13Dtraining of the hawk 3.
Hawks never pursue game unless they are hungry. So you
have to restrict your hawkfs food and remove its fat as you train it to be a
hunter.
First of all, you donft feed your hawk for 20 days,
and give it a bowlful of meat (about 200 gram). Then for 10 days, your hawk
must go without food again and can eat the same amount of meat. Next for 7 days
it cannot eat anything yet again, and can get a little meat. Then 5 days, 3
days~. Your hawk has to repeat fasting several times to the brink of
starvation. Be careful not to starve your hawk to death. Hawks never lose their
fortitude in the face of death, so you have to watch it closely all the time.
If the voice of your hawk becomes husky or the inside of its mouth turns white
and the droppings turn green, your hawk is surely in a dangerous condition. You
must not go that far. Fasting is very dangerous, so you cannot be too careful
of your hawkfs condition.
The weight of the hawk becomes nearly two-thirds compared
with last summer. It may seem cruel to force such a severe fasting to the hawk.
But if you love your hawk and your hawk trusts you, itfs all right. Dealing
with your hawk severely, a sense of unity develops between the two. And only
this relationship makes you possible to hunt successfully.
After the training and fasting that I have told about, the falconer and
hawk go into snow-covered mountains together for hunting. In the snow the
game can be found easily and the falconer can walk freely. Also, in the
mountains where the bushes are covered with snow and trees dropped the
leaves, the hawk can easily pursue game running away on the ground. Snow-covered
mountains are the best stage for falconry. But even with best conditions,
if there is no game you cannot catch anything. So falconers have to know
well about the habits of living things in the mountains. And it goes without
saying that itfs very dangerous to go into the snowy mountains. Falconers
need to know geographical features of the mountains and to have ability
to forecast the weather. Even if the hawk is well trained and in good condition
for hunting, you must not go into the mountains without those knowledge
and ability.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Matsubara Hidetoshi
