My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 136 Capturing a Deer Barehanded
Zhou Jingming found training Jinwang to be an extremely difficult task. Over the years, he had to personally feed it every time and find opportunities to train it, but apart from the time he hit it to teach it not to eat food fed by others, the other commands had little effect.

He had considered whether to teach it a lesson by beating it, but when he slapped it again, it got angry and dared to growl at Zhou Jingming.

The way he tilted his head, bared his teeth, and squinted his eyes was really intimidating.

The more Zhou Jingming beat it, the fiercer it became, showing no remorse and displaying a wild nature.

Zhou Jingming gave up after that incident.

Raising a dog that bites its owner is definitely not a good thing.

Moreover, Zhou Jingming came here to pan for gold, not to hunt full-time. Hunting was just a way to relax in his monotonous life, so training him to be so obedient was pointless.

Most importantly, it needs to be big enough and intimidating enough to serve as its guard and protector.

As for what the final outcome will be, we'll have to see how it changes as we get to know each other.

It is said that dogs become more intelligent as they get older.

At present, Jinwang gives Zhou Jingming the feeling of a rebellious child who is difficult to discipline. He can only hope that Jinwang will come to his senses in the future.

At this moment, Zhou Jingming hugged Jinwang's neck and pinched its mouth, afraid that it would make a sound as soon as it discovered the deer, thus disturbing Wu Yang's ambush and ruining it.

Both Wu Yang and Zhou Jingming waited quietly.

About three minutes later, Jin Wang, whom Zhou Jingming was holding, struggled a bit and still made whimpering noises even with his mouth pinched.

At the same time, Zhou Jingming saw that Wu Yang also made a move. He was gently adjusting his body, turning himself into a half-squatting position, seemingly in order to exert more force.

Both Jin Wang's reaction and Wu Yang's actions made Zhou Jingming realize that the deer must be very close.

Sure enough, after waiting for a short while, Zhou Jingming heard a rustling sound coming from afar, the sound of branches and leaves being touched.

He craned his neck and looked around, and saw a large, robust red deer with brownish-gray fur walking towards him. Judging from its size, Zhou Jingming estimated that it weighed over 300 pounds.

Every few steps, the deer would stop and look around. Occasionally, it would pick a few branches and leaves from the nearby bushes, but more often, when it encountered small trees or bushes, it would rub its antlers against the tree trunks.

Zhou Jingming initially wondered if the deer had an itchy head or some kind of illness, otherwise why would it always be bothering those trees?

But upon careful reflection, he remembered something.

Judging by the time, it's almost the rutting season for the sika deer, and it's sharpening its antlers in preparation for competing for mates.

At this moment, all we can do is wait patiently.

A good hunter is one with exceptional patience.

Wu Yang clearly possesses this kind of skill.

With each step the deer took closer to Wu Yang's location, Zhou Jingming's heart tightened, and he involuntarily held his breath, as if he were the one preparing to catch the deer with his bare hands.

But the more it did this, the more sluggish the deer became, always struggling to take a step, and occasionally turning around. Just when Zhou Jingming thought it might have noticed something was wrong and was preparing to run away, it would go and pick leaves and tender branches to eat.

Even just watching him makes me anxious.

But it was eventually getting closer to Wuyang.

Ten meters... five meters... three meters, it suddenly stopped again, raised its head and looked ahead, motionless like a sculpture.

After a while, it flapped its black-furred ears, swished its tail, kicked its legs a few times, and jumped around wildly like a madman before continuing on its way.

As they approached the bushes where Wu Yang was hiding, Zhou Jingming held his breath as it took another step.

Wu Yang had a great ability to seize opportunities. In that instant, he suddenly darted out and grabbed the antlers of the deer with both hands.

The deer clearly hadn't expected an ambush so close to it. Startled, it spread its front legs wide and bent its hind legs, preparing to leap away. But it was too late; Wu Yang grabbed its antlers with both hands and held it tightly.

But it clearly wouldn't give up easily, struggling fiercely and dragging Wu Yang wildly through the thicket and weeds of the ravine.

That was quite powerful.

Wu Yang, who weighed 130 to 140 pounds, was shaken around like a rag, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes up, sometimes down.

In other words, he was agile, quite strong, and could barely put up a fight.

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been left behind or trampled in the chaos of the deer running around.

Wu Yang was also determined. He seized the opportunity to stand firm, his body sank, and with a sudden twist of his hands holding the antlers, he managed to twist the deer's head sharply with a skillful and powerful force, causing the deer's body to fall to the ground involuntarily.

This scene, though it takes a long time to tell, actually lasted only two or three seconds.

Upon seeing Wu Yang successfully capture the sika deer by its antlers, Zhou Jingming immediately released Jin Wang, grabbed his hunting rifle, and charged down the slope towards Wu Yang, eager to help deal with the sika deer as quickly as possible.

He knew very well how strong the red deer were, and that trying to fight it with strength and endurance would be a long and arduous process.

Don't let a duck that's almost in your mouth fly away; that would be a real shame.

When Zhou Jingming saw Wu Yang suddenly throw the deer to the ground, he was amazed.

Jinwang was incredibly fast; almost as soon as Zhou Jingming rushed down the slope, it was already beside the deer, barking wildly and circling around it. It had never truly hunted before and didn't know where to begin its attack.

I watched as the deer kicked its legs and shook its head wildly, and after it moved to the side, it was mostly busy dodging.

Wu Yang was trying his best to suppress the deer. He pushed off the ground with both feet, his body was taut and straight, and he was twisting its antlers and pressing its head down at an angle of about 30 degrees, so that it would not have a chance to roll over.

