As soon as Zhang Zian turned around, he saw something moving at the edge of his field of vision in the mist.
He put down the canteen, picked up the binoculars, and adjusted the focus. When his field of vision became clear, he saw the thing move again. It was a pair of smart ears.
Looking down, he saw a pair of moist eyes under the cover of the leaves, looking in his direction vigilantly.
"Oh my … It really attracted the deer?" Richard murmured, staring at the small jar on his waist in awe. "This doesn't make sense!"
The elfins were also shocked. They couldn't imagine how such an ordinary little jar could have so much magic.
Zhang Zian knew that if he deliberately hid it now, he would probably arouse the public's anger. He untied the small jar from his waist and put it on a clean stone by the stream. After a morning's trek, the jar was much lighter.
The elfins curiously gathered around, and their noses moved closer to smell it carefully. They said in confusion, "Why does it smell like … salt?"
Zhang Zian unscrewed the cap and revealed the mystery.
"Yes, it's salt, the cheapest salt you can buy in the supermarket. And this jar is just the most common seasoning bottle. The hole in the cap can appear if you twist it, but it's blocked again. "He turned the cap over to show them the internal structure of the cap.
How could a seasoning bottle filled with salt attract a deer?
If this really was Aladdin's magic lamp, perhaps everyone would accept it more …
Zhang Zian raised the binoculars and looked again. The deer was still there.
"This is a unique method of hunting deer in the northeast of China. I don't know if other countries have it, but at least the United States doesn't. Americans generally hunt deer for the fun of hunting deer. Shooting with a gun is relatively simple and crude, but it also lacks some wisdom and ingenuity," he explained to the elfins.
If cats were creatures that didn't touch a grain of salt, then deer were creatures that loved salt. This was all because of their unique physiological structure and habits.
Cats were pure carnivores. The mice and other small animals they ate contained salt in their bodies, and their bodies basically did not lose salt through sweating. In addition, their kidneys were not good at excreting salt, so they did not need to replenish salt.
Deer were pure herbivores. Plants didn't contain salt, and salt was a necessity for them to survive, so they had to find ways to replenish the salt in their bodies.
What if they didn't have salt? He needed to find salt. Not only did they hunt for water and grass, but they also hunted for salt.
Not only deer, but goats, yaks, and other animals also liked to eat salt. However, deer loved to eat salt the most. They could even smell salt from afar and would go to great lengths to eat salt.
Everyone who worked in cattle farms, deer farms, and sheep farms knew that there would be salt bricks in these farms for the cows, deer, and sheep to lick the salt.
Zhang Zian's approach was very simple. He took advantage of the deer's obsession with salt and filled the seasoning bottle with salt. This kind of seasoning bottle would leak out of the holes when you hit the bottom of the bottle with your hand. He hung it around his waist, and as he walked, salt particles would constantly leak out of the seasoning bottle. The speed of the leakage was very slow, but it was enough to form a continuous trail of salt.
If a deer smelled salt, it would definitely follow the smell and lick the salt on the ground.
The deer's walking speed in the forest was certainly much faster than Zhang Zian's. Even if they were licking salt while walking, they would quickly catch up with him.
Old hunters in northeast China used this method to hunt deer before liberation. Of course, salt was very expensive in the past, and they didn't want to waste it. So they would first look for saline-alkali land in the forest, and then ambush around the saline-alkali land, waiting for the deer to lick the salt frost. It might take two or three days, but for the survival of the family, the wait was worth it.
If he couldn't find a saline-alkali land in the forest, he might have to create a saline-alkali land artificially. For example, he could grind rock salt and sprinkle it on an open space. Then, he could bury pits, traps, and other traps in the path that he had to pass through.
Deer were very alert and had extremely sensitive hearing. Often, they could hear the sound of humans walking from a kilometer away and avoid them. This was why, although there were quite a lot of deer in the national park, tourists and hikers rarely saw them.
Zhang Zian knew that he would have to deal with deer on this trip to the United States, but if it was difficult to even see a deer, how could he carry out an investigation?
He searched online and found this traditional deer hunting method in China. It was simple and efficient. Even if he failed, he wouldn't lose anything. So when he came to the United States, he bought salt and seasoning bottles in the supermarket. When Famous smelled the deer, he took them out and tried it. It turned out that he was lucky enough to succeed.
This method was the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient working people in China. It was definitely feasible. Zhang Zian wasn't sure before, because there was no sea next to the mountains and forests in northeast China. To the west of the Mahogany Forest was the Pacific Ocean. Would the deer here lack salt? If they wanted to eat salt, they could go to the beach and lick it.
He had thought about this problem. Although seawater contained a lot of salt, the composition of seawater was very complicated. Not only did it contain sodium chloride, but it also contained potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, and calcium chloride. The deer might not be willing to leave the forest and go to the open sea to drink the salty seawater. It tasted bad, and there was the risk of being exposed to the guns of hunters. The temptation of refined salt was not something that could be completely replaced by seawater. They preferred to eat salt in the forest.
It turned out that his judgment was correct. The salt and seasoning bottles that he bought with a few dollars worked perfectly.
After listening to his explanation, the elfins had mixed feelings.
"People die for wealth, birds die for food, and the deer … actually fell for salt," Richard sighed. It was rare for him to be serious. "We can't let the hunters in the United States know about this. Otherwise, the deer will be in trouble!"
"I think that when a cliff is a thousand feet high, it is hard to be without desire. Because of desire, there is a weakness." Old Time Tea realized some philosophy.
In fact, it didn't matter. Whether it was the nature reserves in China or the forest parks in the United States, deer hunting was banned. Even if this method was spread, it would only be a chance for tourists and hikers to feast their eyes.
As for poachers … China's poachers all knew this method. American poachers only hunted a few deer sporadically to satisfy their desire to track and kill. They wouldn't use such an unexciting and challenging method to hunt deer.
"What do we do now?" Old Time Tea thought that Zhang Zian was going to stop and study the deer.
Zhang Zian shook his head and continued to pack. "Let's keep going. Don't worry about them. Let them know that we mean them no harm. Then they will be more courageous."
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