American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 226 The Correct Way to Handle a Porcupine (Multiple Images, Please Vote!)

He first inspected the stove made of soapstone. Inside, as he had expected, the charcoal used to provide smoke had burned out during the hours he had been away.

At the bottom of the furnace, only a thick layer of fine white ash remained, and deep within the ash, there were a few faint embers that were almost extinguished.

"The cold fumigation operation almost got interrupted," he muttered to himself, looking at the action camera still recording on his chest, his voice filled with undisguised exhaustion.

"We must restart immediately. If the semi-finished smoked fish gets condensed on the surface, it will be another problem."

He turned and strode back to the shelter entrance, reaching out to push the heavy wooden door. With a soft creak, the door opened a crack.

A warm current, completely different from the freezing cold outside, instantly surged out from the crack in the door and enveloped him.

The air current carried the warm scent of burning wood, instantly soothing his nerves, which had been tense from prolonged exposure to the cold and his heightened vigilance.

He squeezed through the doorway and gently closed it, completely shutting out the wind, snow, and bitter cold outside.

Inside the shelter, the only light came from the flickering flames in the fireplace. Near the fireplace, on a small, private bed covered with thick wolf pelts, a tiny, white ball of fur was startled by the sound of the door opening.

The white bear cub was sleeping soundly on its back in December, its little belly rising and falling.

Upon hearing the noise, one of its furry little ears unconsciously twitched twice, like a radar.

Then, it struggled to lift its eyelids, which were covered by long white eyelashes, a crack.

Through my drowsy vision, I saw that familiar, tall figure standing in the doorway, its outline clearly defined by the firelight from the fireplace behind it.

"Uh-huh……"

In December, a soft, nasal sob escaped her throat. The sound carried both displeasure at being disturbed from her sleep and an irrepressible mix of joy and grievance.

Its brain seemed to have already issued the command "Get up and greet him"—the most important person was back! Quick! Run over there! As usual, jump onto his lap and let him hug you!
However, its body is still in a lazy "offline" state.

It struggled to push off the ground with its two chubby front paws, barely managing to lift its round upper body off the warm wolfskin blanket.

Its head shook slightly, and its bright, pure obsidian eyes, now watery with sleepiness, clearly reflected Lin Yu'an's figure.

But his lower body remained motionless, as if it were not powered on, showing no intention of cooperating.

This "front-wheel drive starts, rear-wheel drive stops" posture lasted only two seconds.

Finally, its front paws went limp, and its little body slumped back down with a "plop," its little head even bobbing slightly on the wolf-skin rug due to inertia.

A failed attempt.

December seemed to have given up struggling, simply resting her little head on her front paws again, tilting her head, and staring at Lin Yu'an with her big, watery black eyes.

That adorable look of "my enthusiasm has arrived, but my body is still on its way" instantly softened Lin Yu'an's tense heart after an entire afternoon.

A genuine smile involuntarily crept onto Lin Yu'an's lips.

He crouched down, bringing his eyes to the little guy's level. He gently rubbed December's fluffy little head with the clean back of his hand, untouched by blood.

He could clearly feel the cub's fine, soft fur and the warmth emanating from it. He then bent his fingers and gently scratched its favorite chin with his knuckles.

December comfortably squinted her eyes, a satisfied, soft "purring" sound emanating from deep within her throat, like a small motor.

"Sleep a little longer, I still have some work to do," he whispered.

After calming the little one down, he stood up and walked to the fireplace, carefully brushing aside the upper flames and wood.

Then, from the deepest part of the fireplace, from the pile of charcoal that was burning most fully and was already glowing red, he picked up a few pieces of scalding hot charcoal and put them into the tin bucket.

He carried the bucket of charcoal, left the shelter again, and braved the cold wind to return to the stove in the snow hut. He carefully poured the scalding hot charcoal into the bottom of the stove.

Then, from a birch bark tube nearby, he scooped up a large amount of sawdust and evenly spread it over the charcoal.

Soon, under the combined effect of the burning of high-temperature charcoal and the oxygen-deficient environment, the previously faint white smoke began to rise continuously again.

Following the snow-making smoke duct he designed, we slowly entered the interior of the smokehouse.

Cold fumigation operation resumed.

Having resolved the most pressing issue, Lin Yu'an turned his attention to tonight's main character, the porcupine.

He decided to clean it thoroughly outdoors overnight. He cleared a clean, flat area on the snow by the lake, near the smokehouse.

He shoveled away the surface snow, revealing a layer of compacted snow beneath, hardened like cement due to the low temperature. This was his outdoor workbench for the night.

Then, he carried a large bundle of birch wood that had already been split from the mountain of firewood next to the shelter.

A small handful of oily birch bark was used as tinder, a bundle of dry twigs about the thickness of a pencil was used as kindling, and a pile of birch wood about the thickness of an arm was used as the main fuel.

He picked up a piece of red-hot charcoal from the tin bucket.

"Zi..."

