A day in the life of an eagle wrangler
Lauren McGough hunts with her golden eagle. (Jenna Close/Courtesy of P2 Photography/)This article was originally published by Coffee or Die Magazine on August 19, 2018. For more stories like this, visit www.coffeeordie.com.Lauren McGough and her Kazakh mentor rode on horseback through the Altai Mountains until they caught up to their golden eagle, who was removing the fur from the fox it had just caught. Because of their language barrier, the two recreated the spectacular flight they had witnessed with their hands rather than retelling it with words, miming swooping and snatching, smiling at the memory of this dance between predator and prey. McGough’s mentor looked at her and lamented, “Why didn’t I take my daughters hunting?”McGough is the only woman among the small fraction of American falconers who hunt with golden eagles. She discovered the sport by chance at age 14 when she came across the book A Rage For Falcons by naturalist...