In the Altai range, winter has arrived with even greater force than normal,
and at the start of October a thick layer of snow already covers the mountains.
Though we are still in Mongolia,
the majority of the people who live in this region are of Kazakh origin.
Like the Mongol nomads, they too live in gers,
but theirs are considerably bigger and much better decorated.
Despite the fact the land in which they live is extremely poor,
the Kazakhs are prosperous herdsmen,
and it is not unusual to find families with 1,000 head of cattle.
In this small camp occupied by the Bulgan family,
the women begin the day by milking their yaks.
But, it is very noticeable that there are no men around.
Nothing could be more exciting and enjoyable for a Kazakh
from the mountains than to go out hunting with his eagle.
The season has just begun and for these men
today is the first hunting expedition since the start of the spring,
and it is a moment they have all been waiting for impatiently.
According to an ancient law,
the hunting season cannot begin until the first snows of winter arrive,
which is normally in the month of October.
That way, they give possible prey a respite,
so they can breed and raise their young during the summer months.
But if the snows take longer than normal to arrive,
the hunters all go to see the shamans, to pressurise them into making it fall.
They cannot conceive of life without hunting,
and in fact claim that “when the Kazakhs came into the world
they were already eagle hunters”.
This tradition, which stretches back over 1,000 years,
was inherited by the Kazakhs from their Turkish ancestors,
and they were already practicing it
when they first emerged as an ethnic group back in the fifteenth century.
After riding for three hours,
the five horsemen reach the summit of Balkan Altai,
which at 3,900 metres is the highest mountain in the area.
From here they can look out over a number of valleys and nearby mountains.
During the hunts, they prefer to move around the highest peaks,
and rarely launch their eagles from further down the slopes.
Meanwhile, the beaters comb the valley,
trying to scare out a hare or a fox.
But the Altai is also a land inhabited by wolves,
an animal very much feared by the Kazakhs,
as it frequently attacks their cattle.
If a wolf appears, the hunters all release their eagles together,
even though they know it may suffer serious injuries or even death.
Now, all they can do is be patient and wait.
A female fox has left her den,
frightened out by the cries of the trackers.
With his old binoculars, Kosan does not let her out of his sight.
Meanwhile, Altaikan has taken the tomagá, the hood,
off his eagle, and it begins to scan the horizon.
The vixen continues to flee, desperately seeking somewhere to hide.
The eagles of Kumarkan and Talaikan have just spotted the prey,
and immediately shoot off towards her.
Talaikan’s eagle is the first to reach the wolf.
Talaikan sets off at a gallop down the mountainside,
in the hope of getting there before the precious fur of the prey is damaged,
or before the vixen, fighting for her life, wounds his eagle.
But, miraculously, the vixen has managed
to get free from the claws of her predator and, wounded,
runs off trying to escape…but she will not get far.
Immediately, Sheken, who up to now has been simply a spectator,
decides to go into action, and removing the hood from his eagle,
launches it into the sky.
The wixen, frightened, exhausted,
and knowing that her fate has been decided, decides to give in.
Crouching down in a last, futile attempt to remain unnoticed,
she resignedly awaits certain death.
After immobilising her rear legs,
the eagle attacks the head of the wixen, paralysing it with the tip of its claws
capable of applying pressure of hundreds of kilos per square centimetre.
When Talaikan catches up with the eagles, the wixen is already dead.
Now he must free it from the claws, a by no means easy task.
These hunters always use female golden eagles,
which they consider to be much more aggressive than the males.
With a wingspan of some two metres, and weighing seven kilos,
they possess two very important qualities when it comes to hunting:
their speed – they can reach up to 160 kilometres an hour as they swoop down;
and their extraordinary sight, perhaps eight times as acute as that of humans.
With a whistle, and attracted by a piece of meat,
the eagles return to the arms of their masters.
Talaikan began to learn the noble art of hunting
when he was just six years old,
and in his family there has always been a great hunting tradition.
Kumarkan, his father, is one of the most respected hunters in the region,
and for any family to have a hunter among its members is a sign of prestige and wealth.
Only those who own many head of cattle
can allow themselves the luxury of breeding and training eagles.
In the past, it was a sport practiced in Central Asia only by the elite.
The Kazakhs use nets to trap eagles
when they have just eaten and so are unable to fly.
For the first month, they are kept inside the ger,
to accustom them to the sounds and smells.
Then, for several weeks, they are trained
so they maintain their balance on the arm of the rider as he gallops along.
Finally, and most difficult of all,
they are trained to return to their master after they have been released.
From the time they are caught, they always remain close by him,
even sleeping at his side.