Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

After giving instructions for all matters, especially reminding people not to let the two musk deer freeze to death, Yu Qiutang left the camp carrying his crossbow.

He didn't tell them.

His real purpose was to find the lynx.

Since the lynx can be called a big cat or a little tiger, it means that many things about it are as precious as those of a tiger.

Tiger is a valuable thing, and it is also valuable.

Yu Qiutang estimated that the lynx was about 1.34 meters long. Not to mention its bones, whip, and meat, even its skin alone could be sold for 500 yuan, and I guarantee that someone would rush to buy it.

Maybe even more.

This is comfortable.

Moreover, from the most primitive desire in our hearts, who doesn’t have the desire to hunt a tiger?

As a hunter, the top endorsement is hunting tigers.

Unfortunately, in reality there are almost no examples of successful tiger hunting by a single person, and most tigers are hunted by multiple people.

Moreover, there are no tigers in the Qinling Mountains.

Instead, only leopards and lynxes are left.

First practice with lynx, accumulate experience after success, and then set your sights on leopards.

Then if I have a chance, I will go to Northeast China and try to hunt tigers.

Then he will have no regrets when looking back on his career as a hunter.

Otherwise, it would just be meaningless to hunt stupid animals like bears and wild boars.

Although I can earn income, it’s not satisfying enough.

Because he was alone, Yu Qiutang did not carry a gun, let alone a halberd.

These are all burdens.

He didn't think that anything in this mountain except a bear could kill him instantly.

At least not the lynx.

He just wants to be a lone hunter.

Following the edge of the moss meadow all the way eastward is a coniferous forest unique to high-altitude areas, mainly composed of cold-resistant trees such as pine trees.

Continuing eastward, the coniferous forest gradually turns into a mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest.

The area of ​​this mixed forest is not large, it is more like a wall. Through the wall, there are large areas of common alpine meadows.

Yu Qiutang stopped.

He walked for more than an hour and felt nothing in the woods. After he walked out, he found that the snow had lessened a lot and the sky and the earth were no longer covered with fog. Instead, he could see many caves on the rocks opposite the meadow.

Yu Qiutang turned around and looked at the road ahead, but there was only woods behind him.

Two rows of winding footprints in the snow between the woods.

He closed his eyes, roughly calculated the distance he had walked, and made a calculation in his mind.

This environment is very suitable for lynxes to survive, and most of their nests are built in such rock crevices, stone caves or tree holes.

The lynx has a wide range of activities. It hunts prey within a radius of several kilometers or even more than ten kilometers around its cave. This location is less than five kilometers away from their camping site, which is well within the lynx's range of activities.

Taking all factors into consideration, the lynx is most likely in the caves opposite.

Maybe there is more than one.

But the approximate locking range is still far from the level where lynx can be hunted.

This guy is suspicious, timid and alert by nature.

Unless it suddenly stood in front of you like last night, it would be difficult to get within fifty meters of it.

It will rush over to fight against weak animals to defend its territory.

It will temporarily avoid powerful animals, making it impossible for the opponent to find its trace.

Compared with jackals, it is the real natural enemy of musk deer.

Can climb trees, swim, climb rocks, jump, bite...

It's definitely a hexagonal warrior.

But among the smart hexagons, none is as cunning as humans, especially experienced humans like Yu Qiutang.

He just happened to know how to lure and kill a lynx.

And the method used is very simple, which is to use curiosity.

Yu Qiutang took out an aluminum basin from his arms. This was the container they brought with them, and it just happened to come in handy at this moment.

Use the crossbow arrow to poke a hole in the bottom of the iron basin, pass a rope through it, and then hang the basin on the branch nearby.

A simple "luminous mirror" is made.

If nothing unexpected happens, as long as you are patient, the lynx will come over to check what's going on.

The principle used is that curiosity kills the cat.

Almost all small and medium-sized cats have a strong curiosity about new things.

Lynx is no exception.

Of course, the lynx is a wild big cat after all, and relying solely on a "mirror" is still a bit unsafe and not enough to see.

Lynx is one of the most alert cat species.

Then at this time, he needs to take out the animal trap that he had prepared long ago.

Originally, this trap was intended for wild wolves.

Basically, where there are musk deer, there are wolves.

He originally thought that when he was hunting musk deer, he would look for traces of wolves nearby, set some traps, and catch as many as he could.

