Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 49: Flash Scale Snake

Climbing up the ridge, a cool breeze blew towards me.

It was sunny when Yu Qiutang came two days ago, so I couldn’t feel the wind direction. It just rained today, and the wind after the rain seemed a bit cold.

"Damn it! It's not even August yet and the northwest wind has already started to blow. This winter is going to be freezing cold."

Yu Qiutang thought the autumn wind was quite cool and comfortable, but Old Man Qin was just laughing and scolding.

After staying in the mountains for a long time, I have various experiences about climate changes, which are more accurate than weather forecasts.

Northwest wind is the most common wind direction here. It blows half of the time throughout the year. The wind from the northwest is unobstructed and blows from Gansu and Inner Mongolia, so the humidity is very low.

So this is the wind that people here hate the most.

"Why are you still concerned about God's affairs?" Yu Qiutang smiled and took Old Qin to the place where the little civet was found.

If the original mountain path was difficult to walk on, then the current jujube forest is even more difficult to walk on.

The growth of the sour jujube trees is like a bush covered with thorns. There is no road at all. The so-called paths inside are temporary passages opened up by people passing by, but as long as no one walks on it, the passages will soon be blocked again.

Last time, Yu Qiutang and Yu Xiaowei searched as they walked, basically walking along the periphery. Now that they knew the location, they naturally took a shortcut. However, they soon discovered that the shortcut was not that short, and was not faster than walking along the periphery.

Fortunately, neither of them was impatient, so if it was difficult to walk, they would just walk slowly, and they were not affected at all.

Old Man Qin was amazed by the wild jujube forest here.

"I never thought that I could see such a large area of ​​jujube trees here," he said, holding onto a jujube tree. "Looking at how thick this tree is, it must be at least 20 to 30 years old. It's really amazing."

"Isn't there any in Ziwuling?"

Yu Qiutang asked casually, the Ziwuling Mountains belong to the Qiaoshan Mountains, located at the junction of Shaanxi and Gansu, part of it belongs to Shaanxi, and part of it is in Qingyang, Gansu.

Yu Qiutang had only heard of that place but had never actually been there.

The Qinling Mountains stretch for thousands of miles from north to south, but he only worked on a few small mountains. He had only heard of many places but had never actually been there.

Even the most famous Mount Taibai, he had only admired it for a long time, but he had never climbed it, let alone Mount Hua...

"There are some in Ziwuling, but they are not as tall as these. They are just short shrubs, about one meter tall," Old Man Qin gestured with his hands on his body, picked a red sour date, put it under his nose to smell it, and then put it into his mouth.

"It tastes good, smells good, and tastes sweet and sour. It can be used to make wine. You people here are really wasteful. You have such a good thing but you don't use it. Look at it all over the ground."

There was indeed a thick layer of hawthorns on the ground. The red hawthorns and the withered yellow leaves had rotted into a thin layer of mud on the ground.

Yu Qiutang knew that this silt would gradually thicken and eventually reach more than half a foot thick. Once you stepped into it, you would not be able to pull your foot out.

He also had the idea of ​​soaking sour jujube in wine, but he felt it was too early. His only goal at the moment was to make some money to improve the situation at home.

There are many inconveniences in living in the troglodyte courtyard. One has to be on guard against Chen Meidi in some matters, but at the same time one cannot let his father feel that he is too alienated. It is difficult to strike a balance, so it is best for the two families to separate.

He saw Old Man Qin looking around and asked the reason.

"Find two sticks that are handy to hold. Don't you know that there are often sun snakes in the jujube forest?"

"No way."

Yu Qiutang subconsciously refuted that the so-called sun snake is also called the flash scale snake, which is a very rare wild snake. This snake can be more than one meter long, has a very docile temperament, and basically will not actively attack people. It mainly eats small rodents, birds, frogs and eggs of certain animals.

If they are really hungry, they will eat the young of other animals.

There are about a dozen species of snakes in the Qinling Mountains, and Yu Qiutang is familiar with every one of them. He also knows that although ordinary people hate snakes, these wild snakes are basically protected animals and are extremely rare.

They will gradually be included in the protected animals of our country and even the world.

Some of these snakes are even endemic to the Qinling Mountains. They are only found in the Qinling Mountains in the world, making them extremely precious.

Specifically speaking of the daylight snake, this snake is not called the daylight snake. It is actually a snake that is active at night and is rarely seen during the day.

Moreover, sun snakes like to live in dark and humid places such as piles of dead leaves and under rocks, and they don't like to run to areas full of thorns.

"How is that impossible? You think the Sun Snake doesn't come out during the day?" Old Man Qin smiled proudly and handed one of the sticks in his hand to Yu Qiutang. "Take it. You'll be right if you listen to me."

Seeing that Yu Qiutang was still looking at him with doubtful eyes, he explained: "You just know that they don't come out under normal circumstances, but what time is it now? It is the seventh or eighth month of the lunar calendar. At this time, the sun snakes need to lay eggs, so they need more food.

At this time, many birds and rodents that feed on wild fruits are looking for food in the sour jujube forest where the fruits mature the most, so they are the main food source for the sun snakes. "

Yu Qiutang thought it made some sense and nodded, half believing and half doubting.

He couldn't completely deny what Old Man Qin said.

After all, he has stayed in the mountains longer than him and may have more experience.

Old Man Qin noticed his expression, but didn't care and just smiled.

The two men walked slowly forward holding sticks, gently tapping the bushes or thorn bushes beside them with the sticks along the way. If there were daylight snakes in them, they would definitely quietly avoid humans.

They are too shy, unlike the king snake, which will bite people if it is unhappy.

"Look, it's right in front. See that tree branch? When I was chopping the tree, that guy was on the top of the tree."

As they were talking, the two of them had arrived at their location.

The tree branches that were cut down a few days ago have turned gray by wind and rain, but the axe forks are still there. There are several longhorn beetles lying on the forks, catching aphids that feed on rotten matter. It looks like there are several black moles on the forks.

Old Man Qin nodded, walked to the fork in the tree, and looked around at the surrounding environment.

Yu Qiutang understood that he was estimating the location of the civet's burrow.

Small civets like quiet, dark, dry, clean environment and live solitary. They are afraid of cold and light, and are alert and timid. So even if they come out to find food, they will not leave the cave too far, and will generally stay within a radius of about 50 meters.

Their food is very diverse, and there is some overlap with that of snakes, but they can also eat grass fruits, so there is no need to worry about food running out. As long as they live near their home, they can find sufficient food.

According to its nature, you only need to look nearby for shaded areas or places where the sunlight can be fully blocked, and the entrance to the civet cat's cave must be nearby.

Yu Qiutang understood this, and so did Old Qin.

Soon, both of them looked towards a protruding rock to the south, and underneath was the coolest and darkest place nearby.

(End of this chapter)