My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 307 When a boar enters a herd, one is bound to be injured.

Porcupine has almost no fat and no gamey smell.

However, it is quite troublesome to deal with.

It takes a lot of effort just to get those sharp spikes out of them.

So I thought I'd eat it at noon, but that was just a thought; I never actually ate it at noon.

After making do with what they had, they continued their journey deeper into the mountains.

We arrived at the wetland in the afternoon.

This wetland is naturally the same wetland that Chen Ling and his group visited last year.

Last year there were few migratory birds here, but this year it has become the most popular migratory bird habitat besides the mountain lake.

Besides the cranes, there are also many waterbirds; the trees opposite the wetland are filled with egrets.

If you poke a stick into the reeds, white reed fluff will fly everywhere, and water birds of all sizes will rush out in a hurry.

"The porcupine's quills are so thick and long!" Two young men watched Liu Guangli remove the quills from the porcupine by the water. The quills were not noticeable when they were on the porcupine, but once they were removed, their unusual thickness and length became apparent.

“I told you that just reading books and learning isn’t enough. You’re making a fuss about porcupine quills. In our line of work, we need to get out in the wild and do more hands-on practice,” Han Ninggui said from the side.

The two chuckled, then asked Chen Ling, "Brother Fugui, have you ever seen a porcupine use its quills to shoot a person?"

"I've never seen it before, but my father-in-law suffered like that; he was shot three times by a porcupine."

Chen Ling sat on a rock next to him, munching on two wild persimmons: "When I was a kid, I saw someone in our village eat this. It was a small one back then, weighing less than 20 pounds. I even went to their house to ask for a few thorns to play with. They weren't as thick as these thorns. The thick parts of these are like chopsticks."

"It seems that none of us have actually seen a porcupine shoot a person; we've only heard about it from others or read descriptions in books."

Han Ninggui laughed and said, "For example, the Compendium of Materia Medica describes it like this: The porcupine is shaped like a pig, but has thorns on its neck and back, which are nearly a foot long and as thick as chopsticks. Its shape resembles a hairpin or hat thorns, with a white base and a black tip. When it is angry, it will shoot out like an arrow."

"I'm talking about the porcupine's quills. The thickest parts are as thick as chopsticks and nearly a foot long. When they're in a hurry, they use the quills to shoot people."

Liu Guangli nodded: "It is quite formidable. This thing is like a giant hedgehog. Wolves, jackals, leopards and the like don't bother with it. Its meat is delicious, but you can't bring yourself to eat it. If you provoke it, it will swing its quills and it will hurt you enough to prick you."

"Wow, that's powerful. Does that mean it can run rampant in the mountains and nobody dares to mess with it?"

"No, that's not true. Leopards can deal with them, but there are few leopards. There are other predators. When they are young and their quills are not strong, they eat them."

Liu Guangli is an old hunter who has hunted countless prey over most of his life.

He's the one who's going to handle this porcupine today; nobody else knows how.

Chen Ling said he wanted to use some of his own seasonings, but he stopped him.

"Don't rush, kid. This stuff is delicious on its own. It's all lean meat and it'll taste good no matter how you cook it. Don't add any seasonings yet."

He smiled at Chen Ling and said, "Try it and see. If you don't like it, you can add more."

This porcupine isn't small; it weighs almost thirty pounds.

It will weigh more than ten kilograms after processing.

With so much meat, the pot that Han Ninggui and the others brought was too small to stew in one pot.

Then bake some and braise some in a pot.

"Okay, let's try this porcupine meat plain first and see what it tastes like."

Chen Ling had never eaten this before and was afraid that wild things would have a strong taste, but Liu Guangli's words really piqued his curiosity.

However, he wasn't just waiting idly; he and Wang Lixian and a few others were dealing with the wild chickens and ducks they had caught on the road that afternoon.

If you can't finish it, you can smoke it into jerky, so you won't have to go hungry to cook tomorrow at mealtimes.

After tidying up, it got dark.

Under the darkening sky, a flock of large, dark birds flew over the wetlands, their splashes and calls creating a cacophony as they returned to their nests, landing on the water and among the reeds—a truly magnificent sight.

