Chapter 141 The equipment used to train a falcon is different from that used to train an eagle

After entering the house, Yue Feng closed the door and then took out the big black eagle wrapped in the eagle coat from his bag.

The coat has not been untied yet. The whole body of the big black eagle is wrapped in the coat. At this moment, only the ink-black head and the spiritual eyes on the head are exposed.

“This… this is really an alien species! It’s not a hare-tiger (female hunting falcon)!” Yue Lei only took a look and immediately made a judgment.

“That’s definitely not the case. How can a Rabbit Tiger weigh that much? This big Black Hawk weighs almost four pounds! If you don’t believe me, try to weigh it in your hand. Be careful not to get bitten by it, it has a sharp beak!”

“You must be kidding. I’m wearing an eagle coat, but it can still bite me! Ouch!!!”

Before he could finish the first half of his sentence, Yue Lei couldn’t help but cry out in pain.

The big black eagle suddenly bit the tip of the index finger of his left hand, biting a half-centimeter hole in the skin and bleeding immediately.

“Good bite! This mouth is really sharp!” Yue Lei did not complain even after being bitten. His eyes became brighter and brighter as he stared at the big Black Hawk.

“Use some cigarette ash to stop the bleeding! There’s blood all over!” Yue Feng put the eagle on the edge of the kang and turned around to stop his father’s bleeding.

After a simple bandage to stop the bleeding, Yue Feng came to the big black eagle again, thinking quickly about what to do next.

“The beak of this big black eagle is so sharp that the eagle tripping device made with cotton thread before is definitely useless. It might be bitten to pieces in just two bites! We have to use tire wire soaked in oil and then split it into strands to make a new tripping device!” Yue Feng said in a very affirmative tone.

“Okay, do you do it, or should I help you?”

Yue Feng looked at his father’s finger that had just stopped bleeding and said with a pout, “Let me do it, your hand is injured!
If I’m not mistaken, this big black eagle should be the Saker Falcon passed down from the older generation!

Now that I have the chance to bring it home, I have to play with it properly!”

“Gerfalcon? I’ve never seen one, but looking at the spirit of this eagle, it does look like one!!”

Yue Lei quite agreed with his son’s assessment. He had been bitten by an eagle or falcon before, and at most it would have been a small bleeding spot, but it was impossible for the skin on half of his fingertip to be easily broken like what happened just now.

“Don’t take off this eagle coat in a hurry! Let me prepare the tools for fiddling with this thing first!
Falcon training is different from eagle training. We don’t have a eagle hat or a falcon stand at home. We need to make these things as soon as possible!”

Yue Feng reminded his father, then turned around and went out of the house to find materials and tools for training falcons.

For serious falcon training, the falcon must be given a hat. Falcons have complex eyes and are smart. If they are not given a hat, they will be easily disturbed by some unexpected factors, and it will not be conducive to establishing a conditioned reflex of feeding with the falconer.

The so-called eagle hat has existed since ancient times. You can think of it as a full-coverage helmet tailor-made for the eagle, which can be worn on the eagle’s head. It can cover the eyes, expose the mouth, but will not tighten the neck and hair on the head.

As for the falcon stand, it is relatively simple. It is a platform for falcons and other birds of prey to stand on. The surface of the platform must be soft and not too hard to prevent the falcons from wearing out their claw pads when standing on it.

One extra thing to mention here is that eagles stand on poles, but falcons are different. If you want to avoid problems with the claws of artificially trained falcons, the best way is to let the falcon stand on a platform rather than on a pole like an eagle.

The main reason for the above difference is that falcons are short-legged eagles, and their daily activity level is naturally much greater than that of eagles. When they are in human hands, they no longer have such a large amount of activity, and the blood circulation in their claws is prone to problems.

At this time, if the falcon is not properly maintained, it will easily develop diseases such as bird foot inflammation. Once infected with bird foot inflammation, the falcon will be in danger.

Speaking of avian palmitis, I’d like to mention the difference in the structure of the claws of falcons and eagles.

The four fingers of the eagle’s claws are strong and powerful, but the absolute power of the claws of falcons and other birds of prey of the same weight is obviously much smaller than that of the eagle’s claws.

However, although the absolute strength of the claws of falcons is low, they have an additional connective tissue structure compared to the claws of eagles.

This structure is like the pad on the palm of a domestic cat’s paw. The older generation of falconers call it tiger’s paw.

What is the tiger’s paw used for? It is used to assist falcons and other birds of prey in their attacks.

Whether it is a peregrine falcon or a hunter falcon, when attacking prey, they like to dive from high altitude, and then dive to attack the target prey at a very high speed. After reaching the prey, they will kick it quickly with their claws.

