Chapter 388: Capturing the Musk Deer Alive

Among wild mountain animals, the behavior of marking territory is actually not very common. For mountain animals such as deer, roe deer, and wild boars, except for adult male individuals fighting for mates during the estrus period, most mountain animals do not have obvious marking behavior to mark their territory.

In contrast, predatory animals tend to mark their territory more often.

The logic is very simple. Predators occupy territory and compete for the bottom-level prey living on the territory.

Animals that originally occupy a low ecological niche mainly eat grass, twigs, leaves, fruits, etc.

The sources of these things are relatively sufficient, so the competitive pressure is not that great.

However, there are exceptions to the general situation mentioned above.

After following the big yellow and black wolf for a while, the name of a special mountain animal emerged in Yue Feng’s mind.

Musk deer!

Yes, you read that right, it is the precious animal mentioned earlier that can be used to obtain musk.

Musk deer are very alert and like to move around and eat in the early morning and late evening.

They feed on plant grass, young leaves, young branches, etc., but they are a very special type of herbivores.

They will have obvious territorial behavior throughout the year, using hair gland sacs to mark the territory. They also have fixed routes and locations for activities, feeding and resting. Obvious musk deer trails will form in areas where they frequently move around.

The feces I picked up under the tree just now were also left behind by the musk deer to mark its territory.

“I know what it is! This thing is a rare thing. Tie up Da Huang and don’t let it ruin things!”

Yue Feng crushed the musk deer feces the size of soybeans and threw them away, then gave instructions.

“What? We haven’t found the prey yet, so you don’t let Dahuang chase it?” Xiaowen gave him a curious look.

Yue Feng explained: “If I’m not mistaken, these should be the marks and feces left by musk deer! This area should be the musk deer’s territory!

This little thing is not even as big as a roe deer. If two dogs catch it, they will tear it apart!”

“Musk deer? Is that the thing that Uncle Zhao said can be used to dig out musk and is quite valuable?” Xiaowu’s eyes immediately lit up and he took off the gun from his shoulder.

“Yes! I asked Uncle Zhao and Uncle Chen about this last time, and they said that musk deer have nests! They usually don’t run around!
Let Black Wolf look everywhere, and with Big Black Eagle and Little White, if we really find it, we should be able to catch it alive!”

While Yue Feng was explaining, he called out to Heilang. The dog heard his master calling and immediately came back with his tail wagging.

“Shoot out the prey later, and don’t bite it to death. I want to catch it alive!!” Yue Feng whispered to Black Wolf very seriously.

The black wolf must have understood. It barked a few times and soon started looking again, following the scent.

The dog’s subsequent route further confirmed Yue Feng’s guess. A visible animal trail in the snow led directly to the rocky beach area below the shady slope.

Everyone followed him down to the bottom of the rocky beach. Soon Yue Feng saw several blue-gray rocks that were much larger than a house, about a hundred meters above the rocky beach.

Wow, there was actually a small stone jumping pond hidden in the corner of the mountain. Yue Feng had no memory of having been here before. It was quite hidden. If you didn’t pay attention when standing on the ridge, you couldn’t see it clearly.

“Black Wolf, search!!”

At Yue Feng’s call, the black wolf immediately quickened its pace and headed straight towards the pile of blue-gray rocks.

It was still more than ten meters away from the other side. The black wolf seemed to have discovered something and barked loudly a few times.

The next second, several muffled rustling sounds were heard, and three deer-like animals, one size smaller than the female roe deer, jumped out from behind the pile of rocks, one big and two small.

The little deer seemed to be able to climb walls and fly over rooftops. It kept jumping on the snow-covered rocks and ran towards the sunny slope.

After discovering the prey, the three dogs in their hands started barking, and the black wolf rushed towards the musk deer in the lead.

How could the dog’s speed possibly catch up with the musk deer? Instead of getting closer, the distance between them got farther and farther.

Seeing this, Yue Feng immediately blew the whistle.

The big black eagle and the little white eagle in the sky were circling and following us, except for the less than one hour rest at noon when they were fed by people.

Hearing Yue Feng blowing the whistle, he immediately attacked the prey below.

Musk deer can climb rocks and walls, which is difficult for dogs to deal with, but this is not a problem for flying falcons.

Little White and Big Black Hawk dived down and attacked almost at the same time.

In terms of diving flight speed, Xiaobai is slightly faster because of its small size.

Snapped!
The big black eagle kicked the female musk deer on the head, knocking it to the ground. This little creature was much more flexible than a roe deer. It tried to dodge but failed to completely avoid the attack.

After being kicked and injured, he fell off the rock and tried to get up to continue running, but was grabbed by the black wolf below and was held there, screaming in a hoarse voice, unable to move.

One of the other two sub-adult musk deer was selected by Baimao and was also hit by a diving kick.

This kick was even more off-center, hitting the musk deer’s hind leg, directly breaking its balance during movement, and the musk deer fell off a stone more than one meter high.

