Hunting Wilderness: Starting with the Butcher

Chapter 51 Lynx Snatch Food, Contestant Withdraws!

As night fell, Yuan Linghan, who had been busy all day, began preparing dinner. He planned to use the wild vegetables and mushrooms he had gathered during the day to make fish head soup. The remaining fish body would be skewered and grilled as usual.

Paired with the brewed berry tea, Yuan Linghan, who had just moved to a temporary camp, also felt that dinner had to be more substantial. After all, the night was long, and with nothing else to do, appreciating delicious food was undoubtedly a good way to pass the time.

Once the fish was grilled, the fish head, wild vegetable, and mushroom soup, seasoned with only a little salt, was also served. Sitting by the temporary campsite, Yuan Linghan sipped the fish soup and ate the grilled fish, feeling quite content with his moment.

Looking at the smoker rack emitting the aroma of fish, Yuan Linghan smiled and said, "Starting tomorrow, I will officially begin building a permanent shelter. Only after the shelter is built can I hunt with peace of mind and prepare for the long winter ahead."

I heard the lowest temperature here can reach minus forty degrees Celsius. To withstand such low temperatures, the shelter must be warm and insulated. Besides that, it would be best to build a fireplace. Without a fireplace, sleeping bags alone probably won't be enough to withstand the cold!

After finishing his grilled fish and fish head soup, Yuan Linghan, holding a cup of berry tea, began to explain his plans to the camera. He knew nothing about the other contestants' situations. His only goal was to persevere to the end.

Before going to bed, Yuan Linghan lit a campfire again, placing his bow and arrows and hunting knife within easy reach. He also replaced the charcoal in the smoker before going to bed, ensuring that the fish he had caught that day would be smoked to a level that would prevent them from spoiling.

The rabbit meat, smoked during the day, now hangs in the temporary shelter. If any animals dare to break into the shelter and steal, Yuan Linghan wouldn't mind having more meat. Even rats are a good meal in the wilderness!

Waking up in the early morning, Yuan Linghan looked at the extinguished fire pit, moved the smoke rack, and relit it. Thinking that it might rain in the jungle later, he felt it necessary to build a firewood shed in advance.

Secondly, a simple toilet needs to be built next to the woodshed for personal hygiene. When the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, one can't very well squat in the snow to relieve oneself, can one? As for bathing, given his current physical condition, taking a cold shower is no problem.

"Sigh, looks like I'm in for a busy day!"

After washing up and returning to the temporary camp, Yuan Linghan brewed a cup of sweet and sour berry tea, then, carrying his bow and arrows and hunting knife again, headed towards the berry forest once more. He had used paracord to set up several more rope traps the day before.

To Yuan Linghan's anger, upon arriving at a set trap and seeing the mangled remains of a wild rabbit, he couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, daring to steal my food, you'd better prepare to die!"

Yuan Linghan examined the footprints left beside the trap, his expression grim. "Judging from the remaining footprints at the scene, this despicable thief must be a lynx. If it gets a taste of success, it might be difficult for me to hunt rabbits in the future."

The so-called lynx is actually the North American lynx, a small predator that specializes in hunting wild rabbits, and it is quite difficult to catch. If we don't get rid of it, the wild rabbits caught in the traps in the berry grove later might be eaten by it first.

Compared to hunting themselves, these tethered hares are like a buffet delivered right to the mouths of the North American lynx!

Just as Yuan Linghan had predicted, the traps yielded a considerable harvest last night. Unfortunately, of the six rabbits captured, three were killed by lynxes. Seeing the bloody mess at the trap site, Yuan Linghan was seething with rage.

"We finally managed to catch a few rabbits, but half of them were ruined by the big cat. It seems we need to find a way to completely eliminate this big cat. Otherwise, even if we manage to catch anything from the traps we set near the berry grove, the big cat will steal it all."

After grumbling, Yuan Linghan set up snares again near the berry grove. Although today's harvest was far less than yesterday's, the three rabbits that escaped were still enough to last him a day. For other contestants, it would probably have been enough for three days!

Before leaving the berry grove, Yuan Linghan, as usual, gathered some ripe berries. Today, in addition to starting to build the shelter, Yuan Linghan also planned to take some time to collect some berries and wild mushrooms, and use a smoker to dry and preserve them.

Although dried berries and mushrooms don't taste as good as fresh ones, adding them to stewed meat dishes after the snowfall can enrich the flavor and increase the nutritional value of the food.

After gathering nearly two pounds of ripe berries, Yuan Linghan finally set off on his journey back to camp. Not long after he left the berry grove, a cat-like animal quietly peeked out from a clump of bushes, gazing at Yuan Linghan's departing figure.

If Yuan Linghan were to see this scene, he would surely know that it was this big cat that stole the three wild rabbits he had caught!

Back at the shelter, after processing the three newly caught rabbits—skinning them but keeping their internal organs—Yuan Linghan planned to go fishing by the lake in the afternoon. Although he had considered hunting larger prey, he felt that building a shelter was more important.

Once a permanent camp is established, searching for wild animals in the jungle will be much easier. Besides, given the current weather, even if a large prey is hunted, preserving it would be a problem!

Breakfast was again rabbit offal soup, accompanied by a skewered rabbit roasting over charcoal. The offal soup was quickly cooked, and Yuan Linghan immediately got to work after finishing his meal. Near the camp, Yuan Linghan chopped down some medium-sized spruce trees.

Prioritize felling dead trees that haven't fallen, followed by felling some medium-sized spruce trees. Yuan Linghan used the saw he carried to cut the felled spruce trees into logs of suitable length before transporting them to the vicinity of the shelter.

Yuan Linghan carefully peeled off the outer bark of the spruce tree he had carried back with an axe. This peeled bark could later be used as waterproofing material for the roofs of shelters or woodsheds.

After the shelter is dug out, it needs to be laid flat on the ground and then weighed down with stones to prevent it from rolling back. Although Yuan Linghan didn't know what kind of shelter the other contestants were preparing to build, his shelter had to be both warm and sturdy.

Before setting up, he planned to gather all the materials. This would save him the trouble of finding materials later. If he had too much wood, it could also be used as firewood. After all, the camp would need a lot of firewood after it snowed!

While busy preparing materials for building the shelter, Yuan Linghan still ensured that the shelter was provided with three meals a day. In the morning, she would check the snare traps, and in the afternoon, she would go fishing by the lake using rabbit entrails. This way, she could both continue building the shelter and increase the food reserves every day.

But to Yuan Linghan's surprise, just as the hillside shelter was beginning to take shape, he heard the sound of propellers in the distance. Stopping what he was doing, Yuan Linghan said with slight astonishment, "It's only been five days, and already some contestants are dropping out?"

According to the information provided by the production team, every ten days the team will send someone to receive the video footage recorded by the contestants each day. At the same time, they will also conduct necessary physical examinations on the contestants to ensure that they are in good health.

At other times, the production team will not disturb or contact the contestants unnecessarily. The emergency communication devices provided to the contestants are also for use in emergency situations. For example, if a contestant encounters a problem that is difficult to handle and must seek assistance from the production team, they are not required to use them.

However, choosing to accept assistance means that the contestant is voluntarily withdrawing from this season's wilderness solo challenge. Seeing the helicopter fly deeper into the bay, Yuan Linghan guessed that the contestant who withdrew this time should be one of the four contestants who landed at Black Bear Bay after him.

"Three men and one woman... I wonder who gave up the challenge this time!"

Although the participants all have extensive wilderness survival experience, the wilderness they usually face is vastly different from the one they are in now. It's understandable that they might struggle to adapt to such a primitive environment.