Chapter 41: Hunting the Wild Boar with a Blade

Wang An ran behind Feng Chengmin, passing two yellow-haired kids without sparing them a single glance.

Soon, the two reached the sow, but Feng Chengmin did not fire his gun.

Instead, he pried the bayonet out from under the muzzle.

Wang An’s eyes widened at the sight; he was about to engage in a "knife hunt"!

A knife hunt, as the name implies, involves using sharp implements like knives, axes, or spears.

You go head-to-head with the prey right in front of it!

Early hunters, before the advent of advanced weaponry, practiced knife hunting!

However, the targets for knife hunting were mostly dangerous but small animals like deer, roe deer, gerenuk, badgers, and foxes!

Knife hunting a wild sow was already extremely dangerous, but if it were a massive boar, no one would even attempt it. That wasn't knife hunting; that was suicide!

Then, of course, there were bows and crossbows.

But for an ordinary hunter, a bow was essentially a white elephant; the requirements were simply too high.

First of all, making a good bow is incredibly difficult!

It requires high craftsmanship and a complex manufacturing process. The materials aren't hard to find—yew from the south is the best!

In the north, mulberry and birch are also quite good!

Yet, even if one manages to make one, the requirements for the archer are not low; arm strength and accuracy are the absolute basics!

Without years of bitter practice, you wouldn't hit a thing!

Furthermore, the lethality of a bow is limited, excluding ancient bows and modern compound bows.

For a modern person with a standard bow, hitting or wounding prey at fifty or sixty meters would be considered quite impressive!

Even with a rabbit, the chance of a direct kill is low; you usually have to finish it off with a knife!

Bows are indeed lethal against deer.

But deer are spiritual creatures. As the old saying goes, "A deer lives a thousand years, but every step is filled with worry."

A deer's alertness and vigilance are second to none, and its sense of smell is even sharper than a wild boar's!

It is practically impossible for a human to approach within 100 meters!

Even a "clodhopper" with incredible explosive power, speed, and agility rarely manages to hunt a deer!

Compared to deer, a bow is essentially useless!

The same goes for roe deer. Although they aren't as vigilant as deer, trying to get within fifty or sixty meters to draw and release an arrow is mostly a fool's errand, even if the occasional success occurs!

Wild boars have thick, armored skin, and black bears are incredibly tough; whether an arrow can even penetrate is one thing.

Even if it does penetrate, it’s about as effective as a mere scratch on a person!

Crossbows were even worse; they were complicated to make and had a high failure rate!

They were either massive, requiring several people to carry, or stationary siege crossbows!

The small ones used for ambushes at three to five meters were useless at longer distances due to a lack of lethality, and because they lacked fletching, their accuracy was non-existent!

Therefore, knife hunting tested both a hunter's psychological fortitude and their technical skill!

As for Wang An, he certainly didn't dare!

For him, even field dressing was a struggle!

And a wild boar isn't going to stand there politely waiting to be stabbed!

Watching Feng Chengmin's extraordinary bravery, he stood at the side of the sow. The sow's ferocity flared up, but unfortunately, its two hind legs were crippled.

It could only shuffle forward with its front legs; otherwise, it would have surely gored Feng Chengmin!

Taking advantage of the sow's momentary distraction, Feng Chengmin lunged the bayonet into the armpit of its front leg—*puchi*—it sank right in!

The sow let out a piercing squeal and violently thrashed its upper body, trying to attack Feng Chengmin!

Feng Chengmin dodged backward. As he wrenched the bayonet out, blood sprayed out—yes, it sprayed!

The blood nearly hit Feng Chengmin's pants, though he couldn't quite dodge it with his shoes, which got splashed a little.

Feng Chengmin didn't care; he plunged the bayonet in again.

The scene sent Wang An's blood boiling and his adrenaline soaring!

Before long, heavily wounded and bleeding profusely, the sow went limp.

Wang An felt an irresistible itch of curiosity. He pried the bayonet out of his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and, aiming at the other armpit of the dying sow, stabbed it in!