Whoosh~ Under the scorching heat of the charcoal and the aid of a stable airflow, the oil-rich birch bark fibers quickly turned black and curled at the edges, then emitted a wisp of white smoke.

Lin Yu'an didn't stop, continuing to blow steadily. A few seconds later, a tiny, orange-red flame emerged from the white smoke.

He carefully arranged the dry twigs, about the thickness of a pencil, in a very loose tent shape over the small flame, ensuring that air could flow in from all directions.

"Crack!"

The flame touched the dry branch, producing a crisp crackling sound, and the fire instantly intensified. The branch ignited, emitting a brighter light and a more consistent heat.

He continued to patiently add more slightly thicker kindling, and the core of the campfire grew brighter and hotter.

Lin Yu'an then began to build the main campfire, using the hand-chopped birch wood in a structure resembling an Indian tent, surrounding the already stably burning core of the fire.

Heat radiated from the charcoal fire below, and flames shot up suddenly through the gaps in the wood.

With a whoosh, the entire campfire was ignited, and bright flames shot into the sky, dispelling the surrounding darkness and biting cold.

It bathed everything in a crimson glow!

Only then can a stable and continuously burning campfire be considered truly complete.

He walked to the backpack and began to untangle the layers of birch bark and the intricate mummy wrapping. The knots had stiffened somewhat in the cold, but he patiently untied them one by one.

Finally, the porcupine carcass, its internal organs removed, was exposed to the air once again.

But the porcupine was completely frozen, its surface covered with a layer of white frost, and it made a thumping sound when tapped, like a piece of thorny wood.

"At minus twenty degrees Celsius, anything that is damp will freeze solid in a short time."

"In its current state, let alone peeling it, my knife can barely even cut into it, so it needs to be thawed."

Lin Yu'an placed the frozen porcupine about a meter away from the campfire, turning the carcass over from time to time to ensure it was heated evenly.

It was a relatively long process, but he didn't waste any time. He took out the fine-grit whetstone from his toolbox and began the preparations.

"It is essential to have your knives in optimal condition while waiting for them to thaw. The worst thing you can do when processing animal carcasses is to discover halfway through that your knife is not sharp enough."

He melted snow into water and meticulously polished every edge of the Damascus hunting knife until the blade gleamed with a chilling light in the firelight.

About half an hour later, the frost on the surface of the porcupine carcass had completely melted, and its previously stiff limbs began to move again.

"Alright, the thawing is almost complete." Lin Yu'an stood up and picked up the bundle of nylon rope that had been kept as a spare.

“Now, let’s begin processing this body. Before we start, I must emphasize the most important point,” he said, looking at the camera with an extremely serious tone.

"When many people see a porcupine, their first reaction might be to pull out the quills, which is absolutely a fatal mistake."

"Theoretically, porcupine quills can be pulled out one by one. But the problem is that an adult porcupine can have as many as 30,000 quills."

"Even if you pull out one hair per second, without eating or drinking, it would still take more than eight hours to finish." "More importantly, when you try to pull out a hair, your hand will almost certainly touch other hairs in the surrounding area."

"You are facing 30,000 barbed needles, ready to pierce your hand at any moment. Therefore, the idea of ​​removing the thorns is completely impractical from both an efficiency and safety perspective."

"So, since we can't pull it out, what should we do? The answer is simple: do everything possible to avoid contact with the thorns."

"The only correct, safe, and efficient way is to hoist it up."

Lin Yu'an walked straight to the other side of the campfire, where a wooden tripod he had previously built for drying and smoking fish stood.

This tripod is made of three peeled spruce poles, which are tightly bound together at the top with nylon rope, and the three legs are deeply embedded in the hard snow.

Then, he brought the porcupine's two hind legs together and tied them tightly above the porcupine's ankle joints with nylon rope.

"Ho!"

With a low shout, he steadily lifted the porcupine carcass, weighing over ten kilograms, from the snow.

As he pulled, he adjusted the position until its head was about half a meter off the ground, which was the most suitable height for him to stand and operate.

The corpse swayed slightly in the air, and in the bright campfire, every thorn on its back, covered with deadly spikes, was clearly visible.

But at this moment, they have completely lost their threat and can only droop helplessly under the force of gravity.

Lin Yu'an patted the snow off his hands, walked forward, examined the hanging corpse, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Look, this is the core advantage of the suspension peeling method."

Pointing to the porcupine hanging upside down, he explained clearly to the camera, "By hanging it upside down, all the quills naturally hang down due to gravity, away from my body and hands."

"Throughout the entire peeling process, my hands will only touch the inside of the skin without thorns, or the clean muscle that has already been peeled off, thus achieving 100% safe operation."

“In this way, this dangerous ‘hedgehog’ becomes a perfect workbench. I can easily work around it and remove the meat intact from this ‘spiky felt’.”

After the explanation, the peeling work actually began.

As he spoke, he began preparations for skinning the porcupine. First, he used the tip of a knife to make two precise cuts around the ankles of the porcupine's two bound hind legs.

The incision depth was controlled perfectly, cutting only the tough outer skin without damaging the underlying tendons.

