allendalepharm Chapter 19 The Bison's Eastward Retreat
Chapter 19 The Bison's Eastward Retreat
The wind direction on the top of the mound changed.
It didn't change completely, but it shifted by about twenty degrees, from due north to northeast.
Chen Fei pushed his nose towards the old territory, separating the different components of his breath.
The scent of the dark brown bristles was more than 30% stronger than yesterday.
It wasn't that it got closer; rather, it rubbed itself repeatedly at the marker, deliberately intensifying its scent. This was a deliberate declaration, distinct from the faint scent left during exploration, more akin to a statement—I'm here, and I know you're here too.
Chen Fei mentally translated the signal.
The pace of the two giants is accelerating.
The past few days have been a period of probing, advancing a little, then pausing to observe the other side's reaction. But judging from the gas concentration this morning, the intervals between pauses are shortening, and the intention to advance is becoming increasingly clear.
The window of opportunity has a maximum of seven days left, an optimistic estimate.
He kept that number to himself and reassessed his current situation.
Energy points: 483, 17 points short. The threshold for heat flow coverage in the limbs is stuck there, and I just can't get past it.
The bison herd on the isolated island originally numbered a little over fifteen, but the lame one has already been hunted, as has the old cow.
The remaining targets are mainly strong and healthy cattle and calves, which are not easy to hunt, but they are not without targets.
The problem is the window.
He got up from the mound and walked towards the grassy area to the east.
The wind blew from the east, carrying a mixed scent: the first layer was the raw smell of grass, the second the morning dew, and the third...
wrong.
The smell of bison dung on the third layer was almost twice as strong as usual, and its direction had shifted. It wasn't drifting from the center of the eastern grassland, but rather pressing in from a more eastern position, as if the entire herd of bison had retreated to the east.
Chen Fei stopped at the edge of the grass and sniffed the ground.
Yesterday, the hoofprints of the bison herd were concentrated in the middle section of the eastern grassland.
Today, the source of the scent has retreated to the eastern edge; further east lies the boundary of the isolated island, near the reed beds close to the river.
He mentally went through the whole thing.
Bison herds do not retreat eastward en masse without a reason; such mass migrations usually have two causes.
The two factors are water source and external pressure.
There is no additional water source on the island, so the pressure comes from external sources.
The external pressure is most likely coming from the west.
It's possible that the scent from the direction of the old territory caused stress to the bison herd, or it's possible that the leopard's nocturnal range expanded yesterday, driving the bison herd out from the west.
But the result was the same: the bison herd moved eastward, and the food pressure on the eastern side of the island increased sharply, making the already limited hunting window even narrower.
Chen Fei reviewed the seven-day figure again and adjusted it down by two days.
Five days!
...
There was movement under the acacia tree.
To be precise, something rolled across the grass under the acacia tree with a thud, followed by a series of rapid snorting sounds and a few indistinct low hums.
Chen Fei turned his head and shifted his gaze in that direction.
Big Head was lying face down on the grass, his four legs curled up under his body, his eyes half-closed, his ears pressed against his scalp, and a thin trail of drool at the corner of his mouth. His expression was one of complete relaxation, typical of deep sleep.
There was a shallow indentation on the ground next to him, where he had rolled out.
As the bison herds migrate eastward, the vibrations from their hooves pounding the ground travel along the soil, creating a low-frequency, continuous tremor on the grassland.
Chen Fei pressed his foot on the ground and felt it. The frequency was not high, but the range was wide, and the entire grass was trembling slightly.
This vibration has a scare-away effect on sleeping animals. Big Head wasn't driven away; he just rolled around on the grass and moved to a lower spot to continue sleeping.
Chen Fei silently turned his gaze away.
The eastward migration of bison herds follows a fixed transmission mechanism in the animal kingdom.
Once the lead cow makes a directional judgment, the two cows next to it will follow, and then the whole herd will follow. No cow will stand alone to assess the risk, because group action itself is a guarantee of individual safety; being alone is the real danger.
This logic has a name in human decision-making: the herd effect. But in a bison herd, it's not a cognitive bias; it's a survival rule.
Chen Fei used this logic to deduce today's hunting window.
The fact that the lead cow is pushing the herd eastward indicates that it has determined there is danger to the west and will not turn back in the near future.
The eastern section is close to the reed belt, and the terrain is complex. Bison herds will stop at the edge of the reed belt because there is the smell of crocodiles in the reed belt, which is another danger from the direction.
In other words, the bison herds today would be sandwiched between the eastern grasslands and reed belts, with higher density and less space to move, which would actually be a usable condition for hunting.
The prerequisite is that we must make a move today.
Tomorrow, the bison herd will still be in a state of stress, and the day after tomorrow, the atmosphere between the two giants will be even stronger. The further we go, the smaller the window of opportunity will become.
He mentally circled the target of this hunt.
Calf, not cow, is the most reasonable option today because cows are too heavy and chasing them would be too exhausting. Calf is more likely to get separated from the herd at the edge of the reeds.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 488↑]
Within five days, you must find a high-quality hunting opportunity to push your energy points over 500.
Sel walked back from the eastern grassland, a little blood on his lips, presumably from checking on the bison herd's movements.
She sat down next to Chen Fei, tilted her head slightly, and pointed her gaze toward the reeds to the east.
Chen Fei followed her gaze.
At the edge of the reeds, the bison herd had huddled together, with several cows sandwiching their calves in the middle, standing close together with their horns facing outwards in a defensive formation. The lead bull was on the outermost circle, its head lowered and its hooves pawing the ground.
The tighter the defensive formation, the stronger the stress response.
Chen Fei mentally reviewed today's hunting plan again, adding a condition: the real window of opportunity would be when the stress level dropped and the bison herd relaxed to the point of scattering to forage.
Now is not the time.
He stood up again, intending to walk around the isolated island and take in the atmosphere of the borderlands.
He stopped when he reached the western shrubbery.
The scent of a leopard could be heard in the bushes, which was normal; the leopard's hideout was right here, and it had been there for two weeks, always coming and going from the same spot.
But the smell is a little off today.
The concentration of the scent is correct, the quantity hasn't changed, but the direction is off. It's not drifting outward from inside the bushes, but rather concentrated and pushed outward from a point on the edge of the bushes, as if something has lingered at that point for quite some time, pressing the scent very deeply.
The direction of that point is directly opposite the location where the bison herd stopped after moving east.
Chen Fei lowered his nose and sniffed around the outer edge of the bushes, roughly reconstructing the leopard's activity trajectory for the day.
The leopard left the bushes last night, moved nearly thirty meters to the east, lingered for a while at the edge of a patch of grass with an open view, and then retreated.
It wasn't foraging; it was observing.
The object of observation is most likely a herd of bison.
Chen Fei stood there for a few seconds, going over the matter in his mind.
A leopard's success rate in hunting calves alone is not high, but it is not impossible, especially when the buffalo herd is under stress and their attention is focused on the outer perimeter. If the calves are slightly separated from the herd, it will create an opening.
The problem is that if the leopard makes its move tonight, it could raise the stress levels of the entire herd of bison again, effectively closing off tomorrow's hunting window.
He glanced again toward the bushes. The leopard's breathing was steady; it should still be lying there, showing no unusual movement.
But the scent lingers at that point, indicating that it hasn't given up on this direction.
Things might change tonight.
The wind pushed in from the west, pressing the scent of the old territory behind, with the faint aroma of dark brown mane mixed in, neither too close nor too far away.
Chen Fei reorganized all the conditions and came to a conclusion.
The hunt must be completed before nightfall tomorrow.