Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

This time, there were so many things that the tractor was completely loaded, so the militiamen could only sit on the tractor. Fortunately, wooden boards were tied to the tractor when they came, so their butts wouldn't be too cold when they sat on it.

"Are there any that were missed?" Xu Chengjun asked loudly in front of the tractor, holding up the yellow sheep he had shot.

No one answered.

This last time, because the gazelles were scattered over a large area, everyone had ample opportunity to aim, so all those that had been missed were hit.

After all, the people we brought out this time were all good shooters. We couldn’t hit them at first because of the long distance and nervousness. After all, shooting at live targets is different from shooting at dead targets.

But later on, everyone played it, and after two or three turns, people weren’t nervous anymore.

A bigger target is easier to hit.

"It's good to have everything. If you fight a lot, you can contribute points to the team, or even get a leg."

"Then I'll give one to the team." Li Long said, "I have a lot here."

He hunted four animals by himself, three gazelles and one antelope, the largest number.

Xu Chengjun chuckled and said, "You are an old hunter after all. In the past two years, everyone has envied your family for eating so much meat. With your shooting skills and hunting methods, how can you eat less?"

Then he started talking about others:
"Look at you all. You have the same shooting skills, but some of you are better than Li Long. What did you get today? Whether you can eat meat depends on your ability! Okay, Xiaolong, our team wants your yellow sheep."

Seeing Li Long hand over a sheep directly, some people were envious, while others felt jealous.

Li Long handed a yellow sheep to Xu Chengjun, and the remaining three prey he had put in a pile were still enviable to look at.

When they were preparing to load the truck and leave, someone came to find Li Long.

"Xiaolong, can I switch with you?" The speaker was Huang Laoer, 27 years old, almost at the edge of becoming a basic militiaman. He wouldn't be able to do it in two years.

These days, there are the most young people in the team, one after another, including many people in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties.

He is in his prime and can easily lead a team of dozens of strong people.

Unlike forty years later, when slaughtering a pig, the average weight of each person who came to help was sixty, and it took several people to hold a 130-kilogram pig.

When we were young, two strong guys could knock down this pig!
"What to change?" Li Long vaguely remembered that Huang Laoer seemed to be shooting an antelope, but he couldn't remember whether it was male or female.

"I'll trade you that." Huang Laoer was holding a male antelope, which was not too big, a little smaller than the leader that Li Long had shot.

"Change it to a yellow sheep. I don't know if it tastes good or not. The male one is definitely not as delicious as the female one. I saw that you caught a female one..."

He smiled along. After all, in his opinion, Li Long was obviously at a disadvantage in this exchange. The meat of young ewes was delicious. The meat of older ewes was also more delicious than the meat of older rams.

But seeing that Li Long was so generous in giving a yellow sheep to the team, he thought that maybe Li Long wouldn't care?

"Okay." Li Long pointed at the ewe and said, "Then you can take it away."

Huang Laoer didn't expect Li Long to agree so readily. He thought that Li Long was really generous and didn't think about anything else.

He left the antelope with Li Long and carried the female gazelle over.

Li Long vaguely remembered that Tao Daqiang seemed to have also hunted a male antelope, and he would have to let him keep its horns.

The two tractors and the people on them took a short break. They tidied their clothes, wrapped themselves up tightly, put their guns away, sat on them and held on tightly. Then the tractors rumbled back.

The tractor drove all the way to Shawan, and some people began to feel hungry and cold.

I didn't feel it when I was hunting, but after the hunt was over and the excitement was over, I began to feel the biting cold.

Some people complained about being cold. Tao Daqiang, who usually doesn't talk much, started communicating more with the team members after he had a child. He smiled and said:
"That's nothing. Once you go into the mountains in January, you'll know how cold it is. Do you really think it's so easy for Brother Long to make money? In January, the temperature in our team must be minus 30 degrees Celsius, right? It's even colder in the mountains! The money that Brother Long made last year was earned with his life..."

In the past, he would have endured it without saying anything. Since the beginning of this year, no one dares to look down on him anymore. Tao Daqiang's family life is getting better and better, and more people are taking the initiative to talk to him, and more people will take the initiative to ask him questions and say hello.

These people can also understand this.

