Chapter 132: Long-tailed Pheasant
“Every stage has its own way of living! You are still strong and healthy. Even if you don’t go up the mountain, you can still teach us the younger generations the experience of your youth! Unconsciously, your descendants, relatives and old friends have benefited from you! We should look forward, what do you think?”

“You are a young kid, but your speech sounds old!” Chen Pao gave Yue Feng an evaluation similar to that of Uncle Zhao.

Yue Feng grinned and pinched the flesh on the beak of the Slow Peach Eagle with his fingers: “Maybe, but there’s nothing wrong with that! The eagle has loosened its feathers, let’s continue working, try to catch a few more and put the eagle safely today!!”

“Let’s go! Let’s go further out. There’s a mountain stream over there. If you’re lucky, you might occasionally run into a pheasant that’s bigger and has a longer tail!
Last year when it snowed, I chased a big rooster with my dog. The longest feather on its tail was about 70 to 80 centimeters long. After I got home and packed it up, it still weighed four and a half kilograms!

They are all called pheasants, but the meat of that pheasant is delicious. Let’s go and see if we can encounter one!”

Hearing that there were large pheasants here, Yue Feng also became excited.

Having grown up in the mountains, Yue Feng is quite familiar with the animals in the mountains. The pheasants in the mountains here are indeed divided into different species or subspecies.

Most of the individuals weigh about two or three kilograms each.

In addition, there is another species that is larger in size, with large and long tail feathers. This type of pheasant is relatively rare, but both the meat quality and taste are much better than those of the smaller pheasants.

Unexpectedly, from what Chen Pao said, there is such a good deal near the mountain stream Tuqiuzi in the north of Fang’an Village.

This slow-peaked eagle was quite energetic and caught two rabbits without much effort. It would definitely release a pheasant if it saw one. I just don’t know how “Daitian’er” would perform in actual combat.

“Then let’s go up, you lead the way! The long-tailed pheasant is a unique species. Our falconry team also caught a lot of pheasants in the fall. There are more than a dozen ridges around the back mountain, but we have never encountered such a large individual as you mentioned!” Yue Feng responded.

“Yes, a single species!
I once made a bet with Wang Dabozi. He said that this thing would only grow to this size when an ordinary pheasant reaches a certain age. I said no, and later we used a dog to catch a live male pheasant. It should be a chick of one or two years old, and the hind claws on its claws had not grown out yet!
We may not be able to meet him, let’s try our luck!”

Just like that, the father and son got talking about the pheasant, and they stopped talking about the cemetery area and went straight through it, climbing up the mound along the gentle slope on the sunny side.

This mound is at least seven or eight miles long from east to west, with a small stream flowing down it. In summer, the water flow here is quite strong, but in this season, the surface has been frozen, and the sound of the stream can still be faintly heard from below.

Under the leadership of Chen Pao, the two quickly crossed the cemetery area and slowly walked up along the stream at the foot of the mountain.

After walking for less than a mile, a miniature “stone bridge” made of large and small rocks appeared in front of Yue Feng.

It is a bit inappropriate to call it a stone bridge. In fact, it is just a pile of stones made of stones of different sizes on the mountain stream. The water flow of the mountain stream is not strong, so it will seep through the pile of stones when flowing through here.

At this moment, most of the snow on the stone pile had been melted by passers-by, but there was still a thin layer of ice on it.

“Be careful, the road here is slippery!” Chen Pao called out and walked across the area in a few steady steps.

Yue Feng followed Chen Pao’s example and quickly crossed the stream. Then he followed the zigzag path and slowly climbed up the mound.

Standing on the ridge of the mound and looking down, the entire Fang’an Village is in full view. At this point, some villagers have just gotten up to make breakfast, and smoke is rising from a few houses. Against the snow-covered ground, there is a unique rural atmosphere.

Just as Yue Feng was standing with his hands on his hips admiring the beautiful scenery of the winter village, he suddenly heard the cackling of pheasants in the distance.

The tone of this pheasant was slightly different from those pheasants that Yue Feng and his team had caught before. It sounded rougher and duller.

Chen Pao looked up when he heard the pheasant calling: “This must be the call! It’s different from ordinary pheasants, you should be able to tell it!”

Yue Feng nodded: “Then let’s go after it! This thing has a long tail, so its flying ability should be poor!”

“Yes, the hen is smaller and has slightly better flying ability, while the rooster can only flap its wings. Last time, it was Da Huang who chased it, crossed a ravine, and caught it on the shady slope!”

