Wolf: Bite: Leg

The teeth closed behind your knee and the shake did the rest, something parted in there with a snap you felt in your teeth, and the leg folded like wet paper. The doctor stitches deep with silk and splints the knee bent, but he talks about canes, not cures.

• Leg will not bear weight or push off, crutch and splint, no walking beyond camp for 7 days
• Deep paired punctures behind the knee, packed open and drained daily
• /me drags the bad leg through the dirt, knuckles white on the crutch

Recovery 7 days splinted and stitched to learn what the leg gives back; untreated, the limp is forever·Doctor, urgently

It seized your calf mid-stride and whipped its head, and the muscle tore like a rotten saddle girth. There is a channel in the back of your leg you could lay a finger in, and the doctor spends a long evening with silk and carbolic putting it back together.

• No running, climbing or standing in the stirrups for 7 days, flat ground and short distances only
• Calf bound from knee to ankle, sutures checked and the wound drained each morning
• Blood-soaked trouser leg cut away at the knee

Recovery 7 days stitched and off the leg with a doctor's care, weeks of hobbling without·Doctor, urgently

The wolf hit your calf like a thrown anchor and you went down hard, dragged a body-length through the brush before your boot heel found its skull. The punctures are deep on both sides, and the ankle wrenched near out of its socket in the drag.

• Ankle badly wrenched and calf punctured, crutch for 6 days, no riding at speed
• Four deep punctures kept open with lint wicks, flushed with whiskey then carbolic
• /me hitches along on the crutch, boot unlaced over a swollen ankle

Recovery 6 days on the crutch if a doctor sets and drains it, 10 or more if you walk it raw·Doctor required

The fangs skidded down your shin and grated on the bone itself, a sound you will hear in your sleep. The gouges bleed free, and the bone beneath aches with a deep sick throb that no whiskey reaches.

• Shin gouged to the bone, no running, jumping or kneeling for 5 days
• Bone bruise that flares at every stair, stirrup and wagon step
• Leg propped up each evening to keep the swelling down

Recovery 5 days cleaned and bandaged under care, twice that letting it fester inside a boot·Doctor required

You washed the punctures and thought that was the end of it, but wolf mouths carry filth deep. Two days on, the calf is hot and shiny-tight, and red streaks are climbing toward the knee like ivy.

• Fever and a throbbing calf, no long rides or hard walking for 4 days while it drains
• Wound reopened and flushed with carbolic, it takes two men to hold your leg still
• /me rolls the trouser leg back and reads the red streaks like bad news

Recovery 4 days if a doctor opens and drains it clean; blood poisoning waits if you leave it sealed·Doctor required

The jaws closed on the back of your thigh and squeezed, and though nothing parted, the whole cord feels boiled. You can walk if you keep it stiff, but the moment you try to run, the leg buckles and drops you.

• No running or vaulting into the saddle for 4 days, walk it, or ride at a walk
• Deep punctures at the back of the thigh, awkward to bandage and worse to sit on
• A hitching, straight-legged gait everyone in camp notices

Recovery 4 days of rest and liniment with care, a week of buckling without·Doctor required

It took your calf and swung its whole weight sideways, and your knee went a direction knees don't go. The punctures are honest wounds; the joint is the real trouble, swollen fat and unwilling by nightfall.

• Knee splinted stiff, no crouching, hard riding or stairs at speed for 3 days
• Calf punctures cleaned and left open to drain
• You lower into chairs one-handed, bad leg straight out in front

Recovery 3 days splinted with rest, 6 if you keep working it loose·Doctor required

Both rows of teeth sank full-length into the meat of your calf and stayed there while you beat at its skull. The holes are deep, clean and treacherous, the doctor swears the worst thing they can do is close over the dirt inside.

• Punctures wicked open and drained twice daily for 3 days
• Walking works, but every step squeezes the wounds, short distances only
• Trouser leg rolled to the knee so the bandage can breathe

Recovery 3 days of draining and carbolic; sealed over dirty, it goes bad within the week·Doctor required

The teeth punched through the leather at the top of your boot and found the ankle beneath. The boot gave its life for you, what got through left punctures shallow enough to curse rather than fear.

