Chapter 61: Bird Hunting in the Snow
It had been snowing for several days in a row, and the snow on the ground was already above the knees, making it very inconvenient to walk outside.
This winter was extremely cold. After the snow, the weather became even colder. Although the water did not freeze into ice, the pond in the Teng tribe and the flowing stream were soon frozen.
Such cold weather is not only tormenting for the tribesmen, but also for the animals that are not used to hibernation.
Even the sacred vine on the stone mountain, after being covered with ice and snow, seemed to have entered a hibernation state, and it was so quiet that it seemed to have lasted forever.
During the snowy days, most members of the Teng tribe stayed in their houses, relying on the food and firewood stored in the fall to survive.
Even the giant eagle raised by the old witch only goes out to look for food when it is not snowing, and it does not always catch prey.
Jiang Xuan would take a walk around the Teng tribe every day, observing the animals in the forest, the streams, and the ice on the river.
On October 2nd, Jingjie found Jiang Xuan again.
Because the food they had stored was almost used up, and the food provided by the Teng Tribe was far from enough for more than a hundred people.
"Chief, when will you take us to find food? We are almost out of food."
Although it was a cold winter, Jingjie was very anxious and the tourists were also very anxious. After all, they were about to face the danger of running out of food.
This time, Jiang Xuan didn't let him go back and wait.
"Come with me."
Jiang Xuan first took Jing Jie back to the bamboo house and took out a pair of old animal leather boots for him to wear, because he was always barefoot and would easily get frozen.
This made Jingjie very grateful. In the tribal era when productivity was extremely low, even a pair of animal skin boots was extremely precious.
After Jingjie put on her animal leather boots, Jiang Xuan took a bundle of ropes, a large rattan basket, and some food scraps, and then took Jingjie into the forest north of the tribe.
"Chief, what are we doing here?" Jing Jie looked at the white forest and couldn't guess what Jiang Xuan was going to do.
"Catching birds." Jiang Xuan walked forward while observing the situation around him.
Jingjie looked at the forest blankly and said, "But we don't have bows and arrows, and we can't set up a lasso trap in this weather!"
Jiang Xuan smiled mysteriously and said, "Who said that only lassoes and bows and arrows can be used to catch birds?"
Ignoring the confused Jingjie, Jiang Xuan continued to look for the activity range of the big bird he had previously spotted.
When it snows heavily, not only the range of human activities is greatly reduced, but also the range of animals. They generally do not stray too far from their nests, and their range of activities is relatively fixed.
Not long after, Jiang Xuan discovered a series of scattered footprints on the snow.
"Come with me."
Jiang Xuan followed the footprints and Jing Jie followed behind.
They hadn't walked far when Jiang Xuan spotted a group of large birds in front of them, about seven or eight in number.
This bird is very large, with an adult weighing more than 30 kilograms. It has thick legs and can run very fast in the forest, but its wings are very short and it cannot fly.
The most peculiar thing is that this big bird has a tuft of feathers on its head, which looks like a horn. Therefore, the tribesmen call this bird a unicorn.
Although the unicorn cannot fly, it is very alert and will flee in panic at the slightest disturbance, making it difficult to hunt.
Only an excellent archer or a trap set in advance can capture the unicorn.
Jingjie whispered, "Chief, the unicorn is not easy to catch."
Jiang Xuan smiled mysteriously and said, "It is indeed difficult to catch them at ordinary times, but now it is a cold winter with a shortage of food, so they will become easy to catch."
Jiang Xuan quickly got busy.
He first found a wooden stick, tied a rope at the bottom of the stick, then put down the vine basket where the unicorn often moved, and supported the stick on the edge of the large vine basket.
Then, he sprinkled some fragrant food scraps under the large rattan basket, and carefully unfolded the bundle of ropes connected to the wooden sticks, extending it to a bush.
Jiang Xuan and Jing Jie hid behind the bushes.
Jiang Xuan whispered, "Wait here. I'll go chase these unicorns away. When they run over here, they will definitely find the food under the vine basket."
"If a unicorn goes under the wicker basket to eat, you should immediately pull the rope and tear off the stick. The wicker basket will fall down and cover the greedy unicorn. At this time, you should run over and hold down the basket to prevent the unicorn from overturning the wicker basket and running away. Remember?"
