Last night, Lin Yang started a live stream and chatted with his fans by the campfire until midnight before securing Little White’s hood and placing him on the perch.
Throughout the night, he repeatedly offered water to Little White to boost his digestion and metabolism.
Before dawn the next day, after just over four hours of sleep, Lin Yang got up early from his sleeping bag, collected the Feather Core spat up by Little White, and then continued to perch him outside.
As dawn broke, Little White had completely relaxed in his hands.
Intensive perching, watering, and passing the Feather Core made Little White ravenous. When a flock of unidentified birds flew past the distant lakeside during the perching, Little White’s head feathers fluffed up, and he bobbed his head eagerly, bursting with anticipation.
Seeing this, Lin Yang felt more confident. In falconry terms, this is called "tipping the hood off."
What is "tipping the hood off"? Simply put, it specifically refers to a kind of hunting desire in falcons, dominated by hunger but distinct from mere hunger—
It is a state of hunting and predation that arises from being extremely hungry yet having relatively high energy reserves. Whether it involves watering, perching, or passing the Feather Core, these are all ways to enhance the falcon’s predatory state.
Seeing that Little White was in the right state, Lin Yang relaxed a lot. After another session of watering, he started the live stream, came to the wide area in front of the log cabin, and casually placed the falcon on the perch.
Having spent several days during the day with the falcon on this wooden perch, Little White had grown quite accustomed to it. Upon perching, he shifted from standing to a squatting posture, making his fur puff up and looking exceptionally dazed and adorable.
However, Lin Yang was in for a big play today; after placing the falcon down, he didn’t use the five-foot rope to secure it at all. There were only two less than twenty-centimeter split leashes on Little White’s legs.
"Brothers, good morning. It’s a new day, and I’ll continue to live stream old-school falconry. Today’s lesson involves line pinching and lure training. The star Little White is still in the usual spot, only this time, the restrains on his legs have been mostly removed, leaving only the shortest split leashes."
Lin Yang briefly greeted his viewers, then gave Little White a close-up.
The camera finally focused on Little White’s claws, which indeed, today’s split leashes weren’t connected to the five-foot rope. In other words, Little White was completely free and could fly away any moment, leaving his control forever.
"What? No five-foot tether?"
"Isn’t that a bit risky? What if he flies off and never returns?"
"Seeing Little White squatting on the wooden post, he seems quite stable. Since the host dared to do this, he must be confident. Let’s pray all goes well."
"It’s starting, it’s starting, the coolest line pinching has started. Success or failure depends on this moment. Excited."
Lin Yang smiled and said, "We’ve done what we need to do. If Little White really flies away, that would just show that our skills weren’t up to the mark. Enough talk, let’s begin the training while the weather’s good and there’s no wind."
"Now, let’s first move to a distance of fifty meters."
He greeted as he walked briskly forward, and without receiving any whistle or lure commands, Little White obediently squatted on the wooden post, watching Lin Yang walk farther and farther away.
Upon reaching a position about fifty meters away, he placed his handheld livestreaming device beside him.
The most sensitive phase of flight training: drones were risky to use as they could easily provoke an attack from Little White.
"Distance reached, next step, expose the lure, blow the whistle."
Lin Yang called out, then twisted his body to pull out the lure from under his arm and exposed it in his right hand, blowing the whistle immediately afterward.
Despite appearing motionless, Little White kept his attention on him. Seeing the lure exposed, his head quickly bobbed up and down. Hearing the whistle, he flew straight towards Lin Yang without hesitation.
The effect of being completely off the safety leash made the fifty-meter distance vanish instantly.
As Little White flew close, the lure Lin Yang held was quickly released upward, and the rope he held swung to the side using the momentum.
According to previous training, Little White should have grabbed the lure and landed on it to eat the meat, but this time, he deliberately swung it into the air.
The rope on the lure was only about a meter long. Missing it, Little White immediately adjusted his flying posture and soared upward, similar to how he would turn back after hitting prey in the wild, readjusting his stance to attack the lure again.
And Lin Yang, faced with Little White’s second attack, repeated the trick, swinging the lure again causing Little White to miss once more.
Though it sounds complicated, the viewers saw a stunning display.
Lin Yang seemed to be playing a game with Little White, using the lure to attract attacks repeatedly. Like a butterfly fluttering up and down, Little White dived back and forth within a few dozen meters, launching attack after attack.
In the first round of lure-training, Lin Yang didn’t get too greedy; after about ten or so swings, he deliberately hesitated a beat.
Little White caught the lure accurately, and Lin Yang let go, allowing Little White to land with the lure.
At that moment, Lin Yang stood still, continuing to blow the whistle, while Little White, standing on the lure, looked up and started cawing loudly.
The sound was much like that of a young bird begging its parent for food, as if saying, "I’ve caught the lure, give me something to eat, I want meat."
Lin Yang took a piece of rabbit leg meat, about two liang, from his back pocket, whistled, and slowly crouched down.