Chapter 121 Ten peach tips, nine go to heaven

The ceremony of claiming names was also very simple. Yue Feng took a few more pieces of meat and fed a piece of diced meat to the person whose name he called. After feeding them three times in a row, when he called the name again, the corresponding puppy already knew that he was being called. After that, by reinforcing it a few times a day, it would soon be consolidated.

Now that the family has a dog, Yue Feng finally feels relieved. The team’s strength is steadily improving, and as long as everyone flies hawks normally, they will earn a considerable income every day.

Yue Feng spent the next week very fulfillingly. For a week in a row, he rested in the first half of the night and stayed up all night to watch the hawk. After daybreak and breakfast, the slow-moving peach tip was handed over to his father to continue tracking, while Yue Feng had to track the iron-backed red bass out to release rabbits and pheasants, and would not come back until the afternoon.

Not being able to sleep in the second half of the night every day actually has a great impact on Yue Feng, but there is nothing he can do about it, as this slow-moving peach-tipped eagle has a stubborn temper.

It took seven full days of continuous work day and night, with the operators changing but not the eagle, and finally this slow-moving eagle was managed.

Early in the morning of the eighth day, Man Taojian spit out a feather shaft on Yue Feng’s arm on time. Yue Feng flew the eagle around the yard for a few laps, and the big eagle soon got into shape.

The big eagle, which was 2.3 kilograms fat when it was caught in the net, now weighs only 1.86 kilograms after this series of manipulations, which is basically equivalent to a 20% weight loss.

In autumn when the temperature is not too cold, this kind of weight gain is not a big problem, but now the outdoor temperature has reached around minus 20 degrees Celsius, and this weight gain is already a bit risky.

Different eagles have different personalities. Some eagles are soft-tempered, like the young eagle at home. If they lose a little weight, they will immediately show strong obedience and friendliness.

But this slow peach tip is the type with an extremely stubborn temper, and will not easily give in unless the situation becomes critical.

This characteristic might be useful for other falconers, but in front of a master like Yue Feng who has trained over a hundred falcons, the persistence in the bones of these birds of prey is actually meaningless.

Now, my body fat continues to decrease, and combined with continued day and night exercise, I have finally achieved the goal of slow growth.

Today, several team members happened to be on leave at home (after the heavy snow, they went up the mountain every other day). After breakfast, Yue Feng called Xiao Tao through the back window.

“Xiao Tao! Are you free during the day? Come with me to help this slow peach tip become an eagle?”

“Okay, I’ll come over next!!” Xiao Tao immediately became excited when he heard about the big eagle.

After a while, Xiao Tao, wearing leggings and packed up, arrived at Yue Feng’s house neatly.

“Come on, brother. Where should we put it?” Xiao Tao asked.

“I have almost caught all the rabbits in the small vegetable garden. Let’s take a break for a while. Let’s change the place today and go to the south of the village!” Yue Feng waved his hand and chose the place for Cheng Ying.

“South of the village? There’s nothing good there, right?”

“Just follow me. There’s a field I’ve never been willing to take the big red eagle with me to cause trouble. I’m saving it for my family’s eagle to grow up to be an eagle!”

“Let’s go! Let’s see how good this Slow Peach Tip is at catching cats!”

The two brothers chatted briefly, and then Yue Feng carried Daying and took Xiao Tao out.

There is indeed no good place like a small vegetable garden in the south of the village, but there is one thing that is incomparable: the Muling River flows close to this side, and there are a lot of weeds, bramble trees and other low plants along the river.

Because the terrain is relatively noisy, with all kinds of weeds and thorns growing everywhere, people from the surrounding villages don’t like to come here even if they want to set a trap.

The conditions of the site are indeed not as good as those of a small vegetable garden, but it is much better than releasing hawks directly into the mountains.

Many people think that the mountains and forests in the Northeast are all open woodlands that can be seen for hundreds of meters at a glance, but the actual situation is not like this. There are clean areas, but there are more noisy areas.

In winter, the visibility in the woods is about 100 meters, which is considered good. This is the current situation of the mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest. If you go deeper into the mountains, the plant density of the forest will be even higher.

Why did I write about falconry and then suddenly talk about the current situation in the mountains and forests? There is a connection between the two.

The goshawk is a arboreal bird of prey that lives in forests from childhood to adulthood. In terms of hunting habits, they are not afraid of this relatively complex hunting environment.

But the eagle’s lack of fear does not mean that there won’t be problems. Complex terrain will also reduce the eagle’s hunting success rate, especially like the slow peach tip eagle in Yue Feng’s hand today. In order to keep the eagle in good condition, its weight and fatness are kept relatively low, and the eagle must not be allowed to live in an overly complex environment.