Jiang Xuan's words finally made the confused Jing Jie understand what was going on. He nodded hurriedly, indicating that he had remembered it.
"Then I'll go chase the birds."
Jiang Xuan left the bushes, then made a circle and went behind the group of unicorns.
After becoming a two-color warrior, his body seemed to adapt better to the mountains and forests. Even knee-deep snow could not stop his movements, and he only made very slight sounds.
Jiang Xuan hid behind the unicorn and did not show up, because the unicorn was too timid and if he showed up, it would probably run around everywhere.
“Crack…”
Jiang Xuan broke a branch covered with ice and snow, making a crisp breaking sound.
The group of unicorns foraging in the snow immediately raised their heads, looked in this direction vigilantly, and were ready to run away at any time.
“Crack, crack…”
Jiang Xuan broke the branches one after another, and the extremely vigilant unicorn immediately ran away. However, because it did not see the predator, it was not frightened and did not panic to the point of not knowing where to go.
Jiang Xuan looked at the group of unicorns running towards the vine basket trap and a smile appeared on his lips.
These unicorns were just as he had known them before; unless they were overly frightened, they would simply run around in familiar places.
"Next, we just have to wait for them to fall into our trap."
Jiang Xuan made another circle and ran towards Jingjie.
As for Nepeta, he hid in the bushes and didn't actually hold much hope for this simple trap.
Because the tribesmen knew the vigilance of the unicorn, how could the unicorn be so stupid as to crawl under the vine basket? But since Jiang Xuan asked him to wait here, he could only wait patiently and pray that he would be able to gain something by braving the severe cold today.
Not long after, the group of unicorns were indeed driven over by Jiang Xuan.
They were rather cautious about the newly appeared wicker baskets and did not approach them at first, but instead looked at them from a distance.
But it wasn't long before one of the unicorns found the food under the vine basket.
Since the snow fell, it has been difficult for these unicorns to find food in the forest, and they have been hungry for several days.
The temptation of food made the unicorn involuntarily walk towards the wicker basket, but it still looked around vigilantly and would run away if there was any movement.
However, until it walked to the wicker basket, there was still no movement around, and the food under the wicker basket was right in front of it.
The nepeta behind the bushes became nervous, and he kept praying in his heart: Go in, go in quickly...
The unicorn first tried to peck at a grain of food on the edge of the wicker basket, and then, finding that there was no danger, it took a second peck.
Gradually, other unicorns also noticed the situation here and came over.
The unicorn that was pecking at the food became anxious. It no longer looked up, pecked faster, and unknowingly walked under the wicker basket.
“Whoosh!”
At this moment, Jingjie suddenly pulled the rope hard, pulling off the wooden stick supporting the wicker basket, and the large wicker basket immediately trapped the unicorn.
“Gugugugu…”
The unicorn in the big wicker basket wanted to escape in panic, but couldn't see the way.
Jingjie immediately rushed forward and pounced directly on the wicker basket, pinning the unicorn down tightly to prevent it from having the chance to fly away.
Frightened by the nepeta, the other unicorns immediately fled in panic, running very fast on the snow.
After a while, Jiang Xuan also came over.
Jingjie shouted excitedly: "Chief, we caught him, we really caught him!"
Jiang Xuan laughed and said, "Catch it. You are almost squashing the bird in the wicker basket."
"good!"
Jingjie stood up, lifted the wicker basket a little, reached in, grabbed one of the unicorn's wings, then dragged it out and pressed it on the snow.
Then, Jiang Xuan tied the unicorn's two long legs together so that it could not run away.
"Let's go back to the tribe first."
Jiang Xuan and Jing Jie returned to the tribe with the rattan basket, rope, and the unfortunate unicorn.
Jingjie was particularly happy because he knew that if he could catch a bird with this method, he could catch more birds, which was a very important source of food.
Of course, Jiang Xuan knew very well that catching birds alone would not be enough to support the more than one hundred tourists.
But it doesn’t matter, he has another way to help these tourists get more food in the cold winter!
Thanks to the book friend "Qi Hai Hao Qi" for the reward of 1,500 book coins.
Thanks to the book friend "Senior Brother Chen Yuan" for the reward of 1,000 book coins.
Thanks to the book friend "The Third Star of the Big Dipper is so beautiful" for the reward.
…
It’s too late. I’ll continue writing tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
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