Thanksgiving brought about a lot of fun for many as people were able to come together and enjoy a turkey dinner, and for Animalia this was often communal, and particularly with both Lyre and Animalia being well vaccinated and having largely been rather lucky with regard to the pandemic. There were worries about the new variants, of course, but both Lyre and Animalia hadn't had too much difficulty, and that allowed for the communal dinner to be larger than the one held the year before. This then brought along the additional foods that weren't typically part of Thanksgiving. Beef, pork, venison, and even fish were often shared with turkey at Animalia's dinner, often because the predatory Animalians often had good sized appetites and there was the desire not to try and over tax most other goods and services. Though this didn't mean that predatory Animalians didn't like turkey.
And at one table, that was made clear as a group of Animalians ate. The biggest draw was when there were hard cracking sounds as five Hyena Animalians easily crushed the leg bones they were chewing on, and for them this was rather easy. Hyenas were known to crush the bones of antelope and buffalo in the wild in Africa and as a result the hollow bones of a turkey were like nothing to them. Though it also added some attention from another group of five that was seated with them. All ten stood out in some ways in that they held features that were a mix of male and female. Their shoulders were wider than what would be expected from women and under their pants, or skirt, depending on what they wore, there were other things that women did not have, but at the same time their hips were wider than what men would have and the large breasts under their shirts further confirmed that all ten were herm-Animalians, five Hyenas and five Wolves.
"Mmmm... this is good," Akia smiled while licking her lips, "I wonder who brought it."
That was always one of the potential questions people might have, as because Animalia's thanksgiving dinner was communal, it was often hard to know exactly who brought the food in, as it wasn't often brought in with a tag to identify who brought it in. And because carnivorous Animalians often brought in what they'd bought or hunted, there was a lot of guessing about it.
"It could have been us," Lunette said with a smile, "our Pack managed to bring down a turkey during the hunting season for them."
"A turkey?" Vita blinked, "wouldn't they get away too fast?"
There was a nod of understanding at that, and something that Lunette, Night Runner, Paula, Dusky, and Chelsea could understand. While wolves were physically more than capable of killing a turkey if they could catch it, catching them was often a problem. Turkeys were good sized birds, but they were reasonably attentive and fast runners when they needed to be, and at times they preferred to run, which in pure theory might enable wolves to run them down, as they often did with deer, elk, moose, and bison, but turkeys could also fly and when they did take to the air, they got airborne quickly. This generally made turkeys difficult to catch for any animal that relied on running down prey and only ambush predators had real success in catching turkeys as they could then get closer and jump the bird before it could get airborne. Which in North America largely limited the most serious dangers to Wild Turkeys being Bobcats and Mountain Lions.
"It took some thinking and redesigning the strategy," Dusky managed, "but we managed and it's something where being an Animalian helped a bit with being able to make the ambush."
"It must be some story..." Kicheko commented.
"It was," Lunette answered and began to run the explanation of the hunt.
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The toughest part was more getting the permission for hunting and the appropriate tags, though a lot of that was a bit of a formality. Animalians had generally gotten varying degrees of freedom when it came to hunting and this was often more up to the states than anything else. Nevada had been fairly lenient in allowing carnivorous Animalians the freedom to choose their hunting method so long as they had tags and permission to hunt in a given area. Lunette got the permission for hir and hir pack and they met up in one area overlooking area east of Lyre where a small group of turkeys were presently walking about.
"It's like the owner said," Lunette said to Night Runner, Paula, Dusky, and Chelsea in a soft voice, "they're migrating through and are only rarely here."
"So, we got lucky," Paula licked hir lips.
"In a sense," Night Runner answered, "though we need to be able to get close and have one in a position where they may not notice us. Otherwise, they'd fly off."
"There looks to be plenty of scrub out to the east of them," Lunette observed, "whoever goes to that side may have to go a way before they can move around to get there, but they'd provide cover to get close."
"Yes... and most of the birds seem to be looking this way than anything else," Chelsea agreed, "the best strategy would be for two to come from slightly to the north and south of where we are now and then move toward them. They'll note the drivers coming and then move in a largely eastward direction but won't be able to fly at first because they'll be going into the scrub. The three holding the ambush spots will then be positioned to jump them before they get a clear lane to get airborne."
"Just remember we're only to get a male bird, and the tag limits only allow us ONE," Lunette spoke in warning and a reminder of the rules that had to be followed in buying the licenses.
Night Runner nodded and then looked over to the flock of turkeys that were there. All of them were actually male birds from so far as he could tell, which was beneficial. They wouldn't be having to differentiate between male and female birds, which also further indicated that they were migrating through. Though the increased chance of catching a turkey would then present a more complex because of the limit for one turkey for the whole pack. There was the potential that all of them might catch a turkey before it could take off and get away, but only one could be killed. Taking the role of Alpha for the Herm Pack, Night Runner then turned to arranging for who would carry out the attack and would assign those that shi felt would work.