Just like today, hunting is fun and you get a lot of things. If you don’t go out for a trip, you really don’t know how rich the resources outside are.

They also knew why Li Long always brought back something every time he went out.

Now we know why the Li family eats meat every day.

The problem is, they can't stand it anymore. When the coldest days of winter really come, will they be willing to go to the mountains to hunt wild animals?

Most people would think that they definitely won’t go now and would rather just stay there during the winter.

Of course, in the past two years, we couldn’t eat meat all year round, so we would still go no matter how cold the weather was, right?

After going out, I realized that many things can be exchanged for money.

"Daqiang, when you followed Li Long, did you hunt like this?" Some people think that hunting is too easy?
"How can it be that easy?" Tao Daqiang smiled, "Nowadays we have tractors, which can run dozens or even hundreds of kilometers.

At that time, there were horse-drawn carriages and sometimes people running. How could we do this? For a team like ours, where could we find these things nearby?
At that time, it took half a day to run to the mountains, and you had to lie in ambush in the middle of the night, lying motionless in the snow. The wild boar's nose was very sensitive. If you were not in the downwind, the wild boar would smell the scent and would not come over at all!
We were lying in ambush when the wild boars came. It was still dark and we could only see vaguely. Only Brother Long had good eyesight and could hit them. I could hit them, but after hitting them, I couldn't get up because I was frozen.

Brother Long could chase after the boar after he killed it. At that time, he was killing wild boars. After injuring the boar, he could chase it and kill it again. How could he find a tractor to carry it after he killed it? He used a piece of plastic sheet as a sled to drag it back. The plastic sheet would rot on the way, so he had to carry it back on his back..."

Thinking about the hardships he went through back then, Tao Daqiang felt filled with sadness.

Others said that he followed the right person, so if he succeeds, everyone else will benefit. He also worked hard to get through it.

Compared with the hard work back then, this is nothing.

While riding on the same tractor, people kept asking Tao Daqiang about his past experience with Li Long.

There are some things Tao Daqiang will tell you, but there are some things he will definitely not tell you.

When the tractor arrived in Shicheng, Li Long stopped the vehicle. The water tank was boiling, and he was thinking about finding a place to add some water.

Seeing that it was about time, Xu Chengjun asked Li Long and the others to drive to the state-owned canteen, where the team treated everyone to a meal using the militia training subsidy.

When the tractor drove to the canteen, two trucks full of gazelles and two trucks full of militiamen really attracted many people to stop and watch.

Li Long first asked someone to watch the car while he went to the canteen to get water and filled the water tanks of the two tractors.

Xu Chengjun arranged two people to watch over the things in the tractor. The militiamen went in and ordered mixed noodles, which Xu Chengjun paid for.

It was past dinner time and there were few people inside, otherwise there wouldn't be enough room to sit down.

After adding water, Li Long went inside and Xu Chengjun immediately asked him to come and sit down.

Everyone was hungry and cold. As soon as they entered the hot house, they were rubbing their ears. They didn't feel it when they were hunting, but now they felt itchy in their ears.

This is completely different from the feeling of lying down and shooting at Dahaizi. The tractor is running and the wind is whistling. It would be quite troublesome if the hat is not worn properly.

Those who ate quickly would go and exchange food with those outside to eat. Those who came in joked that someone was asking if the yellow sheep on the tractor was for sale.

Li Long knew that Shicheng had a higher level of industrialization, many factories, and the workers' wages were slightly higher, so they had enough money to buy meat.

At the moment, supplies are relatively scarce, and the meat in the food factory’s butcher shop is sold out every morning. This is also the reason why Chen Xingbang’s meat stall is so prosperous.

So when people see yellow sheep, naturally they want to buy some.

After the meal, two tractors drove to Ma County. The people on Li Long's tractor and other people's gazelles were moved to Li Jianguo's tractor.

After dinner, we could squeeze in anyway. At that time, there was no such thing as overloading, especially in rural areas. More than ten years later, people even changed the small bucket of tractors into a big bucket, so that small horses could pull big carts, and no one really cared about it.

"Take out the remaining bullets and give them to Li Long." Xu Chengjun said, "We are lucky to be able to hunt once a year. There is no point in keeping the bullets, so give them to Xiaolong. Without him, we won't be able to hunt this time."

