Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 50 Are you greedy?

Without any prior agreement, they both walked towards that direction, then realized their commonality and smiled at each other.

"Brother Qin, how about I wait here and you go and see it yourself?" Yu Qiutang thought of the original agreement between the two of them. He was only going to provide the location, and the rest of the things would be handled by old man Qin himself.

When the time comes, he will be paid according to the number of civet cats caught. Originally, it was agreed that only the space would be provided and the money would be paid in one lump sum, but as time went by, the model changed and the amount was linked to the amount.

Old Man Qin smiled and said, "Come with me to look for it. We have nothing to do anyway. The sooner we finish the search, the sooner we can go back. Don't you have anything else to do?"

"That's true."

Yu Qiutang followed Old Man Qin and moved slowly. Seeing Old Man Qin take the gun on his back to the front, he couldn't help but complain: "Why would you need a gun? It's just a black-footed raccoon, not a wild boar or a wolf or leopard."

"It's better to be prepared."

Old man Qin carefully checked the bolt and bullets, and held the gun forward for a long time, appearing to be very serious.

Yu Qiutang didn't think there would be any ferocious beasts in this location.

It is said to be entering the mountain, but because the entire Houtouling is very high and in a certain stepped shape, this side can only be regarded as the foot of the mountain.

Unless it is a wild animal with a desperate mind, it generally will not run to the foot of the mountain to look for food.

The price/performance ratio is too low.

In fact, many wild animals, even powerful wolves, leopards, and even bears, are very afraid of humans.

Hunting animals and humans hunting animals are two completely different concepts.

Humans treat hunting as a form of entertainment, but animals may face huge risks every time they hunt.

Even if you manage to defeat your prey, you may still be injured.

When they are injured, unlike humans, they can't be treated with medicine. They can only rely on their primitive self-healing ability, and they will die if they can't resist.

Even if you don't die, you may need to rest for a long time.

During the recuperation process, they often starve to death due to lack of food, or are eliminated from the team because of their weakened hunting ability.

Once a carnivore living in a group is isolated, it basically has no way out. With the exception of the tiger, which is a supernatural being, others such as wolves will basically die quickly in the battle with prey.

Yu Qiutang discovered that he and Old Man Qin had some different experiences.

Old Man Qin was clearly more cautious.

Maybe it was because he had suffered some losses in the past. Although he had also experienced a lot, it was basically smooth sailing, and there were not many crises beyond his control.

"It should be right, it's right here. Look at the soil here, there are traces of their activities. This is the paw print of the black-footed raccoon," Old Man Qin said as he squatted on the ground, leaning on his gun and observing carefully.

From time to time, I also use my nose to smell it.

Yu Qiutang also noticed it.

He couldn't help but admire Old Man Qin even more. This old man was really perceptive. Yu Qiutang's attributes had been modified after his rebirth, but the old man could see some traces just by relying on his experience. It was really remarkable.

Maybe there will be a possibility of cooperation with this old man in the future.

"Something is wrong," Yu Qiutang thought of a question at this time, "It just rained this morning, why are there fresh paw prints on the ground... Oh, come and see, what is this?"

Yu Qiutang was more perceptive. He discovered that the small hole under the rock had very messy claw marks, as if it had been wiped by something.

"It looks like someone wiped it with their feet." said Old Man Qin.

“No,” Yu Qiutang shook his head. “If it was a foot, there wouldn’t be such a long mark. It’s more like a rope dragging… Oh——”

Yu Qiutang suddenly thought of something, turned to look at Old Man Qin, and found that the old man had thought of the same thing at the same time.

There are no footprints and no rope, so the only explanation here is a snake.

When a snake slides across the ground, it leaves such irregular marks.

Yu Qiutang frowned. It seemed that there really was a snake, but he didn't know if it was the daylight snake that Old Man Qin had mentioned. "Do you want to look inside the cave?" Yu Qiutang asked.

"I'm thinking about it." Old Man Qin hesitated for a moment.

Yu Qiutang shook his head again, "Let's wait. If there really are daylight snakes in there, there's no point disturbing them now. They will surely be eaten."

As long as it is not an adult male civet, the sun snake can swallow it in one bite.

"Too."

Old Qin was a little discouraged at this time. He had not expected this kind of accident. How could he have thought that his business would be taken away by a snake?

"Giggle~"

“Hehe~!”

While hesitating, Yu Qiutang suddenly heard a slight "cluck" sound, but Old Man Qin did not hear it.

Yu Qiutang slowly moved closer to the sound, which became clearer.

"Have you found anything?" Old Man Qin came over hurriedly.

"Be quiet and listen."

Old Man Qin also held his breath and listened carefully, with a look of surprise on his face, "It's a black-footed raccoon. It's a black-footed raccoon. This is the sound it makes when it calls."

Yu Qiutang nodded, and the two continued to move forward. After passing a clump of bushes, they saw a male black-footed civet cat being entangled by a blue-brown snake on the grass in front of them.

Although it was still cloudy after the rain and there was no sun in the sky, the snake's body still glowed with a complex luster at certain angles.

Sometimes it's electric blue, sometimes blood red, and sometimes it looks like bronze.

"It really is a sunlight snake!" Yu Qiutang exclaimed.

Old man Qin looked very proud.

The two of them squatted in the bushes and watched for a while. Old Man Qin said, "It's still a female snake."

Yu Qiutang nodded, "Well, they should come out to replenish enough food to prepare for laying eggs."

Snakes actually come in both male and female varieties, but many people can't tell them apart.

If we only talk about the external appearance, there is not much difference between male and female. The only difference is that the male snake's tail is longer and gradually becomes thinner, while the female snake's tail base is thicker and suddenly becomes thinner towards the back.

However, there are some snakes where male and female snakes differ in appearance.

Some male snakes have brighter colors, some have stronger ridges on their dorsal scales, and some have warts of varying sizes on the ventral side and both sides of their heads.

As for pythons, to distinguish the sex of pythons, you can look at the remaining hind limbs, which are much more obvious in males than in females.

The gender can be identified at a glance because the snake is about to lay eggs. There is an obvious bulge in the lower abdomen, which is very easy to identify. Combined with its short tail, it can be almost completely confirmed.

"This snake should not be able to swallow the black-footed civet cat, so why is it wrapping around it?" Old Man Qin was a little puzzled.

"Perhaps the snake's original target was the cubs in the den. The male black-footed civet had no choice but to lure the snake away. Otherwise, the two animals are probably not in the food chain and would avoid each other."

Yu Qiutang explained that he was observing the two animals that were refusing to give in to each other and did not want to help either one.

"The cub should still be in the den, take him away quickly."

He urged Old Man Qin to find the little civet, but Old Qin pointed at the male civet and said, "I want that one too."

"Greedy, huh?"

"No, no, you don't understand," Old Man Qin explained with a smile, "It's rare to see male black-footed civets in the wild. They usually hang out alone. We finally came across one this time, so how could we let it go?"

Seeing Yu Qiutang's disapproving expression, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will give you everything I deserve."

(End of this chapter)