In the vast Flathead National Forest, the sound of wild larks can be heard in the woods.

The green and yellow leaves are intertwined, and even the perennial green pine trees have a thick layer of pine needles on the ground.

This year, the Arctic Circle cold air mass came very early, passing through Greenland and Canada and heading south to Montana.

Yesterday the sun was shining, today the temperature dropped suddenly, the time was close to evening, and the woods looked even darker under the cover of dark clouds.

If you look closely, you can faintly see the figure of a human being on a pine tree that is the thickness of a hug.

This is an observation deck built in the park, more than five meters above the ground, and an iron staircase that extends to the ground, in addition to watching animals, it is also a good place to hide from predators and hunt.

The man took out a boiled egg and handed it to the boy, rubbing his hands, thinking that he had forgotten to bring gloves when he was wearing a lot of clothes.

More than twenty meters away in another tree, Martinez was shivering, expecting the sun to shine, so he put on a thin sweater and went out. I didn't expect to die well, but it was a cloudy day, and this place is close to the border with Canada, and you can let out white gas when you open your mouth.

"It's been an hour, why haven't you seen anything. The boy asked as he took a bite of the egg.

The man leaned his shotgun against the railing, helped his son stuff his cotton clothes, and said, "If you don't come, you have to come, it's more than 1,500 meters above sea level, not to mention the danger, it's too cold this day." ”

"Well, the North American pine snake on the ground doesn't seem to be moving now. ”

"It looked weird and scary, and I thought it was a rattlesnake. ”

"They don't live here, they may have been trampled to death by Grandpa Barton's two feet, and we have to wait...... Ahh

"Hey, don't move your son! It's a gray squirrel. ”

The boy looked back, and a little guy of about 20 centimeters was standing on his shoulder, and his tail fell into the neckline, no wonder it was so itchy just now.

"It's really not afraid of people. ”

Father Han said with a smile, reaching out to tickle it.

The squirrel raised its head, squinted its eyes comfortably, as if enjoying a massage, and moved and changed in one place for a long time, until the pine tower in its hand fell on the iron sheet and made a soft sound, and it reacted.

Jumping down flexibly, holding it in one hand, he quickly returned to Han Xuan, and held it up in front of the boy with two paws.

"It's not easy to get you to send things. Han Xuan smiled and nodded his head with his finger: "It's almost winter, hide more, keep it for yourself." ”

After saying that, he put it on the tree, and the gray squirrel turned his head to look at it, and burrowed into the hole in the tree not far away, and it seemed that his home was here.

"Daddy, I seem to have seen them a lot lately, and even our family ranch has it. ”

"The last time I was on the CBS news, I heard that they were brought to England as pets in the 19th century, and now there are millions of them, and the North American gray squirrels are breeding too fast, so they are also on the list of allowed hunting. “

"No, the people who just gave me gifts, don't hit them. ”

"Such a small squirrel, it doesn't taste good to go back to stew soup. ”

Han Qianshan stood up, his legs had been squatting for a long time, and he stomped his feet, and the iron sheet laid below made a sound.

He turned back to the boy and said, "Son, help me carry the gun, wait for me to carry you down, don't move the trigger." ”

"Cut, you're stupid for me?"

"Knowing you're smart, come up. ”

When several people nearby heard the voice, they all got up and looked over, and Father Han pointed to the ground and motioned for them to go down as well.

Jones carried a large hiking bag with a cylindrical canvas bag lying horizontally, like a tent or something.

The people quickly gathered around, and Old Barton saw that the pine snake was still there, stepped on his foot again, looked at Anderson and sighed: "If you weren't afraid of this, you would have eaten more in the evening." ”

"No, no, no, there are too many parasites to eat, let's go get something else!"

Anderson's face turned green when he heard that he was going to eat snakes, and everyone in the Snow Mountain Ranch knew that he was afraid of this kind of thing.

Martinez next to him also laughed: "It tastes good, it can be baked and boiled, if you don't want me to bring it, how about taking off clothes for me." ”

"Wrap yourself in a tent cloth!" said Anderson, who was not so polite to him, rolled up his clothes, kicked Martinez, and followed them with his bag.

"Boss, why don't you go to the lake. Old Patton held his gun and whispered, "Where there is a water source, there are many animals, and those guys are probably there." ”

"Let's go and see first, I don't know if those gray wolves are still in the park, I can only try my luck, there will be time tomorrow." ”

After Han Qianshan finished speaking, he turned back to look at the three of them: "You guys pay attention to the neighborhood, if there is any movement, you will be loaded immediately." ”

"And, Martinez, what are you doing?"

The black guy actually put the tent cloth on, stretched out his hand from it and scratched his head and said, "It's too cold, boss." ”

"You deserve it, what did I tell you in the morning, let's go!"

……

There are many hunters in Flatheadri every year, and the elk hunting season begins in October, and it has been more than a month now, and the path under his feet has been carved out by those hunters, and the traces of knives and axes are still very new.

The surroundings were very quiet, they walked for more than half an hour, carrying too many things, in order not to increase the burden, they met a few hares on the road, all of them were spared, anyway, they have everywhere, just eat and fight.

After resting, I will continue on the road, and after more than ten minutes, I arrived at the destination, which is a canyon between the two mountains, with a stream passing through the middle, the terrain difference is relatively large, and the water flow is very rapid.

There is a big stone in front of you blocking the view, and there is a lot of gravel by the stream in the open area nearby, which happens to be a good place to set up a village.

"Damn, I don't know what I'm doing with them!" the old cowboy stepped forward to look, retracted his head and cursed, and said to them: "Those gray wolves are not here, the other prey was scared away by the jaguar next to them, only some Canadian red deer, we can't kill them." ”

"Wait, it'll go, set up the tent first, we'll rest here at night. Han Qianshan said, looked at his son and continued to speak: "You can't make a fire here, just eat some now?"

"Just beef jerky. ”

"Boy, come to me. ”

Old Barton beckoned when he heard him, and whispered, "You haven't seen the leopard, it's there." ”

"It's better not to make a sound, it's alert, and if you run into it, you're going to be in trouble. ”

Han Xuan nodded with interest, ate the jerky and walked around the stones, looking towards the lake.

The jaguar is very large, more than two meters long, about the same size as a tiger, with orange patterns on its body, and it looks very beautiful.

Next to it are five Canadian red deer with sharp horns on their heads, and when they see the leopard, they are not frightened at all, and they bow their heads and eat grass leaves.

Old Barton poked his head out, looked at the boy, and said, "They used to live in South America, and because of this fur, they are killed a lot every year." ”

"So send here for protection?"

"Yes, they were sent back in the seventies, and I saw them released back then. ”

At this moment, the jaguar suddenly stood up, and old Barton was startled, and pulled the boy back behind the rock.

They didn't see it, but the leopard sniffed its nose, looked this way, and walked away slowly.

The six men brought a total of three tents, Jones with a gun and a sentry, Martinez to collect dry firewood, and the others to pitch their tents.

Han Xuan had nothing to do, and looked at the lake again, the sky gradually darkened, and he could vaguely see a few figures, much smaller than the red deer just now, and immediately returned to his father and said, "It seems that there is prey coming." "What is it?" asked Old Barton.

Before the others could react, Martinez threw the firewood to the ground, picked up Remington and laughed: "Come on, little baby!"