He trains the young eagle in front of his home. When the eagle lands steadily on his right arm, Haymu rewards it with fresh meat.
He also trains the bird to follow a moving target. An assistant on horseback drags a fox hide through the snow, and the falcon sets off from the old man's right arm to find the target.
The falcon only succeeded to do this four times in two hours, but Haymu was not discouraged. "A young eagle takes time to learn," he said.
Haymu has to be tough when the young eagle becomes wayward, but he has never harmed his birds. "It bit me once. It was wearing a blinder and I was mimicking the sound of a hare. It flew down and jammed its beak into my palm," he said.
The birds are usually kept for around four years before they are released back into the wild so that they can mate.
Haymu does not depend on falconry for a living, but he wants to see the tradition goes on.
In Qinghe, there are 40 eagle-hunters and 40 eagles, said Tuokun, head of the falconers' association.
The average age of falconers is over 50, and both Haymu and Tuokun worry that they might be the last generation that keeps the art alive.
"I have two sons, a driver and a businessman. Neither wants to learn. I am worried that when I die, falconry might die with me," said Tuokun, 60.
【国内英语资讯:Across China: The last Kazakh falconers in China】相关文章:
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2020-09-15
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