Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 103 There is a blind bear in the tree

Since this mulberry forest is not halfway up the cliff, everyone can get close to it.

Wang Haofeng and Yu Qiujiang helped to find Coriolus versicolor.

The shape of Coriolus versicolor is very special and very easy to identify. Even if it is identified wrongly, Yu Qiutang can go and check it again.

You know what, newcomers are just lucky.

As expected, Wang Haofeng found some first. Yu Qiutang went over to take a look and discovered that although the growth rings were not big, only about five or six years at most, they would still weigh more than half a pound if all of them were cut off.

It's a small gain.

Wang Haofeng, who was recognized by Yu Qiutang, was even more motivated. He said frankly that he would continue to work hard and must produce a cluster weighing more than one kilogram.

But it seemed as if his luck had been exhausted from the beginning, and no matter how much he expected later, he never got anything.

Yu Qiutang, on the other hand, opened a big business all at once.

The cluster weighed nearly two kilograms, and Wang Haofeng's eyes almost popped out of envy.

To be frank, the master is the master, he is indeed amazing.

The two were joking when they saw Yu Qiujiang suddenly trotting back towards them without saying a word. When he got to them, he didn't explain why and just pulled them up, "Hurry up."

"What are you doing?" Wang Haofeng pushed Yu Qiujiang away, very confused.

Yu Qiutang also had a questioning look on his face.

Yu Qiujiang glanced nervously at the place where he had just been and whispered, "Bear."

"What? Speak louder, Brother Jiang!" Wang Haofeng didn't hear clearly and shouted impatiently.

"Shut your big mouth, there's a bear in that tree, a blind bear!"

"what."

Wang Haofeng immediately ran under the tree and picked up his crossbow, "Let's go, let's go!"

He tried to pull Yu Qiutang, but failed.

"Come on, Tangtang, didn't you hear what Brother Jiang said, there's a blind bear in the tree!"

Yu Qiutang nodded and asked Yu Qiujiang, "Brother Jiang, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"

"Oh, that's right," Yu Qiujiang said with lingering fear, "I was looking over there, and I saw a thicker mulberry tree, half of its trunk covered by leaves, so I thought I'd climb up and take a look.

As a result, when I had just climbed halfway, a mulberry branch suddenly fell down. I thought it was broken by the wind. I looked up casually and saw a blind bear sitting on the tree fork with its legs spread out, eating mulberries.

"So it's true."

Yu Qiutang felt an impulse in his heart. He opened the magazine and saw that there were still six bullets in it. He reloaded it, shook the rifle, and said with a smile: "Since they are here, why should we hide? Can bears eat mulberries? Can we not hunt bears?"

"what?"

"You wanna hunt bears?!"

Wang Haofeng and Yu Qiujiang were stunned for a moment.

People living at the foot of the mountain often have an invincible perception of bears, and even among hunters, few take the initiative to hunt bears.

This is not only because bears are ferocious and most hunters do not have good guns, but more importantly, there are actually very few bears.

It's not like in many hunting stories where bears can be seen so easily.

To maintain their huge bodies, bears need to eat a lot, so each adult bear has its own territory and other bears are strictly prohibited from entering.

There is often only one litter of bears within a few dozen kilometers, and once these bear cubs grow up, they will be driven away by their mothers, just like their fathers who were driven away after completing their mission.

Therefore, even for very skilled hunters, it is actually very difficult to encounter a bear in the mountains. If the real purpose of hunting a bear is to do so, then those hunters do not expect to make a living from hunting.

If you really want to hunt a bear, you need to go to the forest in advance to look for traces of the bear, and then make nests in different places, that is, put some meat on them.

Bears particularly like to eat beef, so we usually feed them beef. If you really can’t afford to feed them, you can use mutton instead.

In this way, we can determine the bears' walking paths by the points where they eat meat, gradually narrowing their range of activities, and finally finding a real resting place.

Because bear hunting is extremely risky, it is difficult to kill a bear quickly with ordinary guns. If you miss a vital part, the bear will go crazy and be very dangerous.

To hunt a bear, you must keep a distance from the bear. Before the bear gets close to the hunter, you must kill the bear completely or make it lose its absolute fighting power.

Mature hunters rarely hunt bears in the spring and fall, usually waiting until winter, and to a lesser extent summer.

In winter, bears usually hibernate.

They would choose to dig a hole in a tall and strong tree and hide themselves inside.

Interestingly, bear burrows are not necessarily above ground as many people imagine.

