For example, in the Guangdong area... people use birds of prey to make soup and eat wild animals such as snakes, civets, and pangolins!
There's a saying over there, I don't know if you've heard it, that four-legged creatures don't eat, only benches.

Of all the things that fly in the sky, only airplanes don't eat! I experienced that firsthand when I went on a business trip to Guangdong!

Upon hearing this, many social news stories from the early 2000s slowly surfaced in Yue Feng's mind.

This isn't a habit that can be formed in a year or two. In some places, over several decades, it has developed into a relatively fixed industry chain.

"The country doesn't have any proper legislation right now! If slaughtering birds of prey is illegal, the consequences could be severe enough to land them in jail. Let's see if they still dare to do it!" Yue Feng muttered to himself.

At this moment, Ye Xiaojun, who had been silent until now, said, "I estimate that legislation will be enacted in a few years! I heard my elders mention this before, and it seems that it was discussed in an internal meeting!"

Economy needs development, but animals also need protection! Humans are gradually becoming more well-fed, but wild animals are dwindling in number; this can't continue!

Yue Feng nodded, and for a moment he even had the illusion that he could accept the Wildlife Protection Law being promulgated a few years earlier.

Having brought up this topic, Yue Feng continued, "If legislation is indeed enacted to protect them, I wonder what the regulations regarding birds of prey would stipulate!"
If only we could avoid this one-size-fits-all approach! We don't need to acquire eagles from the wild; artificial breeding is sufficient to meet our needs!

Upon hearing Yue Feng mention artificial breeding, Ye Xiaojun grinned: "Don't worry, the club is breeding raptors to lay the groundwork in advance. Once it's a fait accompli, there's a basis for pushing for legislation later! What's meant to happen will happen!" (End of Chapter)