Many people say that it is impossible to release hawks in the mountains. This is pure fantasy and unrealistic.

What I want to say is that whether it is successful or not depends on the objective conditions and the subjective ability. We cannot look at the problem in a one-size-fits-all manner.

If you want an eagle to work in the old forest, the falcon must be in peak condition, with its self-confidence and hunting ability at extremely high levels, to have a better harvest.

If a newly-adult eagle like this one goes directly into the mountains to mature, the success rate will be greatly reduced. A smart eagle handler will not do such a stupid thing as sending a rookie into a tough battle.

Although the area beside the Muling River in the south of the village is not very clean, it is mostly covered with low plants, which does not have much impact on the eagle’s work of catching rabbits.

In addition, another consideration is that Yue Feng has certain expectations for the actual combat performance of this slow peach tip.

As the old saying goes, out of ten peach tips, nine will go to heaven!
The so-called peach tip is the black pattern on the eagle’s tail. It is not an ordinary square, but a shape similar to the peach heart on a playing card.

The large eagles with peach-tipped tail feathers are almost 99% of the time three-long eagles, which belong to a different subspecies from the iron-backed red three-short eagle at home.

What is the three-long eagle? It has long legs and claws, long tail, and proportionally long body.

This type of hawk does not hunt with short-distance explosive power as its main feature, but with another style.

So what does “flying to the sky” mean? The “flying to the sky” here does not mean that they are easy to die or get lost, but that when they are hunting, their flying altitude will suddenly rise.

To use the jargon, the three-long eagle likes to make mistakes and smash piles when working.

What is “smashing the stakes”? It means that when chasing prey, instead of chasing it close to the ground, when encountering obstacles or special terrain, the drone will fly to a slightly higher position, and when the time is right, it will swoop down and subdue the prey.

This type of eagle hunting is very entertaining to watch, and some of the better individuals will even climb to a high altitude and chase around obstacles like falcons hunting. This is called circling hunting.

In his previous life, Yue Feng had tied up such a large eagle with a heart-shaped tail. It weighed 2.2 catties when it came out of the net, and its fatness dropped to 1.75 kg when it was put on the ground. After being released for a month or so, its fatness had increased to about 2.1 catties. At this time, the eagle’s abilities began to slowly show.

There is a large cemetery outside Fang’an Village. Yue Feng took the eagle there to release it and accidentally shot out a rabbit. As a result, the Taojian aircraft started a chase with the rabbit among the graves in the cemetery. Time and time again, the rabbit threw it off by relying on the terrain and its movement. Then the eagle flew into the air again and again to adjust its position and then smash it down.

When the rabbit circled around the cypress tree next to the grave, the eagle flew higher and flew around the cypress tree, then slammed down again and again. Finally, the rabbit ran out of energy and was captured by the eagle. The whole chase lasted at least five minutes, which made Yue Feng very excited. Today, Yue Feng had high expectations for this slow peach tip. In a place like this with more brambles and weeds, there is no risk of injuring the eagle with thorns and sour jujube trees. As long as the eagle dares to slam, it will definitely be captured.

The two brothers, each holding a stick, strolled to the falconry site chosen by Yue Feng.

At first glance, a large area was covered with snow, and there was not even a trace of human footprints.

“Brother, are there rabbits here? They are so close to the village, but there are no footprints of anyone coming here! If there are rabbits, there shouldn’t be someone setting traps here!”

Yue Feng grinned after hearing this: “There must be a rabbit, but it’s not on this side.”

“What?”

“Go to the river! The rabbits must be staying near the river bank!” Yue Feng said very confidently.

“Why? I don’t see any problem with the terrain here.”

“You’ll know once you get there! Follow me and go straight through!”

Yue Feng held the eagle and took Xiao Tao with him, and the two brothers went straight through the snow-covered field.

The further we walked, the fewer bramble trees and weeds there were in the field. When we reached the area near the river, large rabbit footprints were clearly visible on the snow.

“Do you understand?” Yue Feng asked with a smile, pointing to the area extending from under his feet to a far distance.

“Shit, the rabbits are all moving along the river bank! The footprints are so clear that they form a path! No wonder no one came to set a trap. There are no rabbits in that large area outside!”

Xiao Tao took a look at the reality and quickly understood what Yue Feng meant by “you’ll know when you see it.”

Rabbits are actually quite interesting, they love to go back the same way, and tasks like setting traps are done because of this habit.

