Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! Today's post is an entry for the amazing @keithboone and his #featheredfriday challenge. Even though it isn't Friday yet.
I was reading an article about a nomadic people in Mongolia, they are the Altai Kazakh of Western Mongolia, high up in the mountains. They've used Golden Eagles and also falcons to hunt for food and clothing in the form of mostly rabbits, fox and wolves but wolves are the highly sought after prize.
This has been a centuries old tradition for their people but has only recently been discovered by the outside world and Westerners. Now they hold an annual festival where the hunters, and huntresses, compete in competition with their eagle hunting partners.
The Kazakh people grow up with these majestic birds of prey, both falcons and eagles. They capture the birds when they are very young and still in their nests. Usually this means they have to scale cliffs in order to reach the nests, then the birds are raised as part of the family.
They don't keep the birds for the bird's entire lives though, because they believe the birds should be free so they set them free after some years, some as long as ten years.
I was astounded when I saw the amazing photos of the Kazakh people and their birds. Here are just a few of them starting with three different huntresses.
Here are a few scenes from the annual Mongolian Eagle Hunters Festival:
Here's a young hunter-in-training, notice the falcon to the left, they start the little kids out with the smaller birds:
Here are just some random photos:
Thanks for reading folks! I could go on with dozens of fascinating photos that I found and I hope you enjoyed these selected few. It's a world and lifestyle that most of us didn't even know existed!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:
Your parakeet knows the phrase "Open up; police!"
You're moving up in the steem world Lord Janton! 64 rep, $10+ post payouts, must be a relief now all that hard work and research is paying off! Soon you'll have a Mongolian come over and inaugurate you with a Golden Eagle and a prize at the next festival :)
Something a little different from you here, a man of many talents, true redneck historian! See I can be nice ;)
haha! well sir, I used to do a wide variety of topics including alot of nutrition and recipes but it was always a big hassle to find a different topic to talk about each day. Like today, I have no idea what to post about or if I can even get one out today. The series make it much easier because obviously I don't have to search for a topic. But if I wasn't trying to place high in the engagement league then it would be easy, the way it is I spend all my time commenting when I'd like to be researching and posting.
But, if I was big enough, it would be even more fun to just comment and not have to worry about posting, that's the true laziness coming out! lol.
As far as the pay outs, no, unless I buy votes the pay outs are under $2.00! lol. so my account hasn't grown in that area at all. I'm still stuck there. But I would love to experience the Mongolian eagle hunts! wow.
I love your different topics! The Amish one and this one is excellent. Variety is the spice of live young Jonboy! 😀
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haha! thank you sir blanchy. yeah there is a place for this variety but I also like my specialty and people are asking me where the Western stories are? lol. I like both but it's nice to have a niche. I'll try to do both.
That is so fascinating. The photos that you found are marvelous. I had read a book a while back where the heroine was the head of lumber crews and they had a huge problem with men getting bitten by snakes. She knew of those eagles and arranged to acquire one for herself and she got a lot of attention from the men when she walked around with the eagle on her arm.
Howdy Melinda! yes, I was blown away by the photos I saw. It's a whole nother world like stepping back in time!
That's a great story about the lady with the eagle, yeah that would get alot of attention!
The woman was rough and tough... Keeping all those Lumberjacks in line, and riding around with an eagle made her appear even tougher!
Thanks so much for taking all the time to choose the Engagement Contest winners! I really appreciate it. I'm already thinking about doing another one, and would love input from you on an efficient way to set it up and judge it. There's got to be a way to make it work.
Howdy tonight Melinda! I'm finally back and trying to make up some ground tonight. My pleasure to help with the contest! It was a great idea. What would the next one be? You already are doing the shadow contest.
I want to keep promoting engagement. Maybe something similar but with different rules and different criteria for choosing the winner
Talk about a really rich culture
Howdy empress! Yes Ma'am it is nothing like I've ever seen before!
Are you posting again? shoot, I keep forgetting to check because I
got used to you being gone!
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Howdy there esteemapp! Thank you so much for the upvote and for your excellent platform!
@janton see if you can get the photographers name. I would love to see more of their work. When I click any of the sources I am taken to pinterest with no access.. has like a covering .. thanks!
