Chapter 440 - 372: The Dog’s Tantrum
It was a small wild boar, weighing around eighty or ninety jin, definitely not over a hundred.
Even so, it weighed less than San Pang. Right now, it was being viciously mauled by four dogs, pinned to the ground.
Big Fatty had the boar’s snout, forcing its head into the dirt. In truth, he could have handled this little boar effortlessly on his own.
Meanwhile, Flower Cat and Hua Lang were biting its ears from the left and right, while San Pang had latched onto its front left leg.
Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit.
And so it was with these four dogs and this small wild boar.
The small boar’s front legs were forced to its knees as its hind legs thrashed, trying to stand but failing completely. Its rump bucked up and down, its little tail twitched back and forth, and pitiful squeals escaped its mouth.
It was such a small boar that if Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun had been any slower, the four dogs would have mauled it to death.
Even so, the chase had nearly run Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun to exhaustion.
"See? I told you," Lin Xiangshun said with a purse of his lips. "They can’t catch anything big."
Zhao Jun shook his head and smiled, then drew the bayonet from his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle. He stepped forward and ended the small boar’s life with a single thrust.
Then, Zhao Jun shooed the four dogs away, gutted the small boar, and divided the entrails among them.
The boar was small, so there weren’t many innards. It certainly wasn’t enough for the four dogs, so Zhao Jun carved more meat from the boar’s belly and gave it to them piece by piece.
"Xiaojun," Lin Xiangshun said, walking over after a short rest. "Let’s just skin this pig right here."
"Sounds good," Zhao Jun said. "We’ll haul the meat back, and I’ll give you two of the legs, Second Brother."
Some people say wild boar meat is gamey, tough, and dry, but that’s only for the old boars. Sows and young boars are different, especially a sow in autumn. After months of feasting on pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, acorns, and other mountain treasures, she’ll have built up a thick layer of fat, and her meat is as good as any domestic pig’s.
The legs of a young boar are also quite good. But Lin Xiangshun shook his head and refused. "You take all the meat back. Soak it in cold water and feed some to the dogs at home. The rest can be for these four tomorrow morning."
Once a wild boar is skinned, the usable meat is basically the four legs, the rump, the ribs, plus the two tenderloins and the belly meat.
After skinning this small boar and removing the entrails, head, and trotters, you’d be left with about forty jin of meat and bone.
The four dogs had already finished the entrails and had been given the belly meat. Of the remaining thirty-odd jin, a good portion was bone.
’Little Bear, White Dragon, and Da Huang are still at home,’ Zhao Jun thought. ’They must be so upset I didn’t take them up the mountain today. I’ll have to comfort them properly when I get back.’
But Zhao Jun didn’t understand why he needed to feed these four dogs meat again tomorrow morning.
When Zhao Jun asked, Lin Xiangshun explained, "Tomorrow, leave these four at home. Bring out that female of yours, Da Huang, and the others for a run. I want to see how that female works, and then we can figure out how to merge the two packs."
Getting the dogs to form a pack was a big deal. The two groups hadn’t arrived at the same time, and although they knew each other now, they had always been kept on leashes.
No one knew if the two groups would start fighting once they were out in the mountains.
The worst thing on a hunt is a dogfight. A dogfight never ends well. If the lead dog gets injured, the hunt is over before it starts.
But since Lin Xiangshun hadn’t addressed his main question, Zhao Jun pressed him, "But why feed them meat tomorrow morning?"
"Feed them a meal of meat tomorrow morning, then don’t give the four of them anything else for the rest of the day," Lin Xiangshun said. "Make them wait until the morning after that. Just give them a little cornmeal mush, and when we get to the mountains, we’ll see if they’re motivated or not."
Hearing Lin Xiangshun’s explanation, Zhao Jun understood.
The idea was simply to whet the dogs’ appetites, let them go hungry for a day and a half, feed them just enough to take the edge off the morning after, and then force them to find their own meat in the mountains.
The two of them worked as they talked. After Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun finished packing the rest of the boar meat into a burlap sack, they took turns carrying the thirty-or-so-jin load and led the four dogs home.
They were almost out of the hunting grounds, so Lin Xiangshun put all four dogs on leashes.
By now, the four dogs knew the way home, and as soon as they left the hunting grounds, they would bolt for the house.
It was just like walking a pet dog; on the way out, the dog runs ahead, heading for familiar spots. On the way home, they understand where they’re going and some will run ahead again.
Lin Xiangshun wasn’t worried about anything else, just that these four dogs would run home first and start a fight with the ones left behind.
After all, they weren’t a proper pack yet, so anything could happen.
And so, Lin Xiangshun followed Zhao Jun all the way back. When they reached the gates of the Zhao and Li family homes, Lin Xiangshun handed the leashes to Zhao Jun and said, "Xiaojun, I’m heading home. I’ll come find you tomorrow morning."
"Second Brother, why don’t you stay for dinner before you go?"
"No can do!" Lin Xiangshun waved his hand dismissively and walked off, shouldering his 16-gauge shotgun.
Just then, hearing dogs barking in the courtyard, Li Baoyu hurried out of his house. Seeing Zhao Jun at the gate holding four leashes with a burlap sack at his feet, he grinned. "Brother, what’d you bag?"
"A young boar!" Zhao Jun handed the leashes for Flower Cat and Hua Lang to Li Baoyu. "Tie up the dogs first. We’ll talk later."
"Got it!" Li Baoyu took the leashes and led Flower Cat and Hua Lang back to his house.
With Big Fatty and San Pang’s leashes in one hand, Zhao Jun reached for the burlap sack with the other.
But just then, Wang Meilan came jogging out of the courtyard.
"Son, it’s terrible!" The moment Wang Meilan saw Zhao Jun, her words made his heart clench. But before he could even ask, she continued, "Hurry inside and see! Little Bear and White Dragon are giving me the silent treatment."
"What?" Zhao Jun was stunned. Seeing his mother turn and hurry back into the courtyard in a panic, he quickly grabbed the leashes and the sack and followed her in.
Once inside the courtyard, Zhao Jun set the sack down by the storeroom door. He could hear Cyan Dragon and Black Dragon barking and scratching at the door from inside. Under the eaves, Black Tiger was also hopping around on his three legs, barking at him and wagging his tail furiously.
As Zhao Jun led Big Fatty and San Pang back to their kennels, he glanced over at where White Dragon and Little Bear were. He saw White Dragon lying listlessly in front of his kennel, head pillowed on his paws, tail limp on the ground. His eyes were droopy, as if half-asleep.
As for Little Bear, he was hiding in his kennel and hadn’t come out at all. Who knew what he was doing in there.
Normally, whenever Zhao Jun came home, Little Bear and White Dragon would both get up to greet him. It wouldn’t be as dramatic as Black Tiger’s welcome, but barking and tail-wagging were always part of the routine.
But now, the two dogs weren’t reacting at all. It was impossible that they hadn’t noticed his return.
With their ears and noses, they could detect him when he was still a house-length away.
Their behavior now was exactly as Wang Meilan had said: they were sulking at Zhao Jun.
The reason for their sulking was also very simple: Zhao Jun had gone hunting today without them, taking those two fatties instead.