Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 263 Black Bear Footprints
This prey was on the edge of the water beach in the woods on the other side of the river.

At first, Lin Heng thought it was a civet.

But when I took a closer look, I realized something was wrong. This was not Shiramiko.

Instead, it was a rare little civet that was drinking water by the small beach and had not found Lin Heng yet.

This guy looks grey-brown, with vertical black stripes on his back. The body is about half a meter long and the tail is 30 centimeters long, about the same size as a domestic cat. The mouth is very prominent, like a cone, and the ears are round and short.

Lin Heng was a little excited, because this thing has a sachet on its body, and the substance it secretes is called civet incense, which can be used as medicine and has the effects of promoting qi, activating blood, calming the nerves and relieving pain.

Because the output is lower than that of musk, its market price is even higher, reaching 40 yuan per gram.

Lin Heng looked at the distance between them, but there was nothing he could do about it, because the distance was too far, more than three hundred meters, and there was a river in the middle. He had no confidence in hitting.

After thinking for a while, Lin Heng decided to go up first, looking for a place where he could cross the river, and then set up a rope trap.

After walking not far, he noticed the little civet running away quickly, as if it had discovered his trace.

Lin Heng said and continued to walk upstream, looking for traces of prey in the woods in this area.

"Brother, come here quickly, there's a big pheasant here."

It's only half past eleven, so there's no rush.

Going forward, the mountains on both sides of this place suddenly slowed down, and the river became more than ten meters wide, but the water depth was only thirty or forty centimeters, and the shallower parts were only ten centimeters deep.

It dug through the soil for a while and found an earthworm to eat. Then it looked around vigilantly. If it found no danger, it continued to dig through the soil to look for insects.

Lin Heng grinned, opened his bow bag, took out his bow, drew another hunting arrow and walked up.

After walking about three hundred meters, Lin Heng saw the pheasant that his elder brother was talking about, under a bush on a stone wall about thirty meters away. This guy has extremely colorful feathers, with red wings and a blue-gray belly. There is a white ring on his neck, and his head is also blue-gray.

Lin Heng glanced at Xiong Ba, then turned and walked into the forest. His elder brother must have been up there for a long time.

He walked to the river and took a look. In addition to plum blossoms, there were also a lot of ground tigers and stream groupers. Sometimes two mandarin fish could also be seen.

He read some mineral books a few days ago and happened to know this kind of ore.

"More than three pounds, this one is pretty big."

"quack!!"

"Then leave it to me."

"Accurate enough!"

Lin Heng said with emotion that he felt that if he were a black bear, he would definitely come to this place to eat fish. It is unreasonable to not eat fish that is so easy to catch.

After walking for more than ten minutes, Xiongba found some fresh wild boar excrement. Lin Heng walked over and took a look and judged that it was definitely done in the past two days.

After walking a few hundred meters along the river, Lin Heng accidentally discovered a crystal stone half-inserted in the water. It was in the shape of a hexagonal prism, completely transparent, with a few red threads in the middle.

"I saw a little civet, but unfortunately I couldn't hit it."

"This place is a good place to catch fish."

Xiong Ba was also very fast, and he came over with the pheasant in his mouth within a few seconds.

"Let's go and take a look inside the forest."

There are many plum fish, that is, fine salmon, migrating upward to spawn. You can see more than ten at a glance.

"Then you fight it yourself." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"The sound of my gun was too loud. I think all the other prey will run away after a dozen. It's only noon now. I guess there are a lot of good things in this place. It's a pity to scare them away."

If there are traces of animals here, he wants to build a shelter nearby. The only trouble is that there are many places along the river where red dates cannot come.

With a whoosh, a sharp arrow shot through his chest almost instantly, and the arrowhead was inserted directly into the soil.

Lin Yue nodded and said, "Okay, I saw a lot of animal traces along the way today, including wild boar and muntjac excrement, but I didn't see any traces of bears."

Lin Heng mentioned it and said with a smile.

Lin Yue looked at Lin Heng and said, "Should we eat here for lunch or go back?"

Lin Heng was analyzing feces, and his elder brother walked down quickly from above and whispered.

Lin Yue shook his head and said.

Lin Yue gave a thumbs up. He was stunned by Lin Heng's archery accuracy. Before he could react, the pheasant died.

Lin Heng looked at his watch and said, "Let's get some fish here to eat. We'll go back in the evening and see if there are any signs of bears in the afternoon."

"Rutile, you're pretty lucky."

The entire process from setting up the bow to hitting the target does not take more than three seconds. After practicing Lin Heng's archery every day, he has become so perfect that one second is enough to aim at this distance.

