Hunting Wilderness: Starting with the Butcher

Chapter 55: Trap Harvest, Pottery Success!

After a night of heavy rain, the jungle air was fresher, but the roads were also more slippery. Following the location where the snare traps had been set earlier, Yuan Linghan observed the surrounding jungle while inspecting the traps.

It's said that "snakes have their paths, and rats have theirs," so naturally, when setting a snare, one must find animal trails. Those low bushes are undoubtedly the favorite habitat of wild rabbits. And the main target of the snare is these hopping wild rabbits.

Looking at the snares that had been triggered but hadn't caught any prey, Yuan Linghan didn't feel particularly disappointed. Snare traps often rely on quantity to succeed. Using the paracord he carried, he set up more than thirty traps in total.

After resetting the snare trap, Yuan Linghan quickly caught his first rabbit of the day. Although rabbits have many natural predators in the jungle, they reproduce very quickly, so there are quite a few rabbits around.

"Not bad! Even though this rabbit only yields about two pounds of meat after being skinned, it's still better than hunting mice!"

Thinking back to previous seasons of wilderness survival contestants, some of whom specifically hunted rats, Yuan Linghan could understand but wouldn't imitate them. Even the shelter he built essentially eliminated any possibility of rats hiding there, sealing all the gaps with mud and moss.

Only by being airtight can it truly achieve the effect of keeping warm!

Upon reaching the berry grove, where the most traps were laid, Yuan Linghan immediately drew his bow and arrows. Unfortunately, the figure vanished into the jungle in an instant. Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, he still clearly saw what the figure was.

"You've got some nerve! At this hour, you still dare to come and steal food. Do you really think I'm easy to bully? But this big cat's sense of smell is too sharp. Trying to hunt it successfully with just a bow and arrow is probably less likely than hunting a black bear."

After searching along the lynx's escape route, he knew it had surely fled. But Yuan Linghan's pursuit was also a way of warning the lynx: whose prey was it supposed to be munching on every day for free?

Having confirmed that the lynx had vanished without a trace, Yuan Linghan returned to the berry grove and, seeing the half-eaten rabbit, felt a sense of unease. He untied the half-eaten rabbit from its enclosure and threw the rest into the dense forest.

This might seem wasteful. After all, the remaining rabbit could still be eaten after some processing. But for Yuan Linghan at this moment, he didn't really need that little bit of meat, especially since the rabbit had been gnawed to pieces by the lynx.

After checking all the traps set in the berry grove, this morning's harvest was actually the largest since the landing. He had initially thought that with last night's fierce winds and rain, wild animals were unlikely to come out to hunt, but now it seemed he was wrong.

Although the hares harvested weren't very heavy, having eight of them together still gave me a great sense of accomplishment. The only regret was that many berries were blown to the ground during last night's storm.

Watching the morning mist dissipate quickly, Yuan Linghan didn't rush back to the shelter. Instead, he carried a rainproof bag and picked berries. He had previously thought that the berries would remain on the branches and could be picked later.

After last night's lesson, he finally understood that if he didn't collect them now, he'd probably have to crawl on the ground to pick them up later. The question is, could he really be sure that picking up fallen berries from the ground wouldn't make him sick?

After picking more than half a bag of berries and seeing the sunlight streaming into the berry grove, Yuan Linghan finally stopped what he was doing. He picked up the eight wild rabbits hanging from a tree and then strode towards the shelter.

Although he had planned to go fishing today, he still intended to go later. Last night's heavy rain had caused a large influx of water into the lake. Under such conditions, the organic matter washed into the lake in the rainwater would attract a large number of fish to feed.

Only when the current becomes relatively calm will you have a better catch when you go fishing!

Back at the shelter, Yuan Linghan first washed the berries she had picked, then spread them out on a wooden table to dry. This drying process only removed surface moisture. To make dried berries, they would need to be dried over charcoal later.

Having previous experience in drying berries, processing these ten-plus kilograms of berries wasn't difficult. After cleaning the harvested berries, Yuan Linghan began using a hunting knife to clean the eight wild rabbits he had just caught.

Edible offal is kept for lunch, while inedible or unwanted offal is saved for baiting and fishing in the afternoon. The skinned rabbit is stretched taut with branches and left to dry completely before deciding what to cook.

The rabbit skins collected earlier have been dried and stored away. They will need to be tanned before they can be used to make gloves, hats, or coats. If there are many rabbit skins collected, Yuan Linghan wouldn't mind putting an extra fur rug on the kang (a heated brick bed).

In short, all the materials he's currently collecting are likely to come in handy later. He'll keep one prepared rabbit for lunch, and the rest of the rabbit meat will be simply marinated before being smoked.

After processing the picked berries and the captured rabbit, Yuan Linghan finally turned his attention to the brick kiln. After last night's torrential rain, the kiln had completely cooled down. Carefully using an axe to break through the mud and clay bricks on the kiln roof, he finally saw the pottery being fired inside.

The largest pottery bucket was taken out, and it was dark red and intact. Whether it had been fired successfully would only be known after a water immersion test. But regardless, Yuan Linghan was still satisfied with the pottery he had taken out one after another.

He was particularly fond of the earthenware pot, which was shaped similarly to a clay pot. Yuan Linghan preferred the simmering of food in a clay pot to stewing in a soup pot. After all, he had specifically included a fire hole for the clay pot when building the fireplace.

After removing the other fired pottery, Yuan Linghan found only one ceramic plate, which had broken in two, probably because it was too thin. The ceramic bowls, cups, and other vessels, however, had a very good firing result.

When tapped, the pottery makes a "bang" sound, which shows that the pottery was fired well!

Looking at the fired pottery that he had taken out, Yuan Linghan, standing in front of the camera, said with great joy: "Wow, everyone, this is the first batch of pottery that I have successfully fired in the wilderness after spending several days."

With this batch of pottery, my solitary life in the wilderness will officially enter vacation mode. Last night it rained heavily, and I was worried the pottery might be damaged. But now it seems my pottery-making skills are quite good after all.

After showing off, Yuan Linghan immersed all the fired pottery pieces in water to see the effect. If the pottery leaked, extra care would be needed when using it; if the pottery used as containers leaked, it wouldn't matter, since it wasn't meant to hold water anyway.

While there was still time, Yuan Linghan put the remaining air-dried pottery blanks back into the kiln for another firing. Among these blanks were two pieces he had meticulously crafted; if they could be successfully fired, they might make his wilderness life even more interesting.

While adding firewood to continuously raise the temperature inside the brick kiln, Yuan Linghan was also busy using the cleared charcoal to roast rabbit meat for lunch. The side dish was stewed rabbit offal with Jerusalem artichokes.

Although he ate berries and wild vegetables every day before, he still experienced constipation. Last night, he ate carbohydrates, and today he felt much better when he went to the toilet. This shows that eating too much meat can also make you feel unwell!

After the brick kiln was sealed tightly again, Yuan Linghan finished his lunch. He didn't plan to take a nap for the rest of the time, but instead intended to first patrol the mountains and hunt, and then go fishing by the lake.

Only by making the most of the daytime can we thoroughly understand the situation around the campsite before the snow season arrives!