Yes, you read that right, falcons and other birds of prey usually attack their prey by kicking them with their claws.

The structure of the tiger’s paw under the claw is the key part that can inflict fatal damage to the prey while ensuring that the falcon itself is not harmed.

The bottom of the big black eagle’s claws also has this tiger’s paw structure, and the claws are big, so the size of the tiger’s paw should also be larger. If you just find a random eagle bar and let the big black eagle stand on it all the time, the position of the tiger’s paw will be under high pressure for a long time, and after a long time, it will get avian paw inflammation, which will make it useless!
After some organization, Yue Feng had a preliminary understanding of the things he needed to prepare urgently.

They are an eagle hat suitable for the black eagle, a complete set of two-piece five-foot toads that are tough and strong enough to not be bitten, and a falcon platform for the black eagle to land on, which can provide a certain degree of protection for its claws.

Yue Feng can do the two-and-a-five-foot-wide tethered eagle by himself, and it only takes a little time to do it.

But this eagle hat made Yue Feng a little troubled.

After all, Yue Feng was a senior eagle handler who lived to be sixty years old in his previous life. He had sufficient knowledge of the styles of eagle hats introduced from foreign countries in later generations. Whether it was the Anglo-Indian style, the Dutch style, or the Arabic style, Yue Feng had studied them all.

But the hat is easy to sew, but the last of the right size is difficult to make!

What is a last? You can think of it as a supporting model used to shape the eagle hat.

Shoes are made with shoe lasts, and eagle hat lasts are also used to make eagle hats.

The difficulty in making the last of the eagle cap lies in the fact that it must match the target falcon’s physiological structure data, such as the distance between the eyes, head circumference, length and thickness of the eagle’s beak, etc.

The falcon hat is of precise size and well-made. After it is put on the falcon’s head, it will only feel that it can’t see clearly and will be temporarily plunged into darkness.

If the eagle hat is not the right size, there will be many problems, such as rubbing the beak, rubbing the eyes, and pinching the head, which may cause serious harm to the bird of prey.

Do I have to carve a last out of wood bit by bit? Yue Feng thought to himself with a headache.

A finished last can be used for decades, but it cannot be made in a day or two. It requires repeated proofing, repeated trial wearing, and repeated adjustment of size. If the normal process is followed, by the time the last and the hat are adjusted to the optimal effect, this year’s hunting season will probably be over.

Or, how about a different approach? Try an eagle hat that doesn’t require a last?

Yue Feng pondered for a long time, and thought of a small piece of kraft paper left by the elders that he found when he was looking through the family’s assets for falconry training equipment. Thinking of this, Yue Feng immediately left the north room and went directly to the warehouse to search.

Soon, Yue Feng found the sample of the goldfish-eye eagle hat after searching through it.

This goldfish-eye style eagle hat is a type of eagle hat that has been passed down in China for hundreds of years.

After it is finished, put it on the eagle, and it will look like a goldfish’s head. The two eyes should protrude slightly, leaving enough space for the bird of prey wearing the eagle hat to ensure that its eyes will not be rubbed.

In addition, the eagle hat has a retractable open drawstring at the back of the head, which does not require a strict head circumference for the bird of prey. You only need to adjust the relative position of the eagle’s beak (the hole in the eagle hat that exposes the beak is called the opening) and the eagle’s eye, and the hat can be used. It can be regarded as the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors.

After finding the goldfish-eye screw-turning sample drawing passed down from the older generation, Yue Feng solved the most difficult part of making a hat for the eagle.

You just need to find some larger pieces of paper, use a pen to draw the pattern, and then roughly modify it a few times based on the actual data of the bird of prey. Finally, give it a try, and finally fine-tune it to get the result.

In his previous life, Yue Feng made the hat himself. Many of his friends who raised eagles even offered to buy them at high prices. However, he put this craft aside as he got older.

With the pattern in hand, the next step is to make the leather for the eagle hat. This thing cannot be sloppy, nor can it be made by just cutting a piece from something like a work safety leather shoe.

In his previous life, Yue Feng hand-sewed an eagle hat using imported top-grade vegetable-tanned leather, which was easy to dye, shape and sew. It had many advantages, and the only disadvantage was that it was a bit expensive.

Around the 80s, it was hard to find this kind of vegetable tanned leather in Fengcheng, so people could only settle for the next best thing and look for top-grain cowhide of better quality.

In this era, these supplies are not easy to find. After a little thought, Yue Feng decided to find Li Li, who worked in the supply and marketing cooperative.

The supply and marketing cooperative also sells ready-made clothes and shoes. Since it sells ready-made shoes, it must have connections with shoe factories. If Li Li is willing to help, she might be able to help get the leather for Yue Feng.

