Wolves rarely chase a random deer in a straight line — the pack first probes the herd's edges, forcing short flight bursts that reveal which individual is slower or already tiring. Once that weak point is found, the pack stops testing and switches to encirclement: each wolf takes a position on a ring around the target and the whole ring shrinks together, cutting off every escape direction at once rather than relying on outrunning the prey.
- Testing phase — the pack loosely approaches the herd's centroid; every deer's stamina drains a little when a wolf gets close, and the one with lowest stamina becomes the locked target.
- Pincer phase — wolves fan out to equally spaced angles around the target and each one advances toward its point on the ring; the ring radius shrinks at the closing-speed rate.
- Herd bars — cyan is fresh stamina; the row highlighted in orange is the currently locked target.
- Outcome — success when the ring closes to capture range around the target; the hunt fails and resets if the target breaks contact with the whole ring long enough to recover.