American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 174 Harvest and New Trap (Just a few hundred more monthly votes to reach 10,000! Bro! Please!)
Lin Yu-an was not upset and calmly spoke to the camera.

"That's how hunting is. The wind is the biggest variable. It can help you cover up your scent and sound, but it can also betray you at the most crucial moment."

"However, they did not fly far; they only crossed that small ridge."

He walked to where the arrow had landed, only to find a small hole. He plunged his entire arm deep into the cold, deep snow.

He groped his way through the snow, and finally touched a carbon fiber arrow shaft. He pulled it out with a sigh of relief.

He carefully wiped away the ice and snow with his sleeve, and meticulously examined the sharp arrowhead and fletching to make sure it was not damaged in the impact.

Then, without hesitation, they chased after the small ridge.

He crossed the ridge to the other side, where the terrain was more complex, with more bushes and rocks.

He slowed his pace again and began searching for new traces, this time being more cautious.

It took him nearly half an hour to find the flock of ptarmigans again near a denser patch of willows.

They seemed to feel safe and were strolling leisurely in the snow, pecking at the tender shoots.

Lin Yu'an took a deep breath and began his second stealth maneuver.

This time, he chose a more circuitous route, moving forward little by little from the downwind side, using a huge rock as cover.

He successfully sneaked to a perfect position only fifteen meters away from the target.

Four or five ptarmigans were gathered under a clump of willows bent low by snow, completely unaware of the danger.

He slowly drew the arrow again, nocked it, and used the rock as cover as he slowly pulled back the bow.

His first target was the one in the very center that was unobstructed. He used the simple sight on the bow handle to precisely lock the arrow into the Thunderbird's chest.

"To deal with this kind of small prey, you must aim for the center of the torso to ensure a fatal blow, instantly paralyzing its nervous system and giving it no chance to struggle or raise an alarm."

He held his breath, tensed the muscles in his back, aimed, and then released his fingers.

"call out!"

The arrow left the bow almost without making a sound!
However, just as the arrow was released, a dramatic scene unfolded!
The thunderbird he was aiming at took a step forward to peck at the very last moment!
"puff!"

A soft thud, like an arrow piercing flesh, rang out! The arrow didn't pierce its chest as expected, but instead grazed its back and struck its leg precisely!

"Gah——!"

The thunderbird let out a piercing scream and leaped up! It did not die immediately.

Instead, dragging the arrow that was almost as long as its body, it flapped its wings and limped desperately toward the bushes in the distance!

This scream startled the entire flock of birds once again!

The remaining Thunderbirds, like startled rabbits, exploded instantly, flapping their wings frantically and soaring into the sky!

Lin Yu'an was extremely annoyed; he had never expected things to turn out this way.

But there was no time for him to think. He nocked a second arrow, drew the bow, and aimed at a thunderbird fleeing in the air!
But he ultimately did not release it.

"No! We can't take any more risks! The arrow is still in the prey!"

"The accuracy of shooting at moving targets is too low, especially in windy conditions! If this arrow hits the snow, it will be a difficult search to find it."

He made a quick decision, slung the bow back over his shoulder, and chased after the wounded Thunderbird, which had left a trail of clear blood, at top speed!

It flapped its wings, tumbling and crawling, desperately trying to get into the dense forest ahead that could save its life!

Lin Yu'an gave chase; he had to catch the Thunderbird before it disappeared into the bushes he couldn't reach!
Finally, after chasing for nearly a hundred meters, the Thunderbird slowed down due to excessive blood loss.

Lin Yu'an seized the opportunity, leaped forward, and pounced into the snow, his massive body pinning the poor thunderbird beneath him.

He grabbed the still-struggling Thunderbird, touched its neck, and cleanly ended its suffering.

Then, he carefully pulled the arrow, which was covered in blood and feathers, from its leg.

He sat in the snow, looking at the thunderbird in his hand and the arrow he had lost and found again, unsure whether to be happy or frustrated.

“A terrible hunt.” He shook his head at the camera.

"My judgment was flawed; I underestimated the random movement of the prey at the last moment."

"As a result, I only got one bird, but almost lost a precious arrow and scared away the entire flock of birds."

"They must have flown much farther away by now, and it's almost impossible to find them again."

He looked around, a hint of reluctance flashing in his eyes, but he did not give up. Instead, he decided to completely change his strategy.

"Now that the flock has been broken up, they will likely move alone or in small groups of two or three."

“They are at their most alert now, so I can no longer approach them stealthily. I need to do the opposite and make them walk right into my trap.”