As a result, the wolf has now caught several and the harvest is quite good.

And if you find the traces of a lynx, then this clamp is just right for the lynx.

He took out five prepared animal traps from his bag, moved them around, and buried them under several trees. He also used the wolf liver and offal from the wolf he killed yesterday as bait.

Lynx likes fishy smell very much.

After everything was arranged, he looked around for a shallow sunken pit, covered himself with water-proof felt and oilcloth, then quietly lay in ambush in the pit, constantly shining a flashlight on the basin.

If it is a sunny day, there is no need to use a flashlight. The sunlight shining on the aluminum basin will reflect a dazzling light, which is enough to attract the lynx.

But today is a snowy day. Although the snow is not as heavy as last night, it is still falling, and we cannot wait for the sun to rise in a short time.

The light isn't very good in this weather.

If it were a human, they might not be able to see the faint light reflected by the flashlight in the light of the snow, but lynxes are crepuscular animals. They will feel uncomfortable if the light is too strong or too dark. On the contrary, this gray environment is exactly the atmosphere they like.

Then comes the long wait.

After placing it there, he waited for most of the day. Yu Qiutang's hands were so tired from shaking it, but the lynx still didn't show up.

He can only reduce the frequency of reflection.

This is the basic quality of hunting.

Just like a tiger often lies in ambush for days and nights to hunt its prey, if humans really want to hunt lynx, a top solitary creature, what they need most is not technology and marksmanship, but patience.

If you can't stand loneliness, you will never gain anything.

I don’t know what time it is.

Yu Qiutang felt a little hungry and his body was numb from the cold. Fortunately, his body was better than that of ordinary people, so he could barely hold on.

He didn't dare to make any big moves, fearing that all his efforts would be wasted.

If the lynx is in a rock cave or crevice on the opposite side, they may be able to see this side at any time, looking down from above.

And their visual capture capabilities are six or seven times that of human activities.

Any slight movement could expose you completely to their sight.

He could only try his best to lower his body, slowly reached his hand into his pocket, took out half a frozen mooncake, put it to his mouth and took a bite.

so hard!

I almost broke my teeth.

I had to use the temperature in my mouth to slowly ease the pain, and then I could swallow it in small pieces.

Although it was just a little bit of cold mooncake, after eating it, it immediately provided him with a lot of energy, and his body temperature seemed to increase.

It felt like he could hold on even if he had to guard for half a day longer.

After slowly eating half of the mooncake, he grabbed a handful of clean snow and stuffed it into his mouth, washing all the dry mooncake powder into it. Refreshing!

It has been a long time since I last experienced this kind of primitive way of life. It is quite pleasant to experience it again.

At this moment, his eyes suddenly tightened.

As expected, the lynx appeared on the edge of the rock a few dozen meters away.

Maybe not that one.

But it is definitely a lynx.

The lynx appeared out of nowhere, as if it suddenly appeared in Yu Qiutang's sight.

It squatted in the snow like a stone statue, observing this side.

Yu Qiutang hurriedly shone the flashlight on the basin, casting a series of discontinuous shadows.

And this kind of shadow is a fatal attraction for cats.

really.

Soon the guy slowly began to move towards this side.

Be careful.

The way a lynx walks is similar to that of a cat, but it is not as graceful as a cat, and mainly because it does not look as pretty as a cat.

The way a lynx walks is a bit like a drunk cat, its center of gravity is always shaking, but it will not fall down.

However, it was just a stroll.

If they suddenly increase their speed, they can burst out with maximum power and fastest speed in a very short period of time.

Given their alert character and cunning habits, it is not surprising that they can become the big bosses who rule a region.

Yu Qiutang continued to induce.

The lynx is still slowly testing.

When it was less than ten meters away from the tree branch, it stopped, suddenly seemed to have discovered something, turned around and ran back frantically a few steps.

But soon, he braked on the spot, turned back and continued to look over here.

Then slowly approach again.

This time the distance was closer than last time.

When it reaches a distance of seven or eight meters, it goes back again and comes back again.

When it was three to five meters away, it no longer turned around and ran back quickly, but began to pace sideways, constantly observing the pots on the tree.

It just never comes.

The key is that Yu Qiutang is unable to make any unnecessary movements. Even if he reaches out to touch the crossbow now, the lynx will react quickly and run away, no matter how fast it is.

