Chapter 9 9. Plain wolf den

Zeren's long scarf wrapped his head like a rice dumpling, with only his eyes exposed.He was riding a sorrel horse, leading another black horse that had just been harnessed by the noose in his hand, and ran closer.The black horse turned its head to the noose all the way, and snorted reluctantly.Zeren rolled his eyes and smiled, waved his robe sleeves to us, and asked us to park the car on the side of the nearest pastoral road.The prairie wetland looks flat, but it is actually full of swamps, water holes, dark pits, frost heave hills... Cars can't drive in. "The wolf's den is over there... It's safest to go there on horseback, it doesn't leave a human taste." Zeren was referring to the direction of the front peak of Wolf Mountain.

I glanced through the binoculars, but there was no special movement.The noon sun is projecting directly on the grassland, and somewhere under this quiet area, there are a few wild wild wolf cubs hiding. We will approach the wolf den that is raising wolf cubs.I don't know how big these little wolf cubs are, and where the big wolf is watching. Will there be a female wolf in the den?I bit my lip, a heart like a cat scratching. Tsering gave me the sorrel horse with the saddle, and he made a simple rein with a lasso around the black horse's mouth.Seeing that the dark horse is restless, Yifeng wants to help Zeren.As soon as he got behind the horse, the black horse flew up and kicked Yifeng's waist. Yifeng screamed and backed away. Zeren grabbed the horse in time and almost hit him!

"You can't walk behind the horse's ass! You will kick people to death!" Zeren was quite surprised, Yifeng's actions looked like a novice. "You can't ride a horse?" I was a little surprised, because I always thought that the tall Yifeng could do everything. "... Yes," Yifeng muttered, "You don't need a driver's license to ride a horse." Yifeng led the sorrel horse, stepped on the stirrup with his right foot, got on the horse's back only to find that it was upside down, got off the horse and changed his left foot, the rein was twisted again.Still stubborn!I suppressed my smile, took the rein and got on the horse, and helped Yifeng sit behind me.Yifeng's hands holding my arms are like holding a steering wheel.I giggled and reined in the horse's head, and followed Ze Ren to the depths of the pasture.

Soon, beside a large mound, Zeren reined in his horse lightly, and pointed to the mound without saying a word, indicating that it was there.I was taken aback. I thought I would see the wolf cave when I walked to the front peak of the Wolf Mountain. I didn't expect the wolf cave to be in the middle of such a gentle pasture, and it was so easy to find. Zeren looked around to prevent the big wolf from appearing.Yifeng patted my shoulder and drew a circle with his finger.So I reined lightly and looked around the perimeter of the mound. On the west side of the half-acre mound, there is a large piece of garbage after human picnics. There are three holes in the front and back of the mound, each of which is the size of a basketball. The holes must be connected.The tunnel is dark and long, and the situation inside can no longer be seen within a foot.On the sandy soil at the entrance of the cave, there were fresh small claw nests that crawled in and out, and there were many mandibles and leg bones of cattle and sheep scattered around, and gray-white feces were found from time to time.

We just waited and watched, not approaching the hole or touching anything.Suddenly, Yifeng squeezed my arm tightly, nodded his ears, and pointed to the tunnel to signal me to listen.I gently reined in the horse, pacified the horse's neck to silence the horse, closed my eyes and ears... "Crack... ding..." There was a sound of metal knocking.The litter of little wolves in the cave must be holding their breath and listening to the hoofbeats with their ears pricked up. Perhaps one of the little wolves was quietly shrinking into the depths of the cave, and when it touched the empty tin box it was playing with in the cave, it let out a cry. There was a slight knock.Maybe the cowardly wolf sister leaned towards the bold brother.Rusting, the sound of little paws scratching the cave wall, I vaguely felt that the little wolf cub was not crawling in the cave, but sneaking in my blood vessels, slowly and quietly arching into the ventricle, crawling to my heart. Itchy.The little hearts in the hole must also be beating "pounding...pounding...", everyone was silent, just guessing and stalemate.The creatures outside the cave were worried, while the creatures inside were anxious; those outside the cave pretended not to notice, and those inside the cave pretended not to be at home; those outside the cave were guessing whether the she-wolf was there, and those inside the cave were wondering what these people wanted to do.

Before arousing their suspicion, it's not advisable to stay for long, the three of them winked: Get out! On the way back, I kept muttering in my heart, wolves are suspicious, and I was extremely particular about choosing a nest.Generally speaking, wolves will choose steep hillsides with high views and inaccessible people. It is abnormal to build nests on plains, which does not conform to the habits of wolves.Could it be that this is a temporary stronghold for wolves on the way to move?However, the many wreckage and feces around the wolf den showed that they stayed in this cave for at least a week. Will the temporary den stay for so long?Do you still have to wait for the new house to be renovated?Or there is danger in the mountains and they have to move to the ranch... All guesses can only be answered by observation.

