Redhawk Caldera Winterlight

Mini-hunt thread intended for @Elwood and @Somnia. @Finley is welcome to hang out on the sidelines and reap the spoils if she wants?!

Snow drifted from the cold gray sky—just a shimmering sprinkle. Peregrine perched on the lip of the caldera and watched it, time spinning away from him until late morning wore into mid-afternoon. He might have sat there like a statue until nightfall but he spotted movement in the trees down below, perhaps a mile beyond his territory's borders. Unwilling to let any opportunity go untested, the Alpha male rose and began to pick his way down the mountain, collecting whoever he could find en route as he made his way toward their distant quarry.

The swarthy male led the small hunting party into the wilderness, their passage through the trees silent as the falling snow. When they came within stalking range, he signaled for them to stop. Peregrine then proceeded much more slowly and cautiously, slinking through the failing winter light as he closed in on what smelled like a small herd of mule deer, perhaps even the subspecies that frequented his former home.

Through a break in the trees, he spotted them: a young buck and three does. All appeared relatively healthy and spry, so Peregrine watched them carefully as he tried to weed out the weakest of the four to target. He glanced at his hunting comrades, wondering if any of them could spot something that made one deer a better choice than the others. Surely none of them would risk the stag's antlers, yet which of the three does might be their safest bet?