Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 81: Roe Deer in Salt-Alkali Land
Wang Haofeng had never been through the oak forest before. When the three of them walked out of the oak forest and saw the endless bushes in front of them, he was stunned, as if Columbus had discovered the New World.

Extremely excited.

"I didn't expect the mountain to be so big. When I looked at it from the village, I thought it was just a peak."

"What are you thinking? You only see the part facing you. Even if we get here, we haven't even reached one-third of the height of Houtouling. And Houtouling is just an outer mountain. It can't even be called a name in the entire Qinling mountain range."

"Really?" Wang Haofeng was both excited and surprised. "I never expected it. I didn't even know what it looked like."

"Don't worry, you will get to know it slowly. Once you are familiar with the mountains, I will take you across Houtouling and head to Heixiazi Cliff in front. You can see blind bears there."

"Really?"

"That's all you can say. Okay, let's go. Watch your step. There may be swamps and snakes in the bushes. Find a stick and walk slowly and tentatively. Follow me and don't move."

"Got it. Lead the way."

Yu Qiutang walked in front. He had a gun in his hand, so he didn't need a stick. He walked while clearing away the bushes and thorns that blocked the way, thus helping the two people behind him to open up a path.

This road is more difficult to walk on than in the oak forest. At least there are trees in the oak forest to block out the sunlight, but the bushes here are not as tall as a person, so we can only be exposed to the sun.

After walking for half an hour, Wang Haofeng began to move forward in silence.

If I talk any more, my saliva will dry up.

Yu Qiutang sensed the dull atmosphere, so he smiled and said, "Making a living in the mountains is not an easy thing. Many people have never experienced it, so they just brag and think that they can do whatever they want in the mountains just by holding a gun.

That is simply ignorant of one's own limits and the immensity of the world.

Just look at this mountain. Not to mention how many wild beasts are hiding everywhere, even if the wild beasts don’t come to attack you, the environment alone is enough to make people suffer.

Why can't one come to the mountain alone? If something happens, there will be no one to help. For example, if one of us falls into a swamp, at least someone can help pull us out, but if we are alone, we can only wait to die, right?"

Yu Qiutang said these words to educate Wang Haofeng not to be careless. He had been to the mountain twice and felt that it was just like that. If he was afraid of that, he would suffer a great loss.

On the other hand, it is also a warning to yourself.

Even if he is more awesome than in his previous life, one must always maintain awe. Once a person becomes arrogant, it is the beginning of his destruction.

"Tangtang, every time I hear you talk about the mountains, I feel like you have lived in the mountains your whole life, and your tone is like an adult."

"Yeah, haha."

Yu Qiutang came to his senses, stopped and looked around, then turned around and continued walking forward.

"How long do we have to walk before we can see roe deer?" Wang Haofeng asked. Yu Qiujiang wiped the sweat from his face. Although he didn't ask, he looked at Yu Qiutang.

Yu Qiutang looked at the electronic watch on his wrist. It was exactly 14 p.m. He looked up at the sun and estimated, saying, "It will probably take another two hours. It's two o'clock now. We should be there before four o'clock."

"It's still two hours to go." Wang Haofeng was about to complain, but when he saw Yu Qiujiang staring at him with disgust, he quickly changed his expression and said, "It's almost there, almost there."

Yu Qiutang smiled and didn't bother with him. He raised his palm high, feeling the downwind direction, his expression changed slightly, and after a slight hesitation, he turned around and returned the way he came.

"What's wrong? Why are you back again?"

"This direction is wrong. The wind is not blowing from the southwest today, but from the north. So our position is downwind. This won't work. Roe deer have a very sensitive sense of smell. We must ambush against the wind."

As he said this, he took the lead and walked forward.

"Okay then, I'll listen to you." Wang Haofeng turned around and followed him. Yu Qiujiang was at the end, so he followed along.

As they walked, Yu Qiutang introduced some common knowledge about roe deer to the two people.

And why they chose this path.

The diet of roe deer is relatively complex and changes a lot with the seasons, but no matter how it changes, they cannot escape one thing, and that is salt.

All wild animals have a need to compensate for salt.

For example, there is a kind of wild blue sheep that lives almost its entire life on steep rocks because its body's demand for salt is greater than that of ordinary animals.

So what do they do on the rocks? Actually, they lick some liquids with high salt content, mosses and stone surface derivatives, etc.

Roe deer also require a lot of salt.

