American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 188 Design of the Ice Fishing Shelter

When Lin Yu-an finally returned to the shelter, dragging the green box carrying unknown stories, the afternoon sun had already passed the zenith, and the light began to become slanted and soft.

He placed the green box in a dry corner of the shelter, treating it like a precious artifact.

He stared at the box for a moment, and the face of the young female scientist with bright eyes, a hint of rebellion and confidence, reappeared in his mind.

And the source of that intense heat.
This unexpected discovery, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, completely changed the rhythm of his heart.

For the past twenty-odd days, his goal has been pure and primal: to survive.

But now, the existence of the items in this box gives him an urge to reconnect with that forgotten civilized world.

Lin Yu'an shook his head, as if to shake off the heat in his heart.

He not only has to survive for himself, but also protect this crystallization of wisdom that belongs to others.

He stored the remaining capelin from his backpack in the refrigerator, then went to the fireplace, added a few pieces of firewood, and made the fire burn brightly again.

Although physical exhaustion was overwhelming, he knew that now was not the time to rest.

The bounty of the coastline has ended; he must immediately find a new source of food.

His gaze passed through the door of the shelter and landed on the distant, winding, frozen river.

He spoke to the camera with unwavering focus: "The ocean is generous, but its temper is always unpredictable."

"Rivers, especially inland frozen rivers, have more stable and predictable ecosystems."

"Beneath the thick ice, life continues to cycle in a slow manner."

"As long as we can find the right method, I believe this river can definitely become a new source of food."

"And the first and most crucial step of all methods is to find out where the fish are."

He drank some hot water, put on his gear, and left the shelter again. This time, his destination was the frozen river.

The sunlight at three o'clock in the afternoon had lost all its warmth, leaving only a pale glow.

The river surface is much smoother than the ice pressure ridges along the coast, resembling a meticulously paved white highway winding its way into the distance.

But Lin Yu'an knew that beneath this smooth surface lay a complex underwater topography.

Finding a fishing spot with schools of fish gathering on such a vast glacier is like finding a needle in a haystack.

However, this is not purely a matter of luck, but rather requires exploration and discovery that combines experience, knowledge, and keen observation.

As he walked along the riverbank, he conducted an on-site analysis: "Fish, like all living things, need three things: food, oxygen, and shelter."

“In the winter, the water flow is slow and food is scarce in the glaciers, so fish become less active.”

"They will instinctively seek out places where they can obtain the greatest sense of security and food opportunities with the least amount of energy expenditure."

He first ruled out those wide and straight sections of the river.

“These places have uniform water flow, simple underwater topography, and lack structural variation. Fish won’t like to stay here; it’s too spacious and they feel too insecure.”

His gaze began to search for changes in the shape of the river channel.

"What we're looking for are river bends, deep pools, obstacles, tributary confluences... all those places that can alter the flow of water, provide shelter, and gather nutrients."

Finally, after walking about a kilometer, he came to a huge bend in the river, where the river made a near ninety-degree turn.

He crouched down and pointed to both sides of the river bend: "Look here, this is a classic textbook fishing spot."

"According to fluid dynamics, at bends, the water flow continuously scours the outer side of the bend, resulting in deeper water and faster flow on the outer side."

"On the inner side, the flow rate slows down, causing silt to accumulate and the water to become shallower."

“In winter, the water temperature is relatively more stable in the deeper outer bends of the river, and the deep pits and underwater cliffs created by erosion provide excellent hiding places for large fish.”

"This is the first area worth exploring."

But he didn't stop immediately. He stood up, his eyes sharp as a hawk, and continued to scrutinize every detail of the bend.

He wasn't just using book knowledge; he was also drawing on his incredible "sixth sense."

Through his sixth sense, he could clearly perceive the presence of fish underwater.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to an inconspicuous detail on the outer side of the river bend.

On that flat, snow-covered ice surface, there is an area where the snow cover pattern is slightly different from the rest.

The snow there seemed to have been sculpted by an invisible force into an almost imperceptible, elongated mound.

He immediately strode over, squatted down, and carefully swept away all the loose snow in that area with his gloved hands.

A smooth ice surface appeared before him. The ice was thick and had a deep, dark green color, indicating that the water below was very deep.

But what truly caught his eye was the huge, blurry shadow beneath the ice.

It appeared to be a single, enormous tree that had been swept away by a summer flood and was wedged at the bottom of the outer bend of the river, with most of its trunk and roots buried deep in the mud and sand.

Only a few thick, enormous branches pointing towards the sky almost touched the bottom of the ice.

"This is it." Lin Yu-An's voice carried an barely suppressed excitement.

He pressed his cheek against the icy ice, shielding his eyes from the light with his hand, trying to see more clearly.

"The deep waters outside the river bend provide a stable environment for fish, while this huge driftwood provides them with a perfect three-dimensional shelter."

"Those branches, large and small, are like an underwater complex apartment, allowing fish to avoid predators while conserving a lot of energy to fight the current."

"More importantly, underwater obstacles like these create tiny upwellings and eddies that lift up organic matter and microorganisms from the riverbed."

"It can provide food for small fish and shrimp, and with them, it will inevitably attract larger predatory fish."

Deep water, bends, structural shelters, food gathering places... all the favorable conditions converge perfectly at this one point.

Lin Yu'an stood up, stomped his heel hard on the ice to make a mark, and then took out a small piece of bright nylon rope from his backpack.

He had taken this from a cable he had found earlier and tied it to a branch of a dead tree on the shore as a conspicuous marker. He looked at the camera and said happily, "This is our number one fishing spot."

"If there are fish in this river, most of them are probably dozing off right now in some corner of this area right under my feet."

