{"sf1_id":1176173,"sf2_id":"r177rok1","title":"Hunting Ground","author":"charles_they","words":268,"posted_at":"2017-04-28T23:22:01.000Z","tags":["Bear","Deer","Horror","Human","Hunting","Lynx","Non-Anthro","Poem","Poetry","animal","narrative"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1176173-hunting-ground","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/r177rok1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/71/83/7183de91-4fe9-4208-8a2c-4bca6829bad9","description":"A short narrative on the hunting beast.","content":"### Hunting Ground\n\nI prowled the forest grounds alone,\n\nIn search of meat and hearty bone,\n\nWith mercy gone and out of sight,\n\nA thirst within to hunt and fight,\n\nI scored a bear of mighty pelt,\n\nA twelve-point buck of grace and svelte,\n\nA lynx who dared to stalk my stride—\n\nAnd each one fell before my pride,\n\nI made my camp and got my logs,\n\nTo ward away the midnight fogs,\n\nHorizon bled the night and day,\n\nAnd sunlight's safety slipped away,\n\nI lay alert and listening,\n\nThe crescent moon was glistening,\n\nThe shadows seemed alive with fear,\n\nWith something creeping ever near,\n\nI fed the flames—they caught a shine,\n\nA feral stare more wild than mine,\n\nMy blade in hand brought back my nerve—\n\nIts calming crescent cutting curve,\n\nI watched until arriving dawn—\n\nBy then, the hidden threat had gone,\n\nAnd with it went my beast awards,\n\nThose trophies from the lords of lords,\n\nI tracked it back from whence it came,\n\nSo weary of its stranger game,\n\nThe prints were of a common man—\n\nTo fell this prey would take no plan,\n\nI found its lair inside a cave,\n\nA place that others dared not brave,\n\nOn walls he'd painted broken dreams,\n\nWith meat and teeth and hair and screams,\n\nI saw my quarry only then—\n\nA monstrous thing beyond my ken,\n\nWhose tongue was longer than the night—\n\nWhose maw was dark as moon was bright,\n\nI trembled there, so petrified,\n\nIt closed the gap in just one stride—\n\nIt wore my pelt, my antler prize,\n\nA human's feet, and lynx's eyes.","series":{"name":"Poetry Postings","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1174010-face-paints-haiku-construction.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1177036-spinning-straw.json"}}