ebookland Chapter 150: Skinning the Tiger - Another fierce battle is coming in a few days!
Chapter 150: Skinning the Tiger - Another fierce battle is coming in a few days!
Lu Zhiqiang and several hunters began skinning the tiger. Old Zhao and Old Qian from the security department were former hunters and were very skilled at skinning animals.
They examined the tiger king's carcass and found numerous bullet holes in its head, all small holes going in and large holes coming out. It was clear these were fired from hundreds of meters away with a long-range gun. If a slug had been used at close range, the holes wouldn't have been small, but rather the size of a bowl.
While examining the tiger's carcass, Old Zhao joked, "It was a male tiger, not the same one as the old male tiger that bit Old Tang last time. I guess that old male tiger got bitten and driven away."
Older male tigers are often driven away by younger males; this is a common occurrence and a natural behavior of tigers with large claws. Female tigers raise their cubs, and after two years, the cubs develop territorial instincts and will compete with their mothers for territory—this is simply their nature.
The group examined the Siberian tiger. It was 12 feet long, or 3.65 meters, and weighed over 500 kilograms. It was very large.
Old Qian opened his tiger's mouth and threatened Lu Zhiqiang, saying, "Look at the barbs, I'll lick your arm, it'll be like licking an ice pop."
Lu Zhiqiang actually pried open the tiger's tongue, scraping the stiff barbs, and exclaimed in amazement: "This big thing, could it really be killed by Wu Song with his fist? Is this just a boast?"
What does a 500-pound Siberian tiger mean? Even the largest cannonball weighs only about 400 pounds. Its fangs can take on dozens of hunting dogs, and it can fight off more than a dozen pack dogs at once. This tiger king is much more powerful than a cannonball. One slap from it could shatter a person's skull on the spot.
Even if you don't directly face the tiger king's claws, just being grazed by some force can result in being disemboweled and rendered unable to move.
Lu Zhiqiang helped Lao Qian by hooking the Siberian tiger's upper jaw with a hook, hanging it from the tree root, and then pulling the tiger's body down to straighten it.
He thought about it and realized that even if the ranch offered him money to be the lead hunter for tiger hunting, no matter how much, he wouldn't dare take the job. Only Li Ju'an would dare. But then he considered that of Li Ju'an's twelve dogs, two had died and five were seriously injured this time. He figured Li Ju'an wouldn't take on such a tough hunting job again; the hunting dogs were too badly injured.
"Xiao Lu, help hold on tight, make sure it's taut, and straighten it."
Lu Zhiqiang, alerted by Lao Qian's call, quickly turned his attention back to helping skin the tiger. The Siberian tiger was hanging horizontally, and he pulled it back with all his might, while Lao Qian began to treat the cuts with a sharp knife.
The incision line begins at the lower jaw, runs along the center line of the body, passes through the neck, feet, and belly, bypasses the underside and anus, and continues along the underside of the tail to its endpoint. Once the incision line is complete, a cut can be made along the junction of the tiger's lips and teeth to separate the skin from the flesh. Then, using a sheathing technique, the skin is gradually peeled back from the head towards the rump.
The tiger's eyes and the base of its ears were treated using a cylindrical skinning method. The skinning tape on its limbs was also removed and peeled off. Old Zhao and Xiao Shi helped wipe away the blood and fluid secretions with torn cloth. Lu Zhiqiang quickly used a knife to cut open the gap between the tiger's lower leg and the tendon, then cut off the toes, leaving only the finger bones at the tips of the claws on the hide.
Several hunters used both hands and feet, leaving a layer of fat under their skin to avoid making cuts.
Just as Lu Zhiqiang was about to wipe his hands, Xiao Shi helped cut his rectum, forgetting to tie the anus tightly with a rope. The excrement sprayed directly onto Lu Zhiqiang, making him nauseous.
"Damn it! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"How could you do it on purpose? I got flamed too. Uncle Qian didn't say he wanted to stab my anus either. Why are you in such a hurry? Stop arguing and wasting so much time. You should listen to advice."
He said one sentence, and Xiao Shi, always quick to chime in, retorted with several.
It was minus thirty degrees Celsius outside, and he was so cold that he kept sniffling, his nose was almost covered in frost, and he didn't have the energy to make a sound.
He could only mutter curses under his breath as he vigorously rubbed his arms and coat clean in the snow, but a strong, foul odor still lingered, making him gag and roll his eyes.
Several people were sprayed with saliva. Lu Zhiqiang wiped the smelly sleeve of his jacket hard and said through gritted teeth, "Now I know why Li Ju'an ran away first. He was hiding in the duty room. So cunning."
Skinning a tiger isn't difficult, it's just exhausting. Several young men were also quite resilient, especially Lu Zhiqiang, who was quite enthusiastic while doing it, and didn't mind how much it took.
Suddenly, the roar of a beast echoed from the forest again.
The familiar tiger roar, with its low-frequency oppressive quality and eerie howl, echoed through the mountains.
All the hunters felt a chill run down their spines, their hair stood on end, and they quickly cocked their guns.
"Holy crap, there's a tiger too."
The group glanced in the direction Li Ju'an had left and regretted their actions. The nearby woods were eerily quiet; even the birds and owls were silent, which was highly unusual. Adding to the unusual atmosphere, the carcass of the tiger king in the snow emitted a bloody stench that would attract even Siberian tigers from nearby territories.
There were already quite a few tigers on this mountain, and there were also two female tigers with cubs lingering on the edge of the male tiger's territory. The more they thought about it, the more panicked they became, and one by one they cocked their guns and pointed them outwards.
Old Qian said, "Stop peeling them for now, you two move closer to my side. Let's get out of here quickly."
Lu Zhiqiang was the first to take off running, chasing after Li Ju'an's footsteps, running desperately towards the forest ranger's duty hut, shouting, "Get out of here quickly! Is human life more important, or tiger skin?"
Just as Lao Qian was about to organize a retreat, he saw that some young people had already run away, and the others followed suit.
Even if you can't outrun a tiger, you can always outrun a person.
Old Qian and Old Zhao cursed under their breath, then abandoned their tiger skins and followed the young men as they turned and ran.
He turned to look at the empty, quiet Little Lonely Mountain, thinking to himself that in a few days, another fierce battle was about to begin.
……
Li Ju'an, along with veterinarian Lao Zhang and Song Desheng, had already returned the dog to the forestry hut.
Old Tang, the forest ranger, had already lit a fire and was waiting for them. The large traps set around the cabin had not yet yielded any results, and there were no large animal footprints nearby.
He was still wearing a leather hat, which he didn't take off even inside the house, to cover the large gash from the tiger attack and the thirty or forty hideous stitches.
Veterinarian Lao Zhang is treating the wounds of several hunting dogs.
Old Tang was brewing a pot of pine needle tea on the stove. He poured the tea for them and said, "More than ten years ago, in a winter like this in the reclamation area, a tiger also ran out of the forest and stole cattle and sheep from the nearby reclamation grasslands. Several air force ranches around were attacked by this tiger. That tiger was very arrogant."
Li Ju'an held the hot tea, blew on it, and drank it sip by sip from the scalding heat, saying, "Did you get an abortion later?"
"Later, it's a funny story, but the hunters in Xinganling couldn't kill the tiger. The reclamation brigade had to go all the way to ask the artilleryman from Yingtun to use a falcon to shoot down the tiger."
Just as Song Desheng was about to tie his new leggings along the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), he suddenly looked up and said, "The cannon fodder from Yingtun?"