Firefly Glen Joey, baby, don't get crazy

@Osiris

There was a spring to his step as he approached the foothills of the Glen, where the grassy knolls were dappled by a series of tunnels and holes, in which the prairie dogs dwelled. He'd hunted something similar before on the mountain- a small, rodent-like thing that Wraen had called Pika, if he remembered properly. These ones in the foothills looked to be similar- little tawny prairie dogs with a black tip on the end of their tails. 

He wondered if he could somehow hut one of them down- but every time he came within eyesight, one would let out a warning squeak and the rest would dash back into their little dens. There'd be no use trying to dig them out- those dens led to tunnels far too deep for him to dig one out. But he had another plan. 

He'd be able to snag one if he could catch it by surprise- and while his method hadn't worked the last time he'd tried, he was willing to give it another shot. He approached the series of holes and tunnels, where the prairie dogs now all hid quietly, and he began to fill in the holes one by one- kicking dirt and sand into the tunnel entrances hoping that if he filled in enough of them, they'd be forced to dig their way out- and then, then he'd be ready for it.

Osiris had happened upon Bronco while patrolling, and his packmate quickly caught hold of his interest; the borders were good for now. He stood from a distance, hesitating, as he watched his packmate kicked sand into the tunnels that littered the side of the foothills. Osiris couldn't help but wonder what Bronco was up to. 

"Hey!" he called once his curiosity had gotten the better of him, approaching with a light jog. "What's up?" he prompted, unaware that he was interfering with a hunt.

The earth was getting harder, with the season changing, but it was still manageable without stressing his claws out too much. He continued to turn this way and that, dragging pawfulls of dry dirt to the mouth of each little hole, and filling it in shortly thereafter. Every now and again he'd poke his head right into the tunnel's mouth to see if he could see any of the little critters- but their tunnels went too deep. 

He was surprised when a voice called out, but he pulled his face out of the last tunnel he'd been spying into, and turned to see Osiris approaching. It was funny, now- normally, he might've bounded toward him and given him a rough shove, though he figured...With the heirarchy changing, he ought not be quite so foolish. So he greeted his young, new alpha with a chuff, and a low, swinging tail. He gestured with a flick of his muzzle to the hillside, dappled with holes that were either open, or filled in. 

"I wanna catch one of these gopher varmints," He said. "C'mon- help me fill these in? I figure, we fill them in, then step back and wait to see one of the piles start to move...An' once they dig their way out, we catch it, like that," He said, with a swooping snap of his jaws. "I just wanna see if this'll work."

Osiris quickly recognized the difference in Bronco's greeting; it was strange to be tamely received by his wild-spirited friend. He shook his coat as he realized that this interaction was one of the more minor changes in his life. He appreciated the regard, even if it was weird to him.  

Osiris was further enticed once Bronco had explained his actions; he had never thought to restrict the prairie dog's entry-ways. "Good thinking," he complimented as he jogged to the nearest tunnel. Once he was in place, Osiris began to kick the loose ground to fill in the hole. "What made you think to do this?" he asked, once he was done and had begun to move on to the next spot.

It was potentially not the most conventional hunting strategy in the world- but these little creatures were difficult to catch, when they stayed so close to the safety of their tunnels. Only smaller creatures- like foxes- or ones with wings like hawks seemed to have much luck with them. Osiris understandably expressed some curiosity in how he'd come up with the method and he laughed. 

"I tried hunting something like this back near the Copse. Couldn't catch one to save my life 'cause they just pop back into their holes- and then I nearly snapped my leg in half when I stepped into one, and fell over," He said. "So I got cranky, and kicked a bunch of dirt in to fill in the hole so I wouldn't do it again." He explained, as he moved on to the next tunnel. "So I thought this time...Maybe try filling them in, to see if they dig themselves out though-" He paused, and scanned the hillside- which was dappled with a multitude of tunnels. "There's a lot. But if we just do a bunch here, and then wait reeeeal quiet, sure, sometime one of them's gotta come out, right?"

Osiris hadn't even considered the threat that the gopher's passages poised. He'd be more careful around them, knowing what had happened to his friend. In reply to Bronco's question, Osiris nodded. "I don't see how this wouldn't work," he replied, moving on to the next hole. "They'll have to come out at some point, and giving them fewer options for escape will benefit us." 

Kicking hard against the ground, Osiris sent the loose soil tumbling. "Maybe we can focus on filling the holes further away from us," he suggested, booting again. "It should be easier if we focus on hunting on the bottom of the foothills." Osiris glanced at Bronco then, wondering what he thought.

WC: 253

"I don't see how this..."

Oh dang. Was Osiris about to shoot him down? Wraen hadn't been entirely sold on his hunting methods when he'd tried to catch a pika on the mountain slope across the river from the copse, so he was half prepared to get more discouraging news, or at least a bit of an awakening regarding how useless it was to spend time and energy on hunting such small things, that would hardly account for a meal. He'd wilted just a tiny bit when he'd heard those words- before Osiris continued.

"I don't see how this wouldn't work."

