[The Enclave] Tracking and Trapping

by **Turrin** on January 9th, 2014, 3:05 am

Turrin listened intently to Palia's lecture about Landscape Tracking, and he had to admit to himself that he never truly looked at the habitat a animal might live in. Turrin's meager skills in tracking and hunting were mostly self taught and experience through trial and error. The Endal knew that he would have had more formal experience if his father was alive. However, Turrin was satisfied with the information given to him by the elder Endal. He will defiantly look at the terrain more once he was resigned back into his normal duties. The part that he found most interesting was the runs since it gave him information about possible whereabouts of the beast that he was hunting. Also the runs gave him valuable information about how frequent the animals traverse the trail. If it was a Escape Route, a prey might only use it once, but a well frequented run will give him a lot more opportunity to kill or trap some prey. When Instructor Palia finished talking about the feeding and sleeping areas of prey, she told everyone that they could take a five chime break.

Suddenly, Kovac turned to Turrin and asked about his past experience with tracking. The Endal forgot sometimes that a lot of the more experienced Endal hunted on top of their wind eagles, but Turrin didn't have the flying or the shooting ability yet to hunt on top of Aponivi. Turrin ran a hand through his burgundy hair and said simply, “Honestly, I know very little about tracking. My father died before he had a chance to take me out hunting in the jungles of Falyndar, so I had to teach myself hunting and tracking. Luckily, my father taught me enough about archery, so at least my arrows flew somewhat straight towards the prey, and I only hit about half the time.” The Endal gave the Avora a humble response to his question. He knew many Endals who would just exaggerate or gloat about their shortcomings disguise their weakness in a strength. He knew lying to himself won't help him in any way, so he shook his head and said with a laugh, “I not sure what Aponivi saw in me, but I sure that he saw my potential and less of my raw talent.”

Turrin noticed Kovac's eyes dart to the woman sitting in the front row, and he was curious why they didn't sit next to each other if they clearly know each other. Turrin stood up and said with a nod, “I will be right back.” The large Endal walked to woman Endal with long wavy red hair sitting in the front row. He didn't know her, so she blew him off. It wouldn't matter to him at all. Turrin walked up besides her and said with a with a smile in Nari, “Sorry we haven't met, but my name Turrin Aponivi. I was curious if you would like to sit with my friend and I during class.” Turrin pointed his finger over his shoulder at Kovac and said small with a wink, “I not trying to be rude. I am just giving you a heads up. I think he may have crush on you since he glancing you all through lecture. He must be shy.”

oocDon't worry Kovac! Turrin has your back.

by **Sira** on January 13th, 2014, 5:43 pm

Sira had some experience with tracking, though she wasn't exactly what someone would call completely competent at it. She did enjoy the thrill of the hunt on the ground, and understood most of the basics, but her true skill came from hunting in the sky. Even so, most of what Palia explained was stuff Sira had already heard before. She knew the basic terminology, knew what runs were, and things like that. What she didn't know was how to identify what type of run it was, or what animal might use a run. She would have asked about it, but Palia told them to refrain from questioning to the end, so Sira held her tongue.

She would have been content with sitting there quietly, undisturbed, doing her best to keep her eyes off the avora in the room, but her peace was suddenly shattered when Turrin came over to her. Sira was more than a little annoyed, but Turrin was an Endal, and she owed him enough professional courtesy to at least hear him out. He asked her to join him with Kovac, even implying that the Avora might have a crush on her. Sira doubted that, knowing the more likely reason Kovac was looking her way. It wasn't something she was sure she wanted to deal with.. but turning down Turrin would only lead to more questioning, and that would be even worse. Letting out a sigh she nodded her head and stood.

"My name is Sira, but I don't think we will have much time to talk. The lesson is about to begin again."

Sira followed Turrin back over to Kovac, doing her best not to look directly at him. She sat down, offering him only the smallest of nods before quickly turning her eyes back to the instructor. It probably looked like she was giving him the cold shoulder, or maybe playing hard to get, but Sira did not care what anybody thought. She just wanted the class to be over so that she could go back to filling her life with work and not have to think about anything else.

by **Skerry** on January 13th, 2014, 9:19 pm

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The woman perched on the edge of the table, her eyes moving from one part of the group to another as she watched them talk. Some took the time to discuss what she’d told them, a good sign but others clearly took the break for an opportunity to flirt. Well, it was their own loss, Palia couldn’t make them sensible, only try to pass on the information. She just wished that the jokers weren’t in charge of bringing food into Wind Reach. Their attitudes posed problems.

