Successfully catching a pair of otters gave Xu Shiyan more confidence in the future of breeding.
Of course, it also added a lot of things to his ginseng watching career. Every day he had to go to the river to catch fish and shrimp, and then come back to feed the two otters.
Xu Shiyan only caught this pair of otters and did not catch any more after that.
The main reason is that he doesn't have much confidence in the breeding of otters. Everything is in the process of exploring the rules, so he can only try to raise two first.
If there were too many at once, he wouldn't be able to take care of them, and it would be a pity if they died.
A few days later, Xu Shiyan went for a walk in the mountains and unexpectedly caught another sable.
It happens to be a male, and he can only be a couple with the one at home.
But this thing is timid and takes a long time to recover after being frightened.
Moreover, sables usually live alone, so Xu Shiyan did not dare to put two sables in the same cage rashly, so he could only lock them up separately and put the two cages next to each other.
There were many small animals all of a sudden, and the ginseng house was not suitable for breeding.
Having no other choice, Xu Shiyan packed up the warehouse and set it aside as a breeding site.
This was all he could do for the time being. He would wait for the weather to get warmer and then find another way to rehouse the animals.
Since the addition of these animals, Xu Shiyan's daily workload has also increased.
Not only do we have to catch fish and shrimps, we also need to set up traps and clips, and get some meat for the two sables to eat.
Sables are omnivores, and their food is mainly small birds and animals, but they also eat some pine nuts, berries, and insects.
In order to raise them, Xu Shiyan also spent a lot of brains, and even specially made a batch of mouse traps to capture mice to feed the sables.
Apart from these, Xu Shiyan also went to a forest south of Xiaohei River that had just been logged a few years ago to shovel snow and place bait blocks.
The bait block is specially prepared for deer. It contains a lot of salt, as well as some bran, bean cakes, etc., all prepared according to the deer's favorite taste.
Deer like to eat bark, branches, and leaves.
After the forest is cut down, some branches will sprout back from the roots of the trees, which is a favorite of deer.
Xu Shiyan had hunted deer here before, but now, he had come up with another way.
Put the bait pieces in the snow and blow the horn made of birch bark. Gradually, the deer will be attracted.
When the deer find the salty and delicious bait, they will often hang around here.
From now on, every time Xu Shiyan put out bait, he would blow his horn to call the deer. After going back and forth, the deer got used to it and ran this way when they heard the noise.
These days, the most valuable thing about a deer is its antlers.
Other items such as deer hearts, deer blood, deer sinews, deer fetuses, etc. are not accepted by the collection station and can only be kept for your own consumption or given away to others.
Deer antlers are of the best quality after the beginning of spring, when they have grown into two short twigs, and before they become bone.
Therefore, Xu Shiyan did not plan to kill any more deer. He wanted to find a way to lure the deer over, and at that time, he would use drugs to stun the deer and cut off its antlers.
The resources in the mountains are gifts from nature, but they are by no means inexhaustible.
If we fail to use them rationally and just kill them, we will eventually be at the end of our rope and resources will be exhausted.
Hunting is not just about eating a bite of meat, but more importantly, it is about creating economic value.
Deer antlers are valuable, but killing a deer for two antlers, and after cutting off the antlers, the meat can only be eaten, which is obviously a waste.
If you can cut off the deer antlers and sell them for money without harming the deer's life, it might be a better way.
Of course, these are Xu Shiyan's wishful thinking, and it is very difficult to implement them in detail, but he is willing to try, what if he succeeds?
The first month of the new year passed quickly, and the weather began to warm up gradually. The young men of the second brigade all went up to the mountains to work.
Sun Xiaofeng, Huang Shengli and others brought some food to Xu Shiyan at every turn. Su Anying asked them to bring it, because they were afraid that Xu Shiyan would not be able to eat well and suffer in the mountains.
On this day, Xu Shiyan went to the second crop forest early in the morning to put out bait blocks to attract deer.
As soon as I came back, I saw the team's carriage approaching, and a group of people jumped out of the carriage.
"Brother Xu, the uncle of the Xu family is coming up the mountain." Feng Chao was the first to jump out of the car and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Xu Shiyan was stunned when he heard this and hurried over. At this time, Sun Xiaofeng and Huang Shengli helped Xu Chenghou get out of the carriage.
"Dad, why did you come up the mountain?" All the work in the ginseng field was done by strong young men, so why did this old man come up here?
Xu Chenghou glanced at his third son and didn't say anything. He just handed him the bag in his hand.
"Let's go into the house and talk." At first glance, it seemed like something was going on.
Xu Shiyan's heart skipped a beat. What important thing happened at home? Did it alert his father to come up the mountain?
Xu Shiyan didn't dare to ask, and followed his father into the small ginseng viewing room.
As soon as he entered the house, the old man turned back and glared at his son.
"You pack up and go home for two days. I'll watch the stick for you on the mountain." Xu Chenghou suddenly said these two words.
"Ah? When I go back, you will look after me? What?"
Xu Shiyan was immediately confused. What happened at home? If his father couldn't deal with it, he still needed to go down the mountain?
"What? What do you mean? You don't know what you did when you went home during the Chinese New Year?
Yuanyuan is only eleven months old and has not yet reached the time of weaning. Your wife is pregnant again.
You're such a bastard, can't you just keep it a secret?"
When Xu Chenghou saw the confused expression on his son's face, he became even more angry. He raised his leg and kicked Xu Shiyan.
This bastard thing caused his grandson to have no milk to drink, so he deserves a beating.
"Ah? Yingzi is pregnant again?" Xu Shiyan was dumbfounded, no way? When did it happen?
Oh my god, my wife, this place is so good, it’s really hard to get food.
But is this too frequent? The eldest son is only eleven months old. No, he went up to the mountain on the 16th day of the first lunar month. At that time, the eldest son was only ten months old.
Can my daughter-in-law's body handle being pregnant with my second child so early?
"Dad, please help me watch it in the mountains for a day. I'll go home and take a look."
How could Xu Shiyan remain calm at this moment? He had to go home quickly to see his wife and take her to the hospital for a physical check-up.
It is not good for a woman to get pregnant too frequently, as it will harm her body.
"Nonsense, what am I doing here? I'm just here to watch for you? You bastard, I'm going to make you mad every day."
Xu Chenghou rolled his eyes, feeling that his son was extremely stupid.
It's not just to see ginseng for my son. He's so old, why would he come all the way to the mountains?
"By the way, dad, come here, I have to tell you something."
Fortunately, Xu Shiyan was not so confused that he could not remember anything. He quickly dragged Xu Chenghou to the warehouse and showed Xu Chenghou the otters and sables.
"Dad, I caught this, and I plan to keep it myself. These gaping beasts have to be fed.
Did you see it? The fish in this bucket are fed to the otters, and the pheasants, tits, mice and sables here are fed.
There is nothing I can do now. I will think of a solution after a while and feed them some food."