They can climb trees and often choose to dig holes halfway up the tree. They will also cover the surface of the holes to a certain extent, making it difficult for hunters who are not very professional and experienced to find them.

Moreover, if the hole is dug halfway up the tree, canines that can cause harm to bears will not climb trees at all, and leopards that can climb trees generally will not harass bears.

Whether hibernating or raising cubs, it is relatively safe.

Bears are omnivores, but they prefer sweets, so all kinds of honey are their favorite foods. In addition, they will also search for all kinds of sweet wild fruits. Ripe mulberries are as sweet as honey and are one of their favorite foods at this stage.

Yu Qiutang asked Wang Haofeng and Yu Qiujiang to stand by for the time being, and he slipped over alone to confirm whether it was really a bear. Considering that the chance of a bear appearing in Houtouling was not as high as that in Heixiaziling, he also had to prevent any misunderstanding.

Holding the gun, he carefully moved towards the direction mentioned by Yu Qiujiang.

Stay highly alert mentally, be prepared to escape and hide, and determine the escape route in advance to ensure that you can attack or defend.

He saw a bear.

But he shook his head and smiled bitterly.

It turned out to be a black bear cub. Judging from its size, it could be no more than one year old and had not yet reached full adulthood.

After seeing clearly, Yu Qiutang did not hesitate at all, but went straight through the mulberry forest and continued forward, hiding behind several mulberry trees that were close to each other.

These trees probably grew from one root. Not only are they very close to each other, but two of them are even tightly entangled with each other, like a pair of lovers hugging each other.

Yu Qiutang was hiding here, and his target was not the little bear, but the big bear.

Generally speaking, for these bear cubs that are at the boundary between juvenile and adult, the mother bear will be in a semi-free-range state.

Allow the cubs to explore their own territory, look for prey or hunt within the control of the mother bear. Since the cubs are here, the mother bear will not be too far away.

How could Yu Qiutang be willing to give up such a good opportunity? He had no interest in the little bear. He thought that the meat would be too little to eat, the skin would be too small to sell, the gallbladder would not grow well, and the meat would not be enough to eat more than a few pounds.

Hunting them is just a waste of time and bullets.

But if you catch a female bear, the reward is not certain. If you can get a bronze gall, it will be worth about 700 to 800 yuan based on the current market price.

There are three types of bear gall: grass gall, iron gall and copper gall. Although they are all bear gall, their prices differ by dozens of times.

The so-called grass gall is the bear bile formed in the body before hibernation, that is, during the period from the beginning of spring to the beginning of hibernation.

During this period, black bears will eat a lot to replenish their strength for the winter. In addition, they are omnivorous animals, so they will eat anything, including honey, various rodents, and nuts. Therefore, the bile at this time is mostly green and is called "grass bile". Its medicinal effect is the lowest among bear bile.

The so-called iron gall is ordinary bear bile, which is generally hard and brittle, in the shape of a thick paste, yellow-green in color, and poor in gloss. It is also called "cauliflower gall". This kind of bear bile has a slightly fishy smell overall, melts in the mouth, tastes extremely bitter, is cool and does not stick to the teeth, and is a mid-range product.

Copper gall or golden gall, this kind of bear gall is golden in color, transparent and bright like amber, the gall is crispy, and tastes bitter and sweet after tasting. It is called "golden gall" or "copper gall", and is the best bear gall.

There is no hunter who doesn't want to get a bronze gall. If you get one, you can make a living for three years. Even if you don't get anything good for the next six months, you won't be worried at all.

Hunters also have influence and circles.

If you have ever killed a bear, you are basically at the top of the list. If you are lucky enough to get a bronze gall, that's like touching the ceiling, and from then on, his deeds will be spread throughout the area within dozens of miles.

If the village was attacked by wild boars and needed to find a hunter to help, this kind of expert would definitely be the main person invited.

Not only can you get the prey, but you can also get the money for hiring the person, and gain more gratitude and fame. It can be said that you kill three birds with one stone.

Yu Qiutang looked at the cub while searching for the mother bear.

A bear litter consists of two to four cubs. They are very small when they are born, weighing less than one pound, not even as big as human cubs. But they grow very fast and can grow to several dozen kilograms in just three to five months.

But in this process, the bear must protect its cubs.

Bears have almost no natural enemies in the Qinling Mountains. In the early years, there were South China tigers, also known as Qinling tigers, but they were no longer seen until the late 1970s.

The only top carnivore left is the leopard.

However, the individual capabilities of leopards are still not enough compared to bears. Although bears are not as big as brown bears, an adult male bear weighs four to five hundred kilograms, which is two to three times the weight of a leopard.