He began searching the vicinity for a particular type of terrain: a narrow, snow-covered natural passage between two thickets of bushes.

Instead of moving the ground, he began to build two low but dense fences on both sides of the half-meter-wide passage using dead branches of varying lengths.

He planted these branches deep into the snow, one after another, forming a barrier that the Thunderbird could not easily pass through. He kept narrowing the passage until, at its narrowest point, only a single gap about ten centimeters wide remained.

He pointed to the "guide fence" made of branches and said, "Any thunderbird that wants to pass through here will be naturally guided by these two fences."

"Ultimately, we chose to pass through this least obstructed gap, which turned an open area into a 'must-pass' that we controlled."

He found a slightly thicker, more conspicuous tree branch, and like a crossbeam, placed it horizontally above the gap, about 15 centimeters high.

"This crossbeam is key."

"This height is too high for the Thunderbird to jump over, and there's no need to fly over it."

"So when it gets here, its most instinctive choice is to duck and crawl under this beam."

Lin Yu'an took out a wire tripwire and tied one end of a piece of wire firmly to the root of a sturdy shrub beside the passage.

Then, he began to twist the other end of the wire into a slipknot that could slide.

"The size of the lasso is the key to success or failure." He carefully adjusted the wire loop.

“We used to use a ring the size of a fist to lasso rabbits, but the Thunderbird’s head and neck are much smaller.”

"If the loop is too big, it may only touch the lasso when its body passes through it, and then it will get caught on its wings and easily break free."

He held up three fingers, side by side, to measure.

"The perfect size for the Thunderbird is about three to four fingers wide."

"Its size is large enough for its head to easily squeeze in, but when the widest part of its body tries to pass through, it will inevitably touch the edge of the lasso, thus tightening it."

"This way, we can ensure that the lasso is precisely locked around its neck."

He secured the perfectly round buckle directly beneath the "forced head-down" crossbeam.

He used an extremely thin stalk of dry grass as a support to gently lift the bottom of the lasso ring, ensuring that it remained perfectly round.

“It’s finished.” He stepped back a few paces and examined his work.

"This is a 'killer' scenario. The Thunderbird is guided to the only gap, and then forced to lower its head by the beam above."

"The moment it ducks down and squeezes through, its slender neck will inevitably pass through the perfect lasso I have prepared for it."

He then used the exact same method to place identical low-profile tripwires every few meters along this long passage. He placed three in total.

"Alright, the trap has been set. Thunderbirds are active in a regular pattern; they usually forage in one area."

"The flock of birds that I startled earlier will likely return along this familiar route once they feel safe."

"Now, all I can do is leave and leave the rest to time and luck."

He didn't linger. He carefully wiped away most of the traces he had left in the nearby snow, then turned and headed back towards the shelter.

It was already afternoon when we returned to the warm and sturdy fortress.

After a long day of running around, he decided to immediately dispose of the hard-won prize from that morning and prepare a sumptuous dinner for himself.

He first set up a temporary processing platform at the entrance of the shelter using a flat stone slab.

He took out the somewhat stiff willow thunderbird from his backpack.

He carefully made a long incision in the Thunderbird's abdomen, from the sternum to the cloaca.

He reached into the warm chest and abdominal cavity and skillfully removed all the internal organs completely.

"Some of the internal organs of wild animals are treasures, while others must be discarded."

"First, the heart, liver, and gizzard are the most nutritious parts, rich in iron and various vitamins, and absolutely should not be wasted."

"Then, the intestines can be stored first, and then used to make bait a few days later. When ice fishing, this strong smell can attract fish from a great distance."

He placed the intestines and some inedible organs on the other side, intending to bury them or use them as fish bait later.

"The ptarmigan's plumage is very dense, especially in winter, with a high proportion of down feathers. Plucking it directly would be very difficult and could easily tear the skin."

Instead of pulling it out, he poured hot water from the iron pot into a rough wooden container and let the Thunderbird soak for about a minute or two.

"Scalding with hot water, just like how we treat domestic chickens, can loosen the feather follicles, making plucking the feathers much easier."

He took the Thunderbird out of the wooden container and began to pluck the feathers one by one, following the direction of their growth.

Sure enough, after being treated with hot water, the feathers that were originally tightly attached to the skin were easily plucked off in large clumps.

A dozen minutes later, a white-skinned, plump Thunderbird was cleaned up.

-

(One more chapter at 00:00, please give me lots of monthly votes at the end of the month!!)

(End of this chapter)