Laika padded swiftly through Dawnlark Plains, eyes darting from place to place. There was sure to be some sort of prey near here, so she kept looking. In the distance, the ash covered landscape of Redtail Rise stretched out in the distance, it's magnificent an landforms looming up to the sky. Her head turned to sniff at the earth. There!
The scent of a pheasant made her heart leap. Finally! Her body instinctively dropped into a hunter's crouch, slinking her way along the scent trail. The scent was not stale, but it was not at it's freshest, so Laika knew it would be a ways away, after a while of weaving through the plains, Laika's speckled eyes spotted the bird. Her tail quivered as adrenaline rushed through her body and her head lowered.
The bird was pecking innocently at the ground, looking for whatever seemed appealing to it. Laika slunk forward on swift paws as she got closer and closer, making sure to stay downwind of the animal. Soon, she was close enough to leap so she did. She jumped into the air, the slight noise startling the bird into flight. But Laika was close enough that her claws snagged on it's wing, pulling the bird down. The bird struggling beneath her for a few more moments before going limp to a swift bite to the neck.
He didn't really know the reason for it but he had decided to follow Laika's trail out of the pack territory.He could come up with random reasons to do so but none of them really did stick true besides the fact he wanted to be able to track down a friend. He wanted to be able to find everyone in case there was trouble. So while Laika was out hunting Esaro was hunting for her.
Esaro was able to locate her the moment she jumped to catch a bird. He was very impressed that she caught one and wanted to be able to do the same. He decided stop his hiding and then approach after she was done catching the bird. He was happy to have been able to find her. It felt easy but maybe he was just lucky or something like that. Either way now that he found her that mean he should join her.
"Hey Laika! It's so cool that you caught a bird. I only caught a duck once and it was already injured when I found it." He said as friendly as ever assuming he was welcome to join her. He was still quite impressed and started to wonder how did managed to catch it. Could he ever do the same?
Laika licked her bloodied jaw before turning to a very familiar voice. Her ears pricked and tail alert. Her head tilted as she opened her mouth to reply.
"Thank you!" She barked, tail wagging. She noticed the interest in his eyes and figured he wanted to learn how to do it too. "Do you want to try? I'll teach you." She offered. They needed to fill up the food cache anyways, and this would be a good way of doing it. Two pairs of teeth are better than one.
She turned back around, picking up the dead bird and walking over to him, picking a place near a small boulder to burry it. She scraped the earth away until she had created a shallow hole. After placing the pheasant in the hole, she covered it up, making sure nothing else could take her catch while they hunted for more.
Once she was finished, she turned back to Esaro. Her fur burned from the sun barring down on it. With spring here, the weather was a lot nicer. She looked around, ears swiveling on their axis as she listened for more pheasants. There was no movement, sound or scent of them anywhere near, so Laika figured they should probably walk a little further.
"There's ought to be more birds around here somewhere."
"That would be great, then I could catch birds for everyone." He happily said as she moved towards him. He took a look at the bird she got in order to understand what he was going to search for. These birds were slightly bigger than a duck. He wondered what they were called. He decided to save his question for when Laika was done with what she was going, since he was also trying to understand what she was going to do.
When Laika started searching around for more of those birds he began asking all his question. "Why did you bury it there? Shouldn't we take it with us? Do you also know what they are called?" He asked. He started looking around to but it was difficult to spot them with all the tail grass. It looked like it was all up to the nose and ears, he had the scent thanks to the one Laika caught so normally he shouldn't have trouble locating one if there are some around.
He waited for Laika to do the first move since he was unsure what to really do. All he could think of doing was following her around to see how she catches them. Catching birds felt like it was going to be harder than catching the usual stuff he managed to get, They could fly which meant chasing them relentlessly was going to be impossible to do here.
Laika laughed once his questions exploded from his mouth. As the amusement bubbling in her chest faded, she was able to answer his questions.
"I buried it there so we wouldn't have to haul it around everywhere. This way, we can leave it and other meat eating animals will have a hard time finding it if not missing it completely. I also put it by this rock so I wouldn't forget where I put it. Always bury something where you are going to remember it." She began, starting with the first lesson. Then, she moved on to the next question. "This bird is called a pheasant."
She glanced around and finally made a decision on which way to go. She flicked her tail in a silent attempt to tell him to follow her. Even if he didn't catch the tail flick, she knew he would follow her anyways. Laika figured she could start with describing the bird as they walked. She also ought to tell him some of the hunting techniques before they performed them.