Howdy rebeccabe! well I only used a couple of pinterest photos and the other source links should take you to the pages, at least it does on my computer but here are a couple of great links and the photos were so amazing, at least to me, that I'll probably do another post. Pinterest has tons of photos, I just go to pinterest.com and put in Mongolian eagle hunters. I don\t know what the cover thing is, I don't think I'm signed up with them at least I don't have an account.
see if these work:
http://www.cakeimages.co/mongolian-eagle-hunters-festival/
https://www.history101.com/mongolian-eagle-hunters/2/
What a great find. thanks for sharing some links.. I love these photos.
yes Ma'am they are truly inspiring to me also. So much so that I'll be doing more of them. The hardest part is not putting a hundred photos on! lol. So glad you enjoyed them.
What a fantastic set of photos! I love tradition that has held through the ages and for these people, I can imagine that not much has changed since the dawn of time <3
Howdy tamaralovelace! Thank you so much, I was totally blown away by what I saw, especially that last photo where they stand on the edge of a jagged rock cliff and send their birds out! I was also impressed by how many girls and women huntresses there are.
I think I'll be doing another post and talk about the mix of ancient and modern culture. Because the kids have their cell phones and go to school in towns but then go back to their nomadic lifestyle in tents on the weekends and go on hunts with their eagles! Not your normal teenagers!
Great idea! I would be interested in hearing more about it.
howdy again tamarlovelace! Thank you, I am too, I'll see what I can dig up.
Is it spring there? so the gardening work has begun in earnest?
Such an awesome post and back when I travelled I always wanted to go there and see the Eagle hunters, but never made it there
howdy JJ! oh, you traveled overseas in that direction too? Wow, I never even knew about such things until recently, I mean the hunting with eagles. I saw a couple of videos showing the kills though, not for the faint hearted or vegans but that's nature.
Hard to believe that they can take out wolves but the video I saw showed one knocking the wolf down and then another was right there to help.
Indeed they are pretty amazing what they can attack, I never made it to Mongolia, even though I have a couple of colleagues from there who would have arranged everything for me, and I have been to a lot of places over 60 countries
holy cow! 60 countries! Were you taking lots of pictures then? I mean it sounds like you have tons of posting material there!
Sadly noo most of that time was in the period I wasn't into photography, just a few countries near the end of my travelling days
oh rats! You could have had years of posting material! lol.
You could take us to a different country every wednesdaywalk!
yeah I have to admit it does frustrate me I never was into photography then, would have made for many interesting posts
but I do have some photos from some places such as the taxi crew in Uganda one day :)
Wow....!!
Absolutely Fantastic photos
@janton
The Raptors, people and landscape
Wow... Most beautiful.
:D
howdy annephilbrick! aren't they stunning? there were so many breath-taking photos that I wanted to use! I'll probably do another post because the whole story is so interesting and it's like something out of the ancient past!
Hello..!!!
@janton
Very Stunning....!!!!
Another post we be awesome..
The people and their attire most beautiful ...
howdy again tonight annephilbrick! Oh I know, I was so astounded. lol. Some of the people were wearing furs from their boots to their hats! I mean, some people will have a problem with the furs and them killing even if it's for food and clothing but that's been their way of life for who knows how long.
Interesting titbit about the Mongolian people. Absolutely beautiful pictures.
howdy sir Vincent! Have you ever been over that way? It looks like something you would do. You know, climb a mountain and let the eagle go get some fresh food!
What!? me climb a mountain? haha... that will be the day.
I am more the - good book, nice drink by the pool or beach - kind of person.
haha! yeah me too actually. I'd like to be able to climb a mountain but I don't know. Depends on how much time I had! lol.
You got a 15.78% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @janton! :)
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Howdy there ocdb! Thank you for the upvote and all you do to help us Steemians! God bless you!
That's a terrific post, welcome to FeatheredFriday! Two weeks in a row! :-) EXcellent photos you found. Isn't that amazing to see? What a way of life. It just proves never hunt with a Falcon... Go big or go home!
Voted & resteemed. Here's my hunting buddy... and her bird.
haha! oh my gosh you would have to show me up with an unbelievable eagle hunter shot! lol. That is fabulous, where is that taken at? Yeah, I was totally amazed to find out about those hunting eagles. I watched one of the videos of them taking out a wolf, amazing. A whole different world those people live in.
I shot the eagle and the girl in Duncan, BC at the Raptor Centre. I shot the moon through my window and then I stuck the two photos together in Photoshop. So it's a kind of a fake, but based on my photos :-)
Oh wow sir Keith, it's a fabulous fake! lol. Yeah they might not even hunt at night, I don't know but the effects of the two together was phenomenal!
By the way, can you tell if something is photoshopped?
Took me forever to make this... many hours, I'm not kidding. There are people who can do a much better job than me. The trick is always to zoom in as close as possible and you can see where things are merged together. It shows in places on my shot I'm sure. Probably around the edges of the girls hair
Wow that is amazing sir keith, I had no idea. Someday they'll the technology to be an automatic process I'm sure, but that is very interesting.
