Chapter 16: The Possibility of Using a Great Goshawk to Catch a Sable

He bled the bird, gripping the chicken's wings and thighs with both hands and slightly leaning his body back, allowing the Great Blue Sparrowhawk to tear away.

The hawk was quite clever; since the chicken's skin was thick and difficult to tear elsewhere, it shifted its feeding position to the area near the bleeding carotid artery.

Chicken blood stained the hawk's head and face, but Yue Feng did not intervene, letting the hawk continue its feast.

By the time the hawk's crop bulged high and it was completely satiated, its entire chest, head, and face were drenched in bright red chicken blood. The sight of the blood splattered everywhere was, at first glance, quite gruesome and terrifying!

After this battle, the Great Blue Sparrowhawk had undergone a complete transformation. Standing on Yue Feng's arm, full and satisfied, its two hawk legs were braced diagonally outward, its stance wide by more than three fingers, and its eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

Yue Feng held the hawk for a few more minutes of rest, then, with the hawk perched on his right arm and a wild chicken held in his left hand, he began walking toward the foot of the mountain.

On this small hawk hunt, Yue Feng had brought home a total of 18 chicks plus one large wild chicken. Although he hadn't broken his hunting record from his previous life, Yue Feng was still very happy.

On the way down the mountain, with the hawk on his right arm and the wild chicken in his left hand, Yue Feng hummed a little tune, feeling quite relaxed.

However, this relaxed mood lasted only a short while before being completely shattered.

On the main road leading into the village—the village's "intelligence headquarters" located at the local convenience store—a group of village old women had gathered again.

Should he take the small path through the fields outside the village to get home instead?

Just as Yue Feng was hesitating, he saw a woman from a distance, wearing a large red flower in her hair, waving incessantly at him.

This woman, surnamed Chen, was a widow. Her husband had died when she was in her early thirties, and she had never remarried. She loved to gossip; there was no village news, no matter how small, that she didn't know. She was nicknamed the "Flower of Xing'an," and even the Brigade Secretary had to give her some leeway.

If the Xing'an Village Intelligence Department were to elect a chief, Widow Chen would undoubtedly take the position without contest.

Well, since he had been spotted, there was no point in taking a detour.

Yue Feng gritted his teeth, kept the hawk on his arm, and strode forward.

"Yue family's second boy, were you up the mountain with your hawk? And you even caught a big rooster?"

"That's right, Auntie Chen! I got lucky and found a wild chicken on the mountain! Are you all chatting here?"

"This little hawk is quite something, being able to catch such a big wild chicken! Your parents will have quite a feast today!"

"It's alright. My dad's leg hasn't healed yet, so I'm giving him some extra nutrition! You all keep chatting, I'll head back first!" After a few pleasantries, Yue Feng hurried toward his house.

Once Yue Feng's silhouette had faded into the distance, another woman in the crowd named Wang Meilan curled her lip and said snidely, "Perching a little hawk just to catch a bird and calling it a wild chicken—you're only fooling the few of you who don't know better! I bet ninety-nine percent that this wild chicken was caught in someone's trap on the mountain!

The Yue family's second boy looks polite, but he's a bad seed at heart! Look at the blood on that little hawk's chest—it's as plain as day!"

Wang Meilan's family had always been at odds with Yue Feng's. Her husband, Liu Changfu, was in the same production team as Yue Feng's family. The two families had once come to blows over a private vegetable garden; even after Yue Lei took a step back, the other side wouldn't let it go, resulting in Yue Lei losing his temper and giving Liu Changfu and his son a beating, which only ended after being brought to the Brigade.

Hearing Wang Meilan say this, the crowd fell silent for a moment.

Although the Yue family lived in a detached house without many relatives in the village, both Yue Lei and Meng Yulan were hardworking, honest, and kind-hearted people, and they had always maintained a good reputation among the villagers.

Seeing the atmosphere turn awkward, the convenience store owner, Li Yinhua, chimed in, "The boy didn't say the hawk caught it; he said he found it on the mountain! There are rules for setting traps on the mountain—mountain wealth shouldn't be monopolized. For small mountain goods like wild chickens, whoever finds it, it's theirs!"

Widow Chen also added, "I've heard of those mountain rules too; it's true. The Yue boy is quite filial! But going up the mountain alone with just a little hawk, it's hard to catch anything big! He probably just got lucky today!

I'm telling you, Ma the Third from Fang'an is a real master at mountain hunting. Last autumn, he brought me a wild boar leg, and my daughter and I ate it for nearly half a month!"

...

While all the backbiting was happening at the village's intelligence headquarters, Yue Feng had already returned home with his hawk.

His father, Yue Lei, was currently exercising in the courtyard with a cane. Seeing his son return, he immediately put down what he was doing and went to meet him.

"Dad, I'm back!"

"Oh, you even found such a big wild rooster?" Yue Lei's first reaction was also that the chicken had been found.

Yue Feng grinned and shook his head. "This chicken wasn't just found! The sparrowhawk was chasing a sand-chicken, and a big rooster popped up nearby. Before it could fly even ten meters, it was taken down!

This hawk is brave! It grabbed the rooster's head with both talons, and while the chicken was stunned, the hawk pecked out one of its eyes! I bled the chicken on the spot and let the hawk have a proper feast!"

"This sparrowhawk dares to go after a big rooster? That's certainly worth training properly!" Yue Lei knew his son didn't like to brag, so although he was somewhat surprised, he believed him.

Yue Feng nodded. "Yeah, in a while, when the mountain grass has withered, I'll take this Great Blue Sparrowhawk to try for some gray squirrels! If the hawk can handle them steadily, once the snow falls, we can even try for sable using its scent!"

"Gray squirrels" referred to squirrels. Their numbers in the red pine forests were quite high now, and both their fur and meat were valuable. As for sable, it went without saying—it was the most famous of the "Three Treasures of the Northeast."

A high-quality squirrel pelt in autumn or winter was worth at least 8 to 10 yuan. A sable pelt, however, was at least twenty to thirty times more expensive, starting at around two or three hundred yuan. If it was a large male with top-tier fur, the price would be even higher; in a good market, it could sell for several hundred or even over a thousand.

These were highly sought-after goods used for foreign exchange, and the supply and marketing cooperatives had annual quotas to purchase them.

Hearing his son mention using a hawk to catch sable, Yue Lei's eyes instantly lit up.

The more sought-after the fur, the higher the requirement for the perfection of the pelt. In this regard, the advantage of hawk hunting was extremely obvious.

Whether using a slingshot, an air rifle, a small-caliber rifle, or a shotgun loaded with sand, the fur would inevitably suffer noticeable damage, dropping the quality by at least one grade—unless you were a marksman who could hit the prey's head with every single shot.

Even if caught with a trap or a snare, there would be slight damage around the neck and chest, lowering the pelt quality by half a grade.

The very best pelts were always obtained by either dropping the prey or drowning it while it was still alive, then skinning it while it was still warm.

Using a hawk to catch squirrels or sable wasn't actually that simple. Squirrels were easier because they were smaller and not too fierce; as long as the hawk was brave, the success rate was quite high.

However, sable were a size larger than squirrels and were themselves predators of the mustelid family. Trying to catch them with a hawk was much more difficult.

(End of Chapter)