But things obviously didn't go as he wanted. In its struggle, the sika deer found an opportunity to stand up on its hind legs. With a sudden burst of strength, it propped its hind body up and pushed forward a bit.

Wu Yang was already supporting himself on his feet, and with this movement, his feet slipped. He was already struggling to maintain his balance, and now that the force was released, the creature was able to stand up.

It kept kicking and stomping its legs, but after several unsuccessful attempts, it realized that Wu Yang was like a piece of chewing gum that it couldn't shake off. So it simply lowered its head and rammed into Wu Yang's chest.

Even being gored by a goat would be enough to hurt, let alone a red deer weighing over 300 pounds. If you were to get hit by one, you could easily be seriously injured.

The key point is that Wu Yang has been putting a lot of effort into competing with the deer. The more effort he puts in, the less he can sustain it for long. He wanted to throw the deer over again, but he was too weak.

Seeing that he was about to be hit, he had to let go in order to avoid it. He turned around to the side, wrapped his arm around the deer's neck, and used his body weight to support the deer. At the same time, he tried to lean back to prevent the deer's forked antlers from hitting him.

Because of this, the deer was dragged down by Wu Yang's weight, unable to jump or run, and just dragged Wu Yang around aimlessly in that area.

However, this was enough time for Zhou Jingming to arrive.

He rushed to the deer, raised his hand and fired a shot, hitting the deer in the chest and ribs.

Knowing that he was shooting at a red deer, a large wild animal, Zhou Jingming understood that ordinary deer bullets would hardly be able to kill an animal of this size quickly.

So, as he raced ahead, he had already switched to single-shot rifles.

That shot was powerful enough to have hit his chest cavity directly. He didn't know exactly where he was injured, but he watched as the deer leaped violently a few times before collapsing to the ground, howling loudly.

Wu Yang was afraid it would get up and run away again, so he refused to let go and pressed its head down as it adjusted its body.

After Zhou Jingming gave up his position in Wuyang, he fired another shot at the deer's head. The deer almost immediately straightened its four hooves, twitched a few times, and then quickly became still.

Only then did Wu Yang slump to the side, panting and laughing.

Zhou Jingming didn't hold back his praise, giving Wu Yang a thumbs up: "Awesome! Only you could have such a good mindset. If it were me, I couldn't even keep your half-squatting position still for that long."

Even the slightest change will render all our previous efforts futile.

Wu Yang's breathing calmed down a bit: "It seems that method really works; it can indeed mask the body odor."

The deer was right next to him, but he still didn't notice.

"That's just the smell of soil and decaying leaves, the most common and natural smell in this valley. It's often here, so it's probably used to these smells, which is why it wasn't too wary!"

Zhou Jingming glanced at the deer on the ground, which had completely died, and took out two bullets from his pocket and loaded them: "You wait here, I'll go back and get someone to come and get the meat!"

After he finished speaking, he led Jinwang back.

Following the trail left by the deer, the journey wasn't difficult.

He returned to the riverbank in no time. Seeing that Nora had already left, he didn't think much of it. He crossed the wooden bridge, passed through the poplar grove, and arrived in the valley.

Peng Yuanchao and his group were still lounging on the grass chatting, while Wang Dong and Sun Chenggui were looking at the remaining half of the smoked mutton.

Seeing Zhou Jingming return, Peng Yuanchao sat up straight: "What's going on?"

"Jin Wang spotted a red deer, and Wu Yang and I chased it into the mountains. Wu Yang caught it with his bare hands!" Zhou Jingming briefly explained the situation.

"Unarmed, without a gun?"

Li Guozhu knew about Ma Lu and was somewhat incredulous: "You're not kidding, are you?"

Zhou Jingming chuckled: "Do I look like I'm joking... Hurry up and come with me to get the meat, it's a big guy weighing over 300 pounds!"

Peng Yuanchao was the first to stand up and called out to Xu Youliang and the others, "Come on, let's go get the meat with Brother Zhou!"

Zhou Jingming glanced at the people who had gotten up and felt that sending too many people would be pointless: "Brother Peng, Brother Li, you two stay at the mine site. I'll take a few of them. If you have nothing else to do, go help Wang Dong. He hasn't had much rest since early this morning. You guys really have been watching him suffer..."

After he finished speaking, without caring what Peng Yuanchao and Li Guozhu thought, he found tools such as axes and kitchen knives and led a group of people to carry the meat.

When Zhou Jingming returned to the ravine, he saw that Wu Yang had already washed off the mud smeared on his body in the ditch, put his clothes and shoes back on, and was hanging out to dry in a pair of simply crumpled underpants.

Next, everyone pitched in, carrying the deer to a drier grassy area. While listening to Zhou Jingming explain how Wu Yang caught the deer, they skinned it. After a while, they finally gutted the deer, cut the meat into pieces with an axe, and carried it back together.

Jin Wang naturally couldn't escape a hearty meal, his belly bulging out from eating.

Of course, this only applies to offal that's difficult to handle; as for deer heart, liver, and penis, they simply can't bear to part with them.

Unfortunately, Zhou Jingming only knew that these things were good, but he didn't know how to deal with them specifically.

When he was in the Great Northern Wilderness, he came into contact with deer, but he never really took care of them. Some of the methods he heard about were only vaguely remembered. Apart from the fact that deer penis needed to be dried and preserved, deer heart and liver were just snacks to go with alcohol.

However, to his surprise, when he returned to the mining site, he found that there was another person there, and for a moment he was puzzled: "Why are you back again?"

(End of this chapter)