He can only look for better opportunities.

Either it was the moment when the lynx jumped up the tree, or it was the moment when the lynx…

While I was thinking, the lynx suddenly stopped and started sniffing around with its nose pouting.

"Have you discovered me?"

Yu Qiutang held his breath and tried to slow down his breathing as much as possible to reduce the release of odor.

At the same time, be mentally prepared so that if it really attacks, you can reach for the leggings dagger as soon as possible.

As long as he could avoid the first attack and keep some distance, he would have the opportunity to set up his crossbow.

No matter how fierce you are, your weight is limited.

Yu Qiutang was not particularly worried.

However, the lynx sniffed slowly, but did not come towards his ambush position, but instead went in the opposite direction.

Yu Qiutang suddenly realized.

I was so busy luring it with the basin that I forgot about the clamp.

The main reason is that I never thought that a beast trap could catch something as sensitive as a lynx.

The reason for arranging it is to serve as an auxiliary.

However, something he didn't expect happened.

The lynx quickly smelled the bait and knew that beneath the thin layer of snow there was something it liked to eat.

It looked around nervously, lowered its head to sniff again and again, but was hesitant to eat.

Then it started to circle around and around the meat.

It took more than ten minutes before it carefully stuck its butt out and tried to use its claws to pull out the meat.

can.

As soon as the left front paw touched the flesh, there was a "snap" sound, and the paw was immediately clamped.

It was startled and backed away frantically, trying to shake the clamp off.

But the animal traps were tied to trees, and it was impossible to get rid of them by simply pulling up the hemp rope hidden under the snow.

Yu Qiutang was also a little dazed at first.

Ben was fully prepared to have a good fight with this intermediate beast.

But unexpectedly, it fell into the trap before it even started.

He was in no hurry.

Just wait quietly for the lynx to struggle frantically.

The wild animals that have just been caught are usually very ferocious and will not stop until they have run out of strength to struggle.

But this lynx once again exceeded his understanding.

After struggling for a few minutes, perhaps realizing that the rope could not be pulled apart, it began to try to bite the rope.

This shocked Yu Qiutang.

Just as I was about to use a crossbow to solve the problem directly, I suddenly remembered that no matter how hard the crossbow was used, it would still leave a wound.

It is a loss for those who pursue the perfect hide.

He took out a rope from his bag and sent the lynx away in its anger.

This is curiosity killing the cat.

He weighed the lynx with both hands. It was quite heavy, probably at least 100 kilograms if not 90 kilograms.

After getting rid of the lynx, Yu Qiutang moved to another place and waited for the whole afternoon. In the end, apart from killing two snow chickens, he didn't see anything else.

He carried the lynx's body back to the moss area.

"what's that?"

Yu Qiyuan was shocked when he saw the lynx. He was about to ask if it was a leopard, but then he remembered the knowledge Yu Qiutang had taught him yesterday and asked in surprise, "Is this the lynx?"

"Yes, this is the lynx, but I don't know if it is the same one from last night. It was too dark and I couldn't see it clearly."

"Good guy!"

Yu Qiyuan circled the lynx, then turned around, and couldn't help but exclaim, "This thing looks like a cat no matter how you look at it."

Yu Qiutang smiled.

In fact, there are still big differences between lynx and cat in appearance.

Needless to say, the size of the body.

The fur color is also very different. Lynx basically only has two colors, red or gray, with small black spots on them. Cats have many colors, and there are all kinds of colors.

As for the ears, the lynx's ears are always erect, while the cat's ears come in various shapes. In addition, there is a very fine black hair on the tip of the lynx's ears, which the cat does not have.

There is also the tail. The lynx's tail is very short compared to its body. An adult lynx can be over 1.5 meters long, but its tail is only more than 20 centimeters long.

Many cats are less than half the length of a lynx, but have tails this long, or even longer.

In fact, if you look closely, there are many differences between lynx and cat.

For example, the lynx is more streamlined, its nose is more like a lion, and so on.

"Does this need to be skinned?" Yu Qiyuan suddenly rubbed his hands in anticipation. After skinning the wolf yesterday, he seemed to have opened a door and could not stop.

Yu Qiutang hurriedly stopped him.

"Don't touch this. It's best to sell this kind of thing as a whole so that you can get a good price." (End of this chapter)