Chapter 618: Can Your Zhao Jun Hunt?

With its four hooves bound, the roe deer cried out even louder, its “JII-AH, JII-AH” shrieks piercing their eardrums.

And ahead, about thirty meters away, another roe deer was answering the calls of the one in front of Zhao Jun.

“Let’s go!” Zhao Jun led Li Baoyu and Jie Chen forward, and saw that the patch of grass where he had set the snare was completely flattened from the struggle.

Looking ahead, about thirty meters away, another large roe deer was lying on the ground.

This one was a buck, weighing upwards of ninety pounds. Unlike the doe from before, this buck had one of its hind legs caught in a snare. When it stood up and took a couple of steps, its white-furred rump would involuntarily stick up, its small tail flicking upward, before its front legs buckled and it fell to the ground again.

“Get it!” With a wave of his hand, Zhao Jun led the other two to surround the buck.

The moment the rope was around its neck, the large roe deer began to thrash wildly.

Even though a roe deer is an herbivore, all its wildness erupted in that moment. It truly looked as if it would rather die in glory than live in shame, struggling for its life.

Even though the roe deer only weighed about ninety pounds, when it struggled, the three men had a hard time holding it down.

It couldn’t be helped. It would be easy to kill the roe deer—just cut a stick and whack it behind the ears a couple of times, and that would be the end of it.

But Zhao Jun wanted to capture two of them alive and raise them until the Mid-Autumn Festival to give to his brother-in-law as a gift. After all, they were family. His brother-in-law’s business was his business.

Since they couldn’t use lethal force, they would have to wear it down slowly. Zhao Jun kept the slipknot around the roe deer’s neck, but he didn’t pull it tight, so no matter how much it struggled, it wouldn’t be strangled.

Meanwhile, Li Baoyu and Jie Chen each used ropes to tie one of the deer’s legs. Whenever the deer tried to stand, they would pull together to drag it back down.

After nearly half an hour of this repeated struggle, the exhausted roe deer lay on the ground, shaking its head and looking at Zhao Jun and the others, letting out soft “ahh, ahh” sounds.

At that moment, Zhao Jun yanked the noose, pulling its head to the left. Li Baoyu and Jie Chen also grabbed their ropes, pulling the deer’s two left legs out and forcing it onto its back with its belly up.

Then, Li Baoyu and Jie Chen rushed forward and bound all four of its hooves, and the job was finally done.

After half an hour of struggle, all three of them were covered in sweat. They sat down against a large tree to rest. Jie Chen tilted his head and rubbed his face against his shoulder to wipe away the sweat before saying to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, “Before the New Year, my brother and I butchered a pig at home. That old sow weighed over two hundred pounds, and even she wasn’t this much trouble.”

“Haha,” Li Baoyu chuckled. “A mountain beast isn’t the same as a farm animal, is it? If it weren’t for that snare today, the three of us would’ve had a hell of a time holding this one down.”

Jie Chen nodded at that, then said to Zhao Jun, “Brother Jun, you rest here. Brother Li and I will carry these two roe deer.”

Zhao Jun shook his head. “You stay here and watch them. Baoyu and I will go down and have Brother Zhang come up to help you two carry them.”

“Huh?” Jie Chen was taken aback, not understanding what Zhao Jun meant.

Zhao Jun explained, “What about our truck full of dogs? If we just carry these two roe deer down there like this, won’t that pack of dogs go crazy?

“Baoyu and I will go down, take the dogs, and head toward Brigade 24. You and Brother Zhang take these two roe deer back and lock them in our warehouse. After that, have Brother Zhang give you directions, and you can drive over to pick us up.”

Jie Chen immediately agreed. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu then got up and headed straight down the mountain slope.

When they got to the bottom of the slope and reached the truck, Zhao Jun had Zhang Yuanmin release the dogs from the truck bed. However, Little Bear, Big Fatty, White Dragon, and Black Tiger couldn’t be let loose; their leashes were just unclipped and handed to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu.

This was because these four dogs were all hunting hounds. If they suddenly ran up the slope and bit the roe deer, all their effort would be for nothing.

Then, Zhao Jun told Zhang Yuanmin about catching the roe deer and asked him to go up the mountain and help Jie Chen carry them down to be transported back to Yong’an Village.

After listening, Zhang Yuanmin stopped Zhao Jun and said, “Brother, what are you going to do with these two roe deer once you get them home?”

Zhang Yuanmin’s question caught Zhao Jun by surprise. Zhang Yuanmin continued, “Brother, these aren’t domestic animals that you can just tie up wherever you want. This thing… if you try to tie it up in the warehouse, you won’t be able to hold it.”

As soon as Zhang Yuanmin said this, Zhao Jun nodded instinctively. What Zhang Yuanmin said was true. Roe deer weren’t like sparrows, which would starve themselves to death after being caught. Nor were they like other deer, which would get so agitated they’d die of stress.

But they definitely couldn’t transport them home and just leave their hooves tied up indefinitely. And if they tried to tether them in the warehouse like livestock, the deer wouldn’t have it.

Zhao Jun could just imagine it: if those two roe deer were tied up in his warehouse, they would either break free and escape, or struggle until the rope tangled around their necks and they strangled themselves to death.

Seeing Zhao Jun’s dilemma, Zhang Yuanmin stepped forward, patted his chest, and laughed. “Don’t worry, brother! Big Brother’s here!”

“Hm?” Zhao Jun paused, then quickly asked, “Brother Zhang, what’s your idea?”

Zhang Yuanmin extended his hands, palms down. He spread them apart, then drew them down, miming a square in front of Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu. “I’ll go back and build a frame like this out of wood,” he said. “Put it over the roe deer and tie it down real tight. It won’t have room to struggle, and that’ll be that.”

“Whoa,” Zhao Jun said, his eyes lighting up. “That’ll work! Brother Zhang, you’re really something else.”

Zhang Yuanmin chuckled. “We’ve still got some hemp rope at home. I’ll even weave a couple of halters for them.”