Therefore, roe deer also live near places with large areas of saline-alkali land, such as roe deer in North China. They like to find some saline-alkali land and replenish salt regularly.

In the northwest, roe deer, like blue sheep, like to lick the water droplets seeping from the rocks, as well as the moss and mushrooms at the bottom of the rocks to replenish salt, in addition to saline-alkali land.

Especially in May, June, August and September every year, when roe deer are preparing to go into heat, salt supplementation is often considered a top priority. One of the common methods of hunting roe deer is the "salty-alkali ambush hunting method."

That is to say, if you find out the whereabouts of roe deer in advance and ambush them on the path they must pass, you can reap a great harvest.

"Oh, I see. I see there is a ridge ahead. You mean, if we follow the ridge, we can find the whereabouts of the roe deer faster, right?"

Wang Haofeng is particularly fascinated by this knowledge and listens very seriously. Now he has learned to apply it to other situations.

"Yes, smart."

Yu Qiutang was very pleased. He pointed to the distance and said, "The nearest ridge is over there. Let's follow the ridge and move upwards. I think this is the fastest way."

"okay."

"Haha, but this is just a general guess. Whether it can be achieved depends on the situation. It's like this in the mountains. There's nothing certain. Otherwise, hunting wouldn't be hunting, but picking up meat in the mountains, right?"

"That's true." Wang Haofeng nodded.

The three of them continued walking for about another hour. They saw the ridge getting closer and closer, and the bushes were about to come to an end. Some deciduous trees appeared along the ridge.

At this moment, Yu Qiutang suddenly felt his body turn cold. When he came to his senses, he looked up at the sky hurriedly, only to find that many clouds had appeared in the cloudless sky without him noticing.

It seems that clouds are gathering, and just now, a cloud just blocked the sun.

Without direct sunlight, everyone immediately felt a chill. The breeze that originally made them feel chilly was now getting even colder.

“We have to speed up.”

Yu Qiutang took the lead in speeding up. "According to the habits of roe deer, they will come out earlier on cloudy days. At this rate, I estimate that they will come out of their habitat in less than an hour. We must walk ahead of them."

At Yu Qiutang's request, the three of them quickened their pace. Even Wang Haofeng was under pressure and no longer complained about being tired or exhausted.

After walking for another thirty minutes, the clouds in the sky became denser, and the sun, which was only intermittent, had completely hidden behind the clouds and was unwilling to come out.

The mountain wind blew on their bodies, making them even colder, so the three of them changed into the thick clothes they had prepared. When changing clothes, Wang Haofeng sighed that Yu Qiutang was still experienced. If he hadn't prepared in advance, he wouldn't have been able to hunt roe deer. He would have been shivering with cold and couldn't do anything.

Continuing forward along the ridge, we gradually moved from the south to the east, and the trees changed from broad-leaved forest to mixed forest.

This mixed forest has a characteristic that due to the different types of trees, the sunlight and water they require, so the shape and spread of the tree crowns are also different, resulting in insufficient closeness between the trees.

In other words, the trees here are relatively sparse.

The sparse trees not only allow themselves to develop better, but also provide living space for other plants in the forest. Various weeds, small shrubs, and even mushrooms will appear in the forest.

These things happen to be the roe deer's favorite food, so this kind of place naturally becomes a place where roe deer are likely to appear.

As Yu Qiutang was walking, a green locust tree appeared in front of him. It looked like it was several decades old. The trunk had grown so big that two people could hug it. The leaves were dense and covered with green locust seeds.

Sophora trees are divided into Robinia pseudoacacia and Green Sophora pseudoacacia. Robinia pseudoacacia is also called Robinia pseudoacacia. The flowers it blooms are probably pink or white in long strings, with a fragrant smell. They can be eaten raw in cold dishes, or mixed with noodles and steamed.

The branches of the green locust tree are not covered with thorns like those of the black locust tree, and the flowers of the green locust tree are also smaller. When they are in bud, they are called locust seeds, which can be used as dyes or as food pigments.

After the flowers bloom, they become Sophora japonica flowers, which are a kind of medicinal material. Because of their special fragrance, they can be used as spices after being dried and ground into powder.

These two treasures from the green locust trees are also a way for people in mountain villages to earn income. There are green locust trees in many places, and they can even be used as the main source of revenue.