Yifeng and I bid farewell to Zeren, went back to the hut to get the hidden camera, and prepared to deploy surveillance around the wolf den. Yuanmu of Zeren is located in the northwest of Langshan Mountain. It is rectangular in shape, covering an area of ​​5,000 to 6,000 mu, crossing two mountains, a large river and a small island in the middle of the river.There is a grazing road on the northeast edge of Zeren Ranch, and the location of the wolf den is probably in the center of the rectangular pasture.Yifeng was driving on the pasture road, and it seemed that he could see the mound where the wolf's den was located.

Yifeng Parking suggested: "If we walk from the two ends of the ranch to the middle, it will take at least an hour's walk. Why not cut across from here, and it will take half an hour." "We are not familiar with this road! Even wolves know to walk along the old road, I don't want to wander." I said so, but I am too tired from walking in the morning, and it is a great temptation to save half an hour of physical strength , groping around, groping around, who cares, as long as there are directions on the grassland, the wolf's den is in front, and the car is parked in the back. Are you afraid of getting lost in a clear place?The foot is the road.Walk!

After walking for half an hour, I regretted it.There is a saying in the grasslands called "Looking at the mountain and running to a dead horse". This illusion of "seeming very close" itself is a fascination.The direction we chose, jumping over the mud is a water hole, bypassing the water hole is an underground river, wading through the ice water and crossing the underground river, we found that we had entered a swamp, and the two of them complained incessantly.But the road has already gone more than half, and it is difficult to turn back. It seems that the swamp is not too wide. There are piles of haystacks scattered on the swamp.We both gritted our teeth, relied on our long legs, jumped here and there, and finally finished the "plum blossom pile".By the time we got our feet on the ground, the sun was already slanting. Not only did we not save time, but we spent two more hours.It seems that the shortcut is not taken casually. It is reasonable for Zeren to take us around. When we got to the pasture where the wolf den is, we found that there are similar mounds everywhere. Which mound is the wolf? Wo, I can't find it alive or dead.

I felt faintly uneasy: "Let's evacuate today, and we will not even have the strength to go home after looking for it. We didn't bring a flashlight, and we will lose our way when it gets dark." Yifeng was not reconciled: "It must be nearby, look for another half an hour, if you can't find it, I will listen to you." Less than ten minutes after finishing speaking, the sun was sucked down by the chaotic mountain.I had a cold war, and an ominous premonition hit me. I grabbed Yifeng's hand: "The wolf's lair must be lost, call Zeren quickly, if this continues, we will be in danger!"

"It's okay, don't be afraid! Just go around this swamp and cross the river. You see, there are people if there are lights! Don't worry, with me here, you won't get lost!" I really want to save face and suffer, Yifeng stubbornly led me to the herdsman's house far away. In the dark night, the wet ground under our feet became softer and slipperier. After a while, our shoes were covered with mud, which weighed more than ten kilograms. Every step we took took a lot of effort. Didn't go far, my feet sank, swamp!The mud covered my thighs, sucking me down inch by inch at a slow and irresistible speed!I leaned back in a hurry, propped my elbows on the dry ground behind me, grabbed the hay with both hands, and stabilized my center of gravity. In the darkness, Yifeng was still wondering: "Why did you lie down?" "Help me! Swamp!" The experience of falling into the mud many times on the grassland tells us that the more we struggle, the faster we sink.Yifeng wrapped his arms around my armpits, tightened them, and dragged me back little by little.I quickly took advantage of the lubrication of the mud, and slipped my feet out of the boots. Before my bare feet were sucked by the mud, I slowly pulled up one leg after another, and my upper body crawled to the dry place bit by bit.As I was pulling away, my knee hit a large hard object in the mud, and I finally had a foothold.Stepping on it with bare feet, this big and hard thing has hair... horns... The thing under my feet slowly sank, and I finally managed to get ashore with this strength. "There's a dead yak trapped inside. If he wasn't at the bottom, I would have gone straight down." I kept shaking. The person is pulled out, and the shoes are gone.Stepping barefoot on the grass stubble gnawed by cattle and sheep hurts like stepping on nail boards.All around is the soft sound of bubbling mud.In addition, the grassland was dead silent, so quiet that the sound of blood flowing in the head could be heard.Those lights are as far away as floating stars, beyond reach.The temperature has dropped to freezing