"So," she started, "before you get yourself too doubtful, you should know that a pheasant's perfered escape is to run. They can run very, very fast, so you need to be faster. However, if the bird is startled, they will burst into the air, but they can only fly fast for short distances. If the pheasant starts flying when I'm in the middle of jumping, I usually try to grab it from the sky. If I miss, or the bird gets startled before I leap, I silently follow it around until it lands again. Then, I try to catch it again."
Pheasants were her favorite bird to catch, because they tended to be the easiest. They were also large enough to fill the bellies of al least two wolves, which made it easier on the hunter. She glanced around, ears pricked. She still didn't notice and birds nearby, but she could hear the distant call of one. She swerved in it's direction and began slinking swiftly through the tall grass, barely rustling the stems.
"Oh okay, that makes sense." It was actually much easier to understand than he thought. Most of all it was logical, it wouldn't do any good to carry something while hunting. Burying the bird was also smart, he wouldn't want something to take his hard earned catch while he was out hunting for more. Esaro nodded, hinting that he more or less understood everything. Those birds were called pheasants, he could easily add that to the list of good stuff to eat.
He noticed the tail flick but didn't catch the message, however he didn't need any signals. he was going to follow anyway. Laika started to describe what they did and how to catch them. He listen carefully, he didn't know these birds didn't exactly fly very well. It was a bit surprising to be able to use that to their advantage. As for matching their speed he wasn't too sure if he could for long. He always did try hard but most prey manages to escape still. "So, we have to scare them?" Meaning he needs to sneak up close to be able to catch them. That would be a but hard to do since he wasn't all that quiet as he moved.
Sooner than expect Laika seemed to have detected one nearby. Esaro wondered if it was a pheasant making that sound, he could guess it was since she started stalking after it. He wanted to try to follow her but to keep up with her from behind he was making more noise that she was. He realized that and slowed down a little. He was starting to lose sight of her in the tall grass. He kept going but slowly now since he lost sight of her. He whispered. "Um, Laika. Where did you go?" He knew she was around close by but he didn't want to get in her way or accidentally fall on her tail again. However he kept moving forward, hoping to have sight of her.
"No, the point is to not scare them." Laika informed him. "It makes it harder to catch if you scare them!"
Laika padded through the tall grass paws barely making a sound as she set them down lightly upon the ground. Her ears flicked at the sounds of Esaro padding behind her and she huffed as his sounds faded and he called out for her.
"Over here, Esaro," Laika replied. "Trod lightly and you won't make a lot of sound."
Laika lowered her body even more so her belly fur was barely missing the earth below. Her tail stuck straight out behind her, making sure it didn't make any noise. Finally, the pheasant came into view. The bird's image was abscured by the grass stems. It was a large male bird, with long tail feathers and a colorful body. It's beak parted as it called out for other birds nearby. It was probably seeking out a female.
Laika turned to look over at Esaro. "This one will probably be more alert than others. We have to be very careful. I want you to catch it this time."
She nodded her head encouragingly. "Get downwind of it and than get as close to it as you can. I'll be here and if the pheasant comes my way, I will herd it back over to you. I want you to kill it. If it flies away, follow it for a little waus until it lands and try again." She whispered.
To Esaro startling them was the same as scaring them. Unless she meant that he needed to be really close just to spook them so they jump. After losing Laika for a moment she came back into sight after he moved towards where he was hearing her. She advised him to take light steps so he doesn't make too much sound. The trick to it was to go slowly he guessed. The problem to that was that he wasn't able to keep up with Laika then.
He did his best to follow her up until she caught sight of the pheasant. He copied her form, trying to stay as low as possible while still allowing himself to be able to move. He was just slightly behind her at her left side. The bird was into view now. He waited for Laika to give some sort of plan. When she told him she wanted him to catch it he almost spoke out loud, wanting to say maybe it was better for her to do it instead since the bird was more alert.
Before he could try to make excuse she encouraged him to go. His heart started to beat faster and he was getting nervous quickly. But somewhere he wanted to show her how much he had improved during the months. He took a deep breath in attempt to relax a little but it didn't do much. He whispered "Okay, I'll try." before heading to the other side of the pheasant as quietly as possible. He kept a very close eye on the bird instead of his steps. Lucky, as he stayed low and moved slowly he didn't trip over anything. He couldn't see Laika anymore but he noticed the pheasant was facing in his direction. He believed that now was the time to go after it.
