Chapter 55: Settling into the Nest

Just as the sow was about to exert her strength, Da Hua lunged forward again, clamping down firmly on the wild boar's right ear, pressing down close to the body just like Xiao Huang.

In the jargon of mountain hunters, this behavior by Da Hua and Xiao Huang is called "hooking the pliers."

An ordinary wild boar, once hooked like this by two dogs with another dog pulling from behind, is basically finished.

However, Da Pao Luan Zi was the exception! Forget three dogs—even five would struggle!

Within seconds, the sow could no longer hold out; her front knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the ground.

The sow was likely thinking: *This is freaking it! These dogs are truly ruthless! They don't have a shred of mercy!*

Da Huang, temporarily idle, circled the boar once. There was no good spot for him to bite!

Perhaps feeling the snout was an easy target, he bared his teeth at the boar in a fierce display—just to show off first!

Then, he clamped onto the sow's snout, helping Xiao Huang and Da Hua pin the boar's head down!

Working in coordination, the four dogs spent about twenty minutes before finally pinning the sow so she could not move!

This act of immobilizing prey is known in hunter slang as "pinning the nest dead!"

At this moment, the hunter must hurry to the scene to finish the boar off!

Otherwise, if too much time passes, the hunting dogs will lose their strength, and after a period of struggling, the boar might escape. Once it's loose, pinning it again becomes difficult!

Five minutes later, Wang An and Feng Chengmin arrived.

Seeing the humans approach, the boar likely realized its life was forfeit and began to struggle frantically.

The arrival of their masters caused the four dogs to instantly become even more fearless and ferocious.

They no longer maintained the posture of pressing down on the sow; instead, they lowered their heads, leaned their front legs back, and straightened their hind legs.

They bit the boar with all their might, shaking their heads violently!

They embodied the phrase "a dog acting on its master's authority" to the fullest!

In fact, this was when Da Huang's role truly became apparent.

By holding onto the boar's snout and refusing to let go, no matter how much the boar struggled, as long as Da Huang pressed his head down with all his strength, Xiao Huang and Da Hua could easily join forces with him to pin the head!

However, at the rear of the boar, only Da Bai was biting the rump, with no one helping to press down. Thus, the boar's frantic struggling caused Da Bai to momentarily lose his grip.

But because the three dogs had the head pinned, the boar could only twist its rump violently, allowing Da Bai to quickly re-engage!

In this manner, the sow was once again "pinned dead in her nest," unable to move.

In truth, the reason the four dogs were able to pin this boar so effortlessly was primarily because the pig was not large, and it was a sow.

If it were a "Pao Luan Zi" of the same size, pinning it wouldn't be an issue, but doing it this easily would be impossible!

The ferocity, agility, endurance, and strength of a Pao Luan Zi were incomparable to those of a sow!

Seeing the boar struggle again only to be pinned once more, Feng Chengmin stepped forward. To prevent bullets from hitting the dogs, he pressed the muzzle against the space between the boar's eyes and pulled the trigger. With a loud "bang," the boar's soul departed for the animal realm!

Hearing the gunshot, the four dogs became even more frenzied. They let go recklessly to tear and bite wildly, making "whining" sounds in their throats.

When dogs are pulled away from prey, they generally attack frantically upon hearing a gunshot.

To a hunting dog, a gunshot is like an order to attack; they disregard everything and just go for it!

However, if the master is not nearby, the dog will mistake the sound for a summons and, unless they are in a killing frenzy, will run back to their master!

At this time, it is best for the hunter not to interrupt the dogs' biting behavior!

This is a form of venting for the dog and a way to stimulate its ferocity, increasing its confidence in battling prey.

Only in this way will the dog dare to charge forward relentlessly to fight prey the next time!

Because the dog believes it can successfully kill the opponent!

Once they had finished venting, the four dogs lay to one side, eyes fixed on the boar, saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths!

It seemed they all knew it was time to eat the boar's meat!

Feng Chengmin quickly disemboweled the boar and, using a skinning knife, split the heart in two.

The four dogs actively crowded around, staring longingly at the heart in Feng Chengmin's hand.

Feng Chengmin fed half the heart to Da Bai and divided the remaining half into three portions to feed the other three dogs.

He told Wang An that after catching prey, one must always feed the dogs.

This lets the dogs know that fighting prey leads to meat.

In this way, the dogs will be very eager to go into the mountains; if they don't go for a few days, they will become restless and anxious.

Furthermore, once they enter the mountains, they will actively seek out prey to fight.

If a hunter is stingy with the meat and refuses to feed the dogs, after a few times, the dogs will realize that fighting prey is useless!

They will no longer actively seek prey, and even if they find it, they won't fight for their lives.

Gradually, the hunting dogs lose their ferocity and slowly become useless!

Moreover, when feeding the dogs, one must let them know the hierarchy, so the lead dog must be fed first to establish its status among the pack.

Dogs are sentient, and hunting dogs are even more so.

Feeding the lead dog first for a long time lets the pack know that the lead dog is the most important to the master!

Only by establishing the lead dog's status will the pack follow its commands upon finding prey, rather than running around aimlessly!

After listening, Wang An felt he had gained much insight!

"Driving a encirclement" (Lao Wei) is mainly about tracking, judging the number of prey, and becoming familiar with what kind of prey exists in various mountain ranges!

Once these things are understood, experience must be gained by oneself through trial and error while driving encirclements!

"Dog encirclements" (Gou Wei) are the easiest and safest!

The prey is found by the dogs, and most of the danger is borne by them. When danger arises, the dogs can both give a warning and protect their master!

It seemed his previous view of hunting dogs—that they were merely tools to find prey—was clearly incorrect!

These dogs are not just a hunter's helpful assistant; they are effectively a hunter's second life!

But the art of communicating with dogs and the knowledge of dog encirclements is quite profound!

Feng Chengmin then removed the liver and lungs, also cutting them into four pieces with the knife.

He fed Da Bai first, then the other three dogs.

After eating the heart, liver, and lungs, the four dogs were clearly only half-full, but Feng Chengmin stopped feeding them!

Seeing that the dogs weren't full, Wang An felt that Feng Chengmin didn't seem like a stingy man.

He couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Uncle, since you've already fed them, why bother saving a few pounds of meat? Just feed them until they're full!"

This time, Feng Chengmin didn't snap at Wang An, but explained instead: "If we were going straight home, we would feed them until they are full."

He continued, "But we still have more mountain hunting to do! So we can only feed them half-full or slightly less than half-full!"

Wang An said nothing, simply waiting for Feng Chengmin to continue.

Feng Chengmin went on: "Remember, if you are leading dogs into the mountains, you can only feed them half-full! The same goes for the morning!"

"Otherwise, not only will the humans be too full and lazy to move, but the dogs will be the same."

"Furthermore, even if a hunting dog is full and willing to move,"

"It will affect its agility and increase the danger to the dog."

"And if a dog is full when it goes to fight prey, its stomach won't be able to handle it!"

Having heard all this, Wang An understood clearly and nodded slowly.