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

Although no one could be sure that the tiger had only visited the village last night, or whether it would return tonight or in the near future, Uncle Zhou, as the backbone of the village's hunters, decided to take the initiative and pool their wisdom to find a way to deal with the tiger that had entered the village.

As for driving them away? That was not even on Uncle Zhou's radar.

No one can drive a tiger away without harming it or endangering their own life.

Unless the tiger that entered the village was a tiger cub.

Is that even possible?

The tiger footprints found in the village today have large paws and are nearly 14 centimeters long. These are clearly footprints that only an adult tiger could have made.

Trying to drive away an adult tiger without harming it is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Of course, unless there is an anesthetic needle.

But now it's the 1980s, and in this poor and remote village of Guapigou, where can you find anesthetic needles?

"Uncle Zhou, I think we should set more animal traps around the village, especially in the area where the tiger was seen today. It entered the village from the east and turned back to the north from the west. Let's set more animal traps on the east and north sides of the village."

"The area to the east and north of the village is so big, we don't have enough animal traps. I think the whole village should stay at home for a few days and see if the tiger comes into the village again."

"Yes, I also think this suggestion is good. It's just staying at home for a few days. Anyway, it's freezing cold now, and everyone is staying home to hibernate. At worst, we'll just eat breakfast a little later, dinner a little earlier, and go to bed early when it gets dark."

"That's a good idea, but many villagers have brought their livestock into their houses. The pigs, sheep, and cows have made the houses stink. The animals can stand being squeezed into the same room with people for a long time, but the people can't stand it either."

"Yes, my two pigs, after being herded into the house, defecated twice in no time. It stank horribly."

"We can only move the livestock out of the house after we've confirmed that the tiger just came to visit our village and left. But if we find tiger footprints in the village again in the next three to five days, then we'll have to take the initiative and kill the tiger first before we can restore peace to the village."

Inside the local temple, several hunters were talking amongst themselves.

Uncle Zhou frowned and, seeing that Li Yunshan remained silent, said, "Yunshan, tell me your thoughts."

"I?"

Li Yunshan paused for a moment, scratched the back of his head, and thought for a while before saying, "In my opinion, we can set up animal traps in the directions where the tiger enters and leaves the village. We can also put a fence around the threshing ground in the village and put a pig or a sheep inside. We can lure the tiger in and wait for it to come to us. We can keep watch near the threshing ground day and night. If the tiger just came to visit our village last night and left, then we can consider it a waste of a few days. But if the tiger is still roaming around our village, it will definitely go hungry sometime."

"If a tiger runs to the threshing ground and tries to steal our pigs, with the guns we have, we can give it a few good whacks and maybe even kill it."

After listening to what Uncle Zhou and the others said, they also felt that what Li Yunshan said was feasible.

Especially if they could kill that tiger, they would make a fortune.

You should know that tiger skin and tiger bones are rare treasures, and even tiger meat is highly sought after in the city.

There are eight or nine hunters in the village. Li Yunshan has hunted tigers. In addition to the 1,000 yuan bonus from the Hongxing Forestry Farm and a job at the farm, it is said that the tiger was also sold for a lot of money after it was skinned and dismembered.

Li Yunshan never revealed how much money he had earned. Although everyone was curious, no one made a point of asking.

After all, being able to hunt tigers is Li Yunshan's skill.

But as everyone knows, if you can kill a tiger, you can make a lot of money.

"I think Yunshan's idea is good; we can give it a try."

"I have more than a dozen animal traps at home, I'll go back and get them now."

"I also have eight or nine animal traps at home, I'll go back and get them too."

"I only have one pig at home. Now that I've driven it into the house, it poops and pees and it stinks terribly. I see that pig that's in the threshing ground, I'll take mine there. If they really kill the tiger, I just need to get a little more money when we divide the spoils."

"Goodness, Ninth Brother, you've got a pretty good plan. Aren't you afraid that instead of catching the tiger, you'll end up taking away the pig you raised?"

"What's there to be afraid of? If we can get more money by killing that tiger, it'll save me the trouble of slaughtering the pig myself."

"Haha, you little schemer."

The other hunters couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Alright, since that's the case, then it's settled. If you have any animal traps at home, go back and get them. We'll set some traps at the east end of the village first, then at the north end, and finally meet at the threshing ground in the village to build a fence."

"Ninth Brother, when you go back, bring your big fat pig from home. Whether we can catch the tiger this time depends entirely on that big fat pig you raise."

Finally, Uncle Zhou made the decision on Friday.

Then, those who had animal traps at home went back to get them, while those who didn't wait at the local temple.