After a few more little steps he jumped towards it! If the bird didn't move he would have caught it but it jumped up backwards before he came close. Esaro got back to being low and followed it quickly as it was flying backwards, it was now above Laika but completely out of reach. He was paying so much attention to the bird that he didn't see he was about to walk into Laika. It looked like it was slowly dropping as it turned direction, he was getting ready to jump at it again before it lands.
Laika nodded as he moved to the right spot, studying his movements closely. She was very impressed at how much he had improved since the last time he had hunted with her. He leapt with good form, but the bird was too fast - as expected. She wanted to see how he reacted. The bird flew up and above her, no doubt seeing her on the process. It shifted directions and began to land a little ways away. Meanwhile, Esaro almost ran into her, but that wasn't surprising. She was happy to see how he got back on track quickly though.
Esaro slunk after the bird, and Laika did too, positioning herself the same way she had last time, giving him room to try to catch the bird again. Once she caught his eye quickly she nodded again, letting him now he was doing good!
He wanted to run after it but he remembered what Laika said. He had to spook them, not scare them. If he had chased it at full speed it likely would never land and it would keep running. He managed to stop himself from running and returned to stalking. He never noticed he came close to bumping into Laika. Together they followed the pheasant up until it was in his sights again. He eyed at Laika seeing that she still wanted him to go after it. Esaro nodded but was having trouble staying calm, he was basically shaking with so much energy.
This time he had to catch it. Instead of jumping straight at it he figured that maybe he should aim a little higher. This time he was going to guess where it was going to jump. With no delay he got a close as he could before lunging at the bird. Again the large pheasant jumped but since Esaro aimed higher he managed to get a strong hold on it's tail. He pulled it back down and slammed it on the ground by accident. It wasn't trying to fly away but it kept struggling to escape. Esaro didn't want to let go of it's tail but if he did the bird would likely get away. He needed to pin it down somehow but so far the bird was putting too much of a fight. Esaro kept telling himself not to let go for any reason and was hoping Laika could give a helping paw.
Laika watched, hidden amongst the tall stems of grass gently waving in the wind. Easro leapt and aimed himself perfectly! Practice makes perfect, she thought. Her tail gently thumped the ground in excitement. He had grabbed ahold of the tail and now struggled to fully pin the terrified bird. His expression was determined as his wheels turned in his head.
Laika waited a couple more minutes to see if he could figure it out himself. Finally, when he was still latched onto the tail, Laika stepped out of the bushes to aid him. With her appearance, the pheasant grew even more frantic. This alone might just kill it from a heart attack! She sat down near Esaro. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it without her touching it.
"Unlike cats," she began in a calm voice, "us wolves don't have retractable claws. So, if you held on to it's tail with you're teeth, it would be extremely hard to pull it to you with your paws. With this ruled out, what do you think we should do?"
She wanted to engage him to think. Often times - and she struggles with this problem too - wolves were so concentrated on the hunt, they don't stop to think if their plan will really work. They have to think of efficient strategies in the heat of the hunt.
She spoke again, "You can let go of the tail and leap on to it as fast as you can, or place your paws firmly on the tail and lunge forward to grab it with your jaws. Whichever one seems better to you, do it."
He continued to struggle for a while. He refused to let go but then started to wonder where Laika went. He wanted to call out for her but if he did he'd lose his grip. He was just going to have to figure it out on his own, there was no way he was going to let this bird escape when he came so close to catching it. It was very tiring but he tried pulling it towards him and then try putting a paw on it to only it down. His reach wasn't good enough to be able to hold down the pheasant.
Eventually Laika showed up causing the bird to go even more wild than it was. Esaro expected a helping paw but she sat down next to him instead. She was just going to watch him? He couldn't say anything even if he tried, he was too determined to fully catch this bird. Laika started trying to make him think and gave suggestions at the end. Putting his paws on the pheasant's tail to replace his grip with his mouth felt like a good plan so he decided to try that.
He pulled downwards until he head was close to the ground and placed this paws on the tail. He pushed down with his weight before letting go with his mouth and targeting the bird's neck. It was challenging to land his teeth on the neck, it kept moving so much that Esaro was getting a little dizzy as he followed the movement's of the Pheasant's head. It was still a struggle but eventually he got it and ended it's life.
He put the dead bird down but he was completely exhausted from that. Still he smiled at Laika. "I finally.. got it." He said while being quite out of breath. Esaro was bad at giving up, the results of that left him very tired. However not giving up allowed him to show Laika that he could catch something. He did it all on his own, kind of. Maybe he would have figured it out sooner or later but then that also risked him getting too tired to keep up the fight.