Everyone took out their extra bullets. As for whether someone kept one or two, no one cared. It was all up to their conscience.

Xu Chengjun also took out all the spare bullets he had and handed them to Li Long, a total of more than a hundred rounds.

Then Li Jianguo drove the tractor towards the team.

There were two antelopes and a yellow sheep in Li Long's cart, which was a good harvest.

When they drove into the yard, the sun was already high in the west. Sister Yang opened the gate and Li Long drove the tractor in.

After entering the yard, I drove the tractor close to the wall and turned off the engine. Sister Yang came over with a basin in her hand.

Li Long placed the basin under the front of the tractor, turned on the water tank switch, and drained the water. This tractor probably wouldn't be used much in winter.

Only then did I feel a little tired.

But I can't rest yet, I still have to take care of those three prey.

In other words, I gave one to the team, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with.

Sister Yang was already used to Li Long bringing back such things every now and then. She skillfully brought a large basin to Li Long.

It was a bit cold to skin the sheep outside, but fortunately there were many rooms, so Li Long put the gazelles and antelopes in a clean wing room. There was no stove here, so it was cooler than the bedroom and living room, but warmer than outside.

Put the frozen sheep in first, Li Long changed his coat, went into the bedroom to warm up, and drank a cup of hot tea to soothe his throat.

When eating noodles, the canteen usually provides noodle soup, but noodle soup is not as refreshing as tea. There is also free tea in the canteen, but this tea has been brewed many times and is definitely not as good as the one I drink at home.

After drinking it, I felt my body warming up. I looked at the time and thought the lamb should have thawed a little, so I took a knife and went to the side room to start skinning it.

The two antelopes' heads were first removed and put aside, and their horns were sawed off after everything was processed. The viscera were placed in a large basin.

The three sheep did not have much internal organs, and the feces in their stomachs and intestines were cleaned out after the hunt.

Others didn't take care of their gazelles, but Li Long was quite attentive to his own. Some followed his example, while others ignored him, but he didn't care.

Seeing Li Long start to process the prey, Sister Yang came over, took the internal organs away to clean them, and then prepared to stew them.

Liver cannot be frozen raw, as it will turn into dregs if frozen. It must be cooked before putting it in. If you fry it, it will be troublesome to heat it up again and again. It is better to braise it and cut it into small pieces when you want to eat it.

Easy to put.

The others are similar. After being braised, freeze them. When eating, take a piece and thaw it. It is good to stir-fry or eat it cold.

She already has experience.

Li Long skinned all three sheep, so this time he could sell two antelope skins together.

Of course the sheep horns must be kept.

Five pieces of skin should be able to sell for three or four hundred yuan. Li Long always pays attention when he is hunting, and the skins are all whole skins. The fur quality is better in winter and the price is also higher.

If you can't eat the meat right now, just hang it on an iron hook in the storage room and take it out when you want to eat it. There are still rats in the big yard, so you need to be careful with the food.

The leather is better. You can smear it with salt and hang it on the wall, and even mice can't get up.

Finally, the horns. He sawed off the horns of the three sheep. The horns of the gazelle and the antelope are different and can be easily distinguished.

He gave two horns to Director Qian, one horn to Section Chief Li, and the remaining one to his eldest brother, and finally kept them all for himself.

Be prepared.

There is really no such thing as too much of these things. Unlike wild ginseng, antelope horns can really be stored and there is no need to worry about them changing.

Same as tiger bones.

As for the sheep's head and hooves, he was too lazy to collect them in both lives, so he simply planned to take them to his eldest brother in a few days.

The eldest brother has the patience to clean up this stuff, and even Li Qiang, who has grown up, has the patience to clean up this stuff as well.

This thing needs to be burned with a blowtorch first, then scraped and washed, then burned and scraped again.

At that time, there was no blowtorch, so I could only use a red-hot iron rod to burn it repeatedly, which was too troublesome.

The same goes for hooves, especially between the two lobes of the hoof, which is prone to wool boils. It is said that if you don't eat it properly, wool will grow on your body, but I don't know if it's true or not.

