Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

Following the direction Li Yunshan pointed, everyone saw the remains of some wolf cubs and traces of blood on the snow.

Looking down the hillside, you can see a long string of bear footprints stretching from the ridge to the foot of the mountain.

It was obvious that the bear that Li Yunshan killed had come from the foot of the mountain to eat the corpses of the wolf cubs he had killed yesterday.

The fact that the bear had devoured all the wolf cubs suggests that the bear that had been killed must have been starving.

Because once autumn arrives, bears will eat voraciously, accumulating a thick layer of fat on their bodies in preparation for hibernation.

However, bears do not hibernate in a deep sleep. Instead, they slow down their metabolism, their body temperature drops, and their heart rate slows down, which helps them conserve energy.

Of course, if the weather warms up in winter, or if the fat stored in its body is consumed too quickly and is not enough to survive the long winter, the bear will also come out of its den to move around, look for food, and replenish its energy.

Clearly, the bear that was killed in front of us probably ran out of its den because it was burning up its stored fat too quickly and then smelled the blood in the air. It then came here and ate all the wolf cubs that Li Yunshan had killed.

Moreover, judging from the size of this bear, it was a whole size larger than the bear he had killed in the village before, which was enough to show that this bear had a big appetite.

If they hadn't arrived so quickly today, this bear might have eaten all the wolf cubs and then devoured the carcasses of one or two adult wolves to store up energy for the winter.

However, looking at the bear, Li Yunshan suddenly thought of a question: if the bear came out of its den to look for food because it was hungry, is it possible that the den is nearby?

He stared thoughtfully at the long trail of bear footprints on the snow that stretched down to the foot of the mountain.

On the other side, however, Director Zhou and Elder Liang and the others were amazed as they looked at the bear's corpse lying in the snow.

An ordinary person might never encounter a wild beast like a tiger or a bear in their entire life, let alone kill one.

However, in less than a month, Li Yunshan killed a tiger and a bear.

Moreover, he has killed more than just this one bear; it is said that not long ago he killed another bear that had entered the village and was causing trouble for the villagers.

The bear in front of him was the second bear he had killed, something many people would never even dream of in their entire lives.

"This bear weighs at least 300 pounds, and there are so many adult wolf carcasses over here. It'll take a lot of effort to get all this back!"

A forestry worker looked at the wolf carcass in the snow, then at the bear that had just been shot dead, and couldn't help but groan.

"What are you afraid of? Comrade Li Yunshan went through a lot of trouble to kill these wolf cubs and bears. The fewer wolf cubs and bears there are in the mountains, the less chance we will encounter them when we go into the mountains to cut timber, and the less chance we will face danger."

"Old Zhao is right, that makes sense. Anyway, I don't want a bear or wolf cubs to suddenly jump out from the side when I'm logging in the forest."

"If we take these wolf cubs back and clean them up, we can get at least several hundred pounds of meat. It'll be a good opportunity for our forest farm to improve our meals. To be honest, I'm tired of eating the same old stuff every day: stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar and braised pork with cabbage."

"Wolf meat is also a rare delicacy. As long as it is cooked properly, it will be tender and flavorful, and the taste will be quite good."

The other forestry workers chatted amongst themselves.

But when Director Zhou and Old Liang saw Li Yunshan looking at the trail of bear footprints with a thoughtful expression, they couldn't help but wonder what Li Yunshan (Little Li) was thinking about.

"Third brother, you've been staring at these bear footprints for so long, what are you planning to do?"

Li Yunshi walked up to Li Yunshan and asked, and both Director Zhou and Old Liang looked at him.

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"Brother, the bear came here from the foot of the mountain in search of food. Do you think if we follow its tracks, we can find its hibernation den?"

Li Yunshan smiled and said.

"Third brother, you're thinking of... raiding this bear's den?"

Li Yunshi's eyes lit up immediately.

Li Yunshi wouldn't dare to think this way if the weather were warm and the vegetation was lush, because tracking a bear in such an environment would be very difficult.

But blindness occurs during the coldest season, when the vegetation in the mountains and forests is withered and yellow, and a layer of snow covers the earth.

With a bear's enormous size, the footprints left by its two paws on the snow are clearly visible. Even when it snows, it takes a long time for the snowflakes to cover the footprints left by the bear.

