Victory tastes great

Walk | "Talk" | think

Rudy had slept deeply after their arrival.  Exciting as a new home was it didn’t matter once he had exhausted himself having fun getting here.  Their old home had been fun and he’d miss it at times sure but, there was so much newness and exploring and learning and stuff to be done everything felt great once he had woke up.

It was time to check out the plains!  Not a day in his life would be wasted in learning to be a master hunter and now there was an entirely new terrain to learn for it.  This was no forest with trees to hide around for either the rabbit or Rudy.  The boy had learned where several warrens had been around his own home but now he’d have to find new ones.  There were other animals out here to hunt but today he would stick with what he had been practicing on.  A new home meant good luck on his first kill, right?

There were so many new scents it took a while to focus enough to pick out the scent of a rabbit but, he finally caught a whiff to follow. The ground here wasn’t littered with broken branches and leaves from trees to accidentally step on.  A layer of snow didn’t coat the ground here though it was still really cold and his breath created frost that floated in the air.

Rudy moved slowly forward and paused when he spotted the two rabbits.  Today would be the day! Rudy watched the rabbits, waited for them to relax their bodies, and then took another step and paused when they looked around.  No movement, no sounds, and barely breathing wondering if they’d notice his frosty breath.  No tree’s to weave around here, that worked on both the rabbit and Rudy.

Two rabbits, he considered both of them and finally settled on the closer one to the right for his attention.  It wasn’t just that it was closer but the rabbit seemed a bit less cautious and more focused on its own food.  Rudy stood still so long he felt his muscles aching terribly to be set free and run but it wasn’t time yet.  Ok, it probably had been time a few rounds but the pup wanted to be certain he got it just right.

Finally, when both the rabbit's heads were down Rudy ran forward, eyes squared on only the one target.  He ran and soon enough it ran.  This would be it!  Rudy was so close how could he lose? Rudy could almost get the rabbit's tail! It wouldn’t do any good of course but it was a great sign of how close he was.  Another stride and he’d have it! With that thought, the rabbit disappeared into its warren that Rudy hadn’t seen before. Scowling at the warren he looked around and wasn’t surprised to see the other rabbit was also nowhere in sight.

Oh well, it was hardly his first failed hunt.  Rudy didn’t bother waiting around that warren since the rabbits knew he was there.  The boy ran out farther, exploring and finally spotting a single rabbit This time he circled around wide until he was able to determine where the warren was.  This time as he stalked in he put himself to where the rabbit would have to run towards him to get to the warren and he couldn’t imagine a rabbit being that dumb.

The rabbits seemed extra hungry and fatter lately.  Did that mean anything for him?  Hopefully, it meant they would all be slower and dumber.  Once more the pup took his time, watching for any pattern the chubby thing had on how often it bent down to eat versus up watching the terrain.  Each breath Rudy took was deliberately slow, all focus on every twitch of his future meal.

The rabbit looked down to grab another piece of grass and Rudy charged forward.  His limber legs ate up the distance even as the rabbit looked up and spotted him.  The rabbit ran away from and away from its warren.  The thrill of the chase had Rudy’s heart hammering and more than once it started to swerve hoping to go back towards the warren and each time Rudy managed to swerve so the rabbit changed his mind.  Finally, the rabbit turned again hoping to go wide around to get to his home and Rudy was able to gain ground, leaped and with surprise and a thrill of victory found his teeth locked around the rabbit's neck.  The boy gave a vicious shake and felt the thin fragile neck snap.  With the food right before him, he dropped it and just stared down in pure excitement, tail wagging as fast as possible even as he panted heavily.  Victory!  It was his.  

Lucky for the rabbit it was already dead.  Rudy flung the carcass up in the air, picked it up, and flung it again.  Excitement had him playing with the food.  Eventually, when his heart quit pounding as heavily the boy stopped eating.  Just wait till he showed his family what he had done!