Chapter 404 Hunting, the role of Xiongba
"What's the matter? Can't it be done tomorrow?" Lin Yue asked as he walked out.
"Of course you can, but it's best to do it today," said Lin Heng.
He held two things in his hands, one was honey and the other was ointment.
This ointment is a gray ointment formed by mixing minced meat, butter, and fish fat in a ratio of 10:4:1 and then placing it in a hot place to ferment for ten days.
Now it doesn’t smell bad when it’s packed in a glass bottle, but it will stink to death once it’s opened.
"Ointment can attract most carnivorous animals, and honey can attract bears. Let's set out the ointment and honey first. I also prepared bait to attract roe deer and other herbivorous animals."
Lin Heng took the things and explained to his elder brother.
"Where did you learn this from?" Lin Yue was very curious.
"In books, books about hunting, try it and see if it works." Lin Heng said with a smile.
In the 1980s, people needed to exchange furs and other things from wild animals for foreign currency. Many professional books and pamphlets were published, teaching you how to hunt and set traps.
Lin Heng is not an old hunter. He has been learning all the time. He has prepared a lot for this long hunt.
"I thought you've been busy recently, but I didn't expect you to have learned such a skill." Lin Yue gave a thumbs up and said admiringly.
"We can't put this thing near our territory. Let's set it up in some places below." Lin Heng smiled and pointed to the front.
It was dark now, and they walked forward with flashlights. They could walk boldly at this time of year because there were no poisonous insects or snakes.
After walking for about ten minutes, they arrived at the place. Lin Heng put the clamps down and smeared some ointment on the tree.
"It stinks, damn!"
When they opened it, the two of them were almost vomiting from the smoke, and even pinching their noses didn't help.
After this was done, he smeared honey on a nearby birch tree and set a bear trap.
After finishing, the two of them returned to the shelter, where his eldest uncle and third uncle were helping his youngest uncle to use plastic film to surround his small square house.
Lin Heng didn't say much. He took the iron kettle to fetch water and boiled it. After it boiled, he poured some tea leaves into it, and then added milk powder and sugar cubes, and it became a pot of milk tea.
The cups are several large bamboo tubes, which I got today from Yuanbao Village. Many small utensils used for eating and drinking were exchanged there.
Large bamboo can be sawed and trimmed to make bowls or cups.
Everyone drank a cup of milk tea and ate some toasted buns, and that was how we would make do for tonight.
After dinner, Lin Heng counted the steamed buns made by Xiulan, and there were thirteen left. He roasted them by the fire, and after sterilization, they could be stored for a long time.
It was very windy at night and the leaves were blown down by the wind. After roasting the steamed buns, Lin Heng put out the fire, otherwise it would easily cause a fire to burn the mountain.
Things will be much better tomorrow when we build a clay stove with mud.
There were no stars tonight, so Lin Heng slept leaning against Xiongba. He had just given it a bath two days ago, so there was no smell.
After walking for a whole day, everyone fell asleep without much communication. There was no need to worry because there were dogs keeping watch at night.
The next morning, at six o'clock, everyone was woken up by the birds' calls.
"What should we do today?" Lu Honghai looked at Lin Heng and asked.
This hunting team is obviously led by Lin Heng.
Lin Heng thought for a moment and said, "Leave two people to set up the place first, build the stove, and clean up the area nearby. The others can explore the area nearby. It will take a long time, so we are not in a hurry."
"Then your uncle and I will build a clay stove, and you guys go explore and hunt." Lu Honggang said.
"Then let's eat dry food in the morning and make rice and noodles for lunch." Lu Honghai said.
Lin Heng and his elder brother had the same idea. They had just arrived and were eager to explore everything.
Lin Heng gave out a few steamed buns, and after they finished eating, the three of them set out to explore.
"I will explore alone, it will be safer for you two to go together." Lu Honghai said.
"Uncle, please let Fengshou follow you. It's safer with a dog."
Lin Heng said.
"It doesn't matter. Nothing will happen." Lu Honghai waved his hand and walked away with his gun.
The uncle was so stubborn that Lin Heng did not try to persuade him and set off with the two dogs and the eldest brother.
Today they mainly explored the surroundings, looking for traces of prey, and then set some traps with bait.
After looking at the direction, they first walked towards the high mountain in the west and went to the top of the mountain to take a look at the surrounding environment.
After climbing for more than half an hour, the two reached the top of the mountain. Now, except for a few trees such as the cotinus coggygria that were still strong, most of the trees in the forest were bare.
