Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Yu Qiutang’s judgment was correct.

As the little musk deer called "Mi Mi", two musk deer quickly jumped out from the bushes in front.

These two are much larger than the small forest musk deer. They are gray in color and look a bit like puppies.

But they are clearly more alert than dogs.

When it appeared in the azalea bushes, it was still very alert, with its ears erect and its head looking left and right, ready to escape at any time.

Musk deer are very timid, but also very aggressive.

It is one of the even-toed ungulates that is very difficult to tame.

They also like solitude.

After the male and female mate, they will separate before their children reach adulthood.

Yu Qiutang was lucky. If it had been a month later, when the musk deer had grown up a little, he would have only been able to see female musk deer at most. The males would definitely not be here.

The two musk deer stood alert for a moment, making sure there was no danger, then they jumped over to the child.

He rubbed the little musk deer's neck gently with his head, and then the three musk deer ran towards the depths of the azalea together.

While running, they remain very alert. If they feel any disturbance, they will immediately run back a few steps to make sure there is no problem before continuing forward.

Because their front limbs are slightly shorter than their hind limbs, it is easier for them to start their bodies and jump up easily.

But the young forest musk deer was probably not very skilled in this kind of jumping. It could only try to hop a few times on the spot without actually jumping up. Instead, its head shook from side to side, looking a bit silly and cute.

Yu Qiutang didn't dare to move at all.

He even pressed his head close to the ground, trying his best to hide his smell.

Judging from the footsteps and the scent, the three musk deer were getting closer and closer to them, probably less than fifty steps away.

At this distance, if he could seize the initiative at the first moment, he would definitely be able to shoot one.

But his heart is heavier.

He doesn't want to give up any of Lin Musk's family of three.

Male musk deer are in urgent need, as they can be used to collect musk directly after returning. Female musk deer can give birth to baby musk deer, which are little boys. As long as they are raised up, they will be a cash cow.

If you can successfully raise a few musk deer and do nothing else but feed them, you can live a good life in this era.

The footsteps stopped.

Yu Qiutang heard a subtle digging sound. It seemed that they had not yet eaten, but had already started releasing excess waste. Yu Qiutang quietly pulled out two crossbow arrows, put one on his hand, and placed the other where his hand could easily reach for quick access.

After getting ready, he held his breath, placed the arrow on the crossbow, and waited for the sound to appear.

A few seconds later, the rustling sound was heard.

He suddenly squatted up and locked onto the male musk deer in just one second. Without any hesitation, the crossbow arrow shot out into the air with a "swoosh".

The male musk deer was so stunned that it had no time to react before the crossbow arrow went straight through its strong hind legs.

The impact immediately knocked it to the ground.

At the same time, the female musk deer jumped more than two meters high on the spot, and immediately twisted its butt and jumped back to where it came from.

speedy.

When Yu Qiutang shot the crossbow arrow, he did not look at whether it hit the target or not, but quickly put another crossbow arrow on the string.

But at this moment, the female musk deer had already jumped several feet away. Yu Qiutang didn't bother to hide his figure. He stood up quickly and chased after the female musk deer. Seeing that the female musk deer was about to run into the woods, he had no choice but to shoot a crossbow arrow.

"call out!"

The arrow and the female musk deer disappeared into the woods at the same time.

Yu Qiutang shook his head. He had no feel for the arrow. It was too far away. The musk deer's jumping speed was too good. It was getting dark and snowing. There were a lot of unfavorable factors.

It is quite difficult to hunt this male forest musk deer.

What surprised him even more was that the little musk deer seemed dumbfounded and didn't understand what was going on. Instead of running away with its mother, it kept circling around the male musk deer.

The male forest musk deer struggled and jumped a few times under the impact, and then fell into the azalea bush.

Because of the anesthetic, it couldn't even make any sound.

Slowly, my mouth became unable to move.

Otherwise, it can also serve as a warning to the musk deer.

It was not until Yu Qiutang rushed to it that the musk deer seemed unaware that something was wrong and was ready to turn around and run. However, it was like a naughty child. At the critical moment, it did not run away directly, but twisted its body and was soon put into the bag by Yu Qiutang.

After getting into the bag, it still opened its two confused eyes, staring at Yu Qiutang, not knowing what this thing was or what he wanted to do with it.

This is mainly due to the fact that there are relatively few natural enemies in the musk deer's living environment.

Theoretically, jackals, tigers, leopards, and some birds of prey such as golden eagles, king falcons, and goshawks are the natural enemies of musk deer.

