Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

The forest at Niubeitun is vast and boundless, with snow reaching above knee-deep.

Li Ju'an led Da Hu, Tie Chui, and three purebred mixed-breed dogs—a total of five dogs—while Li Guaizi led his four encircling dogs. The two of them, with a total of nine dogs, entered Niubei Village. He first went to greet the old hunter Wang Guochang and then inquire about the situation of the mountain fox over the past two days.

When he found Wang Guochang, he also encountered an old acquaintance. Changbai Mountain's Taozi Wang was also at the village entrance, surrounded by a large group of seventeen or eighteen local hunters, including Song Desheng.

He learned that the local wildcat had killed a cow and the head of the Women's Federation, and the news had spread like wildfire. The local forestry leaders took the matter very seriously and specially invited Lao Qin to lead the village hunters to kill the wildcat.

Old Qin was a famous hunter in Changbai Mountain. However, he never used a gun when hunting, only wire snares. Even the most cunning foxes couldn't escape his snares, hence his nickname "King of Snares." The forestry leaders believed that only the King of Snares could catch the cunning and elusive mountain foxes.

Song Desheng got the news from the production team. He had just tasted the sweetness of success, and when he heard that there was another hunt, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night. He took leave early and asked his family to use their connections in the production team to find the forest farm and have him added to the team.

Li Ju'an and Wang Guochang had just finished smoking a cigarette when Song Desheng spotted him and shouted, "Li Ju'an! Brother Li! You've joined Qin Pao's team too!"

Li Ju'an stood up, patted his overcoat, and said, "I've come to see a friend."

Old Qin, the gunner, spotted him. He was holding an iron chain that bound a half-grown wolf cub, which was baring its teeth at the mixed wolf foal at Li Ju'an's feet.

A raccoon fur hat, a sheepskin coat, and cowhide boots—these are the three treasures of a Changbai Mountain hunter. Without the raccoon fur hat to protect their head, the frigid cold of Changbai Mountain would quickly freeze off a hunter's ears. Old Qin, the "Cannon Head," is dressed exactly like a Changbai Mountain hunter.

Li Ju'an left after obtaining useful information. As long as the mountain weasel hadn't been killed, he would have a chance. He was determined not to leave empty-handed this time.

After the two left, a hunter in Lao Qin's team asked a question.

"Who were those two just now? They seemed to be fully equipped. A lead dog, a pack of dogs, a hunting rifle, and livestock—they had everything they needed."

Song Desheng said proudly, "That's my sworn brother, Li Pao from Lijiatun. He's really something. Last time he led me to hunt black bears in the warehouse. We caught a huge black bear and even got an iron gall."

The iron gallbladder was of very high quality, and many hunters in Niubeitun had their eyes light up with envy. They could only get grass gallbladders, and had never been lucky enough to get a bear gallbladder of any grade higher than grass gallbladder.

Every hunter tacitly understood that many had recently come to Niubeitun, all targeting the mountain weasels. As a professional hunting team organized by the forestry bureau, they were specifically targeting the mountain weasels this time. If they failed to snare any weasels and they were killed by other hunters, they would lose face.

A hunter urged Lao Qin, "Hurry up and get into the mountains, or someone will intercept your catch."

"Absolutely not! They only have two people and nine dogs, while we have 18 people and over forty dogs. How can they be the same?"

"Qin Pao, let's hunt a roe deer this morning, and then we can have a roe deer hotpot in the snow tonight."

"All you do is eat. Hurry up and get into the mountains."

……

Meanwhile, Li Ju'an and Li Guaizi also went into the mountains. After the beginning of winter, heavy snow fell for days in the Xing'an Mountains, starving all the animals.

A cold front swept through, and after several blizzards, everything was bare and covered in snow. The temperature plummeted to -35 degrees Celsius!

Apart from hibernating animals like black bears, brown bears, badgers, and raccoon dogs, all birds and beasts were suffering from famine. Carnivores were so hungry they resorted to cannibalism. All the living animals were ravenously hungry, their eyes practically glowing blue, and they were so hungry they wanted to gnaw on tree bark.

