Chapter 89: The Art of the Hunt

Li Long was seeing for the first time an animal react so swiftly!

At the instant the gunshot rang out, that cluster of gazelles, originally huddled together, suddenly burst apart like blooming petals, scattering in all directions; amidst several faintly visible sprays of blood, they whooshed away into the surrounding snow!

Of the seven gazelles, two, after fleeing four or five meters, suddenly collapsed like wilting flowers, their bodies twitching on the spot.

Even from two hundred meters away, one could see fresh blood welling up on the bodies of these two gazelles.

When Li Long tried to aim at the other gazelles, he found these spirits of the Gobi moved so fast that his naked eye simply couldn't track them.

"Let's go, get the horses," Brother Brother Yushanjiang called out.

"Aren't we chasing them now? The other gazelles must be injured; if we catch up, we can finish them off, right?" Li Long asked, standing up with his rifle in hand.

"If you chase them now, those gazelles will run for their lives; you'd run yourself to death and still not catch them," Brother Brother Yushanjiang explained, slinging his rifle over his back. "But if they realize no hunter is pursuing them, they'll stop after running a few hundred meters. By then, the bullet wounds will keep bleeding, and when we follow the blood trail to catch up, they won't be able to run even if they wanted to."

Li Long suddenly understood.

Brother Brother Yushanjiang was imparting hunting experience to him.

This knowledge was like paper covering a window; once pierced, everything became clear. But without that pierce, one might never figure it out in a lifetime.

The three of them carried their rifles down the mountain, rode their horses first to where the gazelles had been shot, and found the two animals already dead.

One male, one female; Li Long felt somewhat disappointed, as the horned male gazelle was not the one he had aimed at.

"I'll stay here to bleed them; you two go chase," Ha Li Mu said, dismounting. "The blood trail heads northeast; judging by the amount of blood loss, they couldn't have gone too far."

Li Long didn't dismount; he immediately followed the blood trail.

His horsemanship was far inferior to that of Brother Brother Yushanjiang and Ha Li Mu; he needed one hand on the reins and the other gripping the pommel of the saddle. Brother Brother Yushanjiang didn't accelerate, merely following behind Li Long, observing left and right.

After running seven or eight hundred meters, Li Long indeed spotted that largest male gazelle lying beside a bush; hearing the commotion from Li Long and the others, it leaped up again and continued fleeing forward.

At this moment, Li Long could clearly see that his shot had struck the gazelle's abdomen; as the animal ran, a gush of blood immediately spurted from its belly.

Li Long squeezed his legs together; Big Red Horse Number Seventy-Six accelerated, closing the distance with the gazelle. Li Long simply urged the horse to accelerate further, galloping ahead to block the gazelle's path.

Forced to turn, the big gazelle suddenly tumbled into the snow; Li Long hastily jumped off his horse, rushed forward, and pinned the gazelle down.

Ordinary gazelles are slightly larger than regular sheep, weighing only twenty or thirty kilograms, but this male gazelle had horns at least thirty centimeters long and a heavy body; Li Long estimated it weighed at least double that of an ordinary gazelle, surely no less than fifty kilograms.

He had nearly failed to hold it down!

"Let me bleed it!" Brother Brother Yushanjiang also jumped off his horse, drew a knife from his waist, and walked toward the big gazelle.

Seeing Brother Brother Yushanjiang approach with a knife, the big gazelle struggled desperately; Li Long, holding its horns with both hands, nearly got gored by them. Brother Brother Yushanjiang hurried over to help pin the gazelle down, then swiftly slit its throat to bleed it out.

Although the big gazelle had already lost considerable blood while fleeing earlier, the blood spurting from its neck now still shot out nearly one meter.

The gazelle struggled violently, but within moments, it lost all strength.

"Done. Tie a rope around the horns and drag it back with the horses," Brother Brother Yushanjiang said, sheathing his knife and standing up with a smile. "As for gazelle meat, it doesn't taste great, but the size is quite impressive."

Li Long didn't mind.

Having meat was better than having none. A month ago, his family had still been worrying about having no meat to eat. Only a month had passed; although his own family had undergone earth-shattering changes, the lives of the production team members hadn't changed much.

If they took this meat back, there would certainly be no shortage of people in the team wanting some.

Better to trade it for bullets again.

Li Long dragged the big gazelle over to where Ha Li Mu was; he had already bled one gazelle and was currently gutting and processing it. "Ha Li Mu, let's head back; we need to take these offal and entrails back too," Brother Brother Yushanjiang said.

"Alright."

The three of them dragged the three gazelles back to Ha Li Mu's winter camp; then Brother Brother Yushanjiang and Ha Li Mu quickly gutted the animals, skinned them, and even helped Li Long load the cart.

After loading all that, the two of them also helped Li Long load some pine log sections onto the cart.

At noon, Ha Li Mu's family served pilaf; Li Long wasn't accustomed to eating with his hands, but whether due to exhaustion or hunger, it tasted truly delicious.

After the meal, he drove the horse-cart away, bidding farewell to his friends in the mountains, and leisurely made his way back.

Before the New Year, there would be no need to come again.

Upon reaching the county town, Li Long went to the big house; he placed the two long gazelle horns in the study, hid the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle on the beam of the side room, unloaded some pine log sections, and only then locked the door before driving the horse-cart toward the production team.

Returning to the team, he saw Li Qiang playing cockfighting with other children; before Li Long could even call out, Li Qiang put down his raised leg and rushed toward him.

"Uncle, Little Uncle, you're back?" Li Qiang tugged at Li Long's sleeve, his eyes peering into the cart.

"Uncle, what's loaded in the cart?"

!.

"What? Just wood, of course," Li Long teased him.

"But how come I saw two horns?" Li Qiang had sharp eyes; he had spotted the gazelle heads pressed beneath the pine logs.

"Hahaha, those are gazelles," Li Long said with a smile, patting his nephew's hat. "Gazelle horns are very useful."

"What use?" Li Qiang recalled the wild boar tusk dagger his Little Uncle had made for him and asked, "Can they make knives?"

"They can't make knives, but they can be exchanged for money and used to cure illnesses."

"Qiangqiang's uncle, can we eat this gazelle meat?" a child who had overheard came over to ask.

"Yes, you can," Li Long said with a smile. "If you want to eat some, tell your father to bring bullets to trade."

Driving the horse-cart back to the courtyard, he saw Li Jianguo coming out to greet him.

"You're back early today," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "That's good."

"I went there and immediately hunted; I got three gazelles. Afterward, they helped skin and gut them; once processed, I returned."

"And you brought back so much wood," Liang Yuemei said, coming out and looking at the cart full of goods with a smile. "Little Long never returns empty-handed."

"Uncle, Uncle, hurry, I want to see the gazelles!" Li Qiang urged from the side.

"Then help Uncle hold the horse while your father and I unload the cart," Li Long said, handing the reins to Li Qiang, then proceeding to unload the cart with Li Jianguo.

By the time all the wood was unloaded and the three gazelles appeared before everyone, several people had already gathered in the courtyard.

Li Long hadn't expected these people to act so quickly; they really had brought bullets to trade for gazelle meat.

It worked out perfectly anyway; three sheep were too much to eat, so trading for bullets was a better deal.

(End of Chapter)