point, the moon is dark and the stars are dark, surrounded by swamps, and the wolf den is nearby... Yifeng didn't dare to be brave anymore, so he called Zeren - we were lost.There are no stars, no markers, and on the pitch-black grassland, it is impossible to even tell the exact location. Zeren happened to be driving Alto back to his Yuanmu from the county seat. When he received our call, he simply drove the car onto a small hill, looked far away, and flashed his headlights to give us a location signal.I didn't have a flashlight, so I turned on the camera's flash, half-pressed the shutter, and gave Zeren a flash signal.The two sides finally determined their position. Zeren gave directions on the phone: "Don't believe the light in the distance, it's someone's house tens of kilometers away. Don't walk in the direction of my car light. If you can't get through, it's all mud. You go back to the dry place first. In the place, look for the imprints of cow’s hooves nearby. If you find them, follow the hoof prints to the windward direction, this is the way for the yak to go home; if you find motorcycle marks, follow the car marks , This is the route of the cattle driver... If you come to the swamp river, don't move around, just wait for me." Yifeng and I walked along the route guided by Zeren, and every few steps I took, I pressed the flashing light to indicate the direction of travel.Yifeng illuminates the road with the light of his mobile phone.As he was walking, he stopped suddenly: "There is something!" He took a photo with his mobile phone. Under the dark night, a pair of faint green lights slowly moved sideways with their light tails, staring at us from more than ten meters away. Wolf? !My scalp tightened, I was afraid of something coming! "There's another one behind!" Yifeng and I leaned back against each other, holding the stick tightly in our hands, our bodies trembling slightly. Every day I hope that the wolf will not appear, but when we are in trouble, we will be blocked.In the dark swamp, I dare not run around. It's true that the weather is unfavorable, the ground is not good, and the wolves are not harmonious.Encountering a wolf protecting the nest at night, it's over! Yifeng didn't know which nerve was wrong, suddenly roared, and danced with the stick in his hand upside down.Oh my God, with his kung fu, it's fine if he doesn't dance, but when I dance, I feel even more frightened, and tremblingly said: "Don't play tricks, it will only take two seconds for a wolf to pounce on you." If I don't move, I won't move. Don't challenge me. "Ge...geg...Green?" Yifeng still had a glimmer of hope, hoping that what he met was a familiar wolf, and he staged a scene of kinship recognition that can only be found in mythology. The green eyes didn't have any friendly response, just wandering around the Tai Chi circle, surrounding us coldly like erratic will-o'-the-wisps.Is it looking for an angle of attack?The sniffing sound sucked away the remaining body temperature in me, and it was not a comfortable feeling to be sniffed by others as a supper.My sweaty forehead hair was blown by the cold wind, and the corners of my eyes were severely whipped, which stings. Beep...the sound of a car approaching.The wolf's eyes flickered, and he disappeared with a whoosh. Zeren didn't know how to go around, he had the ability to drive little Otto into the wetland in the dark, and the bright headlights shone on us, which immediately dispelled my panic, and we both rushed to the light like moths. pounce. "You are so stupid!" Zeren laughed while driving, "I saw you walking towards the wolf's den in the afternoon. Why did you go around and go astray? I thought you were going somewhere else. I didn't arrive until noon. I took you there, why don't you remember the way..." We both lowered our heads and rubbed the mud on our trousers, giggling, embarrassed to say that we took a shortcut, and even more embarrassed to say that we were scared by wolves and danced with sticks. Zeren smiled enough before consolingly said: "It's okay, I can't find my way in your city, and I will get lost even in the community. Everyone adapts to different environments." While speaking, the ground in front of the car had a reflection of muddy water, and I suddenly screamed: "Stop quickly, swamp!" "Don't worry," Ze Ren said with a smile, "I'm familiar with the grassland. The only place in this dark river is a big rock under it, which can't sink in. Don't worry if you get in my car." Early the next morning, Zeren prepared a horse for each of us, and took us to the vicinity of the wolf den again.We quietly set up three hidden cameras, facing the entrance of the cave, the sandy platform where the little wolves play, and the garbage dump where the little wolves may look for toys. On the way home, we wondered if the wolf in sheep's clothing was the parent of this litter of wolf cubs. Zeren speculated: "That wolf seeks far away and doesn't eat my sheep. Maybe it's because he lives on my pasture. Rabbits don't eat grass by the side of the nest, and