The pheasant screamed twice, kicked its legs and flapped its wings, and stopped moving after a few moments.

Lin Heng glanced at it but didn't hit it. It was a bit small and he didn't want to do anything to it, even though the squirrel meat was quite delicious.

Lin Heng couldn't help but be surprised when he saw this thing. This is a mineral containing titanium dioxide. It is a relatively rare and beautiful stone that can be sold for a lot of money.

There were many wild walnut trees on the edge of the forest. Lin Heng took a look and continued walking up. Just three or four hundred meters into the forest, a red squirrel suddenly appeared in his field of vision, looking at him warily.

"Ouch~~"

Lin Heng stood up from behind the tree while the bird lowered its head, raised his bow and shot an arrow in one go.

After walking for one kilometer, I only found the droppings of wild boar and takin, and only a few birds as living creatures. Although there are a lot of prey in this era, the mountains are also big, and if you are unlucky, you won't be able to find one for half a month.

He couldn't find anything good about Chinese medicinal materials, just two wild lilies, and Lin Heng didn't bother to dig them up.

"Let's eat." Lin Heng shook his head helplessly. Even Xiong Ba couldn't find anything good.

"I'll light the fire and you go catch the fish." Lin Yue said with a smile.

Lin Heng nodded and took Xiong Ba to the river to catch plum blossoms. After Xiong Ba was fed, he caught four fish and came back.

There was no perilla this time, so I simply roasted it with some salt and ate it for two people. It tasted pretty good.

"Let's go, keep walking up some distance and take a look."

Lin Heng said with a smile.

After walking a few hundred meters up, a purple peach blossom forest appeared on the mountain on the other side, and the fragrance drifted along the river breeze.

"There are so many peach trees."

Lin Heng was surprised. The scenery was so beautiful. Fifty or sixty peach trees on the steep hillside on the opposite side formed a forest.

This kind of environment is really full of fresh grass and colorful fallen flowers. The environment in this mountain is so good.

"Man, there are morels over here."

Lin Heng was admiring it when he suddenly heard his elder brother shouting from the front.

"I'm coming."

Lin Heng ran over quickly.

The place where his eldest brother discovered the morels was a forest of trees. There was a lot of grass growing on the ground, and the morels were growing in the grass.

"Black-veined morels, good stuff."

Lin Heng picked one and said with a smile.

"It's very strange that there is such a thing in this place." Lin Yue said while picking it up.

"Indeed, logically it's unlikely." Lin Heng also nodded. The temperature here at night is very low.

The two picked up in the woods for a while. Lin Heng picked up thirty or forty morels, which totaled nearly two kilograms. His eldest brother also picked up more than a pound, which was a good harvest.

"Woof woof~~"

At this time, the bull in front suddenly let out a cry. Lin Heng looked up and saw that it was circling in place, as if he had discovered something.

"Let's go and see."

Lin Heng said something and walked forward with his elder brother. There were no morels in this place.

They thought Xiong Ba had discovered a new fungus, but when they came over and saw it, they were stunned.

Lin Heng's eyes widened: "Oh my God, have you found it now?"

"It really took no effort at all. I met him so easily." Lin Yue felt it was a bit unreal.

There was nothing else on the ground but the traces of the bear they had been looking for so hard.

There was a huge bear footprint on the soft soil, which was four to five centimeters deep. It was larger than Lin Heng's two palms put together.

"It's normal if you think about it. Fish migrate here every year, so bears must have come here." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Lin Yue nodded and asked again: "Shall we start searching now?"

This footprint is very new, it must have only been here in the past day or two.

"Let's take a look first. Is your gun loaded?"

Lin Heng thought for a while and said.

"I'll do it now." Lin Yue loaded a buckshot with a large lead shot inside. The special lead bullet's accuracy requirements were too high and he was not sure yet.

Lin Heng also took out his compound bow and followed the footprints in the direction of the forest. After walking a few hundred meters up the mountain and then heading upstream, the bear's tracks were a bit strange.

After spending half an hour, there was still no trace of the bear. Lin Heng stopped and said, "We don't have enough time today. Let's go back and find a way to move the shelter here."

It was already past three o'clock now, and it would be difficult to go back any further.

"Then go back and find the trace. It will be the same if you come back tomorrow."

Lin Yue nodded and said.

Lin Hengdao: "Get up at four o'clock tomorrow morning and come here to smear the bears. The possibility of bears looking for food in the morning is very high."

After deciding, the two of them headed back. On the way back, Lin Heng set up rope traps on some animal paths, while Lin Yue cut a lot of grass and leaves and went back to give the red dates extra food.

"Damn, the water is so cold."

