The next day, Chen Xiuqing drove the sledge and came surprisingly early. Zhang Shaofeng was still sitting on the sledge.
The two of them came together by appointment. When they arrived at Lu Lu's meadow, Lu Lu had just gotten off the kang.
Hearing Chen Xiuqing's cry, Lu Lu hurriedly went out to open the door: "It's only around three o'clock in the morning, and there are still more than two hours before dawn. Why are you here so early?"
"It's been snowing during this period. I slept a lot at home and couldn't sleep at all. It's quite a long way into the mountains. I was afraid that walking would take too much time, so I came earlier."
Zhang Shaofeng jumped off the sledge and looked very excited: "This is my first serious hunting!"
Lu Lu smiled at him, and he understood this feeling. It was the first time, and he was always excited. This was similar to the mood when Zhao Tuanqing agreed to take him hunting. He went to bed early, woke up earlier, and then kept looking forward to it.
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"Let's go in the house!" Lu Lu greeted the two of them and walked home.
Chen Xiuyu got up earlier and was busy making pancakes with bear oil in the kitchen.
Lu Lu had already told her that he was going into the mountains and might have to stay outside for two or three days before coming back. He was preparing dry food for Lu Lu and the others to bring into the mountains.
Yesterday, she had told Ma Jinlan and Pu Guiying that she was going to make dumplings and sticky bean cakes at home, and the big vat outside the house was ready.
Thanks to this natural large refrigerator, you can wrap a large number of dumplings and sticky bean buns at once, freeze them outside, and then store them in a jar. Once you wrap them, you can eat them all winter long.
Zhang Shaofeng and Chen Xiuqing had already arrived. Seeing that the pancakes were enough, Chen Xiuyu was busy steaming the rice. Lu Lu went to the kitchen to take a look and found that there was nothing he needed to help with, so he simply got on the big kang and went into the mountain.
I took out the record book, looked at it carefully, and planned the route with Zhang Shaofeng and Chen Xiuqing.
These marked places are places where sables were found and caves suitable for blind bears to hibernate. Most of them are out of bounds, and each area is worth spending time to search for.
Just for these places, the marked locations can take two or three days to expand the scope of the search, plus travel and rest, plus weather changes. Once these places are found, it will be enough to work for more than a month.
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With a plan in mind, Lu Lu went out and fed Zhui Feng and Green Onion a lot of corn and grass. After returning to the house, he cooked corn noodles on the brazier and added some salt noodles. After feeding Yuan Bao and the others, Chen Xiuyu's meal was also ready.
Do it well.
The four of them had dinner together. Lu Lu asked Chen Xiuqing to put a tent on the sledge, a mattress made of roe deer skin, and the hunting tools and wooden horses that he had been accumulating in his hands. He poured out the bear oil again. This time, Zhang Shaofeng and Chen
Xiuqing drank the bear oil without any hesitation, then greeted Chen Xiuyu, and Lu Lu rode up to Zhui Feng to lead the way straight to the mountains.
The horses at Zhang Shaofeng's home were not suitable for going into the mountains, so he only brought a semi-automatic and a wooden horse, and went into the mountains on a sledge with Chen Xiuqing.
After jogging all the way for four hours, we finally arrived at the first location, Mo Niuling.
Sables have clear boundaries in their activity areas. They live in mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests above one thousand meters above sea level, but they usually do not exceed two thousand meters above sea level. They usually live the most in areas with an altitude of one thousand two hundred meters above sea level.
This statement derived from later investigations is actually not suitable for Xiaoxing'anling.
Xiaoxing'an Mountains is a low mountainous and hilly area in the wilderness. There are not many peaks with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters. The highest flat-top mountain is only more than 1,400 meters above sea level.
However, it turns out that HLJ accounts for the largest number of sables caught in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains every year.
Of course, the place Lu Lu chose was still a slightly higher mountain, usually 600 meters above sea level.
This altitude is actually relatively high compared to plain areas.
The Xiaoxing'an Mountains are four to five hundred kilometers long and more than two hundred kilometers wide. This is a quite large area with many mountains, and Moniu Mountains is just a small section among many mountains.
When they reached the halfway point of Moniuling, they chose a place with leeward and sunny side to stop. The first thing the three of them did was to set up the tent. They lit a fire directly in the tent, heated pancakes and boiled water with snow.
After filling their stomachs and taking a short rest, the three of them hitched up their wooden horses and tied up several horses. Lu Lu took the lead and walked towards the first tree hole they found.
The tree hole was in a lime tree. Based on Lu Lu's observation, Xiong Xiazi had lived there before.
After skiing all the way down, it didn't take long for Lu Lu to reach the foot of the tree. He took a closer look at the tree trunk and found that there were no paw prints on the trunk made by the blind bear scratching up and down.
However, he still refused to give up and knocked on the hollow tree trunk with the large mirrored ax he carried with him, and then listened with his ears. After finding no movement, he led the two of them higher up the mountain.
What kind of animal is a sable? It is a mammalian carnivore. It is small in stature, much like a weasel. It has a slender body and often weighs no more than one kilogram. It has short legs, a big tail, and mostly has dark brown fur.
In his previous life, he collected mountain goods, but Lu Lu also knew that the black and purple fur of sables was the most precious.
As a highly valuable category in the acquisition of mountain goods, it is difficult for Lu Lu not to pay attention to it, and he also knows a lot about it.
"Let's search at a distance, just twenty or thirty meters apart!"
The dead leaves, bushes, and grassland are all extremely hidden places covered by snow. It is easy to see far away in the forest. They keep a distance from each other in order to increase the search range.
But for a novice like Zhang Shaofeng, Lu Lu had to further explain the traces left by sables walking on the snow: "When sables walk on the snow, they often wade into deep snow ditches. Their usual route back to their nests is through these snow gullies."