This scene is beautiful to humans, but dogs find it all quite alluring.

Even Heiwa and Xiaojin were whining and trying to pounce on him.

"You gluttons, weren't you satisfied with all that meat just now?"

Liu Guangli stopped the hunting dogs from their village and glanced in the direction of the wetlands: "There are quite a lot of cranes here, but they're not as tasty as geese. We used to have a team that hunted geese here, and they could kill quite a few geese and cranes in a day."

"Are you still hunting geese here?" Feng Yi asked.

"We do hunt geese, of course we do. It's just that there aren't as many people hunting them as before. Now it's mostly young people hunting geese."

Liu Guangli said, "We old guys usually just go into the mountains to find some game, and that's it. We don't usually hunt geese or cranes."

"Why? You've been hunting for so many years, how could you not be able to catch a wild goose?"

Everyone was very curious.

"It's not that you can't kill them, it's that it's bad luck to kill geese. Geese and cranes always come in pairs. If you kill one, the other can't go home. There are guards at Yanmen Pass, and they won't let the last goose in."

That explained it to everyone. They thought to themselves, "It seems that even the old hunter gets soft-hearted as he gets older, and he actually feels sorry for the lone wild goose that's left."

However, the story makes a lot of sense.

Both geese and red-crowned cranes are monogamous.

In ancient times, there was a custom of carrying a wild goose when newlyweds got married. The groom would carry a wild goose when he picked up the bride. Wild geese are always in pairs, which symbolizes that the newlyweds will hold hands for a lifetime.

Everyone chatted around the fire, and before long, the aroma of roasted porcupine wafted out.

Chen Ling smelled the aroma and moved closer, turning the meat over until it was golden brown and glistening with golden-red oil. Then it was ready to eat.

This way of eating doesn't involve much seasoning. To be honest, Chen Ling had only ever eaten it when roasting sparrows or cicadas.

Just throw it in the fire and give it a quick stir.

But this was the first time they'd ever caught a porcupine.

But after taking a bite, he realized he was wrong.

Only then did I understand what it means to have high-quality ingredients that only require simple cooking methods.

It's delicious, so delicious!

It tastes even better than badger meat. Shouldn't we get more of these in the future?
Even he, with his discerning palate, thought it tasted delicious; others must have thought it was even better.

They didn't seem to mind the scalding heat; they grabbed the meat and stuffed it into their mouths, mumbling incoherently, "Delicious! So delicious!"

After finishing the roasted porcupine meat, everyone enjoyed it with braised porcupine meat and a bowl of soybean and porcupine soup.

"Goodness, this trip into the mountains was great! We ate so much on the first day. If the wild boars come looking for us tonight, I won't be able to run away."

Liu Guangli laughed and said, "It's alright. If the wild boar dares to chase you, just run down the mountain. Wild boars have short front legs, and once they start chasing you, they can't stop quickly if they run fast. Wild boars also have poor eyesight, so they might just roll down the mountain. Such a boar is easy to deal with."

Goodness, that's a statement that leaves you speechless.

When facing an old hunter like this, who has experienced so much, he knows exactly what to say.

At this moment, Chen Ling called over his two dogs, held up a torch and said to him, "Uncle Guangli, let's go for a walk along the manure path and test the traps?"

"Walk."

Liu Guangli quickly patted his buttocks, got up, grabbed his hunting rifle, and called his two dogs to follow.

If you're going to keep a dog, and a good hunting dog, two or three is ideal.

Even with less care, good dogs can still grow.

With more hunting dogs, you have to take them up the mountain often, and you can't afford to make too many mistakes, otherwise you'll ruin the dogs.

Liu Guangli's tiger-headed yellow pheasant from last year was also killed by wild boars.

The two dogs we have now were raised again this year. One is a yellow tiger-headed dog, and the other is a blue dog, also known as a wolf-blue dog. They are almost tamed.

"I don't know if you can tell, but this manure path isn't actually a proper manure path. It's a messy path that the pigs often wade through when they come here to drink and bathe."