Then, starting from one of the ring cuts, he gently made a straight cut downwards along the inside of the hind leg where there were no thorns, with the tip of his knife.

Until it connected to the previous abdominal incision, the other leg was treated in the same way.

After completing these preparations, he temporarily sheathed the knife at his waist. Then, using his fingers, he tore open the fascia between the skin and the leg bone from the circumferential incision at the ankle.

He grasped the cut skin with both hands as if taking off socks and began to pull it downwards forcefully.

With the help of gravity, the skin on the hind leg was easily peeled off, revealing the pink muscle underneath.

When he reached the torso, he drew his hunting knife again, grabbing the detached skin flap with one hand to provide a stable downward pull.

With his other hand, he carefully used only the tip of the knife to sever the toughest white fascia between the skin and muscle. For larger connections, he forcefully pushed downwards between the skin and flesh to separate them.

"Crunch... crunch..."

The entire peeling process has become a top-down, efficient, and safe operation.

The thorny skin on his back was peeled off completely, like a heavy coat, as he worked.

He didn't need to touch the thorns with his hands at all; he only needed to keep pulling down the edges of the peeled skin.

Time passed slowly amidst the crackling of the campfire and the subtle sounds of a knife tip slicing through fascia.

Nearly an hour later, he completely peeled off the porcupine skin, covered in quills, from top to bottom, leaving only the part connected to the head and front paws.

He resumed his normal grip on the knife and, using the stronger part of the blade at the middle and rear, cleanly severed the last connection at the neck and forepaw wrist.

With a "plop," the complete porcupine hide, resembling a "needle-prickled cloak," fell onto the snow below.

Hanging in mid-air is a porcupine that has lost its skin, but it is not a deep red with muscles.

Instead, it was almost entirely covered by a thick, dense layer of white fat. This intact layer of subcutaneous fat is a perfect testament to Lin Yu'an's superb skin-peeling technique.

He successfully separated this most precious heat reserve from the dermis almost without any damage, leaving it intact on the muscle.

Bathed in the glow of the campfire, the layer of fat reflected a warm and alluring sheen.

Only at the joints and in the abdomen where the fat layer is thinner can the outline of the deep red muscles be vaguely seen through this white outer shell.

This is no longer just a simple carcass of prey, but a huge energy block, the most solid guarantee for surviving the harsh winter.

Lin Yu'an breathed a sigh of relief. What he needed to do now was not to directly cut the muscle, but to deal with this precious layer of fat.

“This intact layer of subcutaneous fat, once refined, becomes high-quality animal fat. But before that, I need to remove it.”

He carefully used the tip of his knife to make several vertical cuts in the fat layer, as if he were drawing a map.

Then, these large, intact plates of fat are peeled off piece by piece from the underlying muscle fascia.

He neatly stacked these stripped, pure white fat chunks on a clean piece of birch bark, where they would quickly harden at low temperatures, making them easy to store.

Once this thick "white coat" is removed, the porcupine's true muscle tissue is fully exposed.

The muscles are a healthy deep red color, with some scattered fat and intact fascia remaining on the surface.

Now, we are truly entering the segmentation phase.

His first target was the most prized part of any prey: the tenderloin.

Because the body was suspended, the muscles on both sides of the spine were completely relaxed and exposed. He used the tip of his knife to trace along the protrusions of the spine, from the neck all the way to the tailbone, his movements steady and fluid.

Then, with the blade close to the inside of the spine and ribs, carefully slice forward. Apply even pressure with your wrist, and you can clearly feel the subtle resistance as the blade separates the muscle fibers.

Under the influence of gravity, the two long, intact, dark red pork tenderloins almost automatically detached from the skeleton.

With a gentle lift of his hand, he obtained two pieces of flesh with almost no fascia.

Next, he began to work on the limbs, grabbing one of the hind legs and stretching it outwards. The upside-down position made the structure of the hip joint clearly visible.

There's no need to search for it; just a gentle cut with the tip of a knife at the weakest point of the joint capsule, and a complete hind leg is cleanly removed.

The separation of the forelegs is even simpler because the scapular joint has no real bony connection and is entirely connected by muscles.

He only needs to use a knife to cut off the entire foreleg along with the shoulder blade.

Soon, all that remained hanging on the rope was a vertebral skeleton with ribs.

Lin Yu'an then picked up the short-handled logging axe and cleanly chopped it off from the knot, letting the skeleton fall onto the birch bark below.

Then, the ribs were separated from the spine using an axe. This completed the initial separation process.

Beside the campfire, his harvest for the night was neatly arranged on several large pieces of birch bark.

Two porcupine hind legs, two porcupine forelegs, two pieces of porcupine loin, a complete set of ribs, and a spine that has been cut into several pieces.

It was late at night, but the work was far from over.

Secondary processing and preservation are key to ensuring that these valuable proteins are not wasted.

He quickly and efficiently sorted the cut porcupine meat, deciding to enjoy it that evening with two tender tenderloins and a whole set of ribs.

(End of this chapter)