Hunting- The Green Wood

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The green wood (:

He smiles "scent the air my young friend"

Foxpaw opens her mouth slightly, she looks to her mentor. The scent was reminiscent of prey she'd eaten from the fresh kill pile.

"Now, youre probably getting scents of prey." he nods "go find what youre scenting"

She twitched her tail then padded forward, scenting what seemed like mouse. She tried to place her paws tactically, so she didn't make too much noise as she padded through the undergrowth. She looked around until she saw it. A small mouse chewing on a small nut. Foxpaw's whiskers twitched.

he smiled and waited, hoping her instincts would take her because it was too late to tell her what she should do without scaring the mouse away

Foxpaw's legs trembled. She felt unsure of what to do. If she asked then the mouse would be gone in a flash. Foxpaw ducked down and moved slowly closer. It nibbled on the nut about a foxlength away. She watches the mouse intently and then she steps on a leaf. The mouse looks over, "Mousedung" she said under her breath, She ran towards the mouse as fast as she could. If it was one thing Foxpaw was sure of, It was sheer speed. She quickly brought her paws down on the mouse. Foxpaw shook and looked to her mentor "next time can you demonstrate?" Her whiskers twitched slightly

He chuckles, his voice rumbles deeply "Yes, perhaps that would be better"

Foxpaw carried the mouse back to her mentor. "what now?'

"Ill show you an easier way to kill prey, less messy and painful for the poor thing" Ice scented the air beginning the demonstration

Foxkit watched attentively. She scented the air as well.

He stays downwind from a squirrel and he whispers "This is so it cant scent us"

Foxpaw nods in understanding. If the prey scented us first then it would be gone as soon as it detected a scent.

He moves closer to it then when it noticed him he dashed forward and snapped its neck

Foxpaw watched wide eyed at the grace of how Icefang had caught the squirrel. SHe re-enacted it in her mind, thinking about the similarities and differences from what she'd done earlier. They had both moved close to the prey until it spotted them. "Good catch" she mewed. "So how exactly should I move to stay unseen, be balanced, and be ready to catch the prey?"

"Stay down wind from it, pad lightly and slowly. No quick movements"

She often had a hard time moving too slowly, but she could manage it, at least until moving quickly would be essential in making a catch. "Okay... Should I approach different kinds of prey differently?"

He nods "although thats the basics, different prey have different requirements" he gestures to some birds in the trees "take those for example"

Foxpaw looks, listening attentively.

"Theyre harder to catch, but worth it"

"I see" she twitched her whiskers at the thought of chasing the birds.

he smiles "some types of prey are faster than others, Ill show you"

She stood, ready to follow her mentor to the ends of the earth

He padded until they came upon a rabbit "A rabbit is far faster than a mouse, I want you to try to catch it. From what Ive seen, youre faster than most apprentices.

Foxpaw breathes deeply "I'll try my best" she peered out at the rabbit, and moved slowly towards it, trying to shorten the distance between it and herself before it noticed she was there. She attempted to move gracefully, and not tread on anything. The area was less sparse and had very few trees. Foxpaw got about 4 fox lengths away before the rabbit turned and saw her, then it took off a an unfathomable speed. Her eyes narrowed as she pushed off the ground with her hind legs as hand as she could. She followed, gaining on the rabbit. As she got relatively close she leaped, landing on the rabbit. She quickly bit its neck.

He nodded approvingly "You show great talent as a warrior." He smiled "I suppose that will be all for now, next time we will hunt for birds"