But in reality, the impact these things can have is very small.

Not to mention tigers and leopards, their numbers are too small, and they will try to maximize profits every time they hunt.

Musk deer are small creatures that are not enough to eat and are difficult to catch, so unless there are special circumstances, I basically don't bother to touch them.

Jackals like them very much, but they only stay in the mountains for a short period of time throughout the year, and most of the time they stay at relatively low altitudes.

Moreover, the speed of the jackal cannot be compared with that of the musk deer, not to mention that the musk deer is a rare species among even-toed ungulates that can climb trees.

Their way of climbing trees is very special, requiring the help of other trees, probably like "Jackie Chan climbing a building, stepping on the walls on both sides to successfully reach the top of the building."

It is precisely because of this ability that when artificially breeding musk deer, the walls must be built very high, and nothing can be placed inside. In other words, the animals are simply surrounded by high walls.

If you give it a little something, it will be able to step on it and jump out.

Yu Qiutang looked at the woods where the female musk deer escaped. The forest was hazy in the night, and against the backdrop of the snow, it seemed a bit eerie and mysterious.

That's it.

He turned his eyes away and didn't think about it anymore.

Even during the day, if you don't catch it in the first place, you basically lose the possibility of catching it.

What's more, at night.

He is not a god.

Looking back, he took out the old arrow of the male musk deer, leaving a bloody hole, and crushed the crane grass he had prepared earlier to bandage it.

Then they tied it up and put a cloth bag over its mouth.

This is to prevent him from coming to his senses and eating his own sachet after the anesthesia wears off.

It may be that the forest musk deer also knows the importance of its own sachet, so when it encounters a strong enemy that it cannot escape from, it likes to use the sachet, so we have to be on guard against it.

Yu Qiutang had experience from his previous life, so it wasn't difficult to deal with him.

By the way, in the early 80s, the number of musk deer was still quite large, mainly concentrated in the northeast, northwest and southwest. It was estimated that there were nearly one million in the country.

But as people hunted them on a large scale, by the 1990s, the number of wild musk deer had dropped sharply to only one-tenth of its original number.

It was not until the state designated the forest musk deer as a protected animal and people gradually became proficient in artificially breeding musk deer that the hunting of forest musk deer was effectively stopped.

"Woo...wow!"

"Woo...wow!"

"Woo...wow!"

At this moment, a rapid bone whistle sounded suddenly.

Maybe because the distance is too far, when the sound reaches your ears, it appears as various high and low echoes.

Yu Qiutang immediately carried the two musk deer, one big and one small, on his back, and without bothering to find the terrain, he ran back across the sea of ​​rhododendrons.

When he ran back, he realized that the oil on the ground had turned into heavy snow, which was fluttering down and hurting his face a little.

Soon, the sky and the earth were covered with heavy snow.

Especially the gusts of wind that were swept over and instantly hit Yu Qiutang in the face. I was a little confused for a while and almost couldn't tell the direction.

It stands to reason that it is no longer suitable to continue walking in the snowy mountains at night, but the sound of the bone whistle continues and becomes more and more urgent.

This made Yu Qiutang extremely nervous.

He brought the two people into the mountains. If something really happened, he would be completely finished.

I guess the only option left is suicide.

In fact, if he just wanted to go into the mountains to get something, he could do it by himself. The reason why he brought other people with him was mainly to help those who had done him favors or had a good relationship with him to live a good life.

If you just give them some money, they definitely won’t take it.

With this way of allocating partnerships, acceptance will be much better.

The profit sharing also met his expectations. He took the lion's share, and the others got smaller shares. It was a win-win for everyone.

By the way, he can also let these friends help him with his work.

If you go deep into the mountains to hunt, you need to prepare a lot of things when you go, and the prey is often abundant. One person definitely cannot carry it down the mountain, so it is also good to have someone to help share the pressure.

Another thing is that it is lonely in the mountains. If you go into the mountains for several days without anyone to keep you company, it would be a bit boring.

However, since he is leading people into the mountains, he will be mentally prepared. It is impossible for everyone to be as proficient as him, understand the mountains well, and have physical fitness better than ordinary people.

It's normal to have some problems.

"Crack!"

Suddenly, he was not paying attention and his foot slipped, and he lost his balance. He subconsciously reached out to grab the tree next to him, but he didn't expect that it was just a small tree doll that couldn't bear his weight. It was pulled apart with a "crack", and rolled down together with the man and the small tree.