The software gets better all the time. I should call this Digital Art instead of "fake photo".
This is such an amazing scene, well done @janton📸😎
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howdy there photocircle! Yes I was astounded by the beauty of the photos and the majesty of the eagles. Thanks so much for commenting!
You're welcome @janton🥂😊
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The photos, and birds, and hunters are really incredible! So is it Mongolia or Kazakhstan?
Falcons in Ukraine are under protection of the law but are often being hunted themselves. One of the reason - bird catchers sell them to the arabian world, they are very popular there (in a decert) as a security guides for Emir (sounds funny). And guess what they do there? These birds are trained to hunt drones. Falcons are very good in it.
How much the world changed
howdy today zirochka! oh how interesting! yes these are in Mongolia. But how interesting about the falcons being trained to hunt drones! what do they do when they locate the drones? That's amazing and I'm sorry they are taking your falcons though, that's bad. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
Falcons are predators that used to catch their prey on the fly. I think they are trained to catch drones in the air, and then... no idea )) Bring them down to the master )) But this story we heard from the director of a big forest Nature Reserve on the north of Ukraine. And I have a feeling that he keeps his eye on every animal there :)
Thank you for the interesting post and ... I start thinking about visiting Mongolia one day. I'd like to see this exciting show!
howdy again zirochka! yes it would be so exciting to see such a show and what great posting material! lol. I think they had about a thousand visitors in the last hunters rally or gathering so it is growing every year. Thank you so much for the information on the falcons, you should do a post about that! At least if you can find enough information out about it!
Hmm.... I'll think about
howdy again zirochka! Well yeah if that's not a good area for you just let me know and I'll put it on my list of things to investigate!
Oh, it's okay, I like learning new things. And seems to have spare time for that :)
So Beautiful
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Howdy today on this fine Friday samaras221! Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
Hi, @janton!
You just got a 9.42% upvote from SteemPlus!
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howdy steem-plus and thank you so much for the upvote and all you are doing to help us steemians!
What a fascinating post @janton! We went to a Raptor rescue centre last year where injured raptors and large birds of prey are rehabilitated, you may enjoy this old POST The falconers certainly are an interesting bunch of people!
howdy lizelle! oh man, that is a fabulous post! I loved that, it's a wonderful center and the work they are doing to help and save those birds. I really liked the video too, thank you so much! How far away is that place from you? it would be a great place to recommend to guests.
That one is too far away (3 hours) but there's a similar centre about a 30 min drive from us. Some of our guests have been there and really enjoyed it. I find it fascinating that the falconers hunt with them, your post is fabulous @janton!
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howdy again lizelle! yes Ma'am well it was such an interesting discovery for me and I found so many breath-taking photos that I will be doing more on that subject!
Very fascinating i have read about this before they are truly dedicated to there big birds and they really work well together :)
Howdy sir hangin! well as a world traveler I'm surprised you haven't been there to do it yourself! Wouldn't that make some great posts! lol.
It is a awesome place there are so many other places i like to go in this world and hopefully one day i can be there it is one place on my bucket list you never know :)
howdy tonight sir hangin! yes sir I know, but can you climb up a mountain with those hunters if you need to?
Hey they don't call me Vin for no reason....haha :)
haha! ok then you shouldn't have any problems sir hangin, go get em!
Love to and will do if i do get there in my travels :)
Wow! Those are amazing! So beautiful! And how lucky are you to get to see it!
howdy today goat-girlz! Well I didn't see it in person I just found alot of articles online about it and in fact Pinterest had tons of great pictures. thank you for reading and for the kind words!
I guess I missed that part! I was trying to read your post with a cat walking around in circles on my lap. Apparently it lowers my reading comprehension a bit!
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haha! that's totally fine and understandable. lol. I WISH I had been there in person, I think they had a thousand visitors on the last round up so it's growing every year. Cats are great, I love cats.
I love them too, but one of mine is going for all time most annoying mammal! He won't just curl up in my lap like a normal person. Has to go around in circles and headbutt my teacup. Morning isn't complete unless mom is scalded!
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haha! oh I guess that's not funny is it? sorry that he's such a pain, he sounds very very demanding! Then later he calms down?
Oh yes. Now he's sleeping on my clean laundry!
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Good morning Cowboy! Great photos you found. It would be amazing to have an eagle or falcon as a pet.
Howdy today redheadpei! yes, wouldn't that be amazing? I wonder how much work that would take? probably a heck of a lot but it would be interesting to watch them catch critters around here!