old wolves don't kill sheep by the side of the nest. It's like the old wolf cave in the back mountain. It doesn’t matter if the rancher’s cattle and sheep are put at the wolf’s den, as long as the landlord doesn’t move the wolf’s den, the wolf will not touch the landlord’s sheep, as if an agreement has been reached..." "Is there a litter of wolves in the back mountain?!" "I'm talking about two years ago, the wolf's den has been taken out long ago." My heart felt as if it had been cut by an ice knife, and it was cold and painful.Seeing that we were both staring at him, Zeren knew that we wanted to know what was going on. He recalled a moment and said, “A litter of wolves moved to the mountain two years ago, and the cubs were as big as cats when they came out of the den. The wolf cubs entertained themselves on the mountain, and humans and wolves have always lived in peace. Later, the poacher wanted to dig out the wolf den, but the rancher thought the wolf was harmless, so he refused to do so. The poacher promised him some benefits , and said, don’t think that wolves don’t move your sheep now, it will be a disaster sooner or later when a litter of cubs grows up! The rancher was persuaded. So the poachers threw firecrackers into the wolf’s den, blowing up the cubs to run all over the mountain, The dizzy wolf cub couldn't run fast, so he was caught in a sack and put on a motorcycle. It is said that a wolf cub gnawed through the sack and got out, jumped out of the car desperately, and rolled down the hillside. Although the wolf cub was seriously injured It must not be far away, but the slope is too steep, and people dare not chase it down. After the big wolf returned to the den, the cub disappeared, and was anxious to howl and search everywhere. Later, someone saw the female wolf bring back the cub that was still alive The male wolf, smelling people, has been chasing to the side of the road, staring at the passing cars, and chasing after the motorcycles with things loaded on them. People can't go away with a dog stick. It's been more than two years now. The matter of the wolf nest has long been forgotten, but people in the village still occasionally see the male wolf guarding the car on the side of the road. The villagers yell at him and chase him away, thinking that he is crazy and that he is going to hurt people, but few people I know why he came. After your TV show was broadcast, some people also said that the wolf by the road was Green, because he was not afraid of people. Anyway, there are all kinds of rumors." "That's not Green." I sighed. Green had just left us two years ago. He was less than a year old, and it was impossible to have a family. But that wolf should be the wolf king of the wolf pack when Green returned.Even if the wolf king is so down and out, Green's fate is even more unpredictable. "I know." Zeren said, "so I haven't told you about it before. I have met that wolf several times, and my son Gongga saw him when the spring started. Gongga was riding a motorcycle in the When driving cattle on the pasture, I felt a stomachache, so I parked the motorcycle on the pasture, and went to the hillside to find a place to defecate. When he finished pulling and walked back, he happened to see the male wolf standing like a man, propped on his motorcycle. He said that this wolf is too stupid. The cubs that were captured must have died long ago. Even if there are still alive, they will grow up. I have become a big wolf, how could I still hide on the motorcycle. There is no need to still compete after more than two years, just have another litter..." "Gongga has never been a father, he doesn't understand." I feel sorry for the male wolf. In the hearts of parents, every child is irreplaceable. Many parents who have lost their dolls will freeze their memories of their children on the day they lost them. Whenever they see the same things, they will touch their hearts.The wolf's cub was lost for two years, and he searched for it for two years, with the impression of the children when they were young.Perhaps, he felt that those little lives were still curled up in some poacher's small box, silently waiting for rescue, as long as they heard their father's call, they would respond.Perhaps in the mind of the male wolf, his children were still little ones who could only howl and needed him to spit out food to feed. The average lifespan of wolves in the wild is only eight years. Two years of wolf life is equivalent to fourteen years of human life. It has already passed, and this wolf father has to go to the side of the road to guard.The pain of a wolf losing a child is the same as that of a man losing a child. Will someone tell him not to look for it, because if he can’t find it, even if his child survives by luck, it is already a big wolf. I sympathize with this father wolf. Why isn't our mood looking for Green like this?As long as we saw a wolf, we all thought he was Green.I really hope that the male wolf's child is still alive, even if there is only one left, I can help him find it, and tell