Stone Circle Deathrates

Anyone really! But.. perhaps @Krypton @Grayday or @Keoni?

Valette was out in the snows, though the winds seemed to be less this morning giving her a small window to check on the herds. Valette announced it in their refuge spot. Some might want to stretch their legs and Valette was more than welcoming to let someone join her. The female knew that with these storms out there wouldn't be much prey out in the open, at least that was what she logically would think. As a Tracker she would keep track of the birth rates but also about the death rates. With this harsh weather there was bound to be some death.

Valette trotted to the Stone Circle that had visual on the plains below. She was surprised to see one mega hump and three smaller ones. Her hazel eyes squinted, and a frown came upon her face. Where those...? Valette was surprised. "I think those are dead bison," she let out in surprise. Which meant A Lot of food, yet it also meant the herd was a lot smaller and it hadn't been that big to begin with. She trotted out onto the plains into the deep snows to check out the bodies.

She never, ever, wanted to be stuck in a den like that again. She was full of energy after the long period of nervous tension, and she danced alongside Valette, occasionally darting off only to circle back. When the woman spoke, Keoni halted by her side. But moments later, overcome by the prospect of so much food, she darted ahead of her mentor, racing through the snow with big bounds that sent snow flying every which way, leaving a deep trail in the snow as she went. 

Soon enough the lumps were before her, and with a leap she climbed atop the biggest, a mighty animal with its eyes still open. Never having seen bison so close before,  she feverently examined the creature, from its big ruff to its huge, muscled body. She splayed out atop the thing and attempted to gnaw it's shoulder, which was stiff with cold. Giving up quickly, she looked to Valette with a grin and a wag of her tail. "This'll feed everyone!" She said excitably, for she knew the winter to be hard and hunger was almost a constant now for most.

Valette watched how Keoni ran around. She knew this would do her well. It was clear the youngster wasn't doing well coped up with others. She wondered how that came to be. She seemed always very happy and social towards others. Valette wondered if she had missed something along the way. For now she decided not to comment too much on it. Her girl was a happy girl again.

"I think this will feed everyone more than several times," she grinned. They would have a feast if they caught a small Bison now they had three small ones and one big one. The one Keoni was currently standing on. Valette plowed her way through the thick snow and then started to open up the cold belly. "Though this is joy now, it might be disastrous later. Three young ones are dead, Keoni. They are the future. They would be yearling this spring and probably needed for the herd. Now the herd is even smaller. I don't want to drive the bison herd outside our territory," she explained. It was important that there was a silver lining to this.

She beamed as Valette spoke, knowing that even without the pride of actually having done anything to kill the beasts, everyone would be very well feed. Her smiled faded as she listened to what Valette had to say, looking to the three small lumps. The herds were vulnerable,  and such a loss could impact their numbers greatly, explained Valette.  

The thought dampened the excitement,  and the girl nodded, pondering her words. "So if too many die now, we can't huntil them in the summer? Or they'll leave and we'll have less to hunt?" she asked with a tilt of her head, beginning to understand why the health of the herds was so very important.

ooc- sorry for being late to the party! I was at work and couldn't quite post p:

krypton watched from afar, the several lumps in the snow who lay dead still. Her curiosity peaked, yet she stood in place. Though they were quite large, the way they lay dead reminded her of something. It reminded her of Cloud. The beastly woman shook her head, for there was no time to think of her brother. She needed to go and collect the meat.

with that in mind, krypton decided it was best to head out and go check. She hoped to be the first one, but found herself to be not first nor second, but third. Valatte was there already, along with her daughter. The zeta smiled at the two, chuffing loudly to get their attention as she drew closer in a respectable position, tail and head low (though she still towered over the two).

"seems like we have a gift left on our doorstep" she mused, looking at the bison. She saw the small, younger bison next to the larger one. A mother? Krypton felt her heart sink a bit, walking close to one of the babies and lowering her head. "such a shame to see such young faces here," she said quietly.

Valette watched Keoni and how she understood the severity of this case. She nodded but that didn't confirm much. "Exactly. They might join another herd and leave these lands, or if we hunt too much there won't be any bison. However, we never managed to catch a bison before. So I do not think that they would become extinct in this valley because of our hunting," she explained.

It would be worse if many deer would die because of this weather. However they did have a very steady population of deer because of the plains. The beta looked up when she noticed another presence. Krypton! "Yes. I hope the herd didn't suffer too much," she admitted and glanced at the other female. "Lets make the most of it though! We should strip their fur, it will keep us extra warm. And make sure we use all of their bodies they have given to us. After all we can live of this for a few weeks."