Seeing that Xiao Tao roughly understood what he meant, Yue Feng smiled and shook his head, pointing to the other side of the river and said, “Actually, there are not many rabbits lying here. The real place is on the other side of the river! Look over there, people cross the river back and forth at night, and the snow on the ice has been trampled into a path!”

Xiao Tao looked in the direction Yue Feng pointed, and sure enough, on the ice surface that had completely blocked the river, the scattered snow had been trampled clean off, and there were footprints everywhere.

“What’s going on? Why don’t the rabbits stay in such a large area? Why do they run to the other side of the river every day?”

Yue Feng explained with a smile: “Rabbits are not stupid. If they can find a comfortable place, they will definitely not stay in an uncomfortable place! This large area is facing the south gate of the village.

The wind has been blowing from the northwest lately, and the wind is blowing right here. Apart from those small brambles and weeds, there is nothing to block the wind! If it were you, would you like to stay here?

These footprints were left by rabbits wandering around when there was no wind at night! The real place was the sunny slope on the other side of the river!
When looking at a place where hawks are released, a comprehensive analysis is required. Those who set traps also know this, so they don’t set traps here!

But they don’t know that the other side of the river is the rabbit’s nest. Over there is the Ci Lao Ya Valley, which is very steep and difficult to cross. If you want to cross, you have to go around the river on this side!”

“Then let’s go!!” After listening to Yue Feng’s explanation, Xiao Tao took the driving stick and led the way towards the river.

At this moment, the Muling River had already been frozen solid. The two brothers flew straight across the river bank with the eagle, and then came to the field on the other side.

The sunny gentle slope here has a similar environment to the opposite bank, with a mixture of brambles and weeds, but because of the height difference of the river bank, it is obviously windier than the opposite bank. When you first come over, you can see various traces of rabbit footprints, and after walking a few steps you can see scattered rabbit poop on the ground.

“Start from the beginning? I feel there must be a lot of rabbits here, and so many piles of poop!” Xiao Tao asked.

“Well, start from the east. I’ll stand on the high ground and you chase from below!”

Yue Feng called out, then climbed up a gentle slope of about ten meters with the eagle and stood on a mound of earth.

This is the high point of the surrounding terrain, and any disturbance can be seen at a glance.

After hearing the arrangements, Xiao Tao started to chase the rabbit by hitting it with a stick. Before he had walked 20 meters, a rabbit came out from under the weeds and ran wildly from east to west.

“Cat!” Xiao Tao shouted immediately.

Seeing this, Yue Feng turned his head and looked in the direction Xiao Tao pointed.

The eagle in his hand was already angry. He exerted force with his legs, kicked Yue Feng’s arm, spread his wings and immediately chased after him.

From the first glance at the posture of the owl leaving his hand and the flying height, the experienced Yue Feng saw the difference in details. This Man Taojian is also an eagle that can “fly to the sky”.

The Iron-backed Red Eagle at home likes to fly close to the ground when working. This slow-moving Peach-tip aircraft, when chasing after it leaves my hand, will fly 20 to 30 centimeters higher.

The eagle flies very fast. It catches up with the rabbit in less than five seconds.

At this moment, the experienced rabbit suddenly stopped and turned and dived into the bramble bush next to it.

The eagle grabbed nothing and only plucked a little feather. Then it spread its wings suddenly and flew to a height of about two meters with the inertia of the impact. It adjusted its flying posture in mid-air, spread its tail feathers and turned back, and slammed down at the rabbit that had hidden in the bramble bush again.

“What a good eagle!!” Yue Feng shouted “What a good eagle!” Seeing that this mature eagle would make the mistake of slightly hitting the stakes, he shouted “What a good eagle!”

The fact that it dares to smash the stake when its weight is still relatively low shows that this eagle has very strong muscles and bones and is very experienced in hunting.

The eagle and the rabbit entered the bramble bush, and Yue Feng’s sight was temporarily blocked. However, it did not last for five seconds, as the rabbit immediately came out from the bramble bush, followed closely by the eagle.

Another beautiful aerial turn and pile smash, this time it worked!

The eagle grabbed the rabbit’s buttocks, and without waiting for the rabbit to use its hind legs, it used the force of a side dive to hit the pile to flip the rabbit over, and with its other claw, it grabbed the rabbit’s crotch.

The crotch is the rabbit’s weak spot. Its fur is soft and thin. Once grabbed tightly, the rabbit will immediately lower its head and bite. At this time, the big eagle, which had already completed the reverse grab, grabbed the rabbit with its other claw like lightning and directly made a double flag move.

(End of this chapter)