When she judged that the chatting session had gone on long enough, the Endal placed two fingers in her mouth and gave a sharp whistle to bring the rabble to order. It was like trying to keep control of children. Pushing off from the table, the woman paced back and forth slowly in front of the assembly, making eye contact with various people as she spoke.

”Right so we were just discussing large scale signs so now let’s discuss medium ones. These are the most important signs that you’ll come across because they’re found everywhere and are the most definitive signs as well.” The Endal paused allowing her words to sink in and formulating her next words carefully before she continued. ”Medium signs include rubbing, hair and feathers, chew marks and scratchings as well as damage to vegetation. Rubbings are polished areas, or smooth areas. Take bark for an example. If it is smoother in places then you have rubbing. If an animal rubs off it by accident then you probably won’t get a very noticeable sign but if it does it on purpose like deer scraping velvet from their antlers or an animal wallowing in mud then it’s much easier to spot. At a rub or at a projection, you’ll come across snagged hair or feathers which the animal may remove purposely. Clumps of hair and feathers could indicate a kill site though so be on the alert or you may find yourself a predator’s next meal.”

There was no sign of humour in the countenance of the Endal and so it was clear that she was very, very serious. Hopefully they’d realise the importance of vigilance.

”Moving on. Some animals gnaw on nuts and tree bones. Rodents. They’re also known for biting off twigs, or chewing grass but when they bite, they make a clean cut so it’s noticeable. A serrated edge means that the plant was pulled by some manner of grazing animal so it could be a deer for instance. If vegetation is covered in bite marks, maybe has a bit of saliva with it too, then it’s a predator. If the vegetation is just broken then nothing has eaten it; it’s caused by animal movement. So that’s all your teeth related stuff so that leaves claws. Claws scratch. Now that could be animal scratches on a tree, or digging, or signs of movement on certain surfaces. You’ll be able to work it out though.

Ground debris depends on the environment. If you were beside a body of water and a wet stone was facing up in an otherwise dry water side then it suggests an animal passed over it and flipped it over. Broken twigs is another one but it can be anything that shows signs of passage or activity on the ground. Breaks in higher vegetation also help to indicate passage and you can estimate the time of the break. You can make a similar snap and watch it to get an idea but most of us don’t have that much time on our hands so it’s better to examine the break closely, make a sample break and compare them quickly. Check for differences and within a chime or two you’ll know whether the animal was through recently. Unless you know the vegetation well, you can only guess. Maybe testing it out sometime and timing it might be a good idea.

Now, last but not least, scat. Scat is left by animals that feel safe where they are. They don’t like to do their business on the run so to speak. It can tell you about their diet if you’re eager to look closely at it but you can tell by the look of it what size animal it was and more importantly what family it animal it falls into. Rabbits and hares leave little pebbles, cats leave tear drops, wolves, oppossums and bears leave tubes. Experience is the best way to learn but I have a diagram here for those interested.” The Endal lifted a diagram from the table to show the hunters where it was and also pointed to the branches and labelled clumps of hair and feathers on it.

”You can all have a look through this for a few chimes. Carefully mind! If anyone wants to ask me a question on the side then please do. If it’s important then I’ll bring it up when this little perusal is over.”
e

by **Kovac** on January 15th, 2014, 12:06 am

Turrin was so...different. Kovac knew it was because he was raised far away, in some jungle. He was not like other Endal, not consciously at least. The half-Myrian was not arrogant, just, well, Kovac could not find the word. Others had said he was noble, some called him too straight-laced or just plain odd. Kovac just took Turrin as Turrin, a different sort of fellow. As long as he could ride and hunt, that was all anyone needed to worry about for now.