Soon, several hunters brought out usable animal traps from their homes.

They brought animal traps of various sizes, some as large as half a meter in diameter and others as small as a foot in diameter.

As for smaller animal traps, they're fine for dealing with rabbits and roe deer, but they're not enough to handle ferocious beasts like tigers, so no one brought them.

Li Yunshan roughly calculated that everyone had brought about sixty or seventy animal traps. Although these traps were far from enough for the spacious areas on the east and north sides of the village, they might just get incredibly lucky and the tiger would step on one of them.

Soon, Uncle Zhou led the village hunters to set animal traps on the east side of the village.

"Place two animal traps here... there, and over there, with the traps tied together with thick wire, and the other end tied to a nearby tree trunk."

At the east end of the village, Uncle Zhou was directing the hunters on how to set up animal traps.

"Ninth Brother, come and lend a hand. This animal trap is too big; I can't open it by myself."

Zhang Sange beckoned to Wang Laojiu and pointed to a trap at his feet.

It was a bear trap about half a meter in diameter, equipped with several sets of very strong torsion springs. It took a lot of force to flatten it, open the trap's claws, and adjust the trap's lever.

"Okay, I'll help you."

As Wang Laojiu spoke, he went to help Zhang Sange.

Brother Zhang used all his strength to press down with both hands, finally managing to depress the torsion spring. Old Wang quickly opened the claws of the animal trap and then adjusted the lever.

Once the claws of the animal trap open, they resemble two rows of sharp steel teeth. If a roe deer or a person were to step on it, it could likely break their bones instantly.

After adjusting the lever, Zhang Sange cut a piece of thick steel wire more than two meters long, fixed one end to the animal trap, and the other end to a tree trunk as thick as an arm next to it.

The others, like Zhang Sange and Wang Laojiu, were setting up animal traps.

Uncle Zhou and Li Yunshan, with guns at their sides, kept watch as Zhang Sange and his men set up animal traps, their eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

Soon, the animal traps on the east side of the village were set up and marked. Li Yunshan and his group then went to set up animal traps on the north side of the village.

By the time all the animal traps were set, it was already past noon.

Everyone went home, had a quick lunch, and then rushed to the village's threshing ground to gather again. Wang Laojiu also brought along his big fat pig.

After everyone gathered, they first got a lot of wooden sticks that were as thick as a wrist and 1.2 to 1.5 meters long. They arranged the sticks vertically on the ground, then placed three sticks, each four or five meters long, horizontally on top of the vertical sticks at equal intervals, and then nailed them in place one by one with iron nails.

After a row of fences is nailed in place, if any areas feel unstable, add one or two more nails or secure them with thick wire to make them strong and secure.

After making one row of fences, everyone worked together to make the second row, the third row, and so on...

Soon, thanks to everyone's efforts, the four rows of fences were completed. They then assembled the four rows of fences into a "口" shape and connected and fixed the four corners together. A simple fence was then completed and placed.

To make the fence look more sturdy, they nailed a few more support posts to it before Wang Laojiu was able to drive his big fat pig into the fence.

"Ninth Brother, whether we can lure that tiger here depends on your big fat pig."

Uncle Zhou patted the big fat pig's butt and joked.

"Hahaha."

Li Yunshan and the others couldn't help but laugh.

After the laughter subsided, Uncle Zhou said, "It's still early before dark, everyone go home and rest. Once you've eaten your fill, we'll keep watch around the threshing ground tonight and see if that tiger will come into the village again."

"Okay, let's go back and have a good meal first, then take a nap."

Wang Laojiu and the others said.

It's unlikely that a tiger would enter the village in broad daylight.

But it's different at night.

At night, it's very difficult for people to see clearly in the dark, but tigers are different; their eyes shoot out golden light like two flashlights.

Of course, Li Yunshan is an exception, because after his rebirth, he possessed the ability of thermal imaging and night vision.

Li Yunshan did not go back to his own home, but went to his elder brother Li Yunshi's house, because Lin Xiulan and Dou Dou were also at his elder brother's house at that time.

Because the tiger entered the village last night, and it was unknown whether the tiger would return to attack, Li Yunshan was worried about Lin Xiulan and Dou Dou being alone at home. So he took them to his elder brother's house early in the morning, and also brought the Tiger Head brand hunting rifle from his house to his elder brother's house.

Although Lin Xiulan doesn't know how to use a gun, her second sister Li Yunmei does.

When his father was still alive, he not only took his eldest brother into the mountains to hunt, but also taught his second sister, Li Yunmei, how to use a gun.