The middle of the hoof is the hardest to clean. The hoof nails have to be knocked off. Li Long remembers that children like this. In winter, put some oil in it and add a wick to use it as a lamp.

After putting the heads and hooves of the three sheep into a basket and hanging it up, Li Long wiped the oil off the knife and returned to the bedroom.

The sun had already set. It was getting darker and darker. Gu Xiaoxia hadn't gotten off work yet, but Han Fang had finished school and was helping her mother in the kitchen.

Seeing Li Long, Han Fang called out "Uncle Li" and went to work.

Li Long smiled and didn't go to help. He went back to the bedroom to watch TV and take a rest.

After breakfast the next day, Li Long rode his bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative, carrying an antelope horn in his pocket.

When he arrived at Li Xiangqian's office, Li Xiangqian had just finished a meeting and the fire in the stove had just started.

"You came early today." Li Xiangqian saw Li Long and said with a smile, "I just happened to have something to ask you. If you hadn't come, I would have had to go to the big yard to find you."

Li Xiangqian was also envious of Li Long's big yard. His family also had a yard, but although it was not small, it was still not as big as Li Long's.

But Li Long's yard is big, and the area that needs to be cleared is also large. These days, clearing snow is a big job. If both parents have to go to work, they can only clear snow when they go to and from get off work.

The snow is heavy at this time, usually reaching halfway up to the calf or knees, so for working couples, it takes a week to sweep the yard after one snowfall.

Li Long's yard is much larger than other places, so clearing snow is a big job.

"What's the matter, Section Chief?" Li Long walked up to Li Xiangqian, opened his drawer, and put the antelope horn in it.

"What?" Li Xiangqian took a look. He was also half a hunter and could tell that this thing was different from a yellow goat horn.

"Real antelope horns." Li Long whispered, "We caught two these past two days. I plan to give two to Director Qian, and the remaining two, one for you and one for me. I won't give any to Director Wei."

"Hey, kid!" Li Xiangqian closed the drawer with a smile.

Although he was not very clear about the preciousness of antelope horns, he naturally understood it because Director Qian came twice to get yellow sheep horns, a substitute for antelope horns.

As for Li Long giving Director Qian two horns, he had no objection at all.

However, Li Long still explained after sitting back down:
"This is mainly for clearing away heat and detoxifying. If a child has a fever, scrape off some of the powder, not too much, just a little bit will do, and drink it with warm water to relieve the fever."

Li Xiangqian understood what Li Long meant. Just scrape a little bit when you have a fever. This horn weighs three or four hundred grams, so it must be used hundreds of times.
Wouldn’t it take decades to use it up?

One is enough for each family.

"What kind of antelope's horn is this?" Li Xiangqian still wanted to find out.

"The one with a high nose," Li Long said, "the nose is so long." Li Long gestured and it should be called a high-nosed antelope.

Well, this explanation is not wrong.

Li nodded and said:
"Okay, tell me what I told you. The New Year is coming soon, and we have to give everyone some benefits this year. You brought mutton to everyone before..."

"That's the intention of our herdsmen brothers." Li Long explained hurriedly.

"Okay, okay, everyone knows that you are the middleman," Li Xiangqian said with a smile, "No need to explain, we are not stupid. Everyone knows that you don't want this credit, but everyone also knows that without you, what relationship would we have with those herdsmen?"

Li Long chuckled and said nothing.

"Okay, we have mutton. It's hard to get welfare this year. I told the director that in addition to the necessary seafood, peanuts and other things, we should also get some fish.

You can get fish from there, but we don't want too much. One ton, one kilogram or more of carp is best, grass carp is also OK, and five-strip black is naturally the best. You can decide. Don't make it too big, so that it is easier to divide."

"What's the price?" Li Long asked.

"One dollar and a half per kilogram," Li Xiangqian said. "It's a little higher than the market price. But I think the price will definitely go up during the Chinese New Year, so this price is fine."

"Okay, I'll prepare it now. When is the deadline?"

"A week before the New Year, is that enough time?"

"Enough." Li Long calculated that the Spring Festival was in early February, so there was almost a month to prepare.

Considering the fish catch in the small lake, that should be enough, right?
This winter is not peaceful again.

There's no more winter for cats! (End of this chapter)