His ears pricked and his features brightened, now that he had a hunting partner. Maybe if they could sort out the right strategy, they could come up with a method that would allow them to taken down more than just a couple prairie dogs. Osiris brought up a strategy and it took Bronco a moment or two to consider what he was saying and come to a possible conclusion. ”Y'mean like if...One of us were to stay up here, and just...Fling the dirt downhill, and another one could kind of round up all the dirt and shart shoving it into the holes?” He asked. “I kinda like that idea. And we can switch it up, any time. So long as the wolf up the hill digging stays sort of...To the side, so that the wolf at the bottom of the hill isn't like...Catching dirt in the face the whole time.” He said, before he tilted his head to the side. “You think that'll work?”

Osiris smiled as Bronco brightened, happy to have a hunting partner as well. As his packmate orally followed the plan, he nodded; they'd have the advantage of gravity. "Yeah," Osiris agreed, glancing towards the top of the hill. "I didn't even consider getting dirt flung in one of our faces, but that's a good idea to avoid any of that," he replied. 

With their plan set, he asked next, "What would you prefer doing?" Osiris had the advantage of leg strength, growing up on Moonspear, but he wouldn't deny Bronco the dirt-kicking role if it was what he preferred to do.

wc: 184

He chuckled when Osiris admitted that he hadn'r necessarily considered the flinging of dirt, but Bronco simply nodded his head, not wanting to make Osiris feel short-sighted. The only reason that Bronco had come up with the suggestion was that he had been hit in the face with dirt before- and he wasn't necessarily keen on having it happen again. Regardless, when Osiris offered him the choice, he gestured toward the top off the hillside. “You g'wan and get started, I'll work on fillin' them in from the bottom here.” He realized that both tasks would take a fair bit of effort, but given the fact tha he was the one who'd come up with a potentially crazy idea, he figured he ought to prepared himself for getting dirty.

He started scuffling what loose dirt he could find into the nearby gopher holes, keeping himself busy while Osiris found his own position, before he glanced up the hill, squinting slightly against the bright skyline, and chuffed- indicating that he was ready to start as soon as Osiris sent the dirt flinging down the hill.

"Sounds good!" Osiris replied once Bronco had assigned him his role. Not wanting to waste and more time, he then set off to climb the foothills. It didn't take him long to reach the top, and when he did, he looked down at his packmate. 

"Ready?" Osiris asked, not wanting to start until Bronco was ready.

wc:450 + 278 = 728

While Osiris made the climb up the soft, rolling incline, Bronco took a few moments to cast his glance over the surrounding area. The hillside in this area, at least, was pock-marked with gopher holes which could be dangerous for a wolf (or any large animal, for that matter) if they ran through the area without watching their footing. Further away from him, the little animals still poked their little noses out to check and see if the area was clear, only to find themselves falling under his hungry gaze. He growled whenever one looked out to see if he was still there, sending them scuttling back into their holes with a high pitched squeak. There was no way he and Osiris could fill in all the holes- but if they filled in enough, he figured they might be able to catch one or two of them as they tried to dig their way out.

He barked in response to Osiris' question, nodding. He went back to his own digging, filling in the holes that were within range of him, and he took a moment once or twice to see if he could shove his leg down inside some of the larger holes- and he could, all the way up to his shoulder. That was concerning- he made a mental note to warn his packmates of the area, so they would know to be careful of their footing if they found themselves chasing a jackrabbit up the slopes.

But it was only when he began to use some of the earth that Osiris sent flying down the hillside, filling in other holes with it, that he had an epiphany. He would wait, though, as now was not the time to implement the plan he began to form. But in having investigated the depth and size of the holes he'd begun to fill in, he'd realized that it could potentially bode well for them to use the holes to their advantage, rather than seeing them as a nuisance. He decided to hang onto the idea until he and Osiris had covered a decent enough patch of land before he brought it up. Once he'd shuffled sideways, progressively filling in hole after hole, he called out to Osiris with another bark, summoning him to come and wait with him.

For this particular hunt, they'd simply need patience and quiet, to wait like a lion lying in the grasslands, for the gophers to start digging their way out. He panted softly as he circled and found a place to lay down, and began to scan this way and that, watching for the first signs their prey had begun to emerge from the ground.

Together in silence they lay in wait, scanning the area for any signs that the critters might emerge from their dens. They weren't completely entombed, after all- as their tunnel system was large enough that they could easily find a way to get out through another area...But they'd dug this many tunnel entrances so that they could use this side of the hillside as well, and he had a feeling that eventually, they would get antsy and start digging their way out.

He'd begun to drift off a bit when he heard the first bit of scrabbling nails against earth, and looked up to see a few grains of dirt start sliding down the hillside from one of the tunnel's entrances. Then another, and soon, the prairie dogs had begun to clear the dirt out of the holes in one big excavation attempt. He gave a look to Osiris- and crept forward toward the nearest tunnel he could find, and lay in wait until the creature shoved the last bit of dirt out, but found itself facing a darkness it could not tunnel through.

It'd been a time-consuming task, but in the end, it'd proved that it had worked, and it hadn't taken a great deal of energy. They'd spend some time catching what they could before the prairie dogs realized what was happening, and eventually gave up on restoring the tunnels in that area. Quite pleased with their catch from the day, Bronco set off, carrying a couple prairie dogs dangling from his mouth, having discovered a new hunting technique that would be an easy one to teach pups- if there were to be pups come spring.