Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

As for the musk deer here, his most precious thing had been destroyed by himself, and only a few broken parts were left, which could barely be recovered.

In addition, you can also get a musk skin.

This musk deer looks quite big, and its skin could probably be sold for several dozen dollars.

But selling musk skin depends on luck.

I'll watch it with Wolfskin then.

It took Yu Qiyuan more than an hour to deal with the little wolf. The moment the skin was separated from the body, Yu Qiyuan collapsed to the ground with exhaustion, as if he had been carrying sacks for days without rest.

"Haha, you're exhausted, right?"

Yu Qiutang motioned Yu Qiyuan to sit by the fire and rest. He cut some tender meat from the wolf cub and handed it to Yu Qiujiang.

“This meat should be very tender.”

"Try it."

Yu Qiujiang took out the pots, pans, and bowls that he had prepared when he came, poured water into them, and placed them on the fire.

Hearing this, he took out his sharp dagger, burned it over the fire for a while to kill the poison, then cut the meat into small pieces and put them into the pot, then added a series of seasonings, covered the pot and stewed it.

There are a variety of seasonings including Sichuan peppercorns, young garlic, green onions, dried chili peppers, ginger slices, etc.

Moreover, these things are all original, not quick-cooked, so the taste will be more authentic.

Sure enough, within ten minutes, the aroma overflowed from the pot.

"We stew it slowly to make the meat as tender as possible and let all the seasonings be absorbed into the meat."

Yu Qiujiang looked at Yu Qiyuan swallowing his saliva and said with a smile.

"I'm not in a hurry."

Yu Qiyuan blushed and quickly denied the little thought that was difficult to conceal.

Yu Qiujiang smiled and said nothing more.

After all, he is only sixteen years old and has never suffered any hardship since childhood, so he is relatively innocent.

He has a very mellow personality.

Pretty good too.

If you can be happy, there is no need to suffer. Who doesn't want to live a happy life without any burden?

While eating, Yu Qiujiang took out a bottle of wine and poured a small glass for each of the three people, which was less than two taels.

"Drink something to warm yourself up and activate your body."

Hunters usually drink some wine when going into the mountains, but not too much. Drinking too much can easily lead to mistakes, which can be a matter of life and death at critical moments.

But there is nothing wrong with two taels.

For Northwest men, even two taels of wine is not enough for just one sip.

Yu Qiu didn't drink alcohol at first. He held the wine glass, looked at this cousin, then at that cousin, then at the wine in the glass, his face full of worry.

"Try it, you'll learn to drink it sooner or later."

Yu Qiutang encouraged him with a smile.

This is no way.

Everyone says that Shandong people can drink a lot and like to persuade others to drink, but at least they don’t look down on others because of their low alcohol tolerance.

But here in the northwest, especially in wine-producing areas like Rongcheng, women are born with the ability to drink. If a man cannot drink, it is really inconvenient and will be rejected in many situations.

People are rejecting you, so why would they associate with you?

Basically no respect for people.

You can say that this is an ugly drinking culture, but in this day and age, who can do anything about it?

Yu Qiyuan listened to Yu Qiutang's words very much. He put the wine to his lips, smelled it, and licked it gently with a frown.

Immediately his brows furrowed even more tightly.

"How does it taste?" Yu Qiutang asked with a smile.

"hot!"

"It was like this at first. This is the loose liquor brewed in town. It tastes stronger. Once you get used to it, you won't have a problem drinking any other kind of liquor in the future."

Yu Qiyuan tried taking another sip and mustered up the courage to swallow it.

I immediately felt a burning taste going straight from my mouth to my stomach. It was an indescribable feeling.

"Haha~"

The two brothers looked at his cute newbie look and laughed again.
.
In the second half of the night, the temperature continued to drop and it even started snowing.

And it was heavy snow.

Yu Qiutang slept little, so he served as a night watchman.

He closed his eyes, seemingly resting, but his attention was still on the area within fifty meters around him.

He could even hear the sound of branches being blown off and falling on the snow clearly.

It's like he was born to be a vigil lord.

It was past three in the morning. Yu Qiujiang and Yu Qiyuan both fell into a deep sleep. Especially Yu Qiyuan, he was even snoring in relaxation.

This made Yu Qiutang laugh and cry, and he was also very emotional.

Young is good.

I can sleep whenever I want, but unlike him, although his body has returned to its youthful state, his sleep has not improved.

There are even worse performances.

He feels full of energy every day, as if he only needs three to five hours of sleep to sustain his energy for the day.

"Susu!"

Suddenly, a slight friction sound was heard in the snow.

