A Hunting Lesson - Red Wolf - July 24, 2014
For @Kipling I totally forgot about this! I’ve been so busy with other threads that I completely forgot we were supposed to do another hunting thread! >.< I’m sorry.
Red watched with an odd sense of fondness as her new friend drank thirstily from the stream. She felt almost like a mother to the wolf, though she knew this was silly. But she was teaching her to hunt, after all, and that gave her a sense that she was above Kipling on the totem pole to a degree. She did not say any of this aloud, however, and simply waited for the other to finish drinking. When the female had had her fill, Red cleared her throat and tried to think of what do next. Then she thought of rabbits.
Red had made a comment about hunting rabbits instead of pronghorn, and, now that she thought about it, she did enjoy the idea. Kipling obviously needed to start with the basics. There were plenty of rabbits here in the meadow, but they were probably all hiding, having smelled the two canids long ago. Perfect. Red could teach her friend first how to search for prey, then how to catch her prey. With another awkward clear of her throat, as she knew she’d have to speak all of this (which she hated doing), she began.
Okay. Rabbits. First things first. Use your nose. Smell for sweet grass and other plants. Rabbits eat them and sleep in them. Go on. Search for a rabbit trail. Find it, come tell me. Need help, come tell me. So Red wasn’t the greatest speaker. She hoped she’d gotten her point across.
RE: A Hunting Lesson - Kipling - July 24, 2014
Kipling had taken her time drinking not only to refresh herself, but also to contemplate her failed hunt just a few moments before. It was nice that Red wasn't insisted on it, but the fact that it was her fault lingered, and she sought to critique her own mistakes despite the advice the coywolf had offered her. Swiping her tongue over her nose as she lifted her head from the creek to acknowledge the rare event of her friend speaking.
'Use your nose.' Well, better than using my ass, she snipped inwardly to herself amused at the piece of advice, though still grateful for every inch of guidance the she-wolf was willing to provide her with. Ultimately this all went towards her survival, it was now very apparent to Kipling she couldn't just half ass everything like she had done in her youth. Shit was serious now.
Nodding that she understood everything, she sighed turning her sights to the meadow that surrounded them. It was very wide and she didn't know where to start. Sorting scents, that was instinctual, but it still took a good amount of skill to pick them apart, especially when the perfume of summer blossoms was so pungent in the air.
Perhaps she'd been putting too much thought into this, trying to please her teacher. It took a few minutes, continuously pausing to check that the scent wasn't stale or crossed and mistaken for a similar creature, but soon enough the smell of sweet grass and rabbit intermingled coherently. This was it. A few leagues away at this point Kipling's tail flagged upwards behind her. Found it!
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RE: A Hunting Lesson - Red Wolf - July 27, 2014
Red watched silently as her pupil went sniffing around the meadow. She was tempted to give more advice as Kipling went along, but she didn’t want to break the other’s concentration or scare off any rabbits that might be around. Besides, the less time she spent talking, the better. Soon enough, the spice-colored wolf lifted her tail, which was good because it was the only part of her body that Red could see in the tall grass. She understood the meaning immediately, and slowly came forward, in case the rabbit — or rabbits — were close by.
She bent her head down to sniff at the trail and nodded once in approval. Good, she said, and that intended to be all the praise she gave. She hoped it was enough. It might be in a hole. If it is, you may have to scare it out, or give that one up and go for another one. Or it could be hiding in the grass nearby. Stay on the scent and see if you can figure out where it is before you do anything. If you find it and it starts running away, give chase immediately. Got it?
She looked at Kipling, waiting for the wolf’s approval of her words. She honestly wasn’t very good at teaching others how to hunt, probably considering she thought of all hunting as instinctual and couldn’t understand why this female had such a hard time with it. She shrugged inwardly. If the wolf had survived this long already, it meant she must have been doing something right.
RE: A Hunting Lesson - Kipling - July 30, 2014
Hmm. The directions themselves seemed simple enough, it was the tracking that'd been tricky. She'd relied too long on someone else to do all this prep work for her, the fact she'd hadn't immediately starved after leaving her previous pack had all been based on luck on her own swiftness when her stomach began to growl. Tapping her hip with her tail in thought, Kipling nodded in confirmation.
After pausing to digest the advice given, her nose dipped once more seeking out the trail with new confidence. Other questions lingered though, if it was hiding in a rabbit hole then how would she know beforehand? It would probably smell her long before she got close enough or-- her thoughts halted suddenly, as did her feet going stock still.
That tiny brown bundle, just barely a speck in the tall grass, had to be something? She was counting on it being edible. Wagging her tail with new anticipation, she took one hesitant step then froze slowly turning her to Red as if she needed some affirmation she wouldn't fuck this up either. And though she didn't wait to see Red's reaction she realized how desperate she was to bandage her last mistake.
The swift she-wolf sped off, gliding through the grass and watching the fluff ball elongate and speed off. It was a short chase, Kipling knowing enough to swipe a paw out and trip the rabbit's legs before crunching down on it's nape. She slid to a jog, sides heaving, and turning around with the limp figure hanging from her mouth.
Success! Hopefully the first of many more to come under Red's guidance. She headed back towards her new friend, ready (and reluctantly willing) to receive some critique about her approach. They'd go on to spend the rest of the day this way, before parting ways with fond memories.
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