Chapter 31: This local hawk is no pushover either

The meal was ready, and Yue Feng personally went to call over Li Wentong’s entire family of four.

The Yue family prepared a generous amount of food, dividing it into two portions: one table for the men to eat, drink, and boast, and another for the women and children. The meal lasted from 11:50 AM until 1:30 PM before the battle finally ended.

Since Yue Lei had an injury on his leg, Yue Feng drank a bit on his father's behalf with the guests.

Since they had things to do in the afternoon, no one drank too much; everyone just had a simple toast with about three *liang* of high-proof white liquor.

Yue Lei also took a great liking to the little spotted pine marten the boy had brought back, so Yue Feng decisively handed it over to his father to tinker with. Still thinking about heading up the mountain to set the nets, the group said their goodbyes after eating and drinking their fill and headed back up the mountain with their hawks perched on their arms.

The first stop was still the small woods by the river. Less than three hours after noon, another hawk had struck a net.

One old *Baimei* (an adult female Eurasian Sparrowhawk) and one purple harrier with a heart-shaped breast. The hanging net that had been silent all morning still hadn't caught anything.

The patterns on the old *Baimei's* breast were completely greyed out, indicating it was quite old. Such old fellows were unruly and had no value for training, so it was released on the spot.

It was worth mentioning that the second harrier caught in the net was actually of decent quality.

This purple harrier was about half a size smaller than Yue Feng's Great Blue Harrier, weighing approximately five and a half *liang* when held in the hand.

Though the hawk wasn't large, it looked very spirited; its body was slender and its wings were very thin. Even without combat experience, one could tell from its physique alone that it was a fast hawk.

The weight was standard, and the size of its talons was slightly smaller than the Great Blue Harrier's, but it would definitely be sufficient for catching prey like flying dragons or sand partridges weighing between half a pound and a pound.

"I was just talking about it this morning, and here comes a hawk! A purple harrier! Xiao Tao, come lend a hand and get the hawk dressed first!"

Yue Feng called out and took out the two sets of harrier gear that Yue Lei had prepared at home from his satchel.

After securing the jesses, Yue Feng took out the cotton hoods used to tighten the hawks from his pocket. He wrapped both arms into the small hood, circled the bottom edge, and tightened it, completely binding the little harrier.

"Don't stuff this little purple harrier in the satchel. You three take turns handling it this afternoon! Consider it early training to get it used to you! Xiao Tao, you go first!" Yue Feng handed the tightly hooded hawk directly to Xiao Tao.

The previous Great Blue Harrier was a bit awkward to hold because of its size, but this purple harrier felt just right in the hand.

The hawk hunting team had officially caught their second proper working hawk.

Once the hawk was sorted, Yue Feng re-hung the nets, checked the decoys to ensure they hadn't dried out, and then led the group back up the mountain.

They climbed up the ridge from the gentle slope of Erjia Gully again, but this time Yue Feng didn't linger on this ridge. He led the three boys across a steeper ridge to reach a second hunting ground.

For the next three hours, the group entered "combat flight training mode" under Yue Feng's guidance. The Great Blue Harrier, acting as the instructor hawk, was passed between the three boys, launching attack after attack toward distant prey.

In truth, once the entire process and its details were mastered, flying a young hawk wasn't particularly difficult. As they accumulated combat training experience, the three boys' techniques gradually became more seasoned.

The afternoon's hawk flying yielded good results. While training the students, Yue Feng also caught six flying dragons and three sand partridges.

Before they knew it, evening had arrived. Before the sun set, wild hawks have a window for hunting; the early morning and late evening periods actually have a higher probability of hawks descending than midday.

Since they were coming down from the mountain, the first net Yue Feng checked was the one near the southern edge of the woods, which had yielded nothing all day.

This time, even from dozens of meters away, Yue Feng noticed the loop of the net had been triggered, and he immediately sprinted toward it.

A tawny harrier, having struggled incessantly after hitting the net, had become tangled in the lines like a twisted braid. The hawk was currently curled on the ground, its beak gaping in terror and its tongue protruding.

Yue Feng knew this was due to exhaustion and dehydration from the violent struggling in the net. He decisively took a water bottle from his satchel to give the hawk some water before slowly removing the netting from its body.

Compared to the purple harrier caught at noon, this tawny harrier had no notable aesthetic features.

Its feathers were a dull earthy yellow, the patterns on its chest were somewhat messy, its wings weren't particularly thin, and the muscle on its chest was not as thick as that of the Great Blue Harrier or the purple harrier.

Seeing me constantly describing different hawk qualities, some might wonder: can these differences in feather color and body details really determine their combat ability?

To answer responsibly: the accuracy is as high as 85%.

How to explain the logic behind this?

It is actually quite simple. Judging a hawk by its feather color system represents different breeding grounds. Different breeding grounds may result in subspecies differences, which directly affect performance in actual hunting.

For example, a Goshawk breeding locally in the Northeast, regardless of whether it is male or female, mostly has a coat of deep red feathers in its sub-adult stage, with females generally weighing between two and two and a half *jin*.

However, if the breeding ground moves further north to the Siberian region, the Goshawks breeding there have a light-colored feather system with a straw-white base. Females from that region start at a weight of two and a half *jin*, and occasionally, larger ones can even exceed three *jin*.

To be even more detailed, different breeding grounds mean different wild hunting environments for the raptors. Some hawk chicks grow up eating sparrows, mice, and toads, while others grow up eating doves, sand partridges, and flying dragons. When they leave the nest and follow their parents to learn how to hunt, the prey they encounter differs.

Yue Feng felt that this tawny harrier was likely a local native from the nearby pine forests. It had no obvious advantages, but since there were no other options for selection at the moment, he wasn't in a hurry to release it; he would tighten it up and keep it for now.

He thought it was just an ordinary specimen, but a reversal came quickly.

As Yue Feng prepared to put the hood on the hawk, several differently colored feather patterns on the harrier's abdomen caught his eye.

Having made a new discovery, Yue Feng inspected the abdominal feathers of the harrier and then checked its tail feathers.

"Not bad, not bad. I thought it was just an ordinary hawk, but it turns out this one isn't a pushover either," Yue Feng muttered to himself excitedly.

"Brother Feng, what's wrong? How can you tell this hawk isn't a pushover just by looking?" Xiaowu couldn't stand the curiosity any longer and couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, Brother Feng, just a moment ago your expression was somewhat dismissive, how did your evaluation change so suddenly!" Xiao Tao also leaned in to ask.