Ditched.
If you suddenly see no traces on the snow, you must have climbed a tree. Also, along the way, pay more attention to which stone caves, soil holes or tree holes you see in the places you pass, especially those with crawling marks.
, and the snow clumps that suddenly fell from the trees were probably dropped by them.
Of course, you must hold the gun in your hand and pay more attention to whether there are other wild animals around you. Don’t get hurt and focus your attention.”
Ju Zhang Shaofeng was a novice, so he was placed in the middle by Lu Lu, and the three of them made a zigzag pattern all the way to higher places while searching and climbing up.
It's a bit like searching for a stick, and it feels like there are so many sticks overwhelming the mountain.
Perhaps it was because people who went up the mountain for the first time had better luck. Just after searching for more than ten minutes, Zhang Shaofeng called out to Lu Lu.
Lu Lu rushed over to take a look, but no, there was a snow trough going up diagonally on the snow, and fine small footprints could be seen in it. What else could it be if it wasn't left by a sable?
Looking at the latest traces left, it's heading up the mountain.
"Okay, Brother Feng!" Lu Lu smiled and patted Zhang Shaofeng on the shoulder: "Come on, follow me and have a look. The first mink that entered the mountain today is probably found."
This snow trough is obviously new.
Chen Xiuqing also quickly came closer. The three of them followed the mark and followed it diagonally upwards.
Sables move so fast that even if you follow them with all your heart, the traces on the snow will disappear out of thin air. Like greyhounds, they are masters of tree climbing. They often run and jump on pine branches and can catch squirrels.
It would be worse than a squirrel.
Not long after following, Yuan Bao made a sound.
Lu Lu decisively chose to give up following the traces and instead followed the direction pointed by Yuan Bao and walked directly towards Hengli.
Not long after, Lu Lu saw snowflakes falling from a pine tree in front of him.
At first glance, you can tell that it was dropped due to shock, and there must be wild animals moving around.
If you look carefully, you will see that there is a sable on the branch, running and jumping quickly, chasing a greyhound that is also climbing up the trunk quickly.
What a great opportunity!
Lu Lu put the semi-automatic machine on his back and took out his slingshot. Niwan also grabbed three or four pellets from his pocket and held them in his hand. He held his ski pole and arrived at the foot of the red pine tree in a few strokes.
Sensing Lu Lu's approach, the sable became quite alert and decisively gave up chasing the greyhound. It quickly climbed down and ran towards the tip of a branch of the red pine, trying to escape.
This is a small thing that can use a small branch as thick as a finger to jump up and down to another big tree in the blink of an eye as the branch rises and falls with a little help.
Sometimes, it will suddenly jump down from a big tree into the snow, and hide under the heavy snow in rock crevices or under bushes.
Act quickly, and if you are not careful, you will seem to disappear.
However, Lu Lu was not worried at all about it jumping onto the snow.
On the snow, sables are far less agile and agile than on trees, otherwise, they would not be able to wade out of snow gullies on the snow.
With its short legs, it could jump across the snow at a speed of only 20 to 30 centimeters, and Yuanbao and the others could easily take it down.
However, looking at its current appearance, it is obviously preparing to escape from the branches of the tree.
How could Lu Lu, who had already prepared his slingshot, give it such a chance?
With Lu Lu's superb slingshot skills, he can easily defeat greyhounds and sables.
Lu Lu, who had already tightened the bow skin, had been adjusting the shooting direction following its jump. Finally finding an unobstructed position, Lu Lu loosened the bow skin decisively.
With a snap, the projectiles shot out, accurately knocking the sable off the branch.
When watching it fall, Chen Xiuqing skied down towards the falling position very quickly, faster than Yuanbao and the others. He grabbed the sable that fell on the snow to prevent it from being bitten by Yuanbao and the others.
, there were some tooth holes in the intact fur, and he pinched it hard, ending the life of the sable, which was still kicking its short legs.
Yuan Bao, who rushed after him, saw that he had no chance, so he couldn't help but snorted at Chen Xiuqing and barked "Wang".
It felt like his job had been robbed and he had no chance to perform. He was so unhappy that Lu Lu couldn't help but laugh.
He waved to Yuan Bao, and Yuan Bao led a few puppies and ran back to him.
Lu Lu rubbed their heads to comfort them.
Then, he picked up the slingshot, glanced at the greyhound on the tree that had just escaped the sable's pursuit and was still lying on the trunk, and fired another pellet.
The greyhound fell to the snow. This time, no one competed with the ingot. He ran over and bit the greyhound on the head and happily sent it back.
After Lu Lu took it over, he took off his gloves, pulled out the hunting knife from his waist, and first cut the greyhound from the mouth. In just two or three minutes, he peeled off the leather barrel of the greyhound.
As for the sable, Zhang Shaofeng helped. Chen Xiuqing carefully cut the knife and quickly peeled off the skin bucket.
The meat of greyhounds and sables was directly cut into small pieces by Lu Lu with a hunting knife, and they were fed to them separately with Yuan Bao as the head.
After only half an hour of searching in the mountains, we found our first sable, which was a good sign!
Lu Lu felt that the preparations he had made before were not in vain, and his slingshot skills were also put to good use in this season.
Hitting a sable with a slingshot will cause suffocating injuries. There will be no penetration by bows and arrows, and there will be no damage like bullets that can directly blow up the entire head. Use a slingshot to shoot accurately while ensuring that the fur is intact.
It's not an exaggeration to say that it's a magical skill.
However, the bow skin of this slingshot has been used for such a long time. Although it has not been used many times since the introduction of the semi-automatic, the bow skin made of the tourniquet is already a little cracked. This time when I go back, I have to replace it with two.
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Thanks to book friend 20220708213852407 for the reward!