his child, "Your father has been looking for you." I hope that one day, he really If he can find his child, maybe when his grown-up child stands in front of him, this father is already at a loss. When they finally recognize each other based on the familiar taste, will they hug each other and cry? And is there any wolf who can tell my Green, "Your mother is looking for you." "Is that picture still available?" "Uh... If Gongga didn't delete it, it should still be in his circle of friends. You can add him on WeChat later." "Did the pair of wolves take revenge on the rancher later?" Yifeng asked. "That's not true. After all, the rancher didn't participate in digging out the nest. And the mother wolf still found a cub. Although it is a disabled cub, there is always hope for this litter. The cub is a little lame and walks slowly. I didn’t realize it when I ran too fast, but I was lame. Oh, yes, he’s still deaf. When he was a kid, he was walking on my ranch. My nephew knocked the washbasin so loudly that he couldn’t hear it until he saw someone riding past. , was startled, and ran away. We all thought that this deaf and lame little wolf would not live long, but the she-wolf dragged him up. Although his ears are not good, this guy is a ghost He is very smart and often acts alone. In summer, he catches dogs (marmots) if he can’t catch up with rabbits. In winter, he can survive by picking up some dead cattle and sheep. He has suffered from people’s losses, and his vigilance is particularly high. He has been poisoned by foxes Meat has never deceived him, as long as he smells human, he will urinate as a mark, and other wolves will not eat it." The more I listened, the more surprised I became: "How do you know this wolf so well?" Ze Ren grinned: "Because he is the easiest to see, he is different from other wolves, he likes to act during the day. He is deaf and can't hear the danger, so I don't know where to recruit two eagles to follow him. He called the police, and sometimes he even vomited some meat to the eagle to ensure that the eagle would eat after him. Because the eagle doesn’t fly at night, the wolf also haunts during the day.” I have heard of guide dogs, and the first time I heard of wolves and deaf eagles, I suddenly thought: "Does that wolf have a particularly big head, a particularly thick neck, and neck hair that looks like a lion's head?" "That's right!" Ha, it turned out to be him!lion head.I met him several times, and only then did I know his life experience.I can't help but remember what Yifeng said in the zoo: "As long as you don't die, there is hope. Nothing is more terrifying than accepting fate." Wolves are like this. They preserve their strength, but they never give in. Since they are alive, they must live wonderfully. If he is strong, nothing bothers him.I suddenly felt relieved. A deaf wolf can survive, and Green will definitely not starve to death. As long as he does not die, we will always meet. Thinking of this, my mood brightens. Yifeng noticed another sentence Zeren said: "What about the fox medicine?" "It's a trick made by poachers. They wrap the poison in wax skin, paste it with suet to deodorize it, and stuff it into the meat of dead cattle and sheep. Foxes, wolves, and prairie dogs have all been poisoned to death. Especially foxes Foxes eat meat and chew it slowly, it is easy to bite through the wax skin, and once they eat it, they will surely die. Therefore, this drug poisons the most foxes to death, so it is called fox medicine. Wolves like to swallow whole. Pull it out, so there are very few wolves who are poisoned. Some wolves feel that something is wrong after eating the meat, and immediately find some regret medicine and take it and they will be fine." "Regret medicine? Is there really such a thing?" I am so rare about this thing, it is the first of the top ten magic medicines that human beings yearn for! "Yes," Ze Ren looked around, pointing to a clump of grass that didn't look good, "That's it." I got off my horse and went to pick a few plants.The stem of this wolf's regret herb is flexible, and it is not easy to cut off. The extremely fine hairs outline the edges of the slender leaves with a faint silver brilliance, and the grass juice oozing from the fracture has an unpleasant smell. Clear fragrance.The leaves are elegant, full of fairy grass style. "Can people eat it?" "can!" "Does it work?" "It works!" Thank God, I have so many regrets in my life!I was talking about the latest one, chewing down the regret medicine... The taste of grass jelly is like Flammulina velutipes, the fibers are long and stick to my teeth and I can't stop chewing... I just swallowed a little bit of it and found something bad. The leaf hangs between the throat and the surface of the tongue, unable to spit out or swallow, as if opening a passage for the bitter juice!Bitter, drive straight into the stomach.In the blink of an eye, tears and snot poured down my nose, and I lay down on the haystack, scratching my stomach... I couldn't keep the overnight meal!I wish I could pull out that