bookrebus Chapter 348 Taming and Releasing the Eagle
Chapter 348 Taming and Releasing the Eagle
Li Ju'an circled around the area.
Three days ago, he meticulously set up traps and wire snares in this nearby area, eagerly anticipating the harvest. Now, he should be able to run around in them.
All around, eight snares, cleverly woven from wire, lay in wait, but they only managed to capture one nimble jumping cat. The cat's neck was stuck in the snare; the more it struggled, the tighter it became. Now it lay limp and disheveled, its fur all ruffled.
Upon seeing this, Chen Xiangqian exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Li, with all those traps you set, you only managed to catch one rabbit after using eight snares. That's a bit of a loss."
Li Ju'an gently kicked the mark on the ground, the drag mark of the wire loop that had been pulled away, his eyes carrying a deeper meaning: "There wasn't just one in the loop, there's only one left."
There were no animal footprints or human footprints around, but the spot where the trap was set had vanished into thin air.
Chen Xiangqian felt strange, a chill ran through him, and goosebumps rose on his arms.
He rubbed the hairs that were standing on end and exclaimed in panic, "That can't be right! Could it be that we've been caught by a fox spirit? Has the fox spirit appeared to us?"
There are often tales of weasel spirits and fox spirits in the mountains. The elderly are very superstitious, so hunters have a few taboos when entering the mountains: they must not hunt weasels or fox spirits, and they must also pay homage to the mountain god.
Li Ju'an said, "It wasn't a miracle; a bird carried it away."
This wasn't the first or second time the mother eagle had snatched her prey. He was furious before, and even confronted her under the big red pine tree. Now, having raided the eagle's nest and taken out its two sub-adult eaglets, he's been training them daily, and he feels quite justified in his actions.
These days, bird dealers are acting guilty, but he's not really a bird dealer; it's actually this mother eagle who steals things every day and uses her chicks to pay off her debts.
Li Ju'an remained calm while training the eagle. Even when he made eye contact with the mother eagle, he felt no guilt.
He skillfully skinned the rabbit, carefully separated the rabbit meat, and meticulously selected a small piece of breast meat, wrapping it in the soft rabbit fur. Then he gently tied it with thin hemp rope, making the knot both sturdy and unique.
He unfastened the eagle leg chain from his arm and let out a long whistle, a silent call between him and the eagles. In an instant, the two eagles, one large and one small, seemed to hear the battle cry. They spread their wings and soared into the sky against the biting mountain wind, their high-pitched and sharp cries piercing the air and echoing through the valley.
Chen Xiangqian was so surprised by this scene that his mouth dropped open. He exclaimed sincerely, "They are so majestic and incredibly handsome!" However, amidst his admiration, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy: Could there really be any problems with these two eagles soaring freely in the sky?
Did those two eagles just take to the sky like that? Have they gained their freedom?
What if the eagle doesn't fly back?
Chen Xiangqian shouted anxiously, "Brother Li, what if the eagle doesn't fly back? You'll have really lost it. It'll become a wandering eagle."
Among hunting dogs there are slippery dogs, and among falcons there are wandering eagles that disappear as they fly away.
Li Ju'an's laughter was as cheerful as the wind, echoing in the sky above the hunting grounds. He shouted, "Don't worry, these two eagles are still small, their wings are not fully grown, they can't fly very high." After saying that, he faced the whistling west wind, nimbly flipped over, and sat steadily on the broad back of the chestnut horse.
He gripped the thin hemp rope tightly in one hand and the reins in the other, controlling the pace of his horse. With a light but firm squeeze of his heel against the horse's belly, the chestnut horse sensed the hunter's urgency and, in pain, burst forth with astonishing speed, its hooves flying as it dragged the carefully prepared bait, leaving trails of speed across the grassland.
The art of falconry lies in tempering its temperament and cultivating its will, so that it can soar through the skies and hunt with precision. To this end, the falconer carefully wraps fresh meat in the soft fur of a fox or rabbit as bait, while he himself mounts a fine horse and leads this chase game between the air and the ground.
Then, the hunter devised another plan: he released lively, live rabbits, allowing the falcon to chase them with its wings. Each successful catch was rewarded with a sumptuous meal. Day after day, the falcon gradually integrated itself into this unique "survival philosophy."
At this moment, Li Ju'an is training eagles.
In the air, two eagles circled, when suddenly they saw a horse moving rapidly, with rabbit meat trailing behind it and rabbit pelts moving at breakneck speed. The eagles genuinely thought it was a rabbit running on the ground.
The rich, pungent aroma of rabbit blood permeated the air, like an invisible temptation, tantalizing the sensitive nerves of the eagles and making them almost boil with excitement. The competition between the two eagles was about to erupt; their eyes gleamed with the instinctive light of hunting as they swooped down, vying to be the first to swoop down.
Two eagles raced forward, aiming at the bait being dragged by a horse on the ground, and then swooped down to hunt.
At this point, Li Ju'an's commands began to change, issuing the order to hunt. After a long period of repeated training, the falcon not only submitted to its trainer but also understood human speech and obeyed commands. For example, the call to return and the order to attack.
Chen Xiangqian watched as two majestic eagles suddenly swooped down behind the horse, snatched the bait with their sharp talons without giving way, and then soared away again.
During their high-flying flight, eagles pecked at the flesh of rabbits they had torn apart, engaging in a fierce aerial battle. Claws and beaks clashed, each strike precise and deadly, the laws of nature displayed in their most primal form in the air.
The rabbit's skin and flesh were quickly stripped away by the fierce pecking and tearing. Almost before the thin rope was completely off the ground, the rabbit's body was dismembered, leaving only a lonely piece of fur hanging in the air.
The two eagles devoured the rabbit meat meticulously, leaving not a single shred of flesh, only the bare skin.
Upon witnessing this scene, Chen Xiangqian was speechless and exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "Damn, they are extremely fierce! With such a ferocious appearance, even a thug could be caught."
Seeing this, Li Ju'an was secretly delighted, as his first attempt at eagle training had yielded initial success.
He tightened the reins at the right moment, bringing the horse to a slow stop. Then, he called to the nearby hunting dogs, and they searched the vast forest for their next target: a live jumping cat.
This time, he doesn't want the trapped cat; he wants the live one.
As the first incense stick to be lit, Da Hu quickly found a rabbit hole. But Li Ju'an knew that a cunning rabbit has multiple burrows. With such a commotion, the rabbit certainly wouldn't come out of this hole.
He called to Da Hu and told him to keep searching. Soon, four or five burrows were found nearby, all containing rabbit footprints.
Li Ju'an took out five small clips from his cloth bag, which could be used to catch jumping cats. He set up the clips at the cave entrance, then pulled Chen Xiangqian a little further away, lit a campfire, and simply started roasting their dry rations to heat them up, chatting as they waited.