Wonderful photos, especially the one with horses over frozen water and eagle with full opened wings. Talk about celebrities making millions ... here you are :D
No, I know two rednecks but not the phrase about police
haha! sir hananali! I'm not making much of anything on my posts unless I buy the votes, that's what you see on this post. ocdb haven't opened their nominations up again, I'll let you know when they do though. But yes I was so impressed that the internet was full of great images of these people and their birds! Very cool subject.
Yeah, please do keep an eye on ocdb thing and let me know when they their nominations again.
About pictures, all pictures are so cool, just as smithlabs knows it all, you also know what hot comes from where :D
hananali! I also know what hot comes from where? I don't know what that means. Is that a riddle?
Are you heading off to school?
So you are saying that you are the new smithlabs, know everything already :D
Plus, yes am in school and brought this phone with me and got this notification just now :D
haha! howdy hananali! no, I don't know what you mean when you said "you also know what hot comes from where " ...I don't know what that means. Smithlabs would but then he knows everything. About everything.
Hey you can't be in school and on steemit at the same time!
Hi there janton, you must be sleeping right now, its evening here. I means a lot not hot :( it was a typo.
I was on a break and checked only s notification, didn't cheat much
Great information to go with these outstanding images you have sourced for Feathered Friday @janton A superb blog my friend. (U & R )
Howdy Trudee! thanks so much, I thought they were astounding really, I mean those people are living like they did a thousand years ago, for the most part! How are you doing? I don't think I see you on here yesterday or did I?
Howdy John! Their life stlye although similar to what it was a thousand years ago would be much healthier than those of us who have adopted modernization........with all its 'trappings.' 😊
If you saw me in steemit yesterday, then you'd need to be worried as that would mean there are two of us running loose.......and would not to be recommended. 😁
hahaha! "that would not be recommended" lol..like the world couldn't handle two of you? Yes but not for the reason you think. The reason is that the world couldn't stand all that sweetness! lol.
But back to the post, I think I'll do another post on this subject because those teenage kids the Kazakh's have are going to school like normal, in town during the week, and then they go back to their nomadic tribes living in tents on the weekends! And go eagle hunting. They have their cell phones and everything but it is definitely a mix of ancient and modern cultures!
I think that would be interesting to explore if I can find enough articles about it.
Would love to see those eagles live... it has to be an amazing show!
Howdy there pardinus! oh it would be fantastic to see in person, maybe someday! Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Maybe next year's objective, after steem mooning! ;)
haha! howdy again pardinus! I like your attitude and I agree!
Congratulations on the reward here @janton and for dang man!! You broke the severs with the engagement on this one—awesome job!
I’m sure you’ve seen some YouTube clips, my buddy Michael would always show me new clips of people catching wolves with their eagles or falcons. I saw, literally watched the whole thing, a falcon catch a pigeon right out of the air with its talons. I was in Long Beach, just got out of my car from work, the thing flew inches over my head.
Have you ever seen any clips like this?
Great article, Janton!
Howdy sir dandays! hey I haven't even had a chance to answer your other comment but yes I saw alot of videos while researching this story but I already have people upset with me and (even more after the post today) so I thought I better not include the videos. Even though it's nature doing her thing.
what rewards? I don't get much in rewards, under two dollars per post. If it's more than that it's just votes that I bought like everyone else is doing. The reason for the high engagement is because of using the featheredfriday tag and connecting with keithboone's following for that, that's the only reason for that, my posts don't get that kind of engagement.
But thank you for the kind words!
Have you read the book "the earth is the Lords" - I forget the name of the author but it is about Ginghas Kahn ( I think I have spelt his name wrong) - if not, you should read it -excellent book.
Howdy there lizziesworld! No, I haven't read that book but it sounds interesting. I don't know that much about him, yes it's spelled Genghis Kahn but you were close! lol. I will put that on my list of books to read, thank you so much! I assume it had hunting birds in that book?
No hunting birds but so much history and a closer look at the man Genghis Kahn - love him or hate him, you have to be impressed as to how much of the world he claimed.
Howdy there lizziesworld! yes I agree, Genghis Kahn was a great leader!
You’d want to be one shit wolf to be caught by an eagle ! 😂😂😂
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sir blanchy! wow I was watching youtube videos of the eagles taking down wolves, wow! Unreal. One knocks him in the head or neck and make him fall down and then another one is right there and they rip the neck with their talons and beaks. I didn't include those on the post because you know, lots of people would scream animal cruelty and such. but yeah that's a brutal scene.That big meal probably lasts them a week!