Laika watched his movements, nodding as he chose the right strategy. Putting his weight on his paws, he was able to thrust himself towards the bird's neck and snap it. If he had chose the other one, he could have risked loosing the pheasant.
Once he was done, she could tell he was exhausted. "That was great, Esaro! The first time I hunted a pheasant I didn't catch it!" She exclaimed truthfully. Her tail thumped the ground happily. This was her first time teaching too - other than helping Spring when they were younger.
"Do you want to keep hunting or do you want to take a break?" She asked, looking down at his exhausted faced. A smirk danced upon her face as she waited for his answer.
Esaro probably tried way to hard or maybe he just lucky to catch his first pheasant. But he had Laika to thank for that, with her suggestions he was able to successful catch it and kill it. He rested for a moment before replying to her "It's really thanks to you that I managed to get it." All her guidance did help him a lot so he felt that it really wasn't all him that got it.
She asked if he wanted to take a break. "No, that's okay. I can keep going." He would keep going but it wasn't the greatest idea. With the sun on his back he was burning up. Panting mainly to cool off. He was still worn out and did need rest but he didn't want to stop Laika from her hunt. He didn't follow her to just hold her back. He looked at the catch he earned and then towards Laika. "So what's next?"
Laika nodded, smiling. She looked about. It was now the middle of the day, and the sun was in the middle of the sky. It burned her fur and her skin felt as if it was on fire. She shook her pelt - as if she could shake the sun's rays away.
"Well, we can do two things," She said. "We can keep hunting for pheasants, or look for something else."
She sat down on her tired paws as she waited for his reply. She turned her head to lap her shoulder, relieving herself from an itch. She eyed at the pheasant that Esaro had caught and smiled once again. That was a nice looking bird and it definitely would be a delicious feast for whoever took it. She turned her head back to Esaro.
"Either way, what do you think you have to do before we head off?" She questioned, testing his memory.
With the Spring sun out shining it burning lights, it was easy to feel hot after trying to catch a pheasant for a few minutes. It made him want to seek out some refreshing water to help him cool off. For now he had to rely on breathing in order to keep cooled off. Since he said he would keep going Laika offered the choice of hunting more pheasants or something else. He thought about for a moment but couldn't really decide. What else was out there? If he wanted to learn more it would be better to go after something different but he also need to work more on his pheasant catching.
Before saying anything Laika asked him a question. He answered. "Um, I should go get the pheasant you buried." If they were going to head out then it would be best to take all they caught and bring it with them. Although, Esaro was feeling a little thirsty. "Do you know where we could get something to drink?" He asked before picking up the pheasant he caught.
Laika chuckled at Esaro. A smile danced upon her lips as she replied to him. "No! We are continuing our hunt, right? We get the pheasant when we head back to the Maplewood," she explained. "You need to bury your pheasant."
Her nose lifted to the wind, searching for a scent of prey. Once Esaro mentioned being thirsty, Laika's focus turned to the smell of water. There's got to be some kind of small stream around to quench their thirst. Her eyes trailed along the flatlands, searching though the clumps of tall grass and barren land as well as large rugged rocks and boulders. Finally, the scent of moisture found its way to her and Laika nodded her head in that direction.
"There should be water over there." She said. "Just bury your catch first."
Apparently Esaro's answer wasn't correct, he was a little disappointed in himself however he was here to learn so there was no reason to get his spirits down. How could he when even Laika herself was in good spirits. He did say he was still able to do more hunting so having to bury his catch sounded good too instead of taking Laika catch and burying both pheasants somewhere else. Esaro nodded at Laika understanding that he needed to go bury the bird somewhere. There was a lone tree nearby so he decided to go over there to bury his catch like Laika did with hers.
Once he was done he returned to following his hunting teacher. She did say that there was water in that direction so he decided to head there. Indeed there was a small stream of water, once he saw it he made his way over there to drink from the cool refreshing water. When he was done drinking he licked his lips as he turned to face Laika. "That was refreshing!" He said happily. Now it was time to go catch something else. He wondered what else could be out there so he just decided to ask about that before doing anything else. "What else could we hunt around here?"
The rythmic pitter-patter of Laika's feet was hardly heard as she trotted alongside Esaro. Finally, the bubbling of a stream was to be heard and soon after that, the sight of it. The sound of the rushing liquid filled her ears as she bent her neck to drink from it. Her pink tongue shot out and lapped water from the surface, quenching her ever growing thirst.