When he arrived at the spot where he found the little civet, Lin Heng took off his pants and walked towards the river. The deepest water reached his waist, and he felt that his brother was so cold that he lost consciousness.

After crossing the river, he quickly put on his pants and set up several rope traps in the forest where the little civets used to be. Then he took off his pants and walked back to the other side of the river.

If the little civet wasn't valuable, he really wouldn't want to cross the river and torture himself like this.

Fortunately, I kept walking and soon became colder.

The two of them walked back along the way they came, checking if there was any easy place to walk, and trying to find a way to bring the red dates up.

However, the two of them found out that the mountain walls on both sides were too steep, and Hong Zao was destined to be unable to climb up.

"There is no other way, then we can only put it down below."

Lin Heng shook his head.

Lin Yue was also helpless: "This is the only way, but if we hunt a black bear tomorrow, we can just go back and don't have to worry."

Lin Heng was not hopeful about this. Although he found footprints, he might not be able to find the black bear. The animal's range of activities is too large.

The two speeded up and returned to the shelter at ten minutes past four, but the situation here surprised them both.

"Where are the red dates?" Lin Yue was shocked. The red dates tied to the tree were missing.

“Woof woof woof~~~”

Soon, Xiong Ba roared and ran downstream.

"Horse thief, you bitch!"

Following Xiongba's cry, Lin Heng also saw the two people below. Hongzao had been pulled far away.

When the two horse thieves in front saw Lin Heng and Lin Yue, they panicked and whipped Hong Zao hard.

"hiss!!!"

Hearing Lin Heng's voice, Hong Zao also neighed.

"Who told you to steal our horses? If you don't stop we'll shoot! Damn it!"

Lin Yue took the gun in his hand while rushing.

Hearing this, the two men stopped, and one of the old men said fiercely: "Who said this horse is yours, and I said it was mine."

Lin Heng came over, took out a bow and arrow and cursed: "I bought it from someone, and there are witnesses and physical evidence. You want to go to the police station and go to jail, right? If you are wise, please put it down for me."

He really didn't expect that someone would come here and shamelessly steal his own horse. He really didn't have the qualities of a hunter.

One of the two men was an old man in his fifties or sixties holding a native shotgun, and the other was a man in his thirties holding a Mongolian bow. They both panicked when they saw Lin Heng and Lin Yue taking out their weapons. They didn't recognize the compound bow in Lin Heng's hand, but they couldn't help but recognize the double-barreled shotgun in Lin Yue's hand.

Compared to a double-barreled shotgun, a native shotgun is far inferior in terms of range, power, or reload speed.

"I don't care about you, this horse is mine if you hold it in your hand." The middle-aged man said arrogantly, making it clear that he didn't want to return it.

Lin Heng sneered: "Then do you believe that no one will know if I beat you to death here? No one else will see you in this barren mountain. If you find a place to bury you, no one will ever know how you died."

"You dare?" The old man said with a fierce expression.

"You will know after you take one more step and try." Lin Heng smiled and spread his hands.

The other two were silent for a while. The middle-aged man glanced at Lin Heng and softened his tone: "We picked up this horse in the wild. You want to pay ten yuan for your hard work."

When they first saw the horse, they didn't want to steal it. They wandered around here for more than half an hour to make sure no one was there before crossing the river to steal it. If I had known earlier they should have just pulled the horse and ran.

Lin Yue said angrily: "I'm afraid you are going crazy thinking about money."

"If you don't give it, I'll beat the horse to death." The middle-aged man said shamelessly.

Lin Heng glanced at him. The man was holding a porcupine in his hand, which was a rare prey.

With a flash of inspiration, he said: "Well, you are also a bow and arrow player. Let's compete. If you are better than me, I will give you the horse. If you are not as good as me, not only will the horse be returned to me, but you will also be given the horse." Give me the porcupine in your hand.”

He said this because he had absolute confidence in himself and his compound bow. If he couldn't beat his opponent with a modern compound bow, he could go home and herd cattle, and stop hunting in the future.

Also, he didn't really want to kill these two people, so he found an excuse to get the horse back.

The middle-aged man immediately became interested when he heard this. He was extremely confident in his archery skills. His ancestors all used bows and arrows for hunting, and he had been practicing this since he was a child.

"Is this what you said, give me the horse if you lose?" the middle-aged man looked at him and asked.

Lin Heng nodded: "A grown man spits and nails, and he always says the same thing."

"Then come, I'm still afraid of you." The middle-aged man smiled and nodded. A young boy dared to compete with him in a bow and arrow competition. He really didn't know how high the world was.

Lin Heng just laughed at him for being uneducated and ignorant of the horrors of modern compound bows.

(End of this chapter)