|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:36 pm
 Athena was in such a good mood lately. Four litters of offspring, he had sired, and he had gotten to raise nearly all of them! He had Zenobia around and his adopted son of hers, plus the majority of his children were choosing to stick around as well. The old fluffball was better off emotionally then he had been in a long time. He had family to surround himself with, and none of them wanted to run away from him or hurt him. It was a wonderful feeling. Athena was out hunting away from the main group. He hunted with others of the group sometimes, but he really enjoyed hunting alone most of the time. He was good at it, and besides, most of the others were too busy with cubs or the like to be spared for group hunting, no matter if they might protest that. He might have been a fluffy lion, but he certainly was a talented hunter as well, and he knew it. He hoped that it was something the others knew as well, just because he liked being appreciated for everything that he was. Athena was trying to find signs of something to hunt at the moment, but all he had found so far were hare tracks. Hares did not feed more than a single lion, and even that took two usually. He had others to feed, even if most of the adult offspring would likely be doing the same as he right now and hunting. They only had the one litter that was cubs anymore, all the others were old enough to hunt. It was amazing how quickly they grew up and started fending for themselves.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:45 pm
Athena put his nose to work sniffing around to find any sign of something bigger than the hares around. All he smelled right now were smaller creatures and it was a bit disappointing. He was sure there should be some antelope or zebra around with all the water that was in the area. The fact that he was not finding anything bigger bothered him. Either he was losing his edge on tracking, or something was wrong that nothing big was around with so much water. He knew there were no water lizards to scare them off, so what was going on?
Athena was just about to give up on finding something big when the scent caught his nose. There had been an antelope through this area recently. The scent was not very strong so it was only one. Perhaps a sick one, or perhaps one that was making its way back to the herd and would lead him to them! The fluffy lion was hopeful that he would see more than just the one antelope, perhaps even get more than one depending on how quickly they ran. Antelope could be fairly stupid at times and not run far before stopping. Then again, most herd beasts could be like that at times.
He just did not want to deal with any that turned to fight. Athena hated spunky prey. They made everything much too difficult, and he had a group to feed with his hunting! He could not afford to waste time on prey that would not cooperate with him. He needed to use that time to track down and hunt enough so that everyone was fed. Okay so he didn't have to feed EVERYONE in the group, but still, he tried to do as much as he could by himself to feed them all. He did not like wasting time or relying on the others to hunt for HIM. He wanted to provide for his offspring and friends as much as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:26 am
Athena started following the scent of the antelope and watching for other signs of its presence. He found nothing to indicated others around, and as the scent got stronger, he started to see tracks and other things that indicated the creature had a oddly cocked leg. Perhaps it had been in a fight and lost very badly, but no matter how it was injured, the lion would be doing it a favor by ending its pain. He kept tracking, creeping along as silently as a ghost after his prey. He still was not far from the others, so if he could get it soon, he could drag it back easily.
The big fluffball of a lion did not seem so fluffy at times like these when he was tracking something with the intent to kill it, but he still did not harm prey when he did not need to do it. He was one of those that only hunted when he needed to hunt, not just because he could do it. He also would try to make the creature's death as quick and painless as possible. He hated to make anything suffer when he was out to kill it. He just was a nice lion for the most part.
The scent was strong enough now that Athena was sure the creature had to be around here somewhere. He also smelled no sign of death, though there was a scent of blood on the air. He might not be the only predator after the thing with that blood smell around, but the lion was determined to find it first. He spotted the antelope not far, laying down and looking very worn. Its leg was broken from the looks of it and it appeared to have several slashes across its shoulder, claw marks. Someone had tried and failed to take this thing down before. That was not good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:05 pm
Athena crouched in the grass where the injured antelope could not see him. The situation for it did not look good at all from what Athena could see, but there was still some things to be considered before deciding to kill and eat the thing. Just because it was already dying did not necessarily make it good prey for one to feed to their family, so the lion crept as close as he could to examine the thing before making a choice on his action.
Athena had to make sure that it was not actually sick or infected. The lion did not want to take something back that might make the group sick. A bad infection on their food would make them ill just as much as they could catch a disease from what they ate if it had it. He had no desire to be the cause of making the others or himself sick because he hunted bad prey. The fluffy lion loved his family and those that traveled with him to much to do such a thing to them.
The wounds looked fresh from what Athena could see. There was no sign of infection, no sign of the flies having gotten the better of the creature yet, so that was a good indicator that nothing was wrong with the wounds themselves. The antelope kept looking around, and it seemed very alert, so the lion was pretty sure it was not sick, either. The judgement made, the lion moved just a little closer and into position to spring. He had an antelope to kill.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:08 pm
Athena was silent as a shadow, waiting for the antelope to look in the opposite direction before springing forward and pouncing it. He hit the side hard, knocking into it and latching on before it could get its head around to use its horns on him. Those things hurt when they were turned on you, and Athena knew that from some past experiences that he did not want to repeat anytime soon. He had been lucky back then that he did not get killed. The lion did not like the idea of taking too much risk when had cubs to provide for.
The antelope did not give much of a struggle, so Athena's job was quite simple. He killed the creature swiftly, trying to cause it as little pain as possible and took a moment to admire his own handiwork. He had done rather well on this kill, if he did say so himself, and by the smell of it, he had been quite right about the creature not having infection or being sick. There was no smell of sickness or rot on it to give it away. The lion had done a good job with this hunt.
Athena got the kill part way over his back and let what he couldn't get up on his back drag on the ground. He half carried and half dragged the corpse back toward the others. He knew they would be happy to see this. The lion made his way along under the weight of the dead antelope, but did not mind the hard trekking too much. He was just happy to be bringing something home to his family.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
