American Landowners: Starting with Hunting in Alaska

Chapter 93 Gunfire and the Hunting Grounds (Bonus Chapter)

The orange-red muzzle flash was particularly glaring in the dim light of the day.

This was followed by a tremendous roar.

The desperate man, dressed in snow camouflage and wielding a hunting knife, charged forward as if struck by a heavy hammer, his momentum abruptly halted.

A cloud of blood erupted from his right thigh.

The impact of the kinetic energy caused him to tilt violently to the left and fall heavily into the thick snow.

The serrated hunting knife flew out of his hand and stuck into the frozen ground nearby, buzzing.

The piercing screams instantly drowned out the sound of the wind.

Blake moved.

The old hunter did not let his guard down just because his opponent fell to the ground. He took a few steps across the pile of rocks, pressed his knee firmly against the man's back, and skillfully twisted the man's hands behind his back with his large, tactical-gloved hands.

Click.

The specially made engineering plastic restraint straps lock in place instantly.

"Safety."

Blake's voice pierced through the screams and traveled clearly through them.

Su Wei remained in the gun-holding position, the muzzle pointed at the figure convulsing on the snow, his finger resting on the trigger guard.

It wasn't until he heard the word "safe" that Su Wei felt his heart pounding violently against his ribs in his chest.

This was the first time he had pulled the trigger on someone.

There was no vomiting, no dizziness, only an unusual calmness.

He lowered the muzzle of his gun and pulled the bolt.

A hot, steaming bullet casing popped out and landed on the snow at my feet with a soft "sizzle".

Su Wei bent down, picked up the spent cartridge case, stuffed it into his pocket, and strode toward Blake.

"Well played."

Blake didn't turn his head; he was searching the man's body.

He found a knife and two spare magazines in the poacher's arms.

If Su Wei had hesitated for even a second and allowed this guy to rush into the 2,000-meter kill zone, they might be the ones dead now.

"The muscle on the outside of his thigh was pierced, but the femoral artery wasn't damaged. He's a lucky bastard."

Blake pulled a tourniquet from his tactical vest, roughly tightened it around the opponent's thigh, and then forcefully twisted the tourniquet.

The poacher was in so much pain he was almost fainting, his face covered in cold sweat, and he was still cursing incoherently.

"Save your energy."

Su Wei stood aside, looking down at the man who had almost killed them.

When he saw the hunting knife pulled from the other man's waist, the lingering resentment he had about shooting his own kind vanished completely.

In the wilderness, there is no morality, only life and death.

The roar overhead became deafening.

A powerful airflow swept up the snow on the ground, creating a small blizzard.

The fish and game bureau's helicopter lowered its altitude, and the beams of its searchlights illuminated the rocky area as bright as day.

The plane landed on an open riverbank fifty meters away.

The hatch opened, and two law enforcement officers dressed in Alaska Fish and Game uniforms jumped out.

They were fully armed, carrying automatic rifles, and crouching low as they quickly advanced in this direction.

Those were members of the law enforcement team.

The leader was a bearded man who looked somewhat familiar; he was Charlie, the law enforcement captain in charge of patrolling the No. 1 hunting area in Kodiak town.

"Damn it, Blake! How many more trouble are you going to cause us, you old bastard!"

Charlie assessed the situation, relaxed, tossed his rifle behind him, and strode over.

He glanced at the poacher on the ground, bound hand and foot, his thigh still bleeding, then at the rubble scattered around him and the bleating deer.

"Didn't you hear Charlie's warning? Don't you know how dangerous this man is?"

Charlie kicked the .338 sniper rifle on the ground, his expression turning grim.

The appearance of weapons of this caliber in his jurisdiction was a slap in the face.

"We just seized the opportunity. This kind of scum should be dealt with promptly."

Blake stood up and brushed the snow off his knees.

"If your people could just hold him down from the sky, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."

Charlie choked for a moment.

Indeed, helicopters are not very effective at suppressing air traffic in complex terrain and inclement weather.

Especially when dealing with professional poachers who know how to use heat sources to disrupt their prey.

"Alright, it's good that the person has been caught."

Charlie waved his hand, signaling the team members behind him to take over the suspect.

He took out his cigarette case, handed one to Blake, and lit one for himself.

"That's ruthless marksmanship."

Charlie stared at the horrific gash on the poacher's thigh. "A moving target. One shot crippled him, but it didn't even hit an artery to bleed him to death. Blake, your skills haven't gotten any worse."

At that distance, it wouldn't be difficult to hit the torso of a high-speed charging target.

But to accurately hit a rapidly swinging part like the thigh requires a level of control that only a master can achieve.

Blake took the cigarette but didn't light it.

He pointed with his cigarette-smoking finger at Su Wei, who was inspecting firearms beside him.

"I didn't fire the gun."

Charlie was stunned.

The team member who had just lit the lighter also stopped what he was doing.

Both of their gazes turned to Su Wei at the same time.

The young man stood quietly to the side, methodically wiping the moisture off the gun with a cloth, his movements steady and deliberate.

