Bobbing for Rodents [open hunting patrol]

Ferretnose was taking a lot of lonely trips around territory in the days following Pricklebush's death. The sound of her breath echoed in the hollow, sparsely-leafed woods as she stepped through the stinging morning frost. On one of these walks, she passed through a piece of territory she seldom visited. There wasn't a lot in this particular clearing other than drying ferns and hard-packed ground, after all. Of course, as fate would have it, she was sniffing around and discovered something quite extraordinary.

She hurried home, the sun passing over her back as she ran westward in the late morning air. As the light melted the coating of frost on the grass and branches, she felt it pass over her own chilled heart. Skidding through the camp entrance, Ferretnose gasped to catch her breath, scanning the clearing for cats who had nothing too important to do. Ferretnose laughed in short bursts between the shallow breaths she could manage after her enthusiasm to get back.

"Hey!" she panted above the hubbub of her clanmates. "Listen, listen, listen! There's a dead tree between Sandy Hollow and Sunningrocks... thistles and thorns, my chest! ... and there's got to be an entire colony's worth of prey preparing their Leafbare stores in there! It's completely hollowed out and there's a hole in the trunk. You can fit half your body in!" Ferretnose bounced on her paws, as if transferring her own excitement to the cats who were within earshot. "I'm telling you, enough forward momentum... you can dunk your front half in and snatch a squirrel out blind! Come on, it'll be good fun! When was the last time any of us had a hunt this good?"

Houndheart had spent little time around Ferretshine other than the occasional, mundane patrol. The older warrior spent far too much time being pleasant around the deputy. He despised her companion but without Beartooth around, his ears perked in interest and swiveled in her direction. At the thought of plentiful prey, the tom was certainly intrigued. Already his stomach grumbled and it was not even leaf bare yet. Perhaps this wouldn't be a bad opportunity, granted what she said was true. His paws lead the way in her direction and he meowed, "Well if you're sure there's prey and you're not just going to make us look like idiots, I'll check it out. And I'll catch the most too, you just wait." After he spoke, the slender tabby glanced across the open camp. He could catch something for Mossbloom too. She needed it.