However, there are relatively few green locust trees in Houtouling. There are a few trees around some houses, but due to various reasons, the harvest is not very good. It's okay to make some pocket money with them, but it's impossible to make a lot of money with them.

Yu Qiutang was thinking about how to develop and make more money after his life became stable, so he paid special attention to anything that could pay back the money. When he saw Qinghuai, he had many associations.

"You two stay on the tree, each looking in a direction, and I'll look around." Yu Qiutang pointed to the tree next to him. The tree had large branches and dense leaves, making it ideal for hiding.

"Don't you want our help?" Wang Haofeng asked.

"Not for now. I want to see if there are any signs of them nearby. You must not make any noise. Roe deer are very alert. They can hear sounds within 30 to 50 meters."

"Then don't go far, be careful." Yu Qiujiang said.

"I know. With the stick, bears won't come over here. There's nothing else to be afraid of."

Yu Qiutang hid the basket under a tree, gave the two men a few instructions, then carried his gun on his back and held a steel fork in his hand, and headed towards the bushes in front.

There was nothing he could do.

The search in the early stages of hunting is actually quite important. In such a large forest, if people have to walk around, they may not be able to find any trace of roe deer after walking for half a day. If they are lucky enough to encounter one, the roe deer will run away before people find it.

This kind of life...

It's usually the dogs that do it.

But Yu Qiutang has no dogs now, and the three little wolves he has are still very young. It is difficult for them to even get the meat in front of them, let alone chase and bite others.

Then he could only go on his own.

Fortunately, he had a good sense of smell and was familiar with the routes that roe deer liked to take, which provided a basis for the search.

Even so, he wandered around for nearly half an hour before he finally found the footprints of a roe deer beside a small pond.

This location was actually not far from where Yu Qiujiang and the other two were. He just walked around for a while, then returned to signal the two to come down from the tree and ambush in two places according to his instructions.

He then took Wang Haofeng's crossbow and carried it on his back.

In places where roe deer live, the main dangerous animals are wolves, jackals and yellow-throated martens.

Among them, wolves are the natural enemies of roe deer.

Jackals and yellow-throated martens compete for the same niche. They both have the ability to hunt roe deer, but they do not hunt them often. The main reason is that their food is more abundant, and they do not need to catch roe deer.

When it comes to hunting for carnivores, it all comes down to cost-effectiveness.

If you expend effort, you must gain something. You cannot waste your energy in vain, otherwise it will be a loss.

At the same time, safety must be ensured. Compared with the dangers posed by the strong horns of male roe deer, there are actually more easy-to-kill prey to choose from.

After everything was arranged, Yu Qiutang checked the bullets on the gun, hung the arrows on the crossbow, and then quietly ambushed in the grass, waiting for the roe deer to appear.

At this time, there is nothing else to do but wait.

In nature, carnivores may sometimes lie in ambush for dozens of hours in order to hunt for food. Even a fierce animal like a tiger needs to lie in ambush for a long time if it wants to hunt.

Human hunting is no different from animal hunting.

No one knows when the prey will appear, just like fishing, no one knows when the fish will bite the hook. If you don’t have patience, you are basically not suitable for this activity.

As for why he chose this position, it was certainly not a matter of luck.

It still depends on his knowledge of the habits of roe deer.

Roe deer is like the prey for hunters in the novice village. Every hunter will start by hunting roe deer.

why.

That’s because roe deer are so widely distributed that you can see them wherever there are mountains.

So everyone is familiar with some of the habits of roe deer.

Different hunters have different hunting experiences. Yu Qiutang’s experience is to wait for water sources.

Sixty to seventy percent of roe deer will never leave one kilometer from their birthplace in their entire lives, which means that they will move within a one-kilometer radius throughout their lives.

Based on this situation, roe deer often like to place their habitats next to water sources, otherwise they will not be able to meet their drinking water needs.

So, taking all factors into consideration, this mixed forest is the favorite activity place of roe deer, and there is only such a small pond nearby, so the roe deer will definitely come here to drink water.

Unless there is not a single roe deer in this area.

This is another form of waiting for something to happen.

The sky was growing increasingly overcast, and Yu Qiutang's hand holding the gun was a little stiff from the cold. He turned over, ready to put his hand inside his clothes and press it against his belly to warm it for a while, when he suddenly heard a cry of "Wow—Ao!"

He immediately turned over and lay down. Sure enough, two roe deer ran out from the woods opposite and began to "dance" happily by the pond.

(End of this chapter)