The herd was surprisingly small - a pair of elderly elk, their shoulders hunched like his own and their bodies graying; a few young and healthy females; there were no newborns, though. Perhaps they would come with spring. The beasts mulled about with their heads down, grazing across the frosted grass. Occasionally the oldest of the elk - a great male with splintered and blunted antlers - would lift his head and peer around. But without any reason to fear, he would return to his feeding.
Amon watched them every few minutes, but grew steadily bored. They weren't doing anything of interest, after all. But when he began to adjust his body to ease his own joints, the sounds caught upon the air and brought the entire herd's attention to him. Amon ducked, waited, and thought to leave the herd entirely — but then there was another body nearby, one of the caldera wolves. Instantly Amon was nervous that she would scare the herd.
With a swift glance towards the family beyond, he saw that they were too busy munching. Whew.
When he turned back to the girl, she was introducing herself. Amon recognized her from the pumpkin party - but he was hardly pleased to see the youngster. She had almost spoiled all of his work. With a low voice, he rumbled, Amon. I've been tracking them for hours. If you want to hunt them then you'll need someone to help you - that ain't my job.
But then they'd have to summon others - and the chance of the initial howl spooking the herd was a great one. Double back and call for support - I'll keep an eye on them.