The Kazakhs of the Altai mountains - in Xinjiang's Altay prefecture and across the border in Mongolia and Kazakhstan - have hunted with golden eagles for centuries. The bird is trapped as a young nestling, kept on a block in the household, and trained over two or three seasons to take foxes, marmots and, on occasion, wolves. The hunter, known in Kazakh as a berkutchi, rides out in winter when the fox fur is thick and the ground is hard, releasing the eagle from the forearm to pursue quarry on horseback. It is a hunting economy first and a spectacle second, which is the main thing to understand about it.
How the partnership works
The relationship is unusual in falconry because the bird is far larger and heavier than the handler - a female golden eagle can weigh more than five kilograms - and because the eagle is not bred but taken from the wild and, by tradition, released after some years of service. The hunter feeds the bird by hand, sleeps near it, and uses a lure and moving meat to build the association. In winter the family moves to lower valleys or stays in winter quarters with the animals, and the hunting season runs roughly from November to February, when the skins are prime and the birds are hungry.
Seeing it as a visitor
Eagle hunting is not a scheduled performance and cannot be relied on. In practice a visitor sees it through a local guide or an agency that knows particular families willing to receive guests, usually in the Altay region around the Kanas and Hemu valleys or in the Qinghe and Fuyun areas. What you will actually witness is likely to be a demonstration flight or a winter ride rather than a hunt, and it is worth being clear about that before paying for it. Requests should be made through a proper intermediary and, as with any private household, on the family's own terms.
Practical notes
The Altai winter is severe - temperatures well below minus twenty are normal - so the trip requires proper boots, and down or heavy wool, gloves, a hat and eye protection from the glare on snow. Access to the remote valleys is by car and then on foot or by horse, and roads can close after snow. Note that keeping golden eagles, which are a protected species, requires official permits in China, and that the birds themselves may not be bought, sold or taken out of the country under any circumstances. Treat any offer of a bird or eagle parts as illegal and refuse it.