“Then let’s go! Chase after him!” Yue Feng became even more eager to try after hearing this.

Some people may be confused when seeing this. Why not catch a rabbit and go after a pheasant? This is not something rare, right?
At first glance, it does not sound like a rare thing, but Yue Feng, who has lived two lives, still has some obsessions. He has seen pheasant feathers that are less than one meter long on the top of the head in movies, TV shows, and dramas more than once, but he has caught many pheasants while flying hawks or hunting, but the longest one is only fifty or sixty centimeters at most. He has never caught anything longer than that, and he has never even seen the real thing with his own eyes.

A man is a boy until he dies. No matter he is eight or eighty years old, he likes some fixed things, such as an 18-year-old beauty, or a stick that is straight from top to bottom like a sword.

For example, this pheasant feather that I had never seen in person in my previous life.

Now that he’s out with Chen Pao and has heard detailed information about this long-tailed pheasant, Yue Feng will definitely be more interested in it than catching rabbits.

The father and son mounted the eagle and held a wooden stick to chase rabbits, and chased them along the ridge. They soon arrived at the area where the pheasants’ calls were heard.

At first glance, the terrain here seems no different, but after a careful look, Yue Feng discovered some clues.

The floating ice on the surface of the stream at the foot of the mountain has melted a little in this area. Standing on the mound and looking down, you can even see a small part of the gravel on the bottom of the stream.

Although the mountains are covered with snow and there is no shortage of water at this season, the living habits of specific species of prey are still different. This long-tailed pheasant seems to prefer the flowing water in mountain streams.

“It should be this area! The snow top of the mountain stream has melted a bit!” Chen Pao also keenly noticed this detail.

“Could it have run away? I didn’t see any pheasants!” Yue Feng continued to observe along the stream at the foot of the mountain.

“It can’t run away. This thing is very cunning. It won’t take off unless it’s frightened. Look for it along the bank of the stream and try to guess its legs before running!” Chen Pao said very experiencedly.

It’s true, what Chen Pao said came true. Yue Feng quickly found the trace of the long-tailed pheasant according to his method.

It seemed that the pheasant had discovered the two people on the ridge in advance, and was now running wildly along the water’s edge on one side of the stream, with its head lowered!

“Over there!” Yue Feng immediately pointed in the direction where the pheasant escaped. Chen Pao also noticed it! But the big eagle seemed to have not noticed it yet, and its attention was still on the other side!
The straight-line distance from the top of Tuqiuzi Mountain to the location of the pheasant below was more than two hundred meters. Upon seeing this, Yue Feng lowered his head and looked around, and soon picked up a fist-sized pebble that had been stepped on before.

He swung his arm and threw the pebbles toward the stream below.

With the added bonus of the height of the mound, Yue Feng didn’t throw it in a straight line at the long-tailed pheasant, so he actually threw it into the snow-covered mountain stream.

puff!
There was a muffled sound, which seemed to have scared the madly running long-tailed pheasant. The guy immediately took off and flew towards the downstream of the mountain stream.

As the pheasant took off, the big eagle on Chen Pao’s hand immediately received the signal, exerted force on its hands in an instant, and caught up with it in an almost gliding posture from top to bottom.

At any time, hunting will be easier when birds of prey have the advantage of height, just like this time, when Slow Taojian chased the long-tailed pheasant and slowly approached it without even flapping its wings desperately.

The big pheasant was originally just startled by the sound and took off to avoid it out of habit, but suddenly it found that there was a big eagle chasing it at high speed from behind. It was immediately frightened and flapped its wings frantically to chase downstream.

When the eagle attacked, Chen Pao’s first reaction was to choose the shortest angle to go down the hill to chase the eagle, but just after he took a step, he was grabbed by Yue Feng.

“Don’t worry, sir! If you chase along the ridge, you won’t be able to see him anymore after you go down! My legs are fine, I’ll chase him along the stream!”

After Yue Feng said this, Uncle Chen reacted: “Okay, then you go down and chase them, I’ll keep track of the direction on the ridge!”

“That’s it!”

Yue Feng responded and turned back almost the same way he came. His two long legs ran wildly in the snow, chasing in the direction where the pheasant and the eagle flew.

This is how it works when you release a hawk from a high place to catch pheasants. Basically, the hawk-handler has to jump at least a wing’s length. Yue Feng was already mentally prepared when he agreed to come and catch pheasants. After all, not all places where pheasants are released have such superior natural terrain as the one over at Heicunzaigou.

