Hunting in the mist (Private)

**gs29513** · #1 October 20th, 2024, 08:52 PM

@v4mp6re_b1t3
After their territory tour, Deadmoon felt confident enough in Mistypaw's ability to not get lost that, after calling her apprentice Mistypaw! Hunting time! she could just....head out of camp. She headed for one of the little copse of trees that dotted the meadow, not her personal favorite but still a decent ones. Her favorite was a bit too close to the border for a new apprentice, still a bit apt to chase prey over scent lines in the excitement. So it wouldn't be the beech copse this time, but instead a trio of slim paper birch trees and a few serviceberry bushes. The latter were sometimes fantastic for attracting birds, but by now they had all been scavenged.

Instead, they would be preying upon the rodents scrabbling about for birch samaras in the falling leaves. This was still acceptable enough, and Deadmoon was fairly certain that a few fieldmice could be scented in among the leaves from where she stopped, a five or six foxlengths back from the trees. It wouldn't do to scare all the prey away now, would it? First we're going to practice our hunting crouches. she explained, sliding into her own. Front paws extended, weight firmly on her haunches with hind paws beneath her, tail low but not touching the ground. Do your best to mirror mine, and then start moving around. This'll help work out some of the crinkles, and I'll correct anything major before we go after the.....whatever's in there. It was probably worth it to make Mistypaw sniff things out, to get her practice differentiating scents and whatnot.

**Ome** · #2 October 20th, 2024, 10:29 PM

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⋆♱Mistypaw♱⋆
WC App ✶ She-Cat (She/Her) ✶ 6 Moons ✶ Straight
✶Long dusty-white fur with bright blue eyes✶
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Mistypaw carefully watched Deadmoon before doing the same, shaking slightly as she lowered herself into the hunting crouch position. She felt stiffed and she looked up at her mentor, her eyes questioning if she was doing it right or not.

**gs29513** · #3 October 22nd, 2024, 12:44 PM

It was a decent attempt from Mistypaw, but her apprentice was far too tense. Try and relax your muscles a bit, you won't be able to move quietly that way. Deadmoon directed, moving around the apprentice in a small circle. Reaching out a paw, she tried to gently nudge Mistypaw's hind paws a bit more under her. A bit more support might help her stop tensing up. Maybe move your front paws forwards a bit more, and make sure your tail stays down. She didn't mean to be overly critical, though it could be taken that way, but it would be more discouraging for Mistypaw if she caught absolutely nothing because her crouch was bad. Once you feel a bit looser, start sneaking around a bit. Deadmoon directed. @v4mp6re_b1t3

**Ome** · #4 October 22nd, 2024, 01:31 PM

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓
⋆♱Mistypaw♱⋆
WC App ✶ She-Cat (She/Her) ✶ 6 Moons ✶ Straight
✶Long dusty-white fur with bright blue eyes✶
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Mistypaw did as instructed. She tucked her back paws more under herself while stretching out her front paws. Her tail laid flat, not touching the ground but flat enough to stay still. "Like this?" She asked, looking up a moment before moving a bit in a sneaky-ish way.

**gs29513** · #5 October 28th, 2024, 05:22 PM

Now THAT was an improvement. Mistypaw's crouch was significantly more normal now, and Deadmoon was happy to offer her a quick purr of approval. Yes, much better! she declared, watching as the young molly crouched about. Now I think you ought to try a bit of a pounce. Gather your hind legs beneath yourself a bit more, and then spring forward. Try and fix your eyes on a point and land there. Think of it like a bit of prey. Hopefully the apprentice would get a solid pounce in, and then Deadmoon could send her off into the trio of birches in search of prey. @v4mp6re_b1t3

**Ome** · #6 October 28th, 2024, 05:33 PM

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓
⋆♱Mistypaw♱⋆
WC App ✶ She-Cat (She/Her) ✶ 6 Moons ✶ Straight
✶Long dusty-white fur with bright blue eyes✶
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛
Mistypaw nodded excited at her mentor's approval. She focused on getting her back legs more underneath herself before focusing on a small brown crisp leaf that had just falled from a branch from above. The she-cat wriggled around before pouncing, landing on the leaf with a satisfied crunching sound. She looked down at the now smushed leaf before looking up at Dead moon. "I did good?" She asked, her tail twitched with anticipation.

**gs29513** · #7 Yesterday, 08:51 PM

Look at Mistypaw go! Indeed, you did good! Deadmoon purred, watching as the young molly crunched the leaf into absolute oblivion. Delightful! She was probably ready to send Mistypaw off into the trees now, to do her own little bit of hunting. Alright, it's time for you to put it all together now. she began, waving a paw at her apprentice in an attempt to usher her over towards the trees. Not into them, beyond the bushline, but close enough that any scents within would be clearly discernible. Do a bit of sniffing, and see what you can smell. there were a few things Deadmoon could identify, at least one mouse and a pair of starlings. She assumed that Mistypaw would go for the mouse as it would probably be the most familiar scent, but who knew!

Pick something, sneak around the bushes a bit until you have a lane of approach, and then crouch towards it. Once you're close enough to pounce, or because of course the prey might notice a less-than-practiced approach it starts taking off, jump on it. Try and kill it as quickly as possible, but as long as it ends up ready-to-eat, you've done a good job. And even if it doesn't as it very well might escape, seeing as Mistypaw was a new hunter we can just try again! Just do your best! Welp, that was definitely enough instruction. Maybe too much instruction, she hoped she hadn't confused the apprentice whatever, Mistypaw would take it from here and Deadmoon could just watch, making note of any issues that could be fixed. @Ome

**Ome** · #8 Yesterday, 09:21 PM

┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓
⋆♱Mistypaw♱⋆
WC App ✶ She-Cat (She/Her) ✶ 6 Moons ✶ Straight
✶Long dusty-white fur with bright blue eyes✶
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛
Tags: @gs29513
Mistypaw stride over to where Deadmoon was ushering her towards. The she crouched down, sniffing the air around her. She didn't just use her sense of smell tho, her ears perked, listening to the nature around her. She heard something move past her, her eyes darted to the side and she quickly jumped, her claws digging into a small gray mouse. no longer moving. She shook the mouse of her paw and bent down to pick it up, turning to face her mentor.

**gs29513** · #9 Today, 06:37 PM

Hey hey! Deadmoon was pleased to see Mistypaw getting down to business and focusing on hunting. It seemed to work too, with the molly finding a mouse near the edge of the bushline. The crouch wasn't perfect, but Deadmoon didn't expect it to be. Most of the little crinkles with her position would work themselves out as she did more hunting, figuring out what worked and what didn't. Regardless, this had been a success, and while she didn't think her apprentice this time around struggled with confidence a bit of a compliment never hurt.

Nice job Mistypaw! she purred, tail high as she strode towards the younger cat from where she had been watching a bit away. She didn't need her ambient noise and scent messing things up, after all. Do you want to go somewhere else and try again everything had probably taken off by now, both from her voice and the scent of mouse blood or head back to camp so you can show off your catch? She wasn't sure how much stamina the kid had, and if she was tired they could return to camp. No point making the whole training business more strenuous than it needed to be for either of them. @Ome

**Ome** · #10 Today, 06:57 PM

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『 Mistypaw 』
⚝ WC App ⚝ She-Cat ⚝ 6 Moons Old
Short white fur with pale blue eyes
Mentor :: Deadmoon ( @gs29513 )
┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

Mistypaw placed the mouse down, licked her paw thinking for a moment before grinning. "I wanna keep going, if that is alright with you," the she-cat mews, more excited than ever.