It was a rare trip to the mountain, and Han Wenzhong wanted to take Xu Shiyan with him, so he naturally refused to go down the mountain easily.
Xu Shiyan also felt that since he had nothing to do at home, he might as well wander around in the mountains for a few more days, in order to ensure that he could meet other prey.
In this way, the three people settled down on the mountain. Today they hunted two wild boars, tomorrow they met a black blind barn, and the day after tomorrow they met a herd of deer.
With Han Wenzhong, an experienced hunter, taking the lead, he almost never went empty.
Sometimes when we have walked far away and cannot go back to see the small house, Han Wenzhong can also find a house left by a hunter in the mountains and forests to stay overnight while sheltering from the wind and snow.
When leaving the next day, he left firewood and some rice for the convenience of those who came after him.
"Come and see, this is the mountain donkey trail. There should be mountain donkeys around here."
On this day, the three of them went out for a walk without their dogs. Han Wenzhong looked at a line of footprints in the snow and called Xu Shiyan and Han Limin over.
The mountain donkey mentioned by Han Wenzhong is actually a local name for musk deer, also called fragrant deer.
The fragrant deer looks a bit like a deer, but is smaller and neither male nor female has antlers.
There is a sachet behind the navel of the male musk deer's abdomen. The sac contains musk, which is a precious medicinal material and spice. The price purchased at the purchasing station is very high.
The fragrant deer is small, light and agile, and good at jumping.
Not only can you move freely on cliffs, but you can also easily climb leaning trees.
The fragrant deer's vision and hearing are extremely sensitive, and it will run away immediately at the slightest disturbance.
Moreover, fragrant deer often stand on the cliffs and look out. Once they find traces of natural enemies, or hunters and hunting dogs, they will immediately flee without a trace.
The fragrant deer likes to eat lichen and moss, and in winter it likes to eat pine and fir twigs and leaves.
Therefore, most fragrant deer have a fixed living place, and will not move to other places until they have eaten up all the food around them.
The mountain donkey path is the footprints left by the fragrant deer.
At a rough glance, it looks a bit like a cow's hoof print that's a few sizes smaller. But if you look closely, you'll see that it's different.
The hind legs of the fragrant deer are longer than the front legs. When running and jumping, the hind hooves are in front and the front hooves are behind.
Xu Shiyan lowered his head and searched nearby, and sure enough he found some fragrant deer dung balls.
If the surface of the mountain donkey's feces is smooth and shiny, it means that it has just been excreted, maybe two or three days at most.
If the epidermis has become dark and rough, it was discharged half a month ago.
If some of them are dilapidated and weathered, they must have been there at least a month or two ago.
Experienced hunters can judge the time when prey passes through footprints, feces, etc., and thus find out the hunting pattern.
One look at the dung balls, Xu Shiyan knew that these mountain donkeys had just passed through this place for at least two days.
Han Wenzhong also discovered it, so he led Xu Shiyan and Han Limin along the mountain donkey road for a while.
In the distance, there seemed to be some sounds, "Yo...Yo..." The sound came along the wind, growing louder and quieter intermittently.
Han Wenzhong waved his hand, signaling Xu Shiyan and Han Limin to hide in the bushes, guns ready at all times.
On the other side, Han Wenzhong pinched his nose with his hands, puffed up his cheeks, and also learned to make sounds like "Yo...yo...yo...yo".
Xu Shiyan knew that this was Han Wenzhong's specialty.
Imitate the call of the female fragrant deer to attract the male fragrant deer, and also call the musk deer.
This is not easy to learn. Xu Shiyan had to study with Han Wenzhong for several months before he managed to learn it.
Han Wenzhong not only knew how to call musk deer, he also made a horn out of birch bark and blew the sound to call deer.
Xu Shiyan had learned these methods in his previous life, but his skills were average. Sometimes they worked well and sometimes they didn't work, so he didn't use them most of the time.
Just when Xu Shiyan was thinking wildly, the voice of "Yo...Yo..." in the distance became clearer and clearer.
Obviously, there are really fragrant deer coming this way.
Most of the fragrant deer live separately from male to female, and every winter is the season for them to find partners.
When the male fragrant deer hears the female's call, he will scream and run towards the direction of the call.
Han Wenzhong continued to call, and responses from male fragrant deer came from the distant woods from time to time. It sounded like there were a lot of them.
At this time, Han Wenzhong also hid in the bushes, holding a gun at the ready, and kept calling.
Xu Shiyan and Han Limin hid behind the bushes and did not dare to move. They looked out from the gaps in the bushes, always paying attention to what was going on outside.
Then, I saw a group of guys with short brown hair all over their bodies.
It looks like a deer, with no horns on its forehead, a line of white hair on both sides of its neck, slender limbs, a short tail, two big, round ears, and a pair of big eyes.
The fragrant deer is alert by nature. He raised his ears and tilted his neck, looking around carefully, obviously looking for the female fragrant deer.
At this time, Xu Shiyan, Han Wenzhong, and Han Limin shot at the same time.
There was a burst of gunfire, and several fragrant deer fell to the ground. Others were frightened and ran away.
This thing ran very fast and disappeared in an instant.
Han Wenzhong and the others emerged from the bushes and looked at the four or five fragrant deer that had fallen on the ground.
"Today's harvest is not small. One of these things can be sold for hundreds, which is no less courageous than the black blind man."
It is rare to encounter fragrant deer, and even if you do, it will be in vain if you don't have Han Wenzhong's method.
The fragrant deer ran away before anyone could get close.
The three people stepped forward, quickly removed the sachet, then opened the belly and took out the internal organs.
"Uncle, do you think there is any way to capture them alive?" Xu Shiyan asked Han Wenzhong while working.
If it had been in the past, Xu Shiyan would never have thought about it that much.
Hunting is a way to make money. As long as he can make money and improve his life, Xu Shiyan will not soften his heart when he sees his prey.
But after Xu Shiyan met the scoundrel again and caught a live sable, his thoughts changed somewhat.
Extensive and barbaric hunting methods like the current one are very destructive to the sustainable development of organisms.
Wild boars, badgers, etc. harm farmland, and black blind men can easily hurt people, but that's understandable.
But there are some wild animals that are of great economic value and do not cause much harm to humans, such as sables, fragrant deer, and deer.
Is it possible to find a way to capture these animals alive and raise them in captivity?
After hearing Xu Shiyan's words, Han Wenzhong smiled and shook his head.
"It's difficult. Animals like the fragrant deer are cautious by nature, so it's not easy to set traps to catch them.
Besides, even if you catch it, how can you raise it? If you raise it, don’t you have to kill it to get the sachet?"
People in this era didn't know that there was another way to obtain musk without harming the life of the fragrant deer.
Therefore, hunters directly kill the male fragrant deer and then cut off the fragrant sachet.
Others don't know it, but Xu Shiyan knows it.
In later generations, forest musk deer, civets, muskrats and other animals were artificially bred, and musk could be extracted without killing them.
Xu Shiyan feels that this may be a way. If the research is clear, there will be no need to harm the lives of so many fragrant deer.
It’s not like these animals will become extinct in a few decades.
"Methods are devised by people, just think about it."