Therefore, the view from the top of the mountain is very broad, and it is easy to understand the specific situation.
Going west and north, there are mostly shrubs and low hills, and going east and south, the forests become taller and taller.
Of course, this is just an estimate, not absolute.
"Where do you want to explore, brother?" Lin Heng turned his head and asked.
"The northwest, I guess. We've been into the woods a lot, so this kind of environment is relatively rare." Lin Yue said with a smile.
"Then let's go over there." Lin Heng nodded, and he was also ready to explore that side.
"Brother, there are wild boar footprints here."
After walking a few steps down the mountain, Lin Yue made a discovery.
"Hey, it's fresh wild boar shit." After a while, Lin Yue shouted again.
Lin Heng brought Xiong Ba over to take a look. After tracking it for a while, they found that it was heading south, so they gave up for the time being.
They don't want to go that way for the time being.
"There are also oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms, which are pretty good." Lin Heng said as he picked mushrooms. He could occasionally pick a few in the forest.
He was not in a hurry. He walked slowly forward on the leaves. Sometimes when he saw a kiwi tree, he would go under the tree and pick two kiwis to eat.
After finding a suitable place, he took out the ointment, smeared it on the tree, and then set the trap.
The forest is too big, and looking for prey by yourself is completely a matter of luck, but bait can make the prey come to you.
Rancid ointment is used to lure carnivores. A little bit of it is put at regular intervals, and traps are not set in every place, only in suitable places.
Attracting herbivores is also very simple, which is to use salt. Generally, you can sprinkle some salt on the soil in places where they often appear, and set traps nearby.
Another method is to look for natural salt mines, which are also places that animals must go to.
Generally, salt-containing minerals can be found at the foot of cliffs and rocky mountains, and this is also what Lin Heng is looking for along the way.
Before they knew it, it was already noon. They came to the edge of a relatively low forest, not far from the shrub mountain over there.
The two sat down and took some steamed buns to eat, along with the wild hawthorns and kiwis they had picked up today.
Lin Heng took two bites, tore off a little and threw it to Xiongba, who half-knelt, wagging his tail and licking his tongue.
After eating, the two continued to explore.
“Woof woof!!”
Suddenly, Xiongba called out from the front.
Lin Heng glanced at it, walked over slowly, and was instantly shocked when he saw what it had discovered.
"Brother, come here, we have made a major discovery!" Lin Heng shouted to his brother who was exploring in the distance, and then began to investigate carefully.
"What is it?"
Lin Yue walked over quickly.
Lin Heng pointed at the marks on the ground and said excitedly: "Look, these are black bear footprints. There is also feces here. Judging from the feces, it is undoubtedly a black bear."
Ordinary people can distinguish the feces of black bears and pandas at a glance because they are so easy to distinguish.
Seeing this trace, Lin Yue said happily: "It is indeed a black bear. It seems that there are many black bears here. It's just that this feces has been there for a while."
"It's okay. The presence of feces shows that this area is indeed its activity range. Then the ointment we made will definitely attract it." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Lin Yue nodded: "That's true. It is said that black bears can smell blood from dozens of miles away. Let's set up a few more traps."
"Okay, I'll bring some honey too. Black bears like sweet things." Lin Heng said as he took out honey from his bag.
After finding two suitable locations, they smeared the trees with honey and set traps under them.
Creatures like black bears are very brave, especially now that there are no tigers in this area. They have no natural enemies except humans, and they won't hesitate too much when they smell something delicious.
Unlike herbivores, they would stop after taking a bite to observe any movement, and would run away at the first sign of movement.
Therefore, black bears are relatively easy to lure, but at the same time, they are also very dangerous.
It is difficult to cause casualties with ordinary homemade hunting rifles. If you fail to kill the bear, you will most likely die if it is caught up. The hunters in Chenjiaba and Yuanbao villages dare not provoke black bears because it is very dangerous.
You have to be careful with lead-point bullets used in professional hunting rifles. It can be very dangerous if you fail to hit the vital points.
The two men set the trap and continued walking northwest. After walking for a distance, they came out of the forest and came to a barren mountain covered with bushes.
"Look here, fresh wild boar footprints." Not long after walking out, Lin Yue discovered new traces of prey with his harvest.
Lin Heng came over and saw that the fresh pig manure seemed to have been left there this morning. He touched Xiongba's head and said, "Try to track it, Xiongba."
“Oh!”
Xiongba made a whimpering sound, lowered his head to sniff and then followed forward.
Following the lead of the two dogs, they followed first down the ditch and then up the mountain, the boar having too much range to cover.