The sensation was thrilling! Absolutely thrilling!

Pulling it out and stabbing it again, by the time he withdrew the blade for the last time, the sow was wobbling on the ground before collapsing. It let out a few wheezing breaths and then went still!

Both Wang An and Feng Chengmin had faces filled with lingering excitement.

To be honest, the feeling of knife hunting was truly exhilarating! It was much more of a rush than shooting those seven people!

Seeing that Wang An had joined in, Feng Chengmin hurriedly said, "Don't you go doing that recklessly in the future! Don't go playing at knife hunting every chance you get! One slip-up and you'll end up seriously injured!"

Wang An composed his excited expression and replied, "Of course not. It's only because you're here, Uncle. Besides, this sow was already beaten down by you; I only dared to use the knife because it had no strength left!"

Feng Chengmin nodded and asked with a smile, "Was it a rush?"

Wang An replied, "It was a rush, but this isn't something to try lightly. It's easy to get addicted!"

Feng Chengmin laughed loudly. "Well, yeah. Once, I ran out of bullets and was forced into a knife hunt. Since then, I've always been thinking about doing it again! Today, I finally satisfied the urge!"

Then, his expression turned serious. "But seriously, never do it recklessly again. It's no different from gambling with your life!"

Wang An nodded repeatedly.

Feng Chengmin pulled out a skinning knife to field dress the sow, while Wang An walked over to the two yellow-haired kids to dress them!

Once finished, Feng Chengmin handed the task of field dressing over to Wang An and told him to go drive the sled!

Wang An agreed. By the time he returned with the sled, Feng Chengmin was already sitting on the snow smoking a pipe!

Together, they hauled the pigs onto the sled and drove it straight down the mountain!

When they reached the mountain range where the snares had been set that morning, they once again tied the large horse to a tree.

The two men proceeded on foot to check the snares to see if any bobcats had been caught.

To be fair, Feng Chengmin's trapping skills were quite formidable.

In less than a day, he had caught five bobcats!

He didn't bother retrieving the empty snares. Feng Chengmin said they would loop back tomorrow morning and should still find something!

The two then walked toward the area where the traps were set. They hadn't caught any pheasants, but they had caught two "silly half-pounds" (small deer) and two flying dragons (birds)!

The traps that caught nothing were left as they were; it would be timely to come back and collect them tomorrow night!

This mountain range was considered deep wilderness, and people rarely ventured here. Even if they did, they were usually hunters, and hunters generally didn't touch each other's snares or traps.

They wandered further to the spot where three large traps had been set. Unsurprisingly, they had caught nothing.

Carrying the bobcats, flying dragons, and small deer, the two walked back to the sled.

They loaded up without delay and returned to Feng Chengmin's house.

On the way back, Feng Chengmin insisted on splitting the catch in half, but Wang An certainly couldn't agree to that!

According to the mountain rules, Feng Chengmin was entitled to four shares and Wang An to three.

However, since Wang An was still an apprentice, he couldn't take too much; otherwise, it would be considered disrespectful and incredibly shameless!

So, Wang An only took one large roe deer, one small roe deer, one yellow-haired kid, two bobcats, one flying dragon, and one silly half-pound!

As for the sow weighing two hundred and sixty or seventy pounds, Feng Chengmin insisted on cutting it in half for Wang An, but Wang An refused point-blank.

Upon returning to his uncle's house, Aunt Wang Yulian naturally wouldn't let him leave; she insisted he stay for dinner and overnight.

But using the excuse that the road wasn't far and it was getting dark, Wang An drove the sled loaded with the catch back home!

As Wang An was about to depart, Feng Chengmin tossed another flying dragon and a silly half-pound onto the sled.

He claimed that these things didn't have much meat anyway and were eaten often, so Wang An should take them to make an extra dish.

Wang An smiled and didn't refuse, stating he would come early tomorrow morning before driving the sled home!