QUANG NAM – All night, Huynh Trong Hieu, wearing a flashlight, caught 10 kg of frogs and brought them back to his relatives, the rest sold for 180,000-250,000 VND/kg.
In the late afternoon of August, Phu Ninh district and the surrounding area were gray, with dark clouds coming to signal a thunderstorm. The two-hour rain that followed cooled the area, which had been under the heat for the past month. This is also the time when Mr. Hieu, 30 years old, residing in Tam Thai commune, went to the field to catch frogs. The tools are simply a flashlight, a bag, a raincoat, and an extra bottle of filtered water.
More than 8 pm, with light rain, Mr. Hieu drove his motorbike to the field near his house at the foot of the mountain to grow acacia wood. This area does not have irrigation ditches and relies on the natural water, so it only produces winter-spring rice, and the summer-autumn crop is abandoned. When it rains, all kinds of frogs, frogs, bullfrogs, bullfrogs, insects … compete to cry. “The old grandparents said it was not wrong, the frog died in the mouth. Where they are, they make a cry,” said Mr. Hieu.
Near the field, Mr. Hieu turned off the motorcycle lights and turned on the flashlight. Frogs hide after months of the dry season and crawl out after thunderstorms. When meeting the light, the frog’s eyes have red light spots, different from many species such as frogs, frogs, and blue-eyed toads. Seeing movement, they quickly take cover. The ones lying in one place, Mr. Hieu caught them easily, many of them dived into the water and had to use their hands to find them.
For more than 20 minutes wading through many fields full of water under his feet, Mr. Hieu caught five frogs and put them in a bag. “Looking at the simple way of catching, but not everyone can catch a lot. Some people go all night to only catch a few,” said Mr. Hieu, who works as a printer and copier repairer. At the end of this field, he moved to the fields of neighboring communes. With 10 years of catching frogs at night, the areas that often catch many men by heart.
Finishing work at 4:30 the next day, sweat soaked his shirt, white feet sick from wading, in return, Mr. Hieu caught nearly 10 kg of frogs. Bringing the frog home, he switched to a large bag to avoid death. In the morning, frogs are processed many dishes in the family, the rest is divided among relatives and sold for 180,000 VND/kg for small ones, 250,000 VND/kg for large ones.
About 10 km away from Mr. Hieu, Mr. Tran Van An, 37 years old, residing in Tam Dan commune, Phu Ninh district, also lights a lamp to catch frogs at night. From 7pm to 3am the next day, he caught more than 5 kg, weighing 1-3 kg each. “This year’s first rain of the season caught more than last year. Due to heavy rain flooding the fields, many areas have standing puddles that attract frogs,” he said.
According to Mr. An, only a few days each year, many frogs can be caught. In addition to the first rain of the season, there is one more time when the fields are harvested. Rain flooded the banks, frogs eat or breed. Late at night, frogs stick together, so they can catch both at once. After these two rains, they are isolated, and very difficult to catch.
The job of catching frogs encounters many risks, such as poisonous snakes or falling down a deep hole. People like Mr. Hieu and Mr. An don’t place much emphasis on money goals, mainly catching frogs to make food for their families and give them to their loved ones. “Frogs are only sold when they are caught in large quantities, this type is not afraid of being sold out, as much as it is sold out,” said Mr. An, adding that copper frog meat is very firm, tough, and more fragrant than farmed frogs.
The field frog has the scientific name Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, lives in wet places, near water banks in caves, bushes, swamps… They breed in spring to early summer, now widely raised in many provinces. Fort. Frogs can process many delicious dishes such as stir-fried, porridge, roasted with salt…
(According to vnexpress )