How about a nibble? No?

Chade was constantly improving his hunting skills, heh didn’t have much of a choice.  The problem being that no matter how good he got there were limits do to still being a growing pup.  His steps were gentle on the ground, his observations coming faster with daily experience.  If he was hunting for himself Chade would probably be feeling pretty good about his abilities.  The problem was Chade was hunting to feed two and that meant either more kills or larger kills.

At one point he was thinking how great it would be to get larger and kill bigger prey.  The flaw was as the brothers got older they also needed to eat more to stay strong.  Chade and Ricin had managed yesterday on fish but now it was time for meat.

The young wolf followed the scent of some type of deer-like creature.  He hadn’t spotted it yet to know for sure but there were deer pellets on the ground to help encourage his belief it had to be similar to other deer he had seen.  It was dark as always and to be honest, Chade had no idea if this would normally be day or night time.  The grass had a spongy feel to it after the rain they’d had the day before.  

Chade looked at the plants curiously on a bush.  It had some berries on it but a lot of twigs were empty that probably had them also.  Did that mean it would be safe to eat these berries?  Chade recalled all too well their dead brother and wondered what food had poisoned him.  There was a temptation to eat some berries and take them back to Ricin.  Sure, it wouldn’t feed them for long but it would take an edge off and be knowledge of something safe to eat.

The thought was crossing his mind when he heard the sound of a fawn calling for its mom.  Chade trotted towards the sound, using the brush for cover and slowing as he neared the spot the sound came from.  Up ahead was a sight that offered a bit of hope to Chade.  Surely he could manage this!  There was a mother pronghorn with two fawns.  One of the fawn’s was right next to the mom but the other one was a good number of running strides away from her.  Chade squatted down, cautious with each step he took.  The mom couldn’t watch both of them right?  He’d chase the one fawn farther away from the mom.  She’d want to watch after the fawn near her, right?  Amazingly they all looked healthy.  It would be great showing off that he managed to separate a fawn from its mom and they were all healthy.

Chade found a nice spot hidden in the brush that was in between where the mom was and the farther off fawn.  He assumed that would be best to chase the fawn away from the mom.  She was the only threat as far as he could imagine.  Chade waited until the mom looked to her other fawn before rushing out of the brush, heading straight towards the one fawn.

It cried out and ran, behind Chade he could hear the mom’s barking cry.  Chade’s attention was primarily on the fawn leaping ahead of him though.  The young wolf got in close, ready to bite for a leg when he spotted movement coming up behind him.  Chade leaped aside just as the mother pronghorn tried to slam into him.  Chade was shocked when it chased after him and the young wolf was unsure if he should fight or flee.  By habit he had chosen to flee the angry mother, she certainly seemed confident she was larger than life at the moment.

Once she had Chade away from her stray fawn she went to go lick at its forehead and the other fawn was slowly approaching.  Chade watched thoughtfully, measuring his odds against the female.  Could he really not take it?  Chade was a pretty good size now.  Chade started walking towards the mom and just as he was about to race towards her she shook her head threateningly at the blue wolf then ran off with the fawns following her.  Chade took a few strides with the plans to chase them down but then slowed to a walk then sat down watching.  How would he know?  Chade didn’t know when he should try fighting larger game.  If Chade got injured and couldn’t hunt Ricin and he was good as dead.  Chade let out a sigh and turned to head back.  Maybe he’d try and get them each a rabbit.  If not it would be fish for dinner again after all.  Fish filled the stomach but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying or filling as the joy of meat.  The blue wolf’s stomach growled at him and he let out a small sigh, “yeah, yeah, soon.”

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