"This wild boar can really run. I don't know if we can track it down before dark." Lin Yue sighed.
Lin Heng was about to speak when he saw a figure on a slope in the distance.
"Brother, look over there, there's a sika deer." Lin Heng pointed at the mountain over there with some excitement.
When Lin Heng was speaking, the sika deer seemed to have noticed them and looked up, but the distance was too far, so they didn't pay any attention and lowered their heads to eat grass again.
"where?"
"It's on the left side of the cotinus coggygria tree at the foot of the mountain..."
After some pointing, Lin Yue finally saw that the sika deer had also gone into the woods and disappeared.
"Damn, two of them? It's not just one. Why don't we go chase them now?" Lin Yue said excitedly after seeing clearly. Sika deer are large herbivores. Even if they don't have antlers now, they can still be worth a lot of money.
Lin Heng shook his head: "It's too far. Let's go over there and look for it tomorrow. It's highly likely that we won't be able to find it now."
It looks close, but it is still five or six kilometers away when you walk down the mountain. The terrain is complicated, so you have to take a detour.
The tracking of the wild boar is already very obvious, and the distance should not be far, so there is no need to lose sight of one while focusing on the other.
"Yes, there is still a lot of time. Let's not rush and continue chasing the wild boar." Lin Yue nodded.
After making the decision, they continued to track the wild boar. This barren mountain with shrubs about two meters high was much more difficult to walk on than a forest, but they had to keep walking in order to track the wild boar.
They followed the difficult animal trail and lost the clues several times, leaving Fengshou completely confused.
Xiongba sniffed the air and managed to find the correct path again. At this time Lin Yue was a little shocked and thought it was amazing, because sometimes Xiongba could find the clue even if it was broken for more than a hundred meters.
Lin Heng was not surprised by this. Generally speaking, as long as the scent clue was not too long, Xiongba's tracking would not be wrong. Xiongba had at least 60 to 70 percent of the credit for him being able to kill the prey.
Finally, Xiongba Fengshou stopped on a hillside.
Lin Heng and his elder brother also stopped because they found some fresh traces on the ground. The ground had just been turned over, so it must have been a very close distance.
The two of them listened quietly for a while, but there was no movement. Lin Heng was a little strange, because they were upwind and should be able to hear any movement.
But this fresh trace could not be mistaken. Lin Heng gestured to his elder brother to check the gun and get ready. He also took out the compound bow from the bow bag.
After making preparations, the two nodded and walked down one on the left and one on the right, being careful not to make any noise, as wild boars are animals with very sensitive hearing.
Then what surprised the two was that after walking down for more than 50 meters, they saw many traces of wild boars turning over the ground and eating turmeric yam, but they did not see any wild boars.
Helplessly, the two continued to walk down. The road here was very difficult to walk on. After walking another 30 meters down, they passed through a thorny area and came to a more open area.
The temperature below was over 40 degrees, with some green shrubs and a lot of dead leaves. It was not far from the foot of the mountain.
Humph!!!
Suddenly, four wild boars made grunting sounds and ran down the mountain.
The Lin Heng brothers had no idea how this scene suddenly happened. Lin Heng put the arrow on the bow without aiming and shot.
Bang! Almost at the same time as he shot the arrow, his elder brother fired his shotgun.
Although it was only more than thirty meters away, Lin Heng's arrow missed the target and passed by the wild boar.
His eldest brother was shot, and one of the wild boars ran much slower and was left behind by the other three.
“Woof woof!!”
As they often went hunting together, Xiongba and Fengshou knew that they would charge when a gunshot was heard or Lin Heng spoke. Now they rushed forward, one on the left and one on the right, as if chasing the wind.
"It's still difficult to hit a moving target." Lin Heng shook his head and laughed. These wild boars hid very deeply and ran away too suddenly.
"You've done enough. If it were me, I wouldn't have had time to shoot the arrow. And thanks to Xiongba, otherwise the clue would have been lost long ago." Lin Yue said with a smile.
The two were no longer in a hurry because the wild boar was injured and even if the dog couldn't catch up with it, they could still track it.
"Let's go and take a look at the situation. I feel these four wild boars are quite big." Lin Heng said with a smile.
It is a good thing to kill a wild boar. You can make bacon out of it and have meat to eat for a while.
"Well, it looks like it weighs more than 100 pounds."
Lin Yue also nodded, and the two of them chased in the direction the dog ran.
As for the wild boar that ran away, don't even think about it. It's impossible.
(End of this chapter)
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