Steady was even later to the party, but he was sure glad he made haste in getting here. His tail wagged when he saw what lay before them. A feast, as if the gods were smiling down upon them. He was ready to dig in, but Valette's words made him pause. He supposed it was a good idea to save the fur, but it was hard for a hungry wolf to be gentle when all they wanted to do was rip the meat from the bones and devour it. 

But, he respected his Beta, his co-parent, more than to simply put aside her thoughts. He nudged her, Great thinking, he said. He almost added "love" at the end of it, but he bit his tongue. It was getting harder and harder to not let the words tumble from his mouth, but he didn't think this was the right time to confess his love. No, now was the time for eating. 

Krypton noted that one of the dead was rather young. It wasn't something Steady generally thought about. By nature, he went with his instincts, and he knew the young and old and in between all died alike during winter. No one was safe, except the strong, the willing, and the lucky. The baby would provide nourishment, just as the adults would.

The girl listened with rapt attention as Valette spoke, brow furrowed in thought. She'd like to hunt a bison, one day. And she was getting bigger, which was one of the requirments that Valette seemed eager on her fufilling before she went after large prey with the rest of the pack's hunters. She greeted Steady with a grin and a wagging tail when he arrived, and to Valette's instructions she dipped her head. "Like this?"

Seizing a chunk of the animal's fur, she slowly ripped backwards, seperating the fur from the body (though it was neither quick nor easy). Unsure if she was doing this right, she glanced to Valette for instruction, halting her tugging and waiting for approval before continuing, eager to help.

stripping the fur from the beasts sounded like a good idea, it would keep the pack a bit warmer than normal. warm was good. keoni already took the initiative to start the task, making the older woman follow suit. she approached a smaller lump, grabbing the fur in her teeth and slowly tearing away, though she had to give a few hard tugs to get it going. the process was not easy, but krypton still worked away, smelling the meat within her nose, making her stomach give off a hearty growl as she continued to pull at the fur. she hoped she could keep one, she would love to snuggle with it as she slept, mostly because she lost her den buddy that kept her warm at night.

Valette nudged Steady back when he greeted her. The dark colored female watched how Keoni and then Krypton started butchering the skin, they were ripping it which wouldn't make it very effective later on. They would have small patches in her eyes. Keoni asked if she was doing the right thing. "Yes, but that is a later process," she explained to the pup and also eyed at Krypton.

"First you chew through the skin at the soft belly, which now unfortunately is frozen. Then try to make small puncture holes through the skin with your teeth," she explained and started an example by pressing in her K9's just under the shoulder of the big beast. "Do the same at the back," she added and made it another example, making holes through the skin at the upper part of the leg.

"Usually between the skin layer and the meat is a layer of fat was tears easier than meat. Now it is frozen so it might be a bit harder. You start by the belly skin you opened." Valette jumped on the carcass and grabbed the belly skin to then pull it back steadily but at the same strength. She relocated her grip to right behind the punctures and pulled. Because of the holes the skin ripped free till the last puncture hole. Leaving the rest of the front leg with fur.

Then she relocated her bite to the hind leg and did the same as before. She already had a bit of the flap loose. She got off it. "Okay, Krypton grab the loose shoulder skin. Keoni you get on the bison and grab the loose skin by the armpit. Steady you stand by its hips and pull the skin from there." She herself grabbed the loose skin of the hind leg. "Wan, Woo, Tweeeeee, FULL!" she mumbled with her mouth full.

With the pulling back from each wolf she hoped the skin wouldn't tear and they would have a nice big sheet of fur from the upper side of the bison. It was no use to turn the hundred kilo beast before they would have eaten the meat. Then at least they had one side skinned already.

Steady really just wanted to dig into the meat and eat. This skin-pulling process seemed tedious, at best, and he almost felt like they were wasting time. But, he would not speak against Valette. Surely, in the coming weeks when the skins were actually used for warmth, he would look back and be glad that he didn't voice against this.

Instead, he did what Valette asked and pulled the skin at the animal's hips. He watched how she did it, slowly but with strength, and mimicked her actions until it came off cleanly. He had to admit, it was a little fun to play tug of war with the large piece of skin. But, he didn't get away from himself. He knew it would be more useful in one piece, and did his best not to rip it.