Fortunately, in a desperate situation, he hooked another tree with his crossbow. Although he did not stop immediately, his rolling speed was slowed down and his body direction was turned 90 degrees.

There happened to be a pine tree nearby, and he wrapped his legs around it, secure his body, and grabbed the bag that was about to roll down.

"call!"

Only after he calmed down did he breathe a sigh of relief.

After I recovered, I realized that if I continued forward, there would be a hilly cliff about five or six meters high. If I fell down, even if I didn't die, I would be injured.

If the leg was broken, it would be a complete disaster.

In such a big mountain with snow falling, even if you are not eaten by wild beasts, you will still freeze to death.

He adjusted his mindset and continued down the mountain.

But this time he was more careful, and tried to walk in the direction where there were big trees, so that at least there would be obstacles at the critical moment, and that there would not be a cliff at the end of the road.

"Woo...wow!"

The bone whistle continues.

He could only hope that the two would hold on.

The location he chose was almost perfect, with a good view and backed by a cliff. As long as they didn't go out, they could fight for a while even if they encountered a ferocious beast.

During this hour or so, Yu Qiutang was extremely anxious.

But I still have to tell myself to stay calm.

Finally, he came to the edge of the mixed forest and saw the empty moss meadow.

But when he took a look, he was suddenly shocked.

No fire was seen under the cliff opposite.

This shouldn't be!
Before he left, he specifically instructed that the fire should be lit after dark. As long as the surrounding moss and grass were cleared and large logs were used, and no small sparks were produced, there would be no danger of fire.

Wild beasts are basically afraid of fire, and unless they are forced into a corner, they will definitely not rush through the fire to attack.

But now, he didn't see the fire.

That is to say, they didn't light the fire at all.

how so.

In this deep mountain, there is no fire to block the attack. If a pack of wolves or jackals comes, there is almost no chance of fighting.

“Ooooo…!”

At this moment, the familiar bone whistle sounded again.

He listened carefully and found that the sound seemed to come from the other side of the cliff.

He no longer hesitated, and rushed over there at a faster speed, shouting, "Brother Jiang, Atom!"

His shout was heard in the empty valley, and soon an echo came back.

“Cousin!!”

Yu Qiyuan finally heard Yu Qiutang's voice and was very excited. He shouted, "Come and save us, Wolf!"

At the same time, Yu Qiutang also noticed the situation on the scene and immediately sighed that his luck was really bad.

We actually encountered a pack of wolves, and a medium-sized one at that.

I didn't see it clearly just now because of the angle, but now I realize that Yu Qiujiang and Yu Qiyuan were surrounded by seven wolves.

Wolves do not live in large groups in the Qinling Mountains. Three or five can gather together, which is already quite difficult. It is very rare for a whole family of seven to come out.

There is only one possibility.

That is, the wolf cubs have grown up and are about to live independently, and their parents are teaching them the final hunting skills.

Siege!

It is like a Shaolin disciple who wants to go down the mountain needs to pass through the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation, an assassin from a killer organization needs to show his allegiance to officially carry out a mission, and a university graduate needs to pass his thesis to graduate.

In this situation, the wolf parents basically watch and keep alert, leaving the primary task of hunting to their children.

This kind of activity is one of the scenes that all people who make a living in the mountains do not want to see or encounter.

The main thing is that this kind of graduating hunting has a sense of desperation for the wolf. No matter what, it must take down the prey, thereby stimulating the courage of the little wolf and accumulating successful hunting experience.

If this activity fails several times, many little wolves will lose their way and even become timid and negative.

Generally speaking, it is difficult for such little wolves to survive.

Because of their cowardice, they will be cleared out by the wolf pack, or even bitten to death by the wolf king.

The individual combat capability of wolves is very weak. Without the protection and assistance of the wolf pack, it is basically difficult for them to complete hunting.

The original food will become out of reach.

For example, the musk deer that Yu Qiutang and his team targeted this time was originally one of the wolves' foods.

A pack of wolves can completely force the musk deer into a desperate situation.

But for a single wolf, that's it. They can't catch the musk deer at all. They have no choice but to go down to lower altitudes to catch rabbits or mountain mice.

But this will lead to new ecological damage...

For various reasons, wolves will try every means to ensure that their cubs get a good harvest in the final hunting activity, and it would be best if it is a big harvest.

Yu Qiutang took the gun from behind and aimed at the gray-white male wolf on the side of the wolf pack.

This wolf is bigger than the other wolves and looks very majestic. You can tell at a glance that it is the leader of this pack of wolves. (End of this chapter)