Yu Qiutang suddenly opened his eyes.

Although it was only a very slight movement, he could still feel that it was the sound of footsteps.

Not human.

A person's footsteps should be steadier, with greater intervals between each step, and each step will have obvious differences because of its location.

But animals are different.

Their feet are small, the force-bearing area is small, and there are flesh pads on the soles of their feet, so there is no sound when they walk. If they want to ambush and hunt, they can do it almost completely silently.

Among them, cats are the most prominent.

Many people have seen cats catching birds. They tiptoe and act cautiously to conceal the sound of their footsteps as much as possible.

Prevent the ground from vibrating and producing sound.

Yu Qiutang put his hand on the gun.

During the day, he was reluctant to shoot because he was worried that the gunshots would scare the surrounding animals.

That's because it's in an absolutely safe state.

But at night, it is the animals’ home ground and his away ground. If danger comes, safety will definitely be the priority.

He took a deep breath, and his mind slowly returned to peace.

He tilted his head slightly and looked in the direction of the source of the sound at a speed that was imperceptible to the naked eye.

On a snowy night, the entire mountain was covered in vastness. Due to the blind spot in his vision, even he could not see anything clearly.

But at least the direction can be determined.

He waited quietly.

"Susu!"

"Susu!"

The sound was getting closer and closer. It felt like it was less than twenty steps away. Yu Qiutang suddenly changed from sitting to squatting and shouted, "There's something!"

"what?!"

Yu Qiyuan was awakened and was still looking around in confusion, while Yu Qiujiang took the knife in his hand.

He prefers his sword to his crossbow.

It seems that as long as he holds the knife, he has everything he needs.

At this moment, the thing finally appeared in front of the three people.

"Ah, tiger!"

Yu Qiyuan opened his mouth and shouted.

Yu Qiujiang was also extremely nervous. He turned over and held the knife tightly with both hands.

I saw a wild animal standing quietly in the snow and moss about 20 to 30 meters away, looking at this side. Because of the snow and moss, I couldn't see the size of the beast for a while, I could only see its huge head, which looked like an enlarged version of a cat.

But it looks much more ferocious than a cat.

Even standing there, it's chilling.

"Not a tiger!"

Yu Qiutang shook his head. He knew clearly that there were no tigers in the Qinling Mountains. The last Qinling tiger disappeared in the early 1980s.

So what could this be?

Could it be a leopard?

It’s hard to be sure.

The main thing was that in the firelight, the position where they saw the beast was very dim, and the snow also reflected slightly against the firelight.

There are also mosses and weeds more than a foot high covering it.

Makes the beast seem even more mysterious.

"What is it going to do?"

Unable to distinguish things clearly and not knowing the other party's purpose, the three of them did not dare to act rashly.

Especially Yu Qiutang, his palms were sweating secretly.

He just based his experience on the fact that there were no tigers here, but what if people didn't notice them?

If it was really a tiger, then at this distance of twenty meters, if the tiger really launched an attack, he would not be able to kill the tiger with one shot, and would definitely suffer injuries.

Even if the tiger is finally eliminated, the injuries to the people here are irreparable.

Just when they were nervous, the wild animal suddenly ran away at a very fast speed.

Yu Qiutang immediately raised his gun, but in the darkness, the other party was too fast and he could not catch up. He could only watch him disappear.

The three of them then relaxed.

And just as the thing left, its entire body was finally exposed, and Yu Qiutang finally saw clearly what it was.

"It's a lynx!"

"What's a lynx?"

Not to mention Yu Qiuyuan, even Yu Qiujiang had never been heard of.

"Oh, it's a beast similar to a cat. It's also very powerful, more ferocious than a wolf..."

Yu Qiutang gave his brothers a brief introduction to the knowledge about lynx.

But I was secretly surprised.

This was the first time he saw a lynx in this mountain. He had never seen one in his previous life, but he had heard that there were lynxes in the Qinling Mountains.

He had seen lynxes in his previous life when he was studying and exchanging ideas in the Northeast. He had seen a wild one, and then he had seen a captive one in a zoo.

But the lynxes in the zoo have long been worn away by life and are no different from caracals, becoming toys for people to tease.

Any wild animal, whether in the zoo or in the wild, are two different animals.

There are countless animals that lived well in zoos, were released into the wild to adapt to life, and soon died there.

Many zoologists believe that the most basic thing for captive animals to survive in the wild is skills.

In fact, Yu Qiutang never felt that way.

He feels it is the driving force of life.