Li Ju'an deliberately chose to walk on the snowy slopes in the shade, and called on Da Hu, the head-mounted incense burner, to lead the dogs to track the trail.

His target this time was the lynx, which specializes in hunting roe deer and deer, and specifically seeks out these prey in the snowy, shady slopes.

In the winter snow, which is more than two feet deep, the lynx's legs are not as long as the roe deer's, so the lynx cannot catch up with the roe deer. But the lynx deliberately drives the roe deer to the shady slopes of the mountains.

The mountain fox is clever. The snow is deep on the shady slopes, and the hardened shells that freeze after being exposed to the sun are on top of the snow. Roe deer and deer have long, thin legs, so they can run quite fast on sunny slopes, but once they reach the shady slopes, their four legs sag and sink into the snow. When the mountain fox runs onto the hardened snow, its large paws spread apart, preventing its body from sinking into the snow.

So roe deer and deer struggle to run on shady slopes, but lynxes are incredibly fast on the frozen snow. A lynx can snap a roe deer's neck and enjoy a hot meal of roe deer blood as easily as drinking milk.

Big Tiger has made a discovery ahead.

The dogs barked, and Li Ju'an quickly grabbed his gun to inspect the snow, discovering numerous thin wire snares. This indicated that the shady slope had already been set with traps.

After examining the thin wire snare, Li Guaizi sneered, hands clasped in his pockets: "Old Qin, the snare king, was here long ago."

Among fellow hunters, there is a complete hierarchy of contempt: those who train eagles look down on those who carry guns, those who carry guns look down on those who use ground-based weapons, and those who use snares and dig traps.

Li Guaizi had seen falconers in Northwest China in his early years. It was time-consuming, expensive, and required a lot of skill and experience, so falconers all thought that people who carried guns were reckless. He was a hunter who carried a gun. After seeing Lao Qin, the king of traps in Changbai Mountain, he looked down on Lao Qin and thought that accidents during hunting were basically caused by his colleagues who used traps, snares, and ground traps.

Some hunters would fill seamless steel pipes as thick as an arm with explosives, bury them underground, and use a pull-wire switch as a tripwire to control an electric detonator as a primer. They would try to blast a black bear in this way, but one shot blew half of its body away.

So when Li Guaizi saw Lao Qin, he shook his head. If it weren't for the forestry workers inviting him last time, he would never have joined Lao Qin's team.

Li Ju'an carefully inspected the covers and clips on the snow.

He noticed the meticulous details in Lao Qin's wire snare setup. At this time of year, badgers and raccoons are hibernating, so traps are ineffective. Lao Qin used large wolf traps, weighing 20 jin (approximately 10 catties), which were very expensive and used for defense.

Wolf traps are rarely used; they're usually set in fields to hunt wild boars. But the fact that Old Qin was able to set one in this snowy area means he's discovered something. Perhaps wolves appeared a few days ago, or maybe civets were spotted in this area.

The tiger stared at a patch of snow and barked.

After examining the area, Li Ju'an discovered wolf paw prints.

"They are wolf footprints, and they haven't been there long ago."

The wolf paw prints, shaped by the snow, had not yet been fully formed by the wind; they still contained crushed bits of snow that hadn't been blown away.

If the snowflakes are blown into the bottom of the claw print, it means there has been some time between the initial steps. If it's a recent claw print, the snowflakes will be scattered throughout it. Identifying these details is fundamental to tracking.

As he examined the area further, he noticed that the wolf paw prints had started running, almost leaping as if they were dodging something. Then, looking back every few steps, they began to run again.

A chill ran through him, and his emotions surged. The lynx, also known as the wolf-slaying maniac, possessed incredible patience in hunting wolves, especially enjoying stalking mother wolves and devouring their cubs. A 40-pound lynx could single-handedly kill a 1000-pound moose, and it could also strangle a roe deer with a single swipe of its paw and crush a wolf!

This is an unlucky wolf that encountered the "wolf-slaying maniac" mountain raccoon!

Li Ju'an and Li Guaizi exchanged a glance, and the atmosphere on the scene suddenly became tense and exciting.