Although the weather is cold now, it hasn't snowed for two days.

"Yes, I want to raid the bear's den."

As Li Yunshan spoke, he ran over to examine the bear and discovered that it was actually a female bear. He said, "This bear is female, and she is not pregnant, so there might be young bear cubs in her hibernation den."

Based on the hunting experience passed down through generations of hunters, it is speculated that bears usually mate in the summer, and after a long gestation period of seven months, the mother bear will give birth to one to three cubs in her hibernating cave at the beginning of the following year.

The nursing period for bears is also very long, lasting one to two years.

The bear in front of us is clearly an adult bear and is not pregnant.

Based on Li Yunshan's hunting experience from his previous life, it's possible that this mother bear had already given birth to a litter of cubs earlier this year.

Based on the fact that bears have a nursing period of one to two years, this mother bear may have given birth to a litter of cubs earlier this year. Therefore, there must be cubs in her den that are currently growing.

Of course, this is Li Yunshan's calculation, but whether the actual situation is like this is currently unknown.

Therefore, they need to investigate this.

"Old Liang, Brother Zhou, would you be interested in coming with us to find this bear's den? We might find something unexpected."

Li Yunshan smiled as he looked at Director Zhou and Old Liang.

Old Liang naturally nodded. He came to Hongxing Forest Farm to hunt and have some fun, but Li Yunshan not only led him to catch a lot of prey, but also helped him wipe out an entire pack of wolves.

Now, Li Yunshan says he's going to raid the bear's lair, which has piqued Old Liang's curiosity.

What surprises await in this bear's den?

As for Director Zhou, Old Liang was his former superior. Now that Old Liang was going to go with Li Yunshan to raid the bear's lair, he had to go too.

Furthermore, Director Zhou was also curious whether there might be bear cubs in the bear's den.

"You guys clean up these wolf carcasses here, and carry this bear back to the farm headquarters too."

Director Zhou immediately gave instructions to the forestry workers.

After saying that, he and Old Liang followed Li Yunshan and Li Yunshi, tracing the bear's footprints.

They followed the bear's tracks from the ridge down the mountain, and soon arrived at a ravine at the foot of the mountain.

This mountain hollow faces south, with earthen hills to the north, east, and west. The bear's cave is built under the roots of a large tree at the innermost part of the hollow.

Using its sharp claws, the bear dug a circular hole about one meter in diameter under the tree roots. At the entrance of the hole, there was a large mound of loose soil that the bear had dug out.

When Li Yunshan and his group found the bear's cave, a miniature bear figure flashed by at the cave entrance and then scurried into the cave in a panic.

"Hey, there really are bear cubs here."

Director Zhou's face lit up with surprise, and Old Liang's face also showed excitement: "Little Li, how can we get this bear cub out?"

Unbeknownst to them, both Director Zhou and Old Liang subconsciously came to regard Li Yunshan as their backbone.

Li Yunshan walked to the cave entrance, bent down and looked inside. He saw that the bear's cave was pitch black, and even with his night vision, he couldn't see the bottom.

"This bear's cave is very deep and winding."

Li Yunshan said as he bent down to look inside.

Although he couldn't see the bear cubs because of the winding cave, he could clearly hear their panting and smell the strong bear odor inside.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yunshan pulled Li Yunshi along and went to find a large bundle of dry branches nearby. Then they went to the snow and shoveled a large pile of fallen leaves.

"Just fumigate the bear cubs to make them come out."

Li Yunshan placed the withered leaves at the entrance of the cave, weighed them down with withered branches, and sprinkled a few handfuls of snow on top.

Old Liang and Director Zhou watched Li Yunshan's actions with curiosity, wondering why he would sprinkle handfuls of snow on the dry branches and leaves. Then they heard Li Yunshan explain, "When the leaves and branches catch fire, the snow will melt and fall onto them. The burning leaves and branches will produce more smoke, which will smoke the bear cubs out of the cave."

At this moment, Old Liang and Director Zhou suddenly realized what was going on.

Li Yunshan had already taken out a box of matches from his pocket, and after taking out a match, he lightly struck it on the box.

With a "sizzle," flames shot up, igniting the dry branches and leaves piled up at the entrance of the cave.