pjbooks Chapter 38 Deer
Chapter 38 Deer
After Xiao Hei's mouth was pinched, he felt uncomfortable and wanted to hum but couldn't.
"Be good, don't make a sound." Zhang Du comforted Xiao Hei before letting go of it.
However, he didn't let Xiao Hei look down, because the probability of a dog not barking once it sees prey is still too small.
Zhang Du pressed Xiao Hei down to lie face down, while he looked up at the ditch below.
There were three red deer on the snow in the ditch, currently digging through the snow looking for grass to eat.
Shan Yaowen never expected that his pursuit of the bear would eventually lead him to catch a red deer.
According to my brother-in-law, he killed both the bear and the deer, but none of them were killed. However, these three deer were not injured, so they were probably not the same ones he had killed before.
Shan Yaowen glanced at his brother-in-law questioningly.
Zhang Du nodded slightly. No matter how far they chased, there was no reason not to let them go once they encountered them.
Then, without prior arrangement, the two of them took out their guns and cocked them.
My brother-in-law's family has a hunting rifle, while Shan Yaowen's is a Mosin-Nagant that he brought from home.
"Get closer later, I'll shoot the big one, you shoot the small one, and then you can load your gun faster than I can, let's see if we can shoot the third one."
They were still some distance from the deer, and this distance would greatly reduce the accuracy and power of the hunting rifle.
Moreover, red deer have incredibly sensitive ears.
The silly bird can see the ground clearly from the sky because of its eagle eyes, and the deer's ears are as famous as the eagle's eyes.
This is why Zhang Du held Xiao Hei down; as long as the dog darted out, even without barking, the deer could hear it and run away.
This thing is different from a roe deer; once it runs away, it's gone forever.
The two moved forward a few dozen meters, and the three deer immediately stopped grazing, raised their heads and looked around, clearly having heard something.
"No, this guy's ears are too sharp." Zhang Du had to stop, frowning as he looked at the three deer.
"Okay, you go back first, lead Xiao Hei to the side. Your gun is good, so fire one shot from a distance first, then let Xiao Hei drive the deer herd toward me, and I'll fire back then."
Zhang Du wasn't confident he could drive the deer this way. Shan Yaowen blocked one direction, Xiao Hei drove them from another, and he ambushed them from the third direction—this was the best method he could think of right now.
Watching Shan Yaowen leave, Zhang Du gripped his hunting rifle, thinking about how to catch all three deer in one fell swoop, but he couldn't come up with a good idea.
"Forget it, I was too greedy. One is enough to eat, two is fine, three would be best, but I won't force it if I can't catch any."
After adjusting his posture, Zhang Du took his hunting rifle and hid behind a large rock in the direction he thought the deer was most likely to run.
Shan Yaowen led Xiao Hei and untied the rope around its neck when they arrived at their destination.
"Be good, don't move!"
A hunting dog is a hunting dog. After hearing Shan Yaowen's words, it obediently lay down on the ground and didn't move.
Shan Yaowen changed direction and found a suitable angle to set up his gun.
That's the good thing about the Mosin-Nagant—it has enough range.
They can still fight at a distance of 200 meters.
Of course, he can fight, but whether he can hit the target depends on Shan Yaowen's skill.
Fortunately, having spent his entire life hunting, he still possessed this level of skill.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, startling the entire ravine.
"Little Black, charge!"
After finishing the fight, Shan Yaowen immediately called out to the hunting dogs.
"Woof woof woof~"
After the gunshot, there was a barking of dogs. One of the three deer was still bleeding from its neck, and it immediately panicked and tried to run away.
Fortunately, the three deer fled in the direction that Zhang Du had laid an ambush for.
Zhang Du took a deep breath and, once he was at a safe distance, suddenly peeked out from behind the rock.
Raise your gun, aim, and fire!
"Bang!"
Another shot shook the mountains and forests.
The first deer fell to the ground.
A shot from a shotgun at close range can be more deadly than a shot from a rifle at long range.
The other deer that had been shot by Shan Yaowen was still able to run, but the one shot by Zhang Du let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground.
Although it still tried to struggle to stand up, the bloodstains on its body prevented it from doing so.
Zhang Du immediately reloaded the ammunition, but by the time he finished, the injured one of the other two had already run more than ten zhang away, and the uninjured one was more than a hundred meters away. Xiao Hei was still chasing, but it was clear that it was about to fall behind.
Zhang Du immediately stopped thinking about the third one and raised his gun to fire a follow-up shot at the one that Shan Yaowen had hit.
But before he could even raise his gun, another shot rang out.
"Bang!"
The deer running in the distance suddenly let out a miserable cry. Little Black seized the opportunity to stick close, but was kicked by the deer's backward kick, and Little Black flew into the ravine.
Then the deer disappeared from their sight.
"Bang!"
Another shot rang out, this time Zhang Du was finishing off the second stag that had been shot but was still running.
"Impressive, kid. The third one was over 400 meters away, and you still managed to hit it?" Zhang Du gave Shan Yaowen a thumbs up when he saw him arrive.
Shan Yaowen sighed, "I was just lucky to get a shot, but the distance was too far, and the deer still got away."
He didn't know the exact effective range of the Mosin-Nagant, but at a distance of just four or five hundred meters, even the best gun would have a significantly reduced lethality at that range.
As for that shot, it wasn't just his modesty; it was genuinely a fluke.
He's not a sharpshooter; he can't guarantee hitting the target from that distance.
"What should we do? Deal with these two deer first, or chase after that one?"
"Chase, of course we should chase. If you hadn't hit it, that would have been fine, but now that you have, there's no reason not to chase."
"Hehe, just as I thought."
Zhang Du took out his knife and thoroughly killed the two deer. After dragging them into the ditch, he called Xiao Hei, and the two men and the dog chased after them.
At this point, they didn't even need Xiao Hei to lead the way; they could follow the trail of blood all the way down.
"Injured wild animals are dangerous. Don't be reckless and think you've hit one, then rush towards the deer without a care in the world. Especially that male deer that ran away; its antlers could easily tear your belly open with a gentle flick..."
Zhang Du was still giving lessons to Shan Yaowen while he was chasing after him.
Upon hearing this, Shan Yaowen felt a pang of emotion. In his previous life, the first time he learned to hunt from his brother-in-law, this was exactly what his brother-in-law taught him.
Just as Shan Yaowen was about to catch up with the suspect, an unexpected incident occurred.
"throat!"
Suddenly, a wild beast's roar startled them both, and even Little Black hesitated, spinning around in place.
That roar was extremely penetrating, even soul-stirring; it was a memory etched into one's bones, and the sound of the beast's roar was terrifying.
Fortunately, both of them were experienced hunters and quickly reacted. If it were anyone else, that roar alone would have froze them in their tracks, and someone with a weak heart might have even wet themselves in fear.
Upon hearing the roar, the two knew what was making that noise.
"Bear!"
The two of them said the name of the thing in unison.
However, neither of them backed down. They looked at each other and saw the excitement in each other's eyes.
"beat?"
"beat!"
After a brief exchange, the two immediately took off running, chasing after the direction of the bear's roar, which was also the same direction as the injured deer.
The two ran for several minutes, crossed another mountain ridge, and stopped after entering a ravine.
They saw a bear and a deer whose head had been eaten.
That deer was the same one they had just shot; unexpectedly, it ended up benefiting the bear.