American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

Blake's boots sank into knee-deep snow as he led the four to the edge of a sheltered spruce forest.

The snow here is thicker than in the open areas, and the cold wind whistles through the tree trunks, almost filling in the undulations of the ground.

He stopped under a sturdy Sigan spruce tree, his hand, clad in a heavy tactical glove, pointing ahead to a seemingly ordinary patch of snow.

Five minutes.

Blake's voice was broken by the wind, but it was still full of pressure.

"Tell me what just passed by, its condition, and when it passed by."

Eric stared blankly at the expanse of white.

In his eyes, there was no difference there except for the ripples created by the wind.

Although Dennis was eliminated in the shooting segment, Blake seemed to intend to keep him as a reference.

The old hunter didn't say anything, but knelt down in the snow, took off his gloves, and gently stroked the snow with his rough palms, his nostrils twitching.

Aruk also put away his usual playful smile.

He crouched down, picked up a clump of snow from the blurry indentation, let it melt in his palm, brought it to his nose and smelled it, his brows furrowing.

Su Wei stood at the very back.

He didn't rush to squat down, but adjusted his breathing, and white mist sprayed out from his mouth and nose, which was instantly blown away by the wind.

A slight thought.

The hunting module has been reactivated.

The world in my field of vision changed instantly.

On the originally monotonous and glaring white background, a string of intermittent pale gold cursors appeared.

Those traces, covered by fresh snow and barely visible to the naked eye, became incredibly clear under the system's highlighting.

The cursor meandered along the edge of the woodland, paused beside a thicket of bushes, and then turned into a deep valley.

A semi-transparent text box appeared before Su Wei's eyes.

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[Target: Female, adult black-tailed deer.]

[Status: Minor injury (left forelimb), hungry, fatigued.]

[Time elapsed: Approximately 3 hours and 17 minutes ago.]

The tracking path is now highlighted; effective range: three meters.

Su Wei stepped forward without making a sound.

He imitated Dennis, pretending to examine the indentation that the system had marked as a footprint.

In fact, he didn't even need to look at that blurry snowflake; the answer was already written before his eyes.

"Time's up."

Blake coldly interrupted everyone's actions.

He stood with his arms crossed over his chest in the wind and snow.

"Eric, you go first."

Eric straightened up somewhat flusteredly and patted the snow off his knees.

He didn't actually see anything, but that didn't stop him from making things up.

"Uh... it was a male deer. About two hundred pounds. And some time ago... maybe an hour ago?"

Blake remained expressionless, too lazy to comment.

He turned to look at Aruk.

"Black-tailed deer, female."

Aruk rubbed his frostbitten nose, his tone becoming much more confident.

"I found a grayish-brown hair on the bark of a nearby tree. And its strides weren't large, so it probably wasn't carrying any cubs. The time... was probably three or four hours ago; the snow was quite thick."

Blake nodded slightly; the answer was acceptable.

"Dennis."

The old hunter stood up and shook the snow off his hands.

He regained his confidence in this area, and stood up straight.

"It's definitely a black-tailed deer, a female. It stopped in that bush ahead and gnawed on the bark. Judging from the depth of its hoofprints, it walked very quickly, as if it was startled by something. It was about three hours ago."

A hint of satisfaction appeared on Blake's face.

Although Dennis was a terrible shot, he was indeed very experienced in tracking this craft.

"Soviet Union".

Blake read out Suvi's name last.

All eyes turned to them instantly.

Eric was insanely jealous of Eric's godlike marksmanship just now, and he was waiting to see this sharpshooter make a fool of himself.

Shooting and tracking are two different things; one is a matter of physical ability, and the other is a matter of experience.

Moreover, Su Wei was about the same age as him.

Tracking is an operation that requires a lot of experience.

This is generally a specialty of experienced hunters.

Just like Dennis.

Therefore, Eric was very curious and harbored malicious speculations in his mind.

I'm afraid this Su Wei is not much different from him at most.

Suwei gently patted the ice crystals off his gloves.

"Black-tailed deer, adult female."

He began to speak, his pace steady, as if he were reading a report.

"It passed through here about 3 hours ago? No, I estimate it was 3 hours and 20 minutes ago."

Aruk was stunned.

20 minutes?

Isn't this level of accuracy absurd?

Suwei ignored the reactions of those around him and pointed to a small piece of crystal at the edge of the depression.

"In addition, its left foreleg was injured. The injury is not serious, but it affects its ability to exert force. It is very hungry and in a state of exhaustion. Its previous nibbling behavior was not because it was leisurely, but because it urgently needed to replenish its energy."

Eric couldn't help but chuckle.

"Come on! You can see its injured left leg through half a foot of snow? Add to that hunger and exhaustion? Who do you think you are?"

Even Dennis frowned.

He noticed that his prey was in a hurry, but was it injured?

He didn't realize it at all.

Blake did not speak.

He stared intently at Su Wei, and the muscles on his usually hard face seemed to twitch slightly.

The expression wasn't one of anger, but rather one of utter astonishment, as if they'd seen a ghost.

Because Su Wei's judgment was entirely correct.

Aside from some more detailed judgments, the general direction is almost entirely correct.

This is almost a perfect answer.

But you should know that he is a level 7 professional hunter.

And the Soviet Union?

An amateur hunter who is currently undergoing professional assessment!

"reason."

Blake regained his composure, but looked at Suwei with anticipation in his eyes.

Su Wei had already prepared his explanation.

He walked to the path indicated by the golden cursor, brushed away a layer of snow with his gloved hand, and pointed to the indentations below.

"gait."

This cheat-like reverse reasoning made him sound very professional.

"A normal black-tailed deer has a uniform center of gravity when it lands. But in this series of footprints, the indentation on the left side is noticeably one-third of an inch shallower than the one on the right. It was subconsciously protecting its left forelimb and shifting its weight to the right side."

He then pointed to the bushes nearby.

"As for hunger... the bark it gnawed on was very low. Adult deer usually choose tender branches at eye level, and only when they are extremely hungry and exhausted will they recklessly gnaw on old bark."

Suwei stood up and looked directly at Blake.

"As for the 3 hours and 20 minutes, it was calculated based on the snow thickness and snowfall. With the wind speed just now, it would take exactly that long to bury such deep hoofprints."

Only the sound of the wind remained at the scene.

Aruk stared at the snow on the ground, then at Suvi, as if he were meeting him for the first time.

Could it be that this guy hasn't been loafing around at home all these years, but has instead been researching hunting?

Dennis's face turned a deep purplish-red.

He had completely overlooked the shift in the center of gravity.

Eric was completely speechless.

He wanted to refute, but every word Su Wei said was logically sound, leaving him no room for doubt.

"95 points."

Blake gave the score, then turned around and quickly wrote it down in his notebook, the sound of the pen slicing across the paper particularly jarring in the silence.

"Eric, 40 points, failing grade."

"Aruk, 70 points, passed."

"Dennis, 90 points."

Blake closed his notebook, put his sunglasses back on, and concealed the complex emotions in his eyes.

"Suvi, I'm impressed by your observation skills. But the wilderness isn't just about exploration and shooting; it's more about how to survive."

He strode toward the roaring tracked vehicle and waved for everyone to follow.

"Get in the car. We're going to the last test center."

"If you don't want to be frozen solid, you'd better hurry. We're heading to a real slaughterhouse."

The car doors slammed shut, shutting out the wind and snow.

Su Wei sat in the bumpy carriage, able to feel the gazes cast upon him by the other three men.

He didn't respond, but simply put his hands back in his pockets quietly.

The tracked vehicle rolled over the snow and drove off into the distance.