bitter tongue and throw it away! I wondered why the panacea could bring the dead back to life. Didn't the wolf use a bitter trick to force the stomach to lavage.However, on the grassland dinner table where poachers are hard to guard against, this "regret medicine" is indeed a must-have medicine for wolves to rinse their mouths after meals and travel at home! After pouring out the bitter water, I climbed back onto the horse with a pale face.Yifeng and Zeren laughed so hard that they couldn't hold their horses, and Yifeng gloated: "I regret whether the medicine is good or not, does it work?" I will make him regret it! Before parting, Zeren left his horse for us to use. It is said that this horse is already sixteen years old. That's fine. The old horse knows the way, so you don't have to worry about getting lost again." Under normal circumstances, the battery of the hidden camera can last for three to seven days of shooting, but I couldn't bear it on the second day. After all, it was the first time to deploy and control the wolf's den. I wondered whether the camera would be trampled by cattle and sheep. Arrived?Will it be discovered by wolves?Will there be no electricity?Yifeng couldn't bear my nagging, so he found a job for me, and set up a cannon barrel telephoto lens on the hillside outside the hut, so that I could learn to focus, shoot, and observe the movement of the grassland at the same time. I went to practice horseback riding myself. No matter how long the focal length is on the grassland, it is too short.The cannon can be regarded as a magic weapon for hunting wolves. It can see the yawning dogs in Zeren’s yard thousands of meters away, but the range of targets it locks on is very small, and it is not easy to focus. It takes at least half a day to scan the entire pasture. On the first day, I found a miracle in the camera - there was an elephant lying on the pasture, I dragged Yifeng bluffing, adjusted the picture and saw that it was a sand mound, and the shape of the mound was indeed like an elephant. Elephants have noses and eyes. "Call me after you see clearly, where is the elephant on the plateau, use your brain." Yifeng said. The next day, I opened my mouth again in front of the camera: "This time it's... crocodile, crocodile, can you see it?" "Funny." Yifeng ignored me. "T-really, he's still moving, his feet are crawling." "what?" After being verified again, the "crocodile" in my eyes is actually a circle of rock piles half surrounded by the sandy platform at the entrance of the marmot cave. The feet are two marmots protruding from the hole. They arched and grazed while watching, which made me feel that the crocodile was crawling. "Why do you see so many weird things?" Yifeng took pictures of "crocodile" and "elephant" as a joke, but even he had to admit that it was too similar. In those few days, God seemed to be playing tricks on me on purpose. I often saw strange-shaped things in the camera, and Yifeng felt that if I continued watching, my brain would burn out.Before Yifeng completely lost confidence in my vision, I really let me trap a wolf on the fourth morning. At that time, the wolf was huddled in ambush in the grass.It was impossible for me to spot him. I just saw Zeren’s son Gongga drive out the flock of sheep through the binoculars, so I wanted to see how the little shepherd tended the sheep, and turned around to show Zeren my “clairvoyance”.Gongga came out with his newlywed daughter-in-law. The two of them led the horse side by side and picked flowers and hairpins. They were a sweet grassland couple.I didn't have the nerve to look again, and when I moved away from the camera, I accidentally caught a pair of pointed ears. Good guy, this wolf stared at the Gongga couple, motionless, much more focused than me. The shepherd in love walked away, but the sheep were getting closer and closer to the wolf.The wolf buried his head and crawled forward, but the sheep hadn't found him yet.Gongga covered his face with a felt hat and dozed off in the warm sun.The new daughter-in-law was lying on the grass, seemingly playing with her mobile phone, and the horse grazing on the side just blocked their sight. "It's a wolf, you finally got it right." Yifeng adjusted the focus manually. "He seems to be eyeing Zeren's sheep. Do you want to tell Zeren?" Although I said this, I didn't want to interfere with the wolf's hunting. On the one hand, there was a friend's sheep and on the other, a hungry wolf. Herdsmen and wolves have been competing for rations for generations. Yifeng understands my entanglement: "Give the wolf a chance, I told him at Zeren's side, buy him a flock of sheep, and the wolves will count on us if they eat them." The flock is still grazing, and the wolf has locked on a half-big sheep that is alone on the fringe of the flock.The wolf gathers its hind legs, raises its shoulder blades, protrudes its head and neck low, and its back is tensed like a bowstring. He adjusts all parts of his body into elastic arcs, minimizing the sound of movement. "Be careful with the dog