After making up his mind, Yue Feng picked up a sharp bone-cutting knife from the kitchen and went straight to the yard.

The roe deer I hunted in the mountains today, apart from gutting and bleeding, haven’t been cleaned yet. I’ll simply clean up and take some roe deer legs and meat with me into the city. I’ll ask Li Li to figure out how to get the cowhide to make an eagle hat.

Thinking of this, Yue Feng immediately took action. As it was related to the follow-up training of the Black Hawk, Yue Feng was very motivated now.

After all, it was a matter of asking for help, so Yue Feng simply unloaded a whole roe deer leg, picked up a few pieces of brown bear meat from the cellar, and rode his bike out of the village and headed straight for the supply and marketing cooperative.

On the other side, the temperature in the supply and marketing cooperative was quite high. Li Li and another colleague were eating melon seeds behind the counter when Yue Feng pushed open the door of the supply and marketing cooperative.

“Brother, you’re here! Are you cold?” Li Li recognized Yue Feng with a hat on at a glance and hurriedly stood up to greet him.

“Sister… I went up the mountain and hunted a roe deer. I happened to be coming into the city, so I brought you a roe deer leg! By the way, didn’t your colleagues and leaders say last time that they liked to eat bear meat? I brought some more, you can share it among them!” Yue Feng naturally put the things in his hand next to the counter.

“Wow! So much meat! How much is it? I’ll give you the money, just consider it as me buying it!” Li Li’s eyes lit up when she saw the meat and roe deer legs that Yue Feng brought into the city, and she said in a false polite manner.

“I went up the mountain to get these things myself, so it doesn’t matter what money I have! Besides, I came back to ask for your emergency help and help!” Yue Feng didn’t waste any time and went straight to the point.

“What’s the matter? Tell me. If it can be done, I will definitely help you find a way!”

“I need to buy some top-grain cowhide of better quality, preferably of the following specifications…”

Yue Feng briefly mentioned the thickness, specifications, and other requirements of the cowhide used to sew the eagle hat.

Before coming here, Yue Feng was unsure.

After all, leather materials were in short supply in this era, and Li Li, a salesperson, might not be able to have a say in the cooperation between the supply and marketing cooperative and the shoe factory.

However, after listening to this, Li Li relaxed her slightly frown.

“That’s it. I thought you were going to ask me to do something for you! It’s a piece of cake! Tell me your request again, I’ll write it down and arrange it for you!”

Yue Feng: “The first layer of cowhide comes in two sizes, thickness…length…” Yue Feng repeated the detailed requirements.

Li Li found a piece of paper from the counter and wrote it down, then carried a portion of bear meat into the door of the office behind the counter.

“Wait for me for a few minutes. I’ll ask the director for leave and then I’ll take you to get some cowhide!”

No more than five minutes later, Li Li came back from behind, holding the bicycle key and waving at Yue Feng: “Follow me!”

Yue Feng followed Li Li out of the supply and marketing cooperative, and only on the way did he understand why Li Li was so confident after listening to Yue Feng’s request.

Her biological father was the director of the logistics department at the raw material warehouse of Fengcheng Leather Shoe Factory. The leather material that Yue Feng used was not large in size and had very low requirements, so just picking up some sample scraps would be enough.

The next thing was simple. Li Li took Yue Yuefeng to Fengcheng Leather Shoe Factory and quickly got the leather they needed.

In addition to cowhide leather, he also gave him a thick stack of lychee-patterned lambskin, calfskin and other leather samples. These were all very small leather scraps, which would be almost waste if used to make shoes. However, this size of leather was definitely more than enough for Yue Feng to use to make eagle hats and eagle equipment.

Now Yue Feng will no longer have to worry about the materials for sewing his own eagle hat.

In less than two hours, the material problem of sewing the eagle hat was solved.

Yue Feng said goodbye contentedly and left, eager to return home.

After laying the groundwork for so long, the protagonist’s main falcon is finally in place!
Regarding the gyrfalcon, I have never seen the real thing, nor have I ever played with it. The subsequent related training is extended from the training experience of hunting falcons. They are all birds of prey of the same family, and their habits are not very different.

The main battle falcon has arrived, and the subsequent updates will definitely focus on it, but I am a little worried that it will be too long and affect the normal advancement of the plot.

Big brothers who have read this, please express your opinion. Should you write as complete details as possible about how to train and how to operate as in the previous part, or should you just briefly mention it and write about other plots of the main hunting plot?

It is best for everyone to give feedback.

My stock of manuscripts is almost exhausted, but I will try my best to update more than 10,000 words. Thank you for your continued follow-up and support.

12000+ updates are presented, salute!
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(End of this chapter)