Eagle Hunters of Kyrgyzstan

Published April 2025 In the spring of 2021, Talgar Shaybyrov embarked on a heartbreaking journey. For twenty years, Talgar had hunted with a golden eagle he called Tumara. The two lived at nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, in the quiet town of Bokonbaevo, Kyrgyzstan, where guesthouses and yurt camps line the shore of Issyk Kul, the world’s second-largest saltwater lake. They had spent the past two decades hunting jackals and foxes together, often traveling in Talgar’s run-down Volkswagen Golf, a modern replacement for a horse. Now Talgar was ready to return Tumara to the wilderness, as was the custom among eagle hunters. Doing so allows the birds a chance to mate and be free as they near the end of their long lives. “I have spent so many years with her,” Talgar told me. “I hope she will enjoy her freedom.” Kyrgyzstan’s eagle hunters, or burkutchu, carry on a long-standing tradition. For centuries, hunting with an eagle was essential to the region’s nomadic lifestyle: A good hunter c ... Read full article.