stick..." I sweated for the wolf. "Dog stick", as the name suggests, was originally used by herdsmen to beat dogs for self-defense because of the ferocity of wild dogs in Tibetan areas.Since guns and knives were controlled, the dog stick has become a mainstream weapon of destruction. Almost every herdsman on the grassland has a dog stick, which is a sharp weapon for killing wolves and beating dogs.A few days ago, Gongga showed off his dog stick to me.It was a square pig iron rod about a foot long, with a thick end and a thin end. At first glance, it looked like a red-hot weight that was stretched and thinned.The thick end of the dog stick is about five centimeters in diameter, and the end is curved and protrudes four sharp corners; the thin end of the dog stick is about one centimeter in diameter, with a perforated hole, and a four- to five-meter-long leather rope is tied.This leather rope is also very particular. It must be taken from the most resilient skin of the cow's neck, and carefully braided to make a cowhide rope.The cowhide rope is soft and light, and can be rolled into a small ball and stuffed into the arms with the dog stick; the cowhide rope is tough, and it is not easy to break even if it is bitten by the dog.As long as the herdsmen hold the cowhide rope and swing the dog stick like a meteor hammer, even the brains of the yak can be smashed out by one guy. When I think of the lethality of the dog stick, I get chills. Now this wolf is picking sheep under the eyes of Gongga. Once it is found... it will die!Yifeng and I didn't dare to breathe, as if we were hunting like wolves. The lone sheep is getting closer to the wolf... Suddenly, the wolf shot out, grabbed the sheep by the neck, shook its head, and threw the sheep into the grass pit.The wolf pressed on the sheep and did not move. A sheep's hoof kicked a few times on the grass, and then it softened.The sheep next to him looked suspiciously, lowered their heads and continued to graze, without noticing that a companion was missing.The sheep stopped struggling. The wolf quickly cut open the belly of the sheep, discarded the intestines, threw the sheep with only clean meat on its back, and walked away.Only then did the other sheep discover the wolf, but the sheep did not panic after running two steps, because they saw that the wolf had already had food. This wolf is agile enough, I secretly praise it in my heart.The wolf ran for a certain distance with the sheep in its mouth, climbed over a fence, put down the sheep to take a breath, and looked back.The shepherd turned over, still dreaming.The wolf slumped back to urinate—oh, it's a she-wolf, then it's not Green.I thought to myself, she must have choked up her pee after lying in ambush for a long time.I moved the camera slightly and continued to lock on to the wolf to see where she was going.Just at the critical moment, the camera went dark, and the nearby cow dung pile blocked the view, and the chain fell off at the critical moment!I hurriedly set up the telescope to a higher place, but when I searched again, I couldn't find it.But I was still excited, because the mother wolf must have such a big sheep back to feed the cubs, and the camera in front of the wolf den can definitely capture the picture of the mother wolf returning to the den to feed the cubs! The next morning, no one can hold me down anymore, take the camera!Yifeng set up a binoculars and stood guard on the hillside to guide the way. I plugged in the headset of the walkie-talkie and followed Yifeng's guidance to jump over the swamp and head straight for the wolf den. "I don't see any wolves nearby, so go ahead and kill me, I'm the queen." I always feel that Yifeng's words are a little tricky, but now I don't have time to argue.The closer I got to the wolf's den, the tighter my nerves became, and I looked around and walked erratically. "No wolf, don't worry, I'm optimistic about you." Yifeng gave me a tranquilizer in the earphone again. I took a deep breath, and I could already see the No. 1 camera on the uplift of the mound. This camera was facing the garbage dump where the little wolf played.When deploying control a few days ago, since there were no trees or fulcrums on the grassland where the camera could be installed, we took a wrist-thick wooden stick and pressed it deep into the frozen soil, leaving only a half-meter-high pile head exposed to fix the camera.But now the wooden stick is broken, the camera is hanging on it, and the frozen soil under the wooden stick is shaken to form a deep cone-shaped hole.The No. 1 camera was destroyed, and my heart sank and turned to joy. It was probably done by wolves. Then this machine may have captured close-ups of wolves. If wolves have bitten the lens, maybe even tooth decay can be clearly photographed. !I gently tiptoed to the edge of the mound and stretched my neck to have a look. Fortunately, the other two cameras hidden on the ground were still there. It seemed that the wolf did not destroy the two machines.I feel more at ease, one of the three camera positions