bookrebus Chapter 193 Sun Weimin and Xiong Pi in a Tug-of-War
Chapter 193 Sun Weimin and Xiong Pi in a Tug-of-War
The snow stopped, and the three of them, dressed in their mountain gear, trekked lightly over the mountains. The rolling hills were covered with towering trees, and even the smallest footprints in the snow were clearly visible – the tracks of wild animals.
Bear footprints are paw-shaped, tiger footprints are plum blossom-shaped, and these must be in high mountains. These wild animal footprints look like dog or green-skinned animal footprints.
There was a trail of dog footprints and two people's footprints nearby. Snowflakes were scattered in the footprints.
Along the way, there were some pheasant traps and thin wire snares for trapping leaping cats. Li Ju'an squatted down to examine them carefully, and they really were the traps and snares left behind by Old Qin. Especially the thick No. 8 wire snares for roe deer, and the snares made of oiled silk rope for wild boars. These snare techniques were only known to hunters in Changbai Mountain.
He figured that when Lao Qin returned, he would come to check the trap again, so their group hadn't gone very far.
"That bastard surnamed Qin actually managed to capture Da Hu."
Old Qin's covetousness of the tiger was common knowledge throughout the Xing'an Mountains. Li Ju'an, enraged, grabbed his spear and chased after the two men's footprints.
……
By this time, Sun Weimin and Lao Qin had arrived at the bear ranch. This was Sun Weimin's third time visiting this bear ranch.
Ahead was a hillside, sparsely wooded and low, with ample sunlight streaming into the cave. The two men, wading in knee-deep snow on pigskin skis, made their way forward, following the winding path towards the cave's edge.
Old Qin had previously used underhanded tactics, maneuvering to make the alpha wolf howl, which made Big Tiger think that a bandit had appeared, leading him to lead his gang of dogs to surround and attack the wolf.
Then he used a burlap sack to trap Big Tiger, tied it with a leash, and took it away. With the lead dog gone, the pack of helpers were bewildered and could only follow. The old lead dog, Flower Ears, was good-natured and didn't really recognize people. Whenever someone led it up the mountain, Flower Ears would follow, it wouldn't bite, but it didn't like to exert itself.
He led the tiger by a rope, with his alpha wolf following at his feet, and a white mastiff, Little Cannon, Flower Egg, and other helper dogs behind him.
He's very cunning. He used to frequently visit Lao Tao's dog training kennel and use dried meat to build a close relationship with Da Hu. He just complained that Lao Tao was reluctant to give the dog any, otherwise Da Hu would have been his leader dog long ago.
Big Tiger recognized Old Qin, so it wouldn't bite him fiercely, but Big Tiger wasn't willing to risk its life for him either. So Big Tiger looked reluctant and could only follow the leash, not barking even when it smelled the prey.
Sun Weimin watched Lao Qin and the dog arguing and chuckled, saying, "Alright, thank goodness we prepared detonators, firecrackers, and explosives. This time we're guaranteed to blow up Xiongcang."
He spoke with great excitement, spitting as he spoke: "We'll do this: I'll make a commotion with the bear first, and once it wakes up, we'll set off the explosives. By the time the fuse burns out, it'll be just enough time for it to stick out half its body, and we'll blow off its legs! We won't have to worry about the bear fighting back! Then we won't even need to pick up a gun; we can just chop it off with two axes and cut its neck off. Isn't that safe?"
Having learned from his previous two gunfights with the bear, Sun Weimin abandoned the use of guns and switched to using detonators and explosives.
It wasn't that the detonator was particularly good; it was just that the brown bear's head was too hard. He had initially wanted to shoot the bear in the chest and lung area, but its head was lowered, blocking the shot. He could only aim for the bear's forehead and fire, at which point the bear started charging.
Bears are different from other wild animals, like tigers, lynxes, and weasels. When they hear gunshots, they don't run away; they just keep charging forward, guns blazing. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and aim his gun at the bear's head.
He fired ten shots in a row, but the brown bear was completely unharmed, and it lunged at him with its gun barrels pointed at it. Panicked, he fired the tenth shot, which grazed its nose. The bear reared up in pain, giving him a chance to roll into the snow and run around the campfire. Surrounded by hunting dogs, he lost several of his best dogs before finally escaping.
He was puzzled after failing to shoot the bear twice. Why couldn't the bullets penetrate the bear's skull?
He told Lao Qin about it, and Lao Qin sneered, "Your small-caliber bullets? They're practically glued to a bear's skull. A bear's skull weighs over 200 pounds, what good are your little bullets?"
Sun Weimin was very frustrated. Was the bear's head really that hard? The bullets he had were small-caliber; they wouldn't even tickle the bear's skull.
This underground chamber doesn't look much different from an ordinary cave.
When it comes to hunting hibernating bears, the open burrow is the easiest. Because if there's life inside, it breathes and emits heat, and the entrance will be covered in frost. You can't tell from the outside of an underground burrow. He didn't even know if the big brown bear was still inside, or if it had already been shot by a hunter and was now empty.
"What should we do, Qin Pao?"
Sun Weimin opened the wooden box and took out six small tubes of explosives, similar in appearance to firecrackers, each about five centimeters in diameter. He peeled back the layers of oil paper wrappings and took out a roll of fuse, a confident smile on his face: "We have a secret weapon. As long as the bear is inside, this time we're absolutely certain of victory!"
Looking at his confident demeanor, Qin Pao crossed his arms and sneered, saying, "You hunters from the Xing'an Mountains just like using guns and detonators. If you ask me, we still need to set a trap."
He gathered firewood nearby, lit two campfires, and began chopping wood and bending steel wire to make a snare. According to Changbai Mountain hunters, the larger the snare, the more flexible it needs to be, allowing the bear enough room to move around. However, the key is to increase the weight to delay and wear down the bear's energy.
As the bear's energy wanes, the hunter surrounds it with an open flame for protection. Loose, heavy logs will trap the bear in the forest or bushes, or drag it along, making it heavier and heavier, thus distracting the bear and draining its energy. Just then, the hunter delivers a fatal blow with a deadly weapon.
While Qin Pao was engrossed in making the trap, Sun Weimin had been waiting impatiently for a long time.
Sun Weimin muttered to himself, "As long as there's a bear, our detonators and gunpowder can definitely blow off that animal's legs. Brilliant, brilliant."
He thought for a moment, pondering how he could find out if the bear was in the storage room.
After thinking it over, he came up with a brilliant idea: why not just poke it and find out?
Sun Weimin lightly patted his forehead, broke off a piece of wood, used a knife to trim off the excess branches, and then inserted a sharpened stick into the hole in the crevice of the earthen mound, poking around.
Suddenly, his hand stopped moving, realizing he couldn't poke the stick anymore. It seemed as if some force was at the other end of the stick, struggling against his strength.
He was taken aback, then looked up and turned around, suddenly saying, "Qin Pao Tou'er, there's really something in there. It's like we're having a tug-of-war."
Qin Pao had just finished starting a fire and was chopping wood to make a loop when he looked up and saw Sun Weimin holding a small stick, poking it into a crevice in the cave. Startled, Qin Pao shouted, "You idiot, you son of a bitch!"