When zoo animals are released into the wild, they suddenly don't know why they are alive, don't understand the meaning of hunting, and can't figure out why they can't just continue to wait for humans to feed them but have to hunt other animals.

This is true not only for many carnivores, but also for rare animals such as the iron-eating beast that have a single diet.

What shocked Yu Qiutang was that the lynx just now was so huge.

Lynx is a medium to large species of cat, and in principle is slightly smaller than lions, tigers and leopards.

It can certainly compete with some small leopards, but it cannot compare to a giant like the jaguar.

It is the largest of the medium-sized cats.

Adult lynxes, especially male lynxes, can be up to 1.34 meters long and generally weigh around 40 kilograms.

According to traceable investigation results, the maximum weight of a lynx can reach over 50 kilograms.

But even though this guy is not the tallest among cats in terms of weight, he has the strongest endurance.

Generally speaking, within the range where lions, tigers and leopards exist, canines such as jackals still have room to survive.

But in a lynx's territory, other carnivores are strictly prohibited.

Otherwise, even if you are not killed, you will be exhausted to death.

There are no tigers in the Qinling Mountains. The most ferocious carnivore is the clouded leopard, or leopard.

An adult clouded leopard is certainly not a target for a lynx to attack, as they can weigh more than two hundred kilograms.

But young leopards are no match for lynxes.

Therefore, in the Qinling Mountains, lynxes can be said to have almost no natural enemies and can survive anywhere they want.

Apart from leopards, other animals such as wolves and jackals cannot survive the sight of lynxes.

If a canine and a cat of the same weight fight, the cat can use three legs.

Although Yu Qiutang didn't know the exact weight of the lynx, he only took a quick glance and estimated that it was less than 50 kilograms, but definitely more than 45 kilograms.

Such a super big cat can almost rule this forest.

and.

What made him even more confused was that he had no idea what the lynx was trying to do just now.

You wouldn't think of attacking them.

But no matter why, being stared at by this guy is a burden.

When it comes to endurance, the lynx ranks second and no other animal dares to rank first.

After this ordeal in the middle of the night, Yu Qiujiang and Yu Qiyuan could no longer sleep, thinking that the guy might come back at any time.

Be cautious and alert around you.

Yu Qiutang took the opportunity to catch up on his sleep, as he knew that since the lynx had been there, it would not come back for the time being.

They don't have human intelligence and are even worse than jackals and foxes. They don't know how to strike back!

So he was relieved.

But he didn't say much. Anyway, if he let the two of them continue sleeping, it would be difficult for them to fall asleep, so he just stayed awake.

Let them play some role too.

When I got up in the morning, it was still snowing heavily.

The three of them had a quick bite and began to discuss today's itinerary.

According to Yu Qiyuan's idea, since it was snowing, there was nothing they could do, so they might as well wait for the weather to clear up.

Anyway, they had brought food with them, and they had just killed a wolf, and they had some wolf meat in stock, which was frozen solid, so there was no need to worry about it going bad.

It can be eaten for a long time.

But Yu Qiutang felt that this statement was only half right.

For a novice like Yu Qiyuan, it is indeed not suitable to do anything on a snowy day, but for an experienced hunter like him, this kind of weather is a good time to do something.

Because the animals in this mountain range do not have protective coloration like the snow leopard, the color of their fur is more adapted to the forests and grasslands. Now that the snow has fallen and the mountains and rivers are all white, they have nowhere to hide. Once they lock on the target, there is almost no escape.

"How about this, Brother Jiang, Yuanzi, the two of you continue to guard here, turn up the fire, clear the snow on the roof of the shed in time, and carefully press it down to put out the fire..."

"Where are you going, cousin?"

Yu Qiyuan asked in confusion.

"Take this opportunity to look around. On snowy days like this, wild animals with thick fur are most likely to come out. If we can catch one or two, it will be a good harvest."

"Is it possible? It's snowing so heavily, it's hard to walk. I think we should not go and wait until the snow stops."

Yu Qiyuan looked at the snow curtain and said worriedly.

"Don't worry, I won't go too far. I'm just going to take a look at the side of the woods. When I came down the mountain last night, I vaguely seemed to see some caves over there. There must be something hidden in them."

"Is that so..." Yu Qiyuan hesitated and nodded, "Then be careful and don't go too far."

"You guys should be careful too. In this kind of weather, and during the day, there won't be any major danger. If anything happens, just stay here. There are stone barriers and a fire, so the beasts shouldn't come in. Then blow the bone whistle to call me back."

Yu Qiutang consoled him with a smile.

It's just to give them peace of mind.

He already had his own ideas in mind. (End of this chapter)