Her head raised as Eaaro asked her yet another question. "Well," she began. "Since you want to practice catching birds, your in the right place. Dawnlark Plains not only has plenty of pheasants, but also is home to lots and lots of quails. Quails will be hard to catch, but we can try." She explained.
Ears swiveled as she strained to hear the tiniest of noises. But for now, she just couldn't place anything. She gave a huff and scented the wind. No scent. Today was just not an active day for prey! "We'll have to travel again."
Esaro listened. If bird catching was something he wanted to do then Laika said that this place was perfect for it. She talked about quails, he assumed that it was another bird. He could also guess that it was harder to catch, so while Laika was seeking a trace of one he decided to ask. "Are they harder to catch compared to pheasants?" He was mostly curious. Maybe whatever Laika was say would tell him if he was ready to catch such thing.
Laika didn't seem to find anything close by and told him that they needed to go elsewhere. "But shouldn't we go pick up our catches? What if something actually finds it and takes it while we are hunting something else?" Esaro didn't want to lose something he tried really hard to catch. Burying them would help keep the catch from getting stolen however the longer the hunt was the more likely it felt like something would steal their catch. He didn't really want to lose his first pheasant.
Laika smiled and nodded to Esaro's question. "For me, they are harder for pheasants, but it might be different for you," she explained.
Her blue eyes searched for a visual trail, padding down the riverside and back up again. She gazed over on the other side and finally found a trail they could use. Yet another question from Esaro earned her attention once again and the turned to him to give her answer.
"It could happen, but it less unlikely than if your dragging it around and dropping it to catch something else. If you're really worried about it, you can go back and get it and I'll wait here, but my plan is to catch one more animal and then come back and bring them all to the cache."
She waited for his response, sitting down once again. She had no problem with him heading back to retrieve his catch. It was a personal preference to be honest.
He thought for a moment and simply decided that Laika was right. He worried but if she thought it was better this way then so be it. "No no, it's fine. You do know what is better after all." He didn't want to slow her down either with his worries. It would be a waste if something did take his catch but it would also be a waste if he went back to go get it. He figured that he'll stick with Laika's plan and hunt for one more bird before they head back.
Esaro wanted to try his luck in finding a trace of something but Laika did say they needed to go elsewhere to find something. It looked like she had the intention of crossing that river. Thinking about crossing rivers he became a little nervous. "Are you sure we are allowed to cross this river?" He asked. He was completely uncertain if they really should cross a river. Crossing anything felt simply dangerous nowadays but if Laika was going to do it then maybe this time it was okay.
Laika nodded. "It's whatever you feel most comfortable with," she reminded him. "It may be right for me, but I'm definitely not right for everyone."
She eyes him once to make sure his answer didn't change before turning back to the stream. It was a small one: shallow without much of a current. She figured it would be very easy to cross. She could leap across it for goodness sake! Esaro's question brought her head turning back towards him once again. She pondered on it for a moment. This was a tiny, trickling brook running the Dawnlark plains that would probably end up joining a main river.
"Well, it runs straight through the middle of Dawnlark Plains," she began, "and as far as I know, there is no land restrictions in Dawnlark. It's open for everyone." She paused, and then added, "don't worry, it's nowhere near Whitebark Stream."
It wasn't like he could really oppose Laika's choices. He wasn't confident with his own decisions and so far following others around seemed to always be the right choice. Esaro looked at the stream again, a river of this size would be easy to cross by accident. There might just be a chance of crossing without even noticing. Laika assured him that there wasn't any restrictions in crossing so that meant it was okay to cross. Carefully he move across the stream to the other side and almost immediately detected a trace of another pheasant. "I think there is a pheasant that passed by here." He said, giving Laika his findings. Where it went need a little bit more clues but before continuing he waited for Laika's move.
Laika nodded as he stuck with his decision. She waited her turn as he crossed first. Once he was on the other side, she went too. The water bubbled around her paws as it cooled her fur and skin. She padded across quickly, smooth pebbles shifting underfoot. She didn't way to be in this painfully freezing liquid longer than she had too. The stream was probably created from the glacier melting from the recently waker weather.
Almost immediately, Esaro had picked up another pheasant scent. Once she was standing beside him, she knew exactly what he was talking about. She smiled as she turned to him. He was definitely getting better at his hunting skills. She decided to let him show her exactly what he could do as far as tracking down prey so she stepped aside to let him pass. "How about you find our next pheasant this time."