Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Gu Lang slowly retreated along the diagonal direction, trying to increase the distance between them.

However, this act of yielding seemed to provoke the black bear's aggressive instincts.

It stopped growling, pointed its ears forward, raised its head, and charged forward with steady steps.

This dangerous maneuver indicates that it has already identified Gulang as its prey.

Without thinking twice, Gu Lang opened the air valve and fired several shots into the head.

"Awooo—!"

The black bear let out a painful howl, and its charge faltered.

It was injured, but instead of stopping immediately, it became even more agitated.

Seeing that the bear showed no sign of fleeing, Gu Lang decisively switched weapons.

"Bang!"

A loud gunshot rang out, and a single bullet was fired.

The black bear finally stopped attacking, turned around, and staggered back into the forest at an astonishing speed.

Gu Lang calmly and slowly reloaded the bullets.

Then, following the trail of blood on the ground, they carefully went after it.

He found it in a clearing on the edge of the forest, less than 100 meters from the forest farm's courtyard.

The massive body lay there, lifeless.

This bear is 2 meters long and weighs over 200 kilograms.

He found a cart and, with considerable effort, finally managed to move the bear into the forest farm's canteen.

"As any frequent hunter knows, hunting is easy, but processing is difficult."

Gu Lang Nan Nan muttered to himself that he didn't want to eat bear meat at first.

Since he was forced to kill a Class II protected animal under emergency conditions.

Based on the principle of not wasting anything, he decided to properly commemorate the occasion.

I adjusted the position of the light truck, pulled out the power cord, and started a freezer in the back kitchen using the vehicle's power supply.

Regardless of the type of mammal, once it dies, its body decomposes very quickly.

How to properly handle and prevent corrosion in a timely manner is an extremely important issue.

The two most important things are gutting the body and cooling it down.

In a healthy animal, the immune system is present.

Blood and muscle are normally sterile.

The first step in putrefaction usually begins with the gut microbiota.

This process is very rapid, taking about 30 minutes after the animal dies.

The intestinal barrier will collapse, leading to rapid contamination of the meat.

Gu Lang adjusted the bear's body to a supine position and placed some miscellaneous items underneath it.

Make a small incision just below the sternum with a knife, carefully avoiding the stomach.

Insert your fingers to locate and hook out the aorta, then cut it to bleed it out.

"Proper bleeding is key to preventing the meat from having a fishy or gamey taste."

After saying that, Gu Lang cut open the bear's abdomen along the midline from the anus to the throat.

Make gentle incisions to avoid puncturing the intestines and gallbladder.

Next, the intestines, stomach, liver, heart, lungs, kidneys, and other internal organs were removed in sequence.

The bear's liver had many white spots, indicating that the bear had a serious parasite problem.

Gu Lang then threw the internal organs directly into the trash can.

Next, the bear's body is suspended, and the skin is carefully peeled off by making a cut along the midline of the inside of the limbs.

Bear skin is an excellent material for insulation, and he plans to tan it for preservation in the future.

After finishing all this, more than an hour had passed.

Flies from several kilometers around came attracted by the smell.

Even after being gutted, the bear's body temperature remains very high.

It needs to be suspended in a relatively cool environment.

In order to quickly lower the temperature, the ideal temperature is 4 to 7 degrees Celsius.

This prevents bacteria from multiplying rapidly and causing spoilage.

It can also utilize the enzymes naturally present in the muscles for hydrolysis.

Relieving rigor mortis makes the meat more tender and flavorful; this is known as aging.

This is why hunters prefer to hunt in winter.

Time was limited, so he had to cut the meat and put it in the freezer as soon as possible.

To save effort, Gu Lang directly used a chainsaw as a "dismemberment" tool.

There has been a rumor circulating on the Chinese internet.

They say that chainsaws cannot be used as weapons to attack people; they can only scare people with their loud noise.

One minute they say the clothes will get stuck on the chain, the next they say they can't saw through the meat and bones.

In reality, what can jam a chainsaw is not ordinary clothing at all.

Instead, they are cut-resistant pants specifically designed for loggers, with a thick layer of special fibers inside.

It won't slide through as smoothly as cutting ordinary fabric.

Conversely, the sharp serrations on the chain can snag high-strength fibers.

In a very short time, they pile up and entangle, forming an extremely dense fibrous mass.

The drive sprocket jammed, causing the chain to stop rotating momentarily.

In fact, a chainsaw is a very powerful tool that can cut a variety of materials.

This includes wood, plastic, ice, metal, and concrete.

It can also cut through the body tissues of any living organism, including flesh and bone.

There are also many videos online demonstrating how to saw off pig heads and crocodiles.

The photographer even dressed the pig in clothes to mock certain groups.

Chainsaws are not suitable as weapons, mainly because they are too bulky, have short battery life, and are prone to malfunction.

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is not just a movie joke; it is extremely dangerous in real life as well.

Gu Lang used a disposable towel to clean the blood from his abdominal cavity.

The bear's head and other useless parts were sawed off.

The usable parts were all cut into chunks, cleaned, and placed in the freezer.

Large animals cool down very slowly.

The meat pieces need to be frozen for 24 hours to fully cool to below 4 degrees Celsius.

The pH value of meat decreases during the cooling process, reducing bacterial growth.

After the "decomposition" was completed, Gu Lang cleaned up the scene briefly.

They left only some brain fluid for later use, and dragged the trash can containing the entrails and bear head out.

Bury them on the spot away from the forest farm compound to prevent attracting other animals.

The next day, he took out an e-book from his phone and started reviewing.

The book is titled "The Bear Meat Cooking Guide," and it's a book specifically for bear hunters.

Published in 2014 by the U.S. state government department responsible for wildlife control.

Due to the rampant infestation of wild bears, the local government has been encouraging people to hunt bears.

After downloading from Gulang, I used my AI machine to translate it into Chinese.

It was originally one of the materials he painstakingly collected when writing his survival novel.

I never expected that all that data on my phone would come in so handy now.

After finishing the book, Gu Lang began preparing for the upcoming cooking activity.

He planned to turn all the bear meat into smoked meat, and for this he first needed to prepare wood.

Smoking not only dehydrates, but the phenolic and aldehyde compounds in the smoke also have preservative and flavoring effects.

Although it was surrounded by dense red pines, it was completely unusable.

Pine wood contains a lot of resin, which can produce a bitter taste and toxic substances.

Fortunately, he found an oak tree in the courtyard, which was a good fit for him.

After cutting the firewood into pieces with a chainsaw, let it dry for later use.

Unable to find large metal barrels, Gulang had to resort to the traditional underground fumigation pits.

He found a spot with firm soil.

A pit about 60 centimeters in diameter and 50 centimeters deep was dug out to serve as a fire source chamber.

They dug an even deeper and wider pit next to it to serve as a fumigation chamber.

A 20-centimeter-diameter channel was dug between the two pits to guide the smoke.

The top of the fumigation chamber was covered with wooden boards, sheet metal, and soil, leaving only small vents to control airflow.

Gulang dug two identical smoking pits to save time in smoking the meat.