Just as he was thinking about getting up and running again, Xiaobai changed direction in the air, swooped down and kicked the musk deer again. Yacheng’s musk deer wailed and lay motionless in the snow. When the two eagles were hunting, the last musk deer had already jumped from the rock into the forest, fled in a straight line along the sunny slope of the mountain forest, and soon turned over the ridge and disappeared in front of everyone.

There were three preys, and we caught two of them in one encounter. This is a pretty good result.

“Hurry up, we can’t let the dog and the eagle kill this musk deer!!” Yue Feng muttered, and started to chase after them.

The female musk deer that was strangled and pinned down by the black wolf had a look of fear in its eyes.

There was a bloody mark left by an eagle’s claw at the junction of the neck and the spine. At this moment, the dog was holding his neck from the side and he dared not move at all.

When the black wolf saw its owner coming, it shook its tail like a fan and didn’t let go.

“Okay Black Wolf, I caught you, open your mouth!!”

Yue Feng called out to him, and the black wolf finally let go, wagging its tail and whining as it circled around.

Yue Feng checked the musk deer, an adult female, and it didn’t look like it was going to die. The eagle didn’t kick it in the head, and the dog didn’t bite it in a fatal way.

Another smaller musk deer was also caught by Xiao Tao, who had long legs and fast speed.

This one’s condition was obviously much more serious. Its hind legs seemed to be dislocated or broken. It struggled to run, but after standing up, it fell down before it could even take a step.

At this moment, after the little guy was caught, he made a hoarse threatening sound like he was gasping for breath.

“Brother, where do you get the musk of this musk deer? I’ll pick it out right here! Let’s see what this musk is!!”

While Xiao Tao was talking, he had already taken out the knife from his waist, ready to stab someone with blood if they had a disagreement.

Yue Feng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this: “Put away the knife! Musk can only be taken from the scent sac under the belly of the male musk deer. The two we caught are both females!”

“Uh… they are all female and have no musk! I was so happy for nothing!” Xiao Tao scratched his head and put the knife away.

“Only when they are in heat and mating will male and female musk deer live together; normally male musk deer live alone!
This should be the territory of the female musk deer. The other two should be sub-adult cubs!” Yue Feng continued to explain.

“Then, what should we do? Should we bring these two musk deer back alive?”

Xiaowen was the most steady. While questioning, he had already started taking out a rope from his pocket.

“Check him first, and if he’s still alive, bring him down the mountain alive!”

Yue Feng greeted him and then took out the slices of meat to feed the eagle from his bag.

After two consecutive whistles, Xiaobai flew over happily and waited for the reward.

The big black eagle was clearly flying towards this side from the sky, but it suddenly changed its route and turned back, screaming as it flew.

There was a hint of urging in the cry, as if it was greeting Bai Mao.

When Xiaobai heard the big sister’s call, he didn’t care about eating the meat anymore. He took off again and immediately chased after her.

The big black eagle was seen diving low over the ridge and then stopping above the treetops again, while the white spear flew past and quickly disappeared into the woods.

“The musk deer that just ran away must have turned back and was discovered by the big black eagle! Come on, Xiao Tao, climb up with me and take a look!”

Yue Feng called out and left the brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu to look after the spoils, then climbed up the sunny slope with his guns on his back.

The slope is a bit steep, but fortunately there are many trees to provide support.

After the two men climbed up panting, they saw that Bai Mao had already succeeded and was struggling in the snow with his claws pinching the head of the musk deer that had run away and then turned back.

The woods on this side of the ridge are relatively sparse, but it is still a bit difficult for Black Hawk and White Spear to fly and chase.

The big black eagle landed on the tree top but did not touch the ground. White Spear pinched the musk deer’s head with its claws and rolled back and forth on the ground.

Fortunately, Yue Feng came up in a short time. Although this kind of fight looks exciting, it is not a good thing.

If the musk deer is so desperate that it insists on hitting a tree, Baimao might even lose his life if he is hit hard. A falcon is like a fighter plane, it has strong attack power, but its defense is not high.

Xiao Tao also knew the danger here. He was fast and ran in front and immediately ran towards Bai Ying to help. He quickly held down the struggling musk deer.

“Hey Brother Feng, this is the head male’s! One of its eyes was pecked out! The rest of it seems to be fine!”

After Xiao Tao held down the musk deer, he immediately responded to the three groups below.

Seeing their owner climbing up, the two eagles started to cack.

The meaning is simple. Look how good we are. We caught another one!
If the terrain hadn’t affected the two falcons’ ability to dive at full strength, a prey as large as the musk deer could have been easily killed by a single full-strength dive by the big black eagle.

Yue Feng is also planning to do some special breeding. Just kick the roe deer to death, but musk deer are rare, so it’s best to catch them alive.

So, Yue Feng took out the slices of meat from his bag again and gave rewards and reinforcements on the spot.

(End of this chapter)