American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 67 The First Decoupling

Fifty-five days.

After processing the huge deer hide, Lin Yu'an spread it on his bed, which he had built with reeds and pine needles.

The entire pelt exudes a faint smoky and plant tannin scent, and feels soft and warm to the touch, instantly elevating the "luxury" of the entire shelter by several levels.

After catching big fish for two consecutive days, Lin Yu'an felt like he was a born angler! He was in excellent form at the moment!
He came to the fishing platform by the lake once again, but this time he brought two fishing rods with him.

One of them was a fishing rod that he had painstakingly crafted from Pacific yew over an entire day.

The other rod was a "new rod" that he made on a whim, purely because of his "mystical" experience of catching a giant pike last time.

He simply broke off a relatively straight willow branch, about the thickness of a finger, from the woods and used it as a fishing rod.

"Today I'm conducting an interesting experiment, continuing to test the new rod's aura!"

He first picked up the precious Pacific yew fishing rod and baited it with a piece of blood bait that smelled strongly of fish.

With a perfectly standard side-casting motion, the fishhook with the blood bait was cast into the deep water in the distance.

He then carefully inserted the handle of the purple cypress fishing rod into the gap in the log of the fishing platform, creating a fixed fishing spot.

After doing all this, he picked up the simple willow branch, which was almost just a stick, and called it "new pole".

He casually cast his line with blood bait to another body of water not far from the fishing platform.

He then held the "mystical wooden stick" in his hand and started fishing.

The whole morning has passed.

Neither the fixed purple fishing rod nor the "wooden stick" in his hand made the slightest sound.

"Did this fish wake up late today?"

He changed his bait several times and adjusted his fishing spot a few times, but the situation remained unchanged.

Time flew by and it was already afternoon. The sunlight began to soften, and Lin Yu'an felt a little drowsy.

As expected, the myth that a new rod will always catch fish doesn't really work!
Just as he was leaning against the wooden stake of the fishing platform, almost dozing off.

"Buzz—Snap!"

A sudden, sharp sound came from beside him!

Lin Yu'an was jolted awake, all sleepiness gone. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the yew fishing rod that he had fixed in the gap of the fishing platform was being pulled downwards by a huge force!
He grabbed the fishing rod, which already had a full curve, with both hands!
A steady but not violent force came from the rod, and he immediately judged that although the thing underwater had some weight, it was definitely not as big as the two giant objects from before.

"Looks like a small guy weighing a few pounds, perfect for dinner!" Lin Yu'an was delighted and began skillfully controlling the rod to fight the fish.

He used the strong resilience of the yew pole to easily deflect the fish's attacks from underwater.

He could clearly feel the fish darting left and right underwater, and every time it thrashed its head, the information was clearly transmitted to his hand through the rod.

He confidently raised the corners of his mouth, ready to enjoy this not-so-intense battle and show it what fishing is all about!
Just as he was about to exert force and pull the fish toward the surface!

Lin Yu'an felt the tip of the rod suddenly spring upwards, and the continuous pulling force in his hand vanished without a trace!
The taut fishing rod snapped back to its original position, and the fishing line slackened weakly.

"They've decoupled?"

Lin Yu'an stood there stunned, then quickly reeled in the fishing line.

The metal hook at the end of the fishing line was intact, but the blood bait hanging on it was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it!"

"It must have been that I didn't set the hook deep enough when I cast the line, or that I gave it a chance to loosen the line during the struggle!"

A dinner that was practically in hand just slipped away; that's even more frustrating than not getting a bite at all.

Then, until sunset, neither the yew rod with its new bait nor the "mystical stick" in his hand produced any further movement. In the end, Lin Yu'an had no choice but to pack up his equipment and return to the shelter empty-handed.

At night, by the fireplace inside the stone house, Lin Yu'an munched on the leftover smoked venison jerky, looking at the camera with a mixture of resentment and self-deprecation, and said:

"Today is another day for the Air Force... Hmm, that doesn't seem right."

He argued earnestly, "Strictly speaking, I didn't scramble for the fish today! After all, my yew rod actually hooked a fish, and I even fought with it."

"It was only because of a minor technical error that it broke free and ran away."

"There are differences between air forces, right?"

Like all anglers, he begins a thorough post-fishing analysis, mainly reflecting on his catch and how impressive his skills were.
On the morning of the 56th day, Lin Yu'an no longer insisted on going to Diaotai for "revenge".

He understood that repeatedly baiting the same spot with the same bait would likely just feed the fish. He needed to let the fishing spot "rest" for a few days.

"Guys, since the guys in the water aren't cooperating, let's go see if our friends on land have any surprises for me."

He took his bow and arrows, ready to check the traps he had set in the forest the day before.

He first went to a place far from the shelter, where he used a homemade wire lasso to set a trap on the rabbit trail.

However, the area above was empty, and the traps were not triggered.

Although somewhat disappointing, it was within expectations.

Several other small traps were checked, but most of them yielded no results.

Just when he thought his luck on land was about to run out, he saw a familiar figure as he approached the last lasso trap.

The red fox cub he had once saved was squatting beside the trap, tilting its head and curiously watching the snowshoe rabbit struggling slightly inside.

It looks like this little fox has grown quite a bit.

Upon seeing Lin Yu'an approach, the young fox did not immediately flee like ordinary wild animals, but instead cautiously took a few steps back.

It made a low "woofing" sound in its throat and looked at him warily.

"Hey little guy, what a coincidence! Are you watching my prey for me?"

A smile appeared on Lin Yu'an's face; the appearance of this little fox had improved his mood a bit.

He quickly processed the snowshoe hare, and instead of taking it away as usual, he skillfully skinned it and removed its internal organs.

The young fox didn't run away in fear, but watched intently from the side, its nose twitching and drool almost dripping down its chin.

Lin Yu'an tossed the rabbit's entrails to the young fox, who happily picked them up, ran a short distance away, and began to wolf them down.

"Alright, here's your pay for guarding the place today."

Lin Yu'an was somewhat helpless. This clever young fox had probably already learned to use his traps as a "canteen" to lie in wait.

The appearance of this rabbit completely made up for his disappointment of not catching anything while fishing today.

In the evening, Lin Yu'an enjoyed a sumptuous dinner by the fireplace inside the stone house.

The main course was snowshoe rabbit meat, simply grilled with wild onions, caught today, and the side dish was roasted wild scallions.

While eating, he faced the camera and recounted his experiences of the day once again.

"Guys, we came back empty-handed from fishing today, but we caught a rabbit, so it's not bad!"

"Tomorrow I plan to continue looking for new fishing spots and use up the remaining blood bait as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)