Chapter 107 Catching Rabbits in the Snow
The dogs became unusually excited after smelling the rabbit's burrow, and they ran and jumped around in the thick snow.
After walking a few dozen meters further from the rabbit's burrow, Little Melon seemed to have discovered something and suddenly sped up.
I hurried after Little Melon, only to see it plunge into a snowdrift and stop.
Before we even got close, Little Melon lifted its head out of the snow, a gray rabbit bigger than its dog's head dangling from its mouth.
As soon as they saw that Xiao Gua had something in his mouth, Xiao San and Xiao Si skipped over to watch the fun, and Xiao Di followed closely behind, rushing towards Xiao Gua's direction.
As I approached, Xiaogua gently placed the rabbit on the ground, but did not let go of its mouth.
It wasn't until I squatted down and touched the rabbit that Xiaogua let go, staring at me with a smug look, waiting to be praised.
I was still overjoyed at catching the rabbit, so I gave Xiaogua a quick kiss on the head and started observing it.
What a fat, gray rabbit! It was lying on the ground, trembling with fear because it was being watched by one person and four dogs.
His back was covered in the little melon's saliva, but there wasn't a trace of blood.
I originally planned to catch the rabbit to eat, but seeing how docile it was and that it wasn't injured, I actually had the idea of keeping it as a pet.
When you're in the mountains, it's not the time to agonize over whether to eat or raise the rabbit. Pick it up and put it in your backpack, leaving a small opening in the zipper for breathing.
We shouldered our bags and continued on our way.
I walked through the snow, feeling quite pleased with myself.
Having a dog at home is great; you don't even have to do the hunting yourself.
A short while later, they found another set of rabbit footprints, followed them for more than ten minutes, and caught a second rabbit.
Without a doubt, it was Xiaogua who caught the second rabbit; perhaps Xiaogua really does have some talent when it comes to hunting.
I wasn't sure if the two rabbits would fight if I put them in the same backpack, so I held the second rabbit I caught in my arms.
I was already quite satisfied with catching two big, fat rabbits, so I led my dogs home.
I didn't feel tired when I came, probably because I was looking for rabbits the whole time. It wasn't until I was hurrying home that I realized I had already walked a long way.
It took more than an hour to reach the vegetable garden on the hillside. Both people and dogs were exhausted by then.
We're finally home. I had nailed together a few large wooden crates to store food, and now they're perfect for the rabbits.
The two rabbits were separated and placed in two large wooden boxes, which were then sealed with wire mesh.
The stove in the house had gone out, so we lit it up first. The four dogs lay around the stove, panting heavily.
I took off my shoes and socks. My shoes were wet, and my socks were wet too. It seemed that the snow from the snow had seeped into my shoes and melted.
My toes were a little white from being soaked in the wet air. After changing into dry, soft cotton slippers, it felt like stepping on soft cotton, instantly getting rid of the damp and sticky feeling.
I took off my thick coat and cotton pants and put on clean, soft thermal underwear, and felt completely relaxed.
I put my soaking wet shoes to dry by the stove and started preparing lunch.
I'm really tired and don't want to bother with anything else, so I'll just make a simple tomato and egg noodle soup.
First, fry the eggs in oil, then put the frozen tomatoes in the pot and fry them until they become mushy. Add water, and once the water boils, add five instant noodle blocks.
The instant noodle block should have expired, but it tastes almost the same as before.
I cooked a small pot of instant noodles, ate my fill, and then broke off some pieces of steamed bun and soaked them in the remaining noodles to feed the dog and the wolf.
The wolf cubs are now able to eat, and it's estimated that their mother will lead them back to the pack soon.
After dinner, I'm going to study the rabbits.
The first big gray rabbit looks very fat, with a large, round belly.
"I can't be that lucky, to run into a pregnant rabbit."
Muttering to himself, he found a pair of cotton gloves and put them on to prevent the rabbit from biting him if it got angry.
Reach your hand into the box, grab the rabbit, and turn it over to look at its belly. There's a row of large small buttons on its belly.
Seeing that the mother rabbit was relatively docile, I took off my gloves and gently touched her belly. Sure enough, I could feel small lumps inside her belly.
This confirmed my suspicion; it was indeed a pregnant female rabbit.
I was overjoyed. It seems I can raise rabbits now, and I'll have a steady supply of rabbit meat to eat.
Quickly bring some straw and lay it at the bottom of the box, leaving the side without straw. Place a water bowl on the side and put the mother rabbit inside.
The other rabbit is a male, and we won't kill it yet; we plan to keep it for a while and see if it can be bred with a female rabbit later.
After feeding the pigs and chickens, there wasn't much work left to do.
Find the rabbit breeding guide you've been reading, open the chapter on rabbits, and sit on the sofa to read it.
I learned about the rabbit's living habits, eating habits, what to feed it in spring, summer and autumn, and what to feed it in winter.
I'd never heard of many of the foods the book described for rabbits, but there was one thing I had a lot of: corn stalks.
Hurry up and pick some leaves from the straw pile and stuff them into the two rabbit cages.
Perhaps because of the snow and the fact that they hadn't eaten for several days, the two rabbits were very cooperative, picking up corn leaves with their little mouths and munching on them quietly.
It seems it wasn't too frightened and is still eating, so the idea of raising rabbits looks promising.
Seeing them eat so happily made me happy too, so I carried both boxes to the kitchen.
The rabbits are temporarily kept in the corner of the kitchen. The wolves live in the breeding shed, so we can't keep the rabbits and wolves together.
As evening approached, I heard wolves howling outside the yard. I hadn't seen any wolves for a while, so I put on my coat and went to the gate. After confirming that there were indeed wolves outside, I opened the gate.
Sang Biao and the Wolf King stood at the front, followed by several large wolves. It seemed that not the entire wolf pack had come, but only a small portion.
There were five or six wild rabbits and a few pheasants lying on the ground, which were there to give as a thank you for taking care of the mother wolf.
The mother wolf led several wolf cubs out and ran straight to Sang Biao. When she got to Sang Biao, the mother wolf kept rubbing against him.
It was the first time the wolf cubs had ever seen a pack of wolves, and they were rather timid, completely unlike their usual boisterous manner in front of me.
Sang Biao and the mother wolf came close to me for a while. I could see some reluctance in the mother wolf's eyes. It seemed that she was going to return to the wolf pack.
Sure enough, a short while later the mother wolf turned and left with Sang Biao and the wolf pack.
The wolf cubs were a little flustered. Seeing their mother leave, they had no choice but to follow.
But the wolf cub never left the yard. As it followed the path up the mountain, it kept looking back at the place where it had lived since birth.
I couldn't keep them any longer. Wolves are meant to live in the wild, and I couldn't let them lose their ability to survive just because I was selfish and couldn't bear to part with them.
Of course, there's another point: I can't afford to raise so many wolves and dogs. If the mother wolf and puppies leave, it will save the family a lot of food.
Watching the wolf pack leave, I felt a little reluctant, but also quite relieved, since it lightened my burden.
They picked up a large pile of prey from the ground and carried it home.
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