To these weathered wilderness enforcers, Suwei looked as young as a student.

"This child?"

Charlie was somewhat incredulous. "That professional hunter who only registered with the guild a day ago—Suvi?"

He remembered Su Wei, after all, he was the only apprentice Black had taken in over the past ten years.

But these are two completely different things.

Being able to hunt and daring to shoot someone accurately in a life-or-death situation are two different things.

"Moving target, thirty meters away, one shot to kill."

Blake had a cigarette in his mouth, his voice revealing little emotion.

But his raised chin betrayed his mood at that moment.

"I told you, he's a born hunter."

Charlie dropped his casual demeanor and re-examined Suwei, treating him as a peer who could establish himself in the ruthless industry.

"Well done, kid."

Charlie exclaimed sincerely, "Even I might not be able to shoot like that under that kind of pressure."

Su Wei stopped cleaning his gun and looked up.

"He has a knife."

Suwei's answer was simple: "And he has no intention of stopping."

That's enough.

Charlie nodded. "This falls under self-defense, plus assisting law enforcement. Don't worry, I'll write a very good report."

The group worked together to lift the still-groaning poacher toward the helicopter.

The guy, pale from blood loss, was roughly thrown into the back seat of the plane.

"What bad luck."

Another law enforcement officer, while filling out a site investigation form, complained, "This guy is a complete troublemaker. This is the Kodiak No. 1 official hunting area. If word gets out about this animal cruelty, our rating will drop again next year."

Su Wei keenly caught the word: official hunting zone rating.

He had read about it in the guild's database, and when he heard the law enforcement officers mention it, the information in his mind quickly surged up.

In Alaska, and indeed in the global hunting community, no hunting areas are arbitrarily designated.

To ensure ecological balance and hunting experience, and to control poaching, relevant departments have designated large areas of wilderness as hunting zones.

Hunting areas are divided into private hunting areas and official hunting areas.

Private hunting grounds are usually the private property of wealthy individuals or clubs, offering excellent service but at exorbitant prices. They also house a variety of rare and ferocious wild animals.

The official hunting grounds are the battlefields for wilderness hunters.

To differentiate the resources and difficulty of these hunting areas, the guild and the Fishing and Hunting Bureau jointly launched a star rating system.

From one star to five stars.

The rating criteria are straightforward, mainly focusing on several aspects: prey population density, the number of top predators, the complexity of the terrain, and the rarity of signature prey.

The area where Suvi is located, Kodiak No. 1 Official Hunting Zone, is rated three and a half stars.

This is a very awkward rating.

In terms of danger, this place is home to the Kodiak brown bear, the largest predator on the North American continent.

In this respect alone, even the Five-Star Hunting Zone is nothing special.

In terms of terrain, the area is extremely complex, featuring snow-capped mountains, jungles, rivers, and coastlines.

However, the shortcomings of this hunting area are also obvious: the species diversity is not rich enough.

Aside from brown bears, Roosevelt deer, and black-tailed deer, there is a lack of wolves, bighorn sheep, or other high-value fur-bearing animals.

This is why the actions of poachers anger law enforcement so much.

Roosevelt deer is one of the signature game here, and if this cruelty leads to the migration or a sharp decline in the deer population, Game Zone 1's rating could very well drop to three stars, or even lower.

A lower rating means less maintenance funding from the guild, reduced patrol efforts, and a smaller quota allocated to professional hunters, which directly affects the livelihoods of every hunter who makes a living in this area.

Hunters who work for the Hunter's Guild are responsible for maintaining peace in the hunting grounds and ensuring the safety of wildlife populations.

Of course, they also receive a substantial salary and good benefits.

Hunters who rely on the prey in this hunting area need the health of the population in this area even more.

If a population experiences problems and is unable to hunt, their profits will naturally decrease.

Can Samsung save itself?

Blake leaned against the cabin door and asked a question.

"Suspenseful."

Charlie sighed and pointed to the stag lying in the pile of rocks. "That was the stag king of this area. With a stag of this size dead, the fawn population next year will definitely be affected."

"Plus the commotion this madman caused in the U-shaped valley—and the rigor of that damned evaluation committee!"

I heard they've already sided with private hunting areas, and a hunting company is preparing to open up a new hunting area.

Blake smoked a cigarette, the red glow of which flickered with his breath.

His face reflected a deep contemplation.

Charlie didn't say anything more; he patted Blake on the shoulder.

"Blake, I know what you're thinking. You love this land, but you have to understand that capitalism is ruthless."

"This place may become a mess in the future, but for now, we can still protect it."

Blake didn't answer, but simply inhaled the last puff of smoke into his lungs and slowly exhaled.

He looked at Charlie with a sharp gaze that made it difficult to look directly at him.

"Don't worry, Charlie. This land, no matter what, belongs to these creatures of nature and the hunters."

Charlie shook his head helplessly, just about to say something more.

At that moment, another law enforcement officer suddenly exclaimed.

"My God! Captain, look at this!"