will always capture the wolf! I quietly approached the wolf den, quickly retrieved the memory card in the camera, replaced it with a new battery and card, and rearranged the camera position.leave! As soon as I got back to the hut, I first exported the shooting data of the No. 1 camera. From the deployment of the camera five days ago to the retraction of the camera today, what happened near the wolf den?The two stared at the computer, most curious about how the wolf disassembled the machine.You must know that the wooden stick is made of peach wood, which is harder than an iron stick. I once wanted to shorten it to make a crutch, but it couldn't be cut with a knife or an axe. A big hole spun out of the permafrost, why is the wolf so mighty? The green copy timeline has just finished, we quickly turned on the video and waited for the picture of the wolf gnawing on the camera to appear. The camera is shaking... long hair?Mater?Big nostrils?Cattle!A large group of yaks dangled in front of the camera, grinding their horns and rubbing itches.There are no trees or big rocks on the grassland. It is really a "benefit project" to stick such a strong pile there like a sea god's needle. The yaks rub their skin to their heart's content, eager to wipe off all the lice in the long-haired li.Tossing until the evening, click, the stick finally broke.After the hard-fated camera kept filming the cow's head and cow's waist, the power also ran out.The No. 1 seat, which we placed our greatest hopes on, did not take pictures except the tickling cow. "Damn! Cow...?" I couldn't tell whether Yifeng was cursing someone or a cow. If I hadn't seen that the wolf den was safe and sound when I took the camera, now that I see the cows raging, I really worry that the wolf den will be trampled. "Don't worry, there are still two machines." I cheered up Yifeng, and then exported the data of the second camera. This camera is facing the entrance of the wolf cave. Turning on the video, the two were dumbfounded, and the picture was blurred!Since the camera is installed close to the ground, the water vapor from the wetland sneaks into the machine, and the lens is completely covered with water mist.It is really difficult to install a camera on the bare grassland. If it is high, it will be rubbed by cattle, and if it is low, it will be flooded. No. 3 was also at a low camera position, and the situation was similar: the videos in the first two days were also blurry, but at noon on the third day, the sun was so strong that it dried the mist from the lens, and the picture gradually became clearer.I was rejoicing, but saw an unexpected visitor coming to the wolf den—a big fox.The fox wandered around the wolf's den, sniffing the ground and stopping.Oops!The fox seemed to have noticed the little wolf's breath, and raised its nose to explore the hole.My heart skipped a beat, I didn't know if the female wolf was in the den, once the fox got into the hole, it would be a catastrophe for the wolf cubs. The fox moved vigilantly and scrupulously, tilted his head to listen with his big ears, and stood guard at the entrance of the cave to look around.Yifeng and I stared at the camera, eagerly looking forward to the big wolf coming back to protect our family and children.However, the big wolf did not appear, but the fox's head stretched out to the entrance of the cave again.I was so anxious to slide the mouse, I couldn't use the mouse to drag the fox into the recycle bin. "Hey—" the fox yelled at the entrance of the cave.Before I could recover, a group of golden things popped out of the hole, with big ears and a small sharp mouth!机灵眼睛，细长腿儿！ “小狐狸？！”我和亦风惊喜得叫了起来，“哟，两只、三只！四只！！哎呀，这居然是个狐狸窝！”是了是了，狐狸才喜欢在平原筑巢，垃圾堆附近老鼠多，正是狐狸钟爱的食物，我早咋没想到呢。 两人凝固的神经顿时被小狐狸萌化了。这些小家伙在土丘上嬉戏打闹，缠着狐狸妈妈要吃的！有一只小狐狸发现了藏在垃圾堆里的摄像机，吧嗒着小眼儿瞅瞅嗅嗅，还有一只小狐狸可能憋屈得太久了，一出洞就撒着欢儿往远处跑，狐狸妈妈急忙追撵过去，把这小淘气押送回家。 四只小狐狸约莫两个月大，两雌两雄。一身橘红的绒毛，唯独尾巴尖是白色的，他们还没长出蓬松的大尾巴，远远看去和小狼崽差不多，难怪泽仁会看错。我们一心寻狼，尽管对这“狼窝”选址起过疑心，可是我们看见洞前的残骨粪便却没往深里想——狐狸粪也是灰白色的。现在回想起来，困在沼泽地那天晚上，把我们吓丢魂的那两双绿眼睛大概也是狐狸吧。 虽然这次找到的不是狼窝，但发现一窝狐狸也是意外收获。狐狸在草原生物链中是仅次于狼的掠食者，既然狼的线索暂时断在狐狸窝前了，我们自然而然地留意起了这窝狐狸。 小萌狐们一天天长大。我们跟踪记录了这一家子的生活。 白天，小狐狸们都躲在洞里，狐狸妈妈凌晨四五点就外出觅食。她先啃吃一点腐肉为即将开始的辛劳积攒能量。到太阳出来，啮齿动物开始活动，她便满草场搜捕鼠兔。露水沾湿了她的皮毛，显得凌乱芜杂，她身形瘦削，不知是曾经受过伤还是有点皮肤病，她的右侧肋部有巴掌大的一块秃斑，“狐媚”这个词并不适合她。 这是个能干的妈妈，每抓到一只草原鼠或者鼠兔，便把猎物咬死就地藏起来，再去寻找下一只，攒够四五只以后，她原路返回，逐一把前面藏的猎物都叼起来，塞了满嘴的食物回窝。每次回家，狐狸妈妈都要反复确定周围安全，才呼唤孩儿们出来放风。新鲜鼠兔是小家伙们最爱吃的，四个小家伙你争我夺，最健壮的小狐狸能抢到最肥美的鼠兔。两月龄的小狐狸食量不大，玩心大，吃上几口就开始嬉戏起来，看来狐狸妈妈从未让他们挨过饿。即使孩儿们有剩食，狐狸妈妈也舍不得自己吃，她用鼻子把食物拱到最瘦小的狐妹妹面前，仿佛鼓励妹妹：宝贝，多吃一点才能像哥哥姐姐一样壮哦。 填饱肚子的小狐狸们喜欢叼来垃圾堆里的空罐头盒抢着玩，就像人类的小孩玩皮球一样。他们会追扑兄弟姐妹的白尾巴尖，练习伏击猎物。摔跤和追逐是他们常玩的游戏，在这种点到为止的较量中，狐姐和狐哥成了“孩子王”。狐狸妈妈坐在土丘高处放哨，时不时低头看看她可爱的孩子们，目光分外温柔。 虽然我们的摄像机架设得很明显，但是狐狸妈妈适应了一段时间后，并不介意这怪东西立在家门口，小狐狸们对摄像机就更不设防了，时常用尾巴轻柔地扫过画面，滴溜着大眼睛杵在镜头前照来照去，自拍似的留下一张张锥子脸。每当这时，亦风总会疼爱地笑骂道：“这些小狐狸精。” 最让小狐狸们眼馋的就是隔壁土丘的旱獭。每当旱獭露头，小狐狸们便跃跃欲试，不过白天狐狸妈妈不许他们离开家。小狐狸们玩半小时左右就累了，等宝贝们进洞睡觉，狐狸妈妈继续外出觅食。她每天奔波于牧场和窝之间，很少有休息的时候。 夜晚是生存训练的时间，狐狸妈妈会带着孩子们到附近的旱獭洞一试身手。狐哥敢大着胆子往旱獭洞里钻，但狐小妹畏惧旱獭的尖牙利爪，刚钻进半个身子，一听见旱獭威胁的叫声就忙不迭地缩出洞来。 我每天一早喂完炉旺，便架着长焦扫视草原，希望能像上次一样发现一匹狼，但那样好的运气再没有降临。 四月进入了下旬，草发芽了，小黄花开了，旱獭兔子越来越多了，狼却仿佛从草原上消失了。