Once the most important fishing spot is identified, the rest of the work becomes much more efficient.

Instead of conducting a thorough search, he quickly looked along the riverbank for areas that shared similar characteristics with fishing spot number one.

Soon, about 300 meters downstream, he found fishing spot number two.

That's where a small tributary flows into the main channel. The extra nutrients and different water temperatures brought by the tributary will also create a micro-ecosystem that attracts fish.

Fishing spot number three is a narrow pass where the river channel narrows sharply.

A narrow river channel means the water flow will be faster, but after the pass, the channel widens again and the flow will slow down suddenly, forming a natural deep pool.

This is a necessary route and rest stop for fish during their migration.

The last fishing spot, number four, is located on the back side of a huge rocky base extending into the river.

The massive rocks shielded the fish from the main current, creating a tranquil haven.

He made sure to mark each fishing spot clearly, and by the time he finished, it was already getting dark.

On the way back to the shelter, Lin Yu'an didn't walk, but instead pondered.

Finding a fishing spot is only the first step in a long journey.

Sitting on the ice in the wilderness at minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius, quietly waiting for fish to bite, is suicidal. The gale-force winds will cut through your body like knives in minutes, taking away all your body heat.

He needed a mobile shelter, a simple shelter that could protect him from the wind and rain, yet be lightweight enough to allow him to easily move between the four fishing spots.

A clear design blueprint began to rapidly take shape in his mind.

When he returned to the shelter and sat down in front of the warm fireplace, he picked up a piece of charcoal and sketched a design on a flat stone slab.

He muttered to himself, "What I need is an A-shaped structure, the most stable and classic form of shelter."

"It's simple, sturdy, and easy to assemble. My initial plan is to make two identical rectangular frames."

"Then connect them at the top, open them up like a book, and you can form a stable A-shaped tent frame."

He continued to refine the details: "The frame material cannot be heavy driftwood; I need a lightweight yet resilient material."

He stared at the sketch and continued to plan the next step. He thought about using thin birch poles to fill the two frames to form a wall that could block the wind.

But at that moment, he stopped writing, his brow furrowed slightly, and he noticed a problem.

“This plan is too complicated.” He crossed out the two separate rectangular frames on the sketch with charcoal.

"I need to make two separate frames first, and then weave them together again. The whole process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the strength of the connection between the two separate parts is also difficult to guarantee."

He shook his head, mentally rejecting the initial plan.

"The core of the entire ice fishing shed lies in its simple structure and quick assembly and disassembly. Any unnecessary procedures and connection points are design flaws."

He stared at the flickering flames, his mind racing. How could he construct the most stable structure with the fewest steps possible?
A thought flashed through my mind like lightning. The rows of slender willows along the riverbank were the perfect choice!

“I’ve fallen into a cognitive trap… Why do I need separate ‘frameworks’ and ‘fillers’?”

"I don't need to separate them at all! The walls themselves can be the frame!"

“I will first select a few of the thickest and most flexible willow branches and bend them directly into an ‘A’ shape to serve as the keel and spine of the entire shelter.”

He demonstrated on the ground with a few small twigs: "Then, I will arrange these A-shaped keels in parallel at certain intervals."

“Next, I will use thinner willow twigs, like weaving cloth, to weave them back and forth between these keels, connecting them firmly into a whole.”

"In this way, the entire shelter is made up of the weaving itself, which serves as both the walls and the supporting structure. There is not a single piece of extra wood, the weight can be minimized, while the structure becomes extremely resilient because of the weaving."

He added, "This integrated design naturally solves the portability problem."

"When I need to move, I just need to flatten it from the A-shape into a board, and I can easily carry it on my back. Its top is a natural, flexible 'hinge'."

“But,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the sketch.

"The two legs of this A-shape need to be fixed in place during construction to prevent them from sliding outwards."

"Here, we only need a detachable horizontal bracing rod. I will use a weaving technique to leave a rope loop or wicker loop that can pass through the wooden rod at a height of about half a meter above the ground on the inside of the A-shape."

“Each time you set it up, you can firmly open and lock the entire A-shaped structure by threading a suitable wooden pole through the rope loops on both sides.”

"During disassembly, you only need to pull out the wooden rod. All the parts are designed for quick assembly and disassembly."

The design of a lightweight, sturdy, foldable, one-piece woven mobile ice fishing shed has now been perfectly completed.

Finally, only one question remained: "How to secure this lightweight shelter to a flat ice surface to prevent it from being blown away by strong winds?"

"I plan to use hard birch wood to carve some ground nails about thirty centimeters long, and I will carve a groove at the end of the nail to tie a rope."

“On the ice, I would use a hunting knife or axe, like a drill bit, to drill several holes in the ice, and then put wooden pegs into the holes.”

"Then comes the most crucial step: pouring water into the gaps between the wooden pegs and the ice holes."

"At temperatures tens of degrees below zero, this water will freeze rapidly within minutes, binding the wooden pegs and the entire ice surface together seamlessly."

"A rock-solid 'ice spike' is now complete, far stronger than a spike driven into the ground."

"At that time, I will only need to use nylon ropes to connect the bottom frame of the A-frame canopy to these ice spikes, and even the fiercest Arctic winds will not be able to shake it in the slightest."

"When it is necessary to move the fishing spot, the operation is equally simple. You can choose to use an axe to break the ice and retrieve the wooden pegs, or, more effortlessly, simply untie the nylon rope, discard the wooden pegs, and make new ones at the new fishing spot."

All the technical challenges were resolved one by one through his meticulous thinking.

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(Monthly pass, prize, you get it?)

(End of this chapter)