King of the Wilderness

Then, he bent one end of the steel wire into a U-shape, and with the other hand, he wrapped the end of the wire tightly around the main line with all his strength, circle after circle.

He wound it very tightly, each loop closely touching the previous one, wrapping it seven or eight times in total, forming a coil about one centimeter long.

An unbreakable fixed ring was made at one end of the steel wire.

”This ring must be absolutely secure.” He showed this small detail to the camera.

”Because all the force will ultimately concentrate here. If it loosens, the whole trap equals zero.”

Then, he smoothly passed the other end of the steel wire through the small ring just made. A freely sliding, lethal noose was formed.

Next was the handling of the fixed end. He tied the other end of the wire tightly to a thumb-thick twig beside the passage.

He didn’t use a simple knot but a double figure-eight knot that can distribute pressure across the entire tree root, and he pulled hard until the root made a ”creaking” sound, then he nodded in satisfaction, ensuring the connection was foolproof.

He adjusted the loop of the steel lasso to about the size of an adult’s fist.

”The size of this loop is calculated.” He adjusted it while explaining in a low voice.

”The same precautions, it shouldn’t be too large, or the rabbit might pass through the middle, only touching its body but unable to catch its head.”

”Nor should it be too small, or it might alert the rabbit before it touches the loop by hitting its whiskers or ears. A fist-sized loop is the optimal size for the snowshoe rabbit’s body size in this area.”

He carefully hung the adjusted lasso in the center of the ”tunnel”.

He didn’t use any additional sticks to support it because any newly appeared object here might arouse suspicion.

He directly utilized the thin juniper branches on both sides of the passage. He very gently rested the top of the lasso on a small branch covered with snow, and used another smaller twig to lightly brace the lasso from the side to prevent it from swaying in the breeze.

Just like that, the lasso seemed to have grown naturally there, stably hanging in mid-air.

After finishing this, he started the final step, disguise.

”In the snow, the core of disguise is ’integration’.”

On both sides of the lasso, he inserted some small dead branches picked up from the ground horizontally in the snow, setting up several small ”obstacles” that looked as if they had naturally fallen and were unobtrusive.

”These small obstacles will narrow the rabbit’s path. It won’t think about why the obstacles are there; it will instinctively choose to pass through the middle, which appears to be the smoothest part, and that’s exactly where our lasso’s center is.”

He stepped back a few paces, crouched down, and lowered his line of sight to the rabbit’s level, scrutinizing his creation.

In his vision, the white lasso was almost invisible under the dimly lit bush passage.

”Although this trap is simple, it demands extremely high attention to detail.”

”Site selection, anchor point, size of the lasso, height, disguise, guidance — any mistake in these links would be seen through by the wary prey.” After finishing the last trap, he stood up and brushed the snow off his hands.

”Now, all we can do is wait. Let’s see if our new strategy can bring us a harvest in this white world.”

It was like a deadly netherworld ghost, blending seamlessly with the snow-covered branches around it, silently waiting for the opportunity to strike a fatal blow!