My 1995 Small Farm.

Do pheasants suffer from snow blindness?

It's hard to say, but after an autumn, especially with the warm winter, they've fattened up.

If they are suddenly caught in a snowfall, they can indeed be frozen stiff.

In previous winters...

Catching pheasants usually requires four or five people.

To be precise, at least four people are needed.

Chasing pheasants requires a large number of people. A 2-3 meter long hoe handle can be used as a command post in the snow-covered wilderness.

Four people need to be on three sides.

Each person was about two or three hundred meters apart, scattered across the snow.

Walking through the snow, if anyone sees or disturbs a pheasant in the haystack, shout loudly to scare it out.

Yes.

After pheasants adapt to the snowy weather, they gradually recover and won't freeze and just stick their rear ends outwards, like those pheasants I found this morning that only cared about their heads and not their rear ends.

However, they rarely move when it snows.

They would simply stay in warm places to avoid wind and snow, spending most of their time sleeping to conserve energy.

Once people figured this out, they waded through the snow to drive them away.

For hunters, this job only requires bringing hunting dogs.

However, when Chen Ling was a child, he liked to team up with his friends and follow the adults around chasing pheasants.

Pheasants fly very fast.

However, it can't fly very far in one go.

It won't work for more than 500 meters.

At this moment, the people who had scattered looked to see if the pheasants were flying in their direction.

They went ahead to intercept them.

It's not necessary to catch them immediately; often, you just scare them a few more times.

The pheasant was so frightened that it took flight again.

After doing this two or three times in a row.

The pheasants, already starving in the snow, were exhausted.

It can't fly anymore; it can only run on the ground.

At this point, everyone, adults and children alike, went to chase after it.

Until the pheasant ran out of energy in the snow.

They will then resort to the ostrich policy again, burying their heads in the snow without regard for their rear ends, struggling with their wings while their entire bodies are exposed, leaving them vulnerable to being caught.

It sounds like it's not difficult.

However, this method of catching pheasants is actually limited by the terrain.

The area around Chenwangzhuang is mostly flat, although there are some steep slopes and gullies, but those are relatively few.

It's like a small village surrounding a town.

Yangtougou, Majia'ao...

Just by listening to the names of these villages, you can tell that there are definitely a lot of ditches and gullies.

Even in heavy snow, it's very difficult to catch pheasants in this kind of place.

"I know your difficulties, but this kind of thing is really not good... I didn't get enough meat during the New Year, huh? In a few days, I'll start construction on all the deer farms, cattle farms, and sheep farms in the East Forest Farm."

There's meat at lunchtime every day. Those of you who are idle at home, go and do some chores!

Chen Ling chuckled, leaving the excited young people behind, and said no more to them.

Snowing.

There were quite a few people out hunting despite the wind and snow.

Generally speaking.

It's difficult to find prey right after it snows.

In other words, on the first day of snowfall, they would simply huddle in their nests in the face of the sudden snowfall.

They only come out to find food after the second or third day when they are so hungry they can't stand it anymore.

What's different this time is that it's been warm all winter.

It snowed so heavily just before spring.

The wild animals in the mountains were caught off guard.

This is the easiest time to find a bargain.

"Uncle, they have so much prey, it seems like they picked it all from the ditch over there. And that old man in the hat is holding a fawn."

Little Chestnut opened her eyes wide, looking on with a mixture of curiosity and envy. Rui Rui even sat up from Chen Ling's arms, clamoring to go down and play.

"Alright, let's go out tonight and find even more. Don't be jealous of them."

Chen Ling waved his hand, quickly ordering the little blue horse to pull the sled away.

Otherwise, most people in the distance would recognize him and would probably greet him if they saw him dressed like that.

After all, he had killed a wolf, and he was very famous in the villages near Changle Township.

Fortunately, the journey to Tenghe Township went smoothly.

While some streams and creeks have frozen over, the two major rivers in Tenghe Township are still surging and turbulent, and boats are still passing through them.

The surrounding mountains are covered with snow, and the great river flows swiftly.

The snowflakes falling from the sky gradually decreased, making the journey back much smoother.

After a snowfall, the mountain roads are perfect for sledding.

There were quite a few people out hunting and collecting game today.

After being trampled on and sledded by many vehicles, the snow in many places has been compacted onto the ground.

The little blue horse pulled the sled along the mountain road, running fast and steadily, very smoothly.

"Dad, let's go there, let's play there."

Rui Rui sat in Chen Ling's lap, giving instructions, while Hei Wa and Xiao Jin had already run off to the other side.

It was a small lake, or rather, a small puddle in the mountains.

The ice had already frozen over, and children who had come out hunting with their parents were playing on it, sliding around on the ice with great joy.

This is why the lake is small and the water is shallow.

Otherwise, even if such a heavy snowfall were to fall suddenly, it wouldn't freeze solid.

Of course, that's one way of saying it.

Because the winter was warm and dry, the water levels of rivers and lakes inevitably dropped significantly.

Once the temperature drops further, it's quite normal for the entire area to freeze over.

Only the Jinshui River and the major rivers outside Tenghe Township are not significantly affected.

Compared to the Nansha River in the county seat, it is far inferior.

"There are too many people there, you won't have fun. Daddy will find you a better place. Let's go back and call Mom and a few aunties to come out and play together, okay?"

Chen Ling felt that with so many people around, there would be too much chatter and he wouldn't be able to stop talking.

"Yes, call her Mom and Auntie."

Rui Rui pouted and nodded, her eyes filled with anticipation.

Little did he know that Chen Ling was supposed to be guarding the greenhouse today.

Because everyone was very enthusiastic about the work.

They didn't care about hunting or playing anymore.

On such a snowy day, everyone volunteered to work, and each family even took out their quilts, or even paid for them.

Chen Ling also felt that everyone had given him a lot of face.

So they went back to the village, taking advantage of the fact that the children had their attention drawn to something else.

He quickly led the group, who had already brought out quilts on a cart, and they began to enter the greenhouse one after another with baskets to start picking vegetables.

“Fugui, one sled isn’t enough. We need to borrow a few more so that once we’ve finished picking the vegetables and covered them with quilts, we can drive the sleds directly to Tenghe Township.”

Wang Lixian followed Liang Yuemin out and called out.

Liang Yuemin wanted to help, but sometimes the work in the village was really hard to do, and Wang Lixian had to take the lead.

"I understand, I'll go borrow them right away. There aren't many sleds in the east of the city, so I'll have to go to the countryside to borrow some. Luckily, I just ran into a few, so I can borrow them back soon."

Chen Ling responded and then went to borrow a sled from another village.

There are only two or three sleds in this village, which is definitely not enough.

Let's borrow from another village.

So they caught up with the donkey, their own packhorse, and the little blue horse, making a total of five animals.

They brought back a total of ten sleds, one for each of the two sleds.

That's enough to transport vegetables today.

Snowy days may have many downsides, but there's one good thing: there are no more roadblocks or robberies.

When it snows, there are few pedestrians on the road. If you wait for a day or two and no one comes, even a thief can't stand it.

If I could endure this kind of hardship, I wouldn't do this kind of risky business.

So, around noon, not long after Chen Ling returned to the village, the sleds were loaded with baskets of vegetables, covered tightly with cotton quilts, and set off. (End of Chapter)