CHAPTER 323: CHAPTER 323: ANGLO MINK AND EAGLE

Reya led everyone to the severely rabbit-damaged area in her vineyard.

Only upon arrival here did Chen Yiyang truly understand why Reya was about to be driven crazy by the rabbits.

Because in this vineyard, beneath the ground, there were numerous burrows dug by rabbits leading underground everywhere.

If you’re not careful while walking, you might easily step into a rabbit hole and trip.

"The problem is this severe, and France still doesn’t allow large-scale rabbit culling?" Chen Yiyang was puzzled.

"Oh, heavens." Pierre glanced at Chen Yiyang and then said, "In France, you’d rather cause a drunken scene at the police station than mess with the animal protection folks."

"Alright then." With the mention of the animal protection association, Chen Yiyang immediately understood why.

If you offend the police, you can at least deal with them in court.

But if you offend people from the animal protection association, you’d probably lose your job and be ostracized from civilized society.

While Chen Yiyang and Pierre were talking, several seasoned hunters identified the area with the most rabbits.

Then, the group surrounded this area with a curtain.

After that, they released the Anglo Mink they brought into the rabbit holes.

At this time, the rabbits were all hiding in the extensive underground burrows, so to catch them, they first needed to be scared out.

Fortunately, the Anglo Mink is the natural enemy of rabbits.

Once the Anglo Mink went into the hole, a rabbit quickly emerged, terrified, and started sprinting towards the distance.

But the rabbit didn’t get far before being stopped by the curtain and captured by the group.

Chen Yiyang took a closer look at this rabbit.

It was really damn plump, both fat and large.

If you were to cut it into pieces, add a splash of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cook it on high heat for ten minutes, then simmer for thirty minutes, and finally sprinkle a bit of white pepper and stir-fry for a minute before serving.

How delicious it would be.

But because of the animal protection association, you couldn’t eat these rabbit meats.

Chen Yiyang could only watch as this fat rabbit was placed into a cage.

After today’s hunting event ended, these rabbits had to be driven to the wild and released.

I don’t even know if these rabbits have a sense of direction or if they will return.

But given the rabbits’ reproductive rates, even if they don’t return on their own, in a few years, their descendants might number in the hundreds in the wild, and eventually, one will make its way back to this vineyard to breed again.

What a situation.

The rabbit hunt continued.

Some fast rabbits, once out of the burrow, directly darted past the curtain towards the outside of the vineyard.

At this point, it was the falcons in the hunters’ hands that took action.

With a simple gesture by the falconer, the falcons swiftly launched into the air.

In no time, they had locked onto the fleeing rabbits and dived down to capture them tightly.

Once the rabbits were caught, the falconers would walk over, take the rabbit from the falcon, and reward the falcon.

The hunting continued like this until evening.

Everyone worked efficiently, catching over thirty rabbits in a day.

Of course, these rabbits were just a fraction of the ones hiding in the vineyard.

But traditional hunting methods could only accomplish so much.

"Can’t we use guns?" Chen Yiyang vented, a bit exasperated.

"For larger vineyards, if they’re lucky enough with their applications, they can request a batch of gun-licensed hunters from the hunters’ association to hunt rabbits," Pierre said beside him, "However, getting such applications approved is quite difficult, and even if approved, it’s quite costly."

"Why, if it’s legal hunting, wouldn’t many people be willing to help?"

"Having these people help doesn’t require money, but you have to feed them. Organizing a gun hunt requires at least dozens of people."

Pierre explained to Chen Yiyang how gun hunting in France works.

For safety reasons, hunters would first surround any area with rabbits.

Each armed hunter would be assigned a small area to guard, and they could only shoot if a rabbit entered their designated area.

Moreover, these hunters couldn’t move and had to stay where they were.

When those without guns used Anglo Minks and hounds to drive out the rabbits, they could only shoot if a rabbit ran into their guarded area.

"I participated in such an event once," Pierre said from the sidelines, "stood all day in the sun and ended up taking just one shot. That shot missed the rabbit, and it was taken down by someone else afterward."

Imagining the scene Pierre described, Chen Yiyang thought that catching rabbits using Anglo Minks and falcons seemed more interesting.

At least you could admire the agile movements of the falcons capturing the rabbits.

In the evening, after releasing the caught rabbits into the wild, everyone gathered for a meal at Reya’s vineyard.

"This is wine produced from my family’s vineyard, have a taste."

The French middle-aged man, who had brought his daughter to catch rabbits, was named Gabriel.

He was considered an elder of Reya and also managed his own wine vineyard.

"I really appreciate Uncle Gabriel today." After thanking Gabriel, Reya took the initiative to introduce Chen Yiyang to him.

"Are you here in Paris as a tourist, being from Huaxia?" Gabriel asked.

"No, I’m here to promote the caviar produced by my family."

"I like eating that stuff too." Gabriel casually replied to Chen Yiyang.

"But I probably can’t afford it anymore."

"What, is your business not doing well this year?" Reya asked with concern from the side.

"Yes," Gabriel replied, "Right now, the low-end wine business in France is struggling, but high-end wine business doesn’t really depend on quality. You need a gimmick, something that makes people want to buy your wine.

I’m currently trying to connect with friends I know in the food association, hoping to link the wines produced by me and several nearby vineyards to some French dining options, so at least there will be some sales."

Upon hearing Gabriel mention having friends in the food association, Chen Yiyang was about to say something.

But he suddenly froze.

He felt like he was neglecting something.

Yet, he couldn’t quite figure it out at the moment.

However, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to make acquaintances.

Although these vineyard owners don’t make a lot of money, their social standing is certainly high.

Chen Yiyang proactively exchanged contact information with him.