“It’s because this dung road is too steep, right, it’s right next to a gorge with water?” Chen Ling said.

As Liu Guangli just mentioned, wild boars have short front legs, can't hold their ground, and don't like walking down steep slopes.

They are not afraid of going uphill. With their strong hind legs, they can easily leap over half a wall with a push of their hooves. If a person tries to chase a pig up a mountain, they will never catch it.

But when wild boars are going downhill, they mainly rely on their front legs.

On a steep slope, a wild boar would be upside down, head down and tail up, with short, weak front legs, which must be incredibly uncomfortable.

They don't like to take this kind of road.

They wouldn't consider such a place as the main animal path.

"Yeah, with such a difficult and messy path, they still went out of their way to rush down the mountain at night to ambush people. It shows how petty and vengeful these guys are."

Liu Guangli sighed.

As for why there is a pig trail in this place.

It's because wild boars love muddy ponds, and wetlands are a favorite spot for them. When it's hot, they like to come over and gather in the mud to roll around and cool off.

That's why they often brave this steep slope to come here and carve out a rather unorthodox main animal trail.

As the two were talking, Little Gold and Blackie in front of them stood up one after the other, and made soft humming sounds from their noses.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling laughed and said, "It seems there really are unexpected gains on this difficult road."

Then, noticing Tiger-Headed Yellow and Wolf-Blue Dog beside Liu Guangli instantly becoming alert and ready to attack, he nodded approvingly: "These are two good dog prospectives."

A good hunting dog is one that can react instantly to a signal from the lead dog without barking unnecessarily.

Otherwise, it's very difficult to change a dog's bad habits.

After all, dogs can't talk, so people can't communicate with them without any problems.

Unless you make a mistake, I'll hit you.

But that's not the way to do it. Hunting dogs are partners, not servants, and they can't be trained by beating them.

Liu Guangli chuckled: "Sao Lu is still a bit lacking. Compared to your two dogs, he's barely passable in our area, just good enough to be used as a dog..."

Then the two watched as the four dogs, two in front and two behind, climbed up the hillside and rushed into the forest to wreak havoc.

The old man and the young man remained completely calm under the cover of night, even though they knew something was amiss.

This time, they had dogs and guns, not to mention.

There are traps at key points along the animal trail; if any wild animal dares to come near, it'll be in big trouble.

As a result, the two followed the dog up the hillside and into the woods, whereupon Xiao Jin suddenly spoke up ahead.

I don't know what noise they heard.

When Chen Ling shone his flashlight over, the dog suddenly looked up towards the southwest in the light, barked, and ran away.

At this moment, Heiwa also reacted. He glanced at it with bright eyes, raised his head, let out a low growl, and darted over from another direction.

Little Jinheiwa made that sound.

Liu Guangli's two dogs immediately followed, heading straight for Heiwa and keeping close behind.

"Something's not right. There wasn't this much reaction just now." The old man and the young man on Chen Ling's side exchanged a surprised glance and hurriedly checked their hunting rifles. They weren't afraid of wild boars, but they were afraid that what was coming wasn't a wild boar.

After the two men checked their hunting rifles and other equipment, one of them took a torch and the other a flashlight and chased after Heiwa along the ridge.

Little Gold is the lead dog. The hunter will first follow the lead dog, and then decide what to do next depending on the situation.

They hadn't gone far when they saw Heiwa and Sangou stop.

They also quietly slowed their pace, and then, by the light of their flashlights and torches, they could see a group of wild boars indistinctly on the gentle slope below the ridge. Among the herd, the smaller ones were in front and the larger ones were behind, squealing and leisurely rooting around in the weeds and fallen leaves to forage for food.

These are the sow and the newly grown piglets.

The commotion was caused by two other large boars, their tusks bristling, fiercely fighting in a sparse part of the forest.

Upon seeing this, Liu Guangli's eyes lit up.

"Good heavens, it turns out it was a lone pig that joined the herd."

"When two lords fight, one of them will surely be injured. This is a good opportunity."

(End of this chapter)