Chapter 54: Hunting
The savannahs of South America are inaccessible, and many wild animals live in the vast savannahs.
In a meadow on the edge of the desert, a herd of antelopes grazes and watches their surroundings vigilantly, and two cougars lurk on either side of the antelope, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
The cougar, also known as the American golden cat, is similar in size to a leopard, but has no patterns in appearance and a smaller skull. The body length is 130~200 cm, the tail length is about 100 cm, the shoulder height is 55~80 cm, and the weight is 35~100 kg, which is the largest in the cat subfamily.
Unlike the African lion, the petite cougar likes to live alone, has a docile personality, and under normal circumstances, it does not actively attack people, but when people attack it, it will kill the attacker in self-defense.
In the Americas, some families capture baby cougars for domestication, and when they grow up, they can live in peace with cats and dogs, and they will guard the gate like dogs. It has earned the reputation of "Friend of Mankind".
The antelope, which was grazing, suddenly pricked up its ears in alarm, as if it had spotted danger, and at that moment, a gunshot broke the silence of the grassland, and an antelope close to the cougar was killed on the ground.
Li Mingyuan put away the rifle that was still smoking, and with a wave of his hand, the cavalry around him immediately moved forward to surround the antelope herd.
During the cavalry exercise, Li Mingyuan left a garrison of more than 300 people around him, and when he had nothing to do, Li Mingyuan took his men to hunt.
The whistling cavalry besieged on three sides, driving more than a hundred antelopes and two cougars to the north.
The panicked antelope herd could not find a way out, so it could only be driven by the cavalry to run, and in a few minutes, the antelope herd ran a distance of more than three miles, and the two cougars were not as fast as the flock, and the soldiers who were chasing them were forced to scurry left and right with guns.
"Don't fucking shoot, I'm going to live." Surrounded the antelope herd and accidentally found two cougars, Li Dawei was in a good mood and loudly stopped the soldiers who were about to shoot.
"Brigade commander, this animal is very alert, you can't catch it without firing."
"Fool, the people on both sides widen the distance and drive them in the direction of the antelope." Li Dawei observed that the antelope was not far from the ambush circle and said loudly.
"Yes." The cavalry on both sides quickly distanced themselves and drove the cougar forward.
To the north of the herd is a dense meadow, with slender water grass that is half a person high, and it is difficult to find that there are more than 100 people hiding in it without looking closely.
More than a dozen antelopes took the lead in running to the edge of the meadow, and when there were still five or six meters away from the meadow, more than 100 people suddenly stood up, leaving a gap of 10 meters between each person, and more than 100 people pulled into a 1,000-meter net, completely blocking the antelope's escape path.
"Flutter, flutter." One after another, because the antelope couldn't control the inertia, they hit the big net directly.
"Squad leader, there are too many sheep, I can't hold it anymore."
"Hold on, don't let the antelope run."
The squad leader turned his head to see that more than 20 antelopes had crashed into a net of seven or eight meters, dragging the soldiers in charge of holding the net forward again and again.
The strength of the two dozen antelopes was too great, and the soldiers holding the nets on both sides did not last long before they were dragged by the antelopes on the ground and ran, and they tripped over five or six soldiers around them in a row.
"Brothers, hurry up and catch up, don't let go of the prey." Seeing the situation in front, Li Dawei immediately shouted to order the cavalry to surround him, while he himself turned his horse's head and headed in the direction of the two cougars on the left.
The two cougars ran away separately at first, but they were forced by the cavalry behind, they still ran together, because they were not as fast as the antelope, when the antelope hit the net, the two cougars also noticed the abnormality, and quickly turned around and ran to the left.
Lions can attract the eyes of soldiers more than a group of antelopes, as soon as the two cougars turned around, the soldiers holding the net in front immediately tightened the net, and Li Dawei and a group of cavalry behind also arrived quickly.
"Spread out on both sides at once, and drive them into the net." Seeing the two cougars in front of him, Li Dawei shouted excitedly.
The cavalry that followed them dispersed and immediately drove the two cougars into the net, eventually catching them.
The herd of antelopes in front was gradually stabilized by the soldiers, and there was no possibility of escape, while Li Mingyuan hung far behind the cavalry, smiling and watching them hunt.
Hunting on the grassland is a rare interesting thing in the army, and Li Mingyuan hunting with the soldiers can encourage them to show their bravery and relax the emotions of the soldiers.
Li Mingyuan was about to speed up his horse when he suddenly heard a subtle "purring" sound, which sounded like the barking of a domestic cat.
Li Mingyuan turned the horse's head and cautiously walked towards the source of the sound, the sound was getting closer and closer, Li Mingyuan jumped off the horse and walked into a bush, at this time, the sound suddenly stopped,
"I guess I heard the movement of the living. That's why they don't call anymore. ”
Li Mingyuan secretly figured it out, and then stood still, Li Mingyuan did not guess wrong, and in less than two minutes, a cat-like sound sounded in the grass again.
The cry was very close to Li Mingyuan, Li Mingyuan heard the source of the sound, picked up a piece of grass not far away, and found four small gray animals.
The four little animals were very scared of life, and when they found out that Li Mingyuan had arrived, they immediately buried their heads together and screamed "Gollum, Gollum".
"What a cute little one." Li Mingyuan smiled and picked up one of them, while the small animal in his hand struggled uneasily, not daring to look up at the person who grabbed it.
Based on their voices and their appearance, it is not difficult for Li Mingyuan to judge that they are famous cougars.
"Haha, don't be afraid, little guy, raise me to be a janitor lion in the future." Li Mingyuan said with a smile.
In the previous life, the Middle East tyrants raised eagles and lions, and Li Mingyuan was no worse than them, the eagle already had one, and now four cougars have been discovered, although the cougars are not as big as African lions, but the mild cougars are more suitable for feeding, and the cougars raised since childhood are more suitable for guarding the home.
Imagining the life of raising eagles and walking lions in the future, Li Mingyuan laughed unconsciously, then packed the four little ones with a cloth bag and rode forward.
"Shizi, look what I caught!" Li Dawei won and showed off to Li Mingyuan, who arrived.
The two cougars were tied to the ground by the soldiers, unable to move, and roared from time to time.
"Hehe, Dawei is very good, knowing that I like to raise animals, he specially sent two cougars to me."
"Don't get me wrong, these two lions are not for you," Li Dawei hurriedly explained.
"It's not for me, is it possible that you still want to swallow it alone?" Li Mingyuan pretended to be angry.
"It's a big deal."
"Don't worry, I only need the small one, and the big one is left for you."
"That's pretty much it." Li Dawei muttered.
The female cougar is half smaller than the male, and the smaller cougar that Li Dawei caught is likely to be the mother of the four lion cubs, so Li Mingyuan asked for it.
After solving the problem of the ownership of the cougar, Li Mingyuan opened his mouth to ask about the results of hunting in the past few days.
"Shizi, this time I caught one hundred and thirty-two antelopes, two wild deer, and fifteen ...... What's that name?"
Li Dawei said as he forgot the name of the last animal.
"You're talking about alpacas."
"Yes, it's the kind of animal that looks like a camel and a goat." Li Dawei patted his head and said.
"Shizi, why do you say that the animals here are different from those in the Central Plains, not only are there alpacas, which are like camels and goats, small lions, and pangolins that eat ants without skin armor......"
"It's hard to explain." Li Mingyuan smiled and shook his head, many animals in the Americas are different from other regions, Li Mingyuan even told Li Dawei about the knowledge of zoogeography in the 21st century, and he couldn't understand it, so Li Mingyuan didn't explain it to him.