"Lunette, Dusky, you two will be our herders," Night Runner instructed, "Paula, Chelsea, and I will be the ambush party. Do not move until you see us come into position and you see me raise my tail and then lower it. We will then ambush the birds as you drive them. Though that will only be pin them to start with. If one of us gets one down, we shout, "got one" and we'll go from there."
"And the Alpha gets the actual kill if all of us pin one?" Paula asked.
"Yes," Night Runner nodded, "but if only one of us catches one...then that one gets the kill."
With that, Night Runner, Paula, and Chelsea then headed west to then move around the turkeys and out of their line of vision. Lunette and Dusky nodded and let the others move, giving Night Runner the role of Alpha for this hunt. They then moved to observing points to watch the turkeys and look for when the others would appear in their line of vision. Lunette moved to her assigned position and watched and waited. She stayed in a crouching position and watched the turkeys as they went about their business. They walked about some of the rocks and grasses and were pecking at things as they moved about. They moved slowly and without any real aim regarding where they were going, but they stayed in the same general area. Occasionally one looked up toward where Lunette was, and she froze or backed away in order not to startle them, and that let the turkeys go back to whatever they were looking or pecking at without being spooked.
And that sort of pattern continued for a while as Lunette and Dusky waited for at least Night Runner to appear in their line of sight. For they likely had to go away to make sure that the turkeys wouldn't notice them when they moved around to get to the east of the turkeys. Lunette and Dusky could only just watch patiently to make sure the turkeys didn't move up or over in a way. If the turkeys moved up or down, they would then move to be able to herd them when Night Runner and the others were ready. But the Turkey's seemed to remain in place and didn't head in any specific direction. After about ten minutes Night Runner came into view with Paula to the north of hir and Chelsea to the south of hir. Lunette watched as they darted between the various shrubs that were on that side of where the turkeys were moving about. They watched as the three got as close as they could manage, and they had to slow their movements down, but did its purpose. The turkeys occasionally raised their heads but didn't seem to notice anything or didn't panic at anything.
But then Night Runner moved back a bit and bent down so that hir was elevated and then raised her tail and wagged it a little. It wasn't major movement, but it let Lunette and Dusky know move forward on a quadrupedal stance. It was largely a slow trot but one in which they were having to show focus on the job at hand. They'd learned a bit from some of the other uplifted wolves, though they'd stayed more content to wait for the deer seasons in the fall, letting the Herm Pack get the chance to experiment with things that wolves wouldn't typically hunt, such as turkeys. It wasn't long before the turkeys noticed the movement as Lunette and Dusky trotted forward. One facing north ran for a few steps and got airborne quickly and another that was facing straight south ran that way and didn't even bother to fly. But most of the turkeys then scattered toward the scrub that had been to their east and allowed Lunette and Dusky to accelerate from a trot to a faster jog and raising the need to move.
What followed was expected. As the turkeys that went east began to move around the scrub bushes, they ran into the zones where Paula, Night Runner, and Chelsea were waiting. One went around the other side of one of the bushes, and Paula missed it as shi was looking for the turkey to come around the other side, and by the time she could get turned around, the turkey had gotten airborne and was flying away to join up with the first that started flying when Lunette and Dusky first moved. However, Chelsea and Night Runner were both successful in pouncing on the turkeys as they tried to run past them and starting to raise their wings to try and fly. Though, while both were able to pin the birds down, the struggle didn't end. Even as they called out "got one," the turkey's fought back. One kicked at Night Runner's leg while Chelsea got pecked on the nose. Chelsea ended letting out a pained yip and let hir turkey go, which then ran away before getting a clear flight light. As Lunette and Dusky arrived, that left Night Runner to leverage hirself up to push the turkey shi'd tackled to the ground and then grabbed its neck in her teeth. The turkey cried out in pain, but it didn't last long as Night Runner bit down hard and then shook her head side to side, which ultimately broke the bird's neck with a loud crack that Lunette easily heard.
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"From there we plucked it, cleaned it, and figured out a way to store it," Lunette finished.
"But it worked and hadn't gone bad or got freezer burn when it came time cooking it for Thanksgiving," Dusky added.
"But wouldn't that have been something brief... like what the Dinotopians have been doing in Texas?" Buddy wondered.
"What the Dinotopians are doing is more "crowd control" and in coordination with Texas's state game wardens to remove problem animals that have been moving into more urban areas," Lunette answered, "and in theory were only to heard them out. If they've killed any turkeys... it was more in coordination with Texas officials and not private hunting. Which could well mean that the state of Texas would determine who gets to eat the turkey."
"Our hunt was in the hunting season for turkeys, which was back in the spring," Night Runner added, "and thus we had to save it for a while to have it for Thanksgiving."
"Well, it's still good, so we can complain," Vita commented, "if this is the turkey you killed."
"We think it's good too," Paula smiled.