Moreover, although the leopard is more flexible than a bear, it is difficult for it to break the bear's defense. It may bite and tear for a long time without causing any pain to the bear. However, if the bear is enraged, it can break the leopard's spine with just one slap.

Therefore, once bears reach adulthood, their survival rate is almost 100%.

However, before it reaches adulthood, it has quite a lot of natural enemies.

Leopards, jackals, wolves, and even ferocious mustelids such as the yellow-throated marten on the ground will cause trouble for the little bear.

The little bear is small, has poor defense, is not flexible enough, and its claws are not fully formed, making it difficult for it to cause fatal damage to these guys.

If he was surrounded, he would surely die without his mother's help.

What's worse is that they have to deal with birds of prey from the sky, such as golden eagles, which may attack them. It is very difficult to be safe and sound.

Even for cubs like the one now that are about to grow up, the mother bear cannot be completely at ease. After sending the cubs out to different places, she will follow behind to look after them and ensure their safety.

The mothers of all living things love their children more.

This is especially true in the animal kingdom.

Except for very rare species, most of the babies are raised by their mothers. After the father completes the reproduction task, he will leave at most after the breastfeeding period.

Yu Qiutang guessed that the mother of this little bear was probably protecting the other little bears, probably because she thought that this mulberry forest was their core territory and that there wouldn't be any natural enemies that could quickly take down a half-adult bear cub.

This wait lasted for more than an hour.

Wang Haofeng and Yu Qiutang couldn't wait any longer and also ran up the slope.

"What are you waiting for? Why don't you fight?" Wang Haofeng stuck his head out and saw the bear cub eating mulberries in big mouthfuls. The white line on its chest was dyed purple by the mulberry juice.

His big mouth was full of saliva, and his chubby little feet were curled up and down, looking very satisfied.

"This is a little bear. There's no point in beating it. It won't sell for much, and it's easy to scare the mother bear."

"That's perfect, isn't it? Get rid of the little one, wait for the female to come, and then get rid of them together. Isn't that better?"

"What are you thinking? Hunting a bear is not like hunting a rabbit. It's not as easy as you think."

"?" Wang Haofeng didn't understand. "We have guns in our hands, but we still can't deal with it. No matter how strong the bear is, it is still made of flesh and blood. How can it be tougher than a bullet?"

Yu Qiutang looked around to make sure there was nothing unusual, then explained to Wang Haofeng: "Then you are wrong. Hunting bears is the most difficult of all animals... Oh, of course, except for hunting elephants.

Bears are fierce but timid. Unless they encounter humans head-on, they generally won't actively attack humans. Oh, the range is about ten meters.

In other words, if you are unlucky enough to encounter a bear in the wild, if it is a head-on encounter and the distance is within ten meters, the bear will definitely pounce on you, and it will be very dangerous at this time.

Other than that, bears have no interest in confronting humans and will generally move away quickly if they hear any noise.

However, there are two exceptions.

One is that you hurt a bear cub. The bear's maternal instinct will make it crazy and it will chase you relentlessly. At this time, even if you have a gun, if you don't think calmly, you can easily be caught up and killed.

Don't look at me like that, what I said is true.

The only fatal points on a bear's body are its head and heart. Although it is very large, it is still quite difficult to hit it when it is running at high speed, as a bear is much faster than a human.

Another possibility is that if you injure a bear but miss its vital parts, the bear will feel the pain and become enraged, and chase you in a hurry, which is also very dangerous.

Wang Haofeng stuck out his tongue when he heard this.

“Oh my god, if you say that, why should we hunt bears? We will die anyway, it’s too dangerous,” Wang Haofeng looked at the way he came and saw you taking a few steps back.

"Are you ready to give up?"

Yu Qiutang asked with a smile, "You say this guy is timid, right? He is indeed timid. When he heard that the bear was very ferocious, he wanted to retreat."

But if you say it's big, it's actually very big. At critical moments, he will subconsciously rush forward and block the danger in front of himself.

"Didn't you say it was so dangerous?"

"Hunting is inherently dangerous. If it weren't dangerous, not everyone would do it. We eat this dangerous food, so we just have to be careful... Hey, what's that over there?"

"What?" Wang Haofeng looked in the direction Yu Qiutang pointed, "It looks like a black dog..."

"No, not a dog, a bear."

Yu Qiutang, who had been speaking in a lazy tone just now, turned over and lay down, looking sharply at the ridge opposite. On the ridge, an adult bear was running fast.

As if chasing something!
(End of this chapter)