Panting, Yue Feng came down the mountain and ran wildly along the area beside the mountain stream.

After catching up with the landmark he had noticed when going down the mountain, Yue Feng gradually slowed down his pace.

No matter how fast a person runs, he can never outrun a bird’s wings. Yue Feng estimated that the pheasant could only fly about six or seven hundred meters with one wing, flying along the area above the stream at the foot of the mountain. There was no obvious obstruction around, so it was not difficult to find the eagle.

Instead of running like a headless fly, it is better to walk slowly once you reach the nearby area and listen carefully to the sound of the bells.

Whether it was splitting the troops into two groups to pursue, or slowing down the pace to search in the nearby area, these were all valuable experiences gained from long-term falconry. In his previous life, Yue Feng rarely lost falcons, and these details had always worked.

On the other side, Chen Pao, who was also chasing here along the mountain ridge, saw Yue Feng slowing down and thought that he was too exhausted to catch up. He anxiously gestured to Yue Feng repeatedly. It was because he didn’t carry a gun when releasing the eagle today, otherwise Chen Pao would have fired a warning shot.

After walking for a while, Yue Feng looked back at Chen Pao on the ridge. Chen Pao kept making gestures towards the area on Yue Feng’s left.

Yue Feng understood it immediately. Chen Pao meant that the pheasant being chased by the eagle had entered the woods, and asked Yue Feng to turn around.

This surprised Yue Feng. How could this long-tailed pheasant have such good stamina? It flew 700 to 800 meters with one wing, and still had enough energy to turn into the forest? The problem was that the forest on the mound was also a broad-leaved forest, which had already fallen by now. The ground was bright, and there was no place to hide!

Yue Feng thought a lot in an instant, but he still decided to follow Chen Pao’s command. After all, standing high and seeing far, from the perspective of sight, Chen Pao’s information must be more accurate than Yue Feng’s own prediction.

In this way, Yue Feng walked along the mountain stream for another twenty meters, chose a slightly narrower area, and after taking a few consecutive running steps, he jumped over in one step.

When he stepped on the snow crust, he heard a crisp sound and Yue Feng thought to himself that something was wrong.

Damn, this mountain stream looks quite narrow, but there is water under the snow crust. I stepped through the snow crust with one foot, and my cotton shoes were instantly soaked with water.

Fortunately, Yue Feng reacted a little faster. He jumped up and pulled his legs out before his shoes got soaked. After his feet touched the ground, he stomped his feet hard twice, and then continued to chase in the direction Chen Pao pointed.

The wet cotton shoes became much heavier. Although they had not frozen into a lump immediately, Yue Feng could feel the subtle changes. He did not play very well this time and actually stepped into the water. Fortunately, the mountain stream was not deep.

After chasing for several hundred meters in one breath, Yue Feng felt relieved after hearing the rhythmic sound of bells.

Following the sound of the bell and looking around, Yue Feng soon found the place where the eagle and pheasant landed.

Under a linden tree as thick as a bowl, a big eagle was stepping on the neck of a long-tailed pheasant, plucking its feathers one bite at a time.

At this time, the wisdom of the ancient falconers can be seen. They use a large needle to sew a bell plate on the two middle feathers of the eagle’s tail, and then tie a large copper eagle bell on the bell plate.

If an eagle is squatting and standing still on a person’s hand, you can basically not hear the bell sound. However, when it enters the mountains and catches prey, the eagle will certainly pluck the feathers out of habit. Then, when the eagle’s head moves up and down to pluck the feathers, its tail will definitely move up and down to keep its body balanced.

At this time, the effect of the eagle bell is reflected. Even from a long distance, you can hear the clear, empty and highly penetrating sound of the bell, which helps the eagle handler to quickly find the position of his own eagle.

Yue Feng approached slowly, gently stroked the eagle’s tail which was buried in the snow, and then just watched the eagle grooming and eating.

In less than three minutes, Uncle Chen also rushed over from the other side of the ridge. After seeing that Yue Feng had found the eagle, he slowed down his pace and walked over.

“This pheasant flew very close with one wing! How is it? Is it hurt?” Uncle Chen asked with concern.

Yue Feng pursed his lips, panted and shook his head: “It’s nothing, I just stepped through the snow and my shoes got a little wet! Uncle Chen, look, this pheasant feather is so beautiful!”

(End of this chapter)