Kovac did bristle when the Endal took it upon himself to invite Sira to sit with them, mistaking Kovac's preoccupation with the woman for urequited affection. " Turrin, no, wait!" Kovac called out, once he saw where the Rider was going. Kovac slapped his hand to his forehead. When he saw Sira stand and follow Turrin, he looked away. He looked at her long enough to return her nod, then drilled his attention to the surly Endal instructor.

Palia riffed off another session of information, rather useful, Kovac realized, wishing he had brought something to jot notes down on. He believed he had the gist of things at least, though something the woman said did give rise to a question. Once she announced another break, Kovac took the opportunity to avoid Sira and headed down to the display table, heading over to Palia.

"I did have one question, not significant, but something you said brought it to mind," he began. "You described bite marks on vegetation made by predators. Why would predators bite on plants?"

by **Turrin** on January 24th, 2014, 5:22 am

When Sira accepted his invitation, Turrin felt pleased with himself that he was bringing two people together. The Myrian was kind of curious why Kovac was pining over Sira since he had Lavira in his life, but he knew many Inarta had open relationships, so Sira could be just something on the side for Kovac. When Turrin walked back to Kovac, he noticed the man must be embarrassed by the sudden turn of events because the Avora forehead was slightly red. The Endal was starting to realize the rumors of Kovac's sexual exploits were clearly exaggerated because the Avora was clearly tongue tied at the arrival of Sira. In truth, Turrin couldn't blame his friend's nervousness because Sira was quite a stunning woman to look at. The Myrian gave her a nod to the open spot next to Kovac and said softly, “I am not sure if you met my friend Kovac, Sira. He might be tongue tied now at the moment, but I am sure. He will warm up and be social by the end of class.”

When Turrin heard the loud whistle of attention, he turned his attention to Palia. The next lesson was on different signs the animal might leave behind for a tracker to find. Turrin leaned forward and listened to carefully to lesson. The mediums signs were rubbing, crew marks, scratching, and damaged plant life. Turrin always looked for damaged plant life, but he never thought of looking for other signs that she mentioned. He was glad that he took this class. He just wished that he could put his knew found knowledge to test, but unfortunately he will have to wait till spring to test his new skills. The lesson on ground debris was quite interesting because he never thought of looking at overturned rocks on ground as a sign of animal movement. Feeling his back starting to ache, Turrin sat back up and stretched up into the air. He was started to feel stiff sitting still for so long. When Palia started to Scat, Turrin never thought that the animal would need to feel safe to take a shyke. It made sense to Myrian because he doubt that he could take a dump when he was being chased by a bear. During the lecture on scat,Turrin pondered idea taking a dump while be chased by a bear. He came to the realization that the bear might be the reason for him skyking his pants in the first place.

When Palia held up the diagram, Turrin turned to Kovac and said in common with a smirk, “While you two ponder the “fascinating” subject of animal feces, I am going to ask out instructor a question.” Standing Turrin walked over to Palia and waited his turn to talk to the instructor. When she was free, Turrin stepped forward and said in common with a smile, “I wanted to talk to you about Scat. When I lived in Taloba, my father took me on many hunting trips in the jungle, and he gave me some insight into tracking. My father and his Fang used to track intruders in Myrian territory, and one of the ways, they could tell how long barbarians were at there camp by the temperature and moisture of their scat. See shyke is relatively warm, moist, and soft when it comes out of the body, so the longer scat sits in the elements it will start to cool and harden.” Turrin knew it was gross subject, but he wanted to contribute to the success of the Inarta, so he just smiled and continued, “My father learned how long it took to dry and cool by careful observation, and the technique favored my father's Fang well because they always came back to the clan with heads of the barbarian's that invaded Myri's lands.”

oocIf you haven't notice already, Turrin is failing at observation right now.

Journal · by **Alaia** on July 31st, 2014, 7:10 pm

Turrin

Turrin :

Sira

Player 2 :

Kovac

Kovac :

Permission given by Mirage to grade this thread.

I will do my best to give you what grades you have earned! However, if there is something you feel I missed or anything you have questions on please don't hesitate to PM me and we can talk.

Socialization	+2 XP
Tracking	+1 XP
Observation	+1 XP

Closed [The Enclave] Tracking and Trapping