• Ankle punctured and stiff, a visible limp for 2 days
• Boot holed clean through, letting in weather and creek water
• A curved line of tooth marks above the ankle bone

Recovery 2 days kept clean and dry, 4 if you keep marching in the wet boot·Doctor advised

You tore loose before the grip was set, and the fangs plowed four furrows down your calf on the way out. Ragged, bloody, shallower than they look, the kind of wound that ruins trousers and impresses strangers.

• Calf raked and bandaged, running stings for 2 days
• Trousers slit from knee to cuff and stiff with dried blood
• Furrow scars that will show at every creek bath

Recovery 2 days bandaged, 4 letting it scab in the open·Doctor advised

It leapt higher than a wolf ought to and got a mouthful of the outside of your thigh, a ragged, tearing bite that let go when you spun. The wound is wide, shallow and bleeds like it means it.

• Thigh stitched with a few silk loops, no long days in the saddle for 2 days
• A hand-width tear that will scar broad and pale
• Sitting down in company takes some arranging

Recovery 2 days with sutures and clean bandages, 5 if it stays ragged·Doctor advised

The bite itself was a glance, but tearing free at a dead run sent you into the rocks, and the ground did what the wolf couldn't. Twisted ankle, skinned palms, and two shallow punctures where the teeth almost had you.

• Ankle twisted, favor it for 2 days, no sprinting or jumping
• Shallow calf punctures washed with whiskey and bandaged
• Palms skinned raw, rope and reins sting

Recovery 2 days wrapped and rested, closer to 5 if you keep running on it·Doctor advised

Two small punctures in the calf, hardly worth the bandage, but you keep seeing how that wolf came at you alone, in daylight, jaws slopping. Every trapper's tale of the hydrophobia comes back to you at night, in order.

• Punctures washed with whiskey and left open to drain for 2 days
• You check the wound morning and night for red streaks, and catch yourself testing whether water still goes down easy
• /me flinches at a far-off howl and looks down at the bandaged calf

Recovery 2 days for the flesh; the watching keeps its own calendar·Doctor advised

Good thick boot and thicker chaps: the jaws crushed a mouthful of leather and the tooth points barely found you. One puncture and a pinch-bruise you'll forget by Sunday, and a boot that will never be handsome again.

• One shallow ankle puncture, a slight limp for a day
• Boot and chap scarred with tooth marks, waterproof no more

Recovery A day or two with a clean bandage·No doctor needed

A single tooth got through, in and out of the calf muscle clean as a bradawl. It bled honest, took its whiskey wash without going sour, and left you a small round scar to point at.

• Small bandaged puncture, aches on hills for a day
• A neat round scar for the campfire inventory

Recovery A day, maybe two, kept clean·No doctor needed

The bite closed over your boot top and squeezed until your eyes watered, but the leather held the points off your skin. Beneath it now is a bruise in the exact shape of a wolf's jaw, every tooth in purple attendance.

• Bite-shaped bruise around the calf, sore to the touch for 2 days
• Pulling the boot on and off is the worst part of each day

Recovery 2 days and it fades to a yellow-green souvenir·No doctor needed

The teeth scored your calf as you kicked, two red lines and no more, and your boot heel taught the wolf a lesson in arithmetic. The marks are nothing; the sound of jaws snapping shut behind your knee will keep for a while.

• Two shallow scratches, cleaned and near forgotten by tomorrow
• First night's sleep comes thin, every rustle in the grass has teeth

Recovery A day for the skin; a night or two for the nerves·No doctor needed

The wolf clamped onto your boot heel and set to hauling, and the boot, bless its cheap stitching, came off in its mouth. You made the rocks in one sock while it stood there killing your footwear.

• Not a mark on you, one boot dead in the line of duty
• Walking half-shod until you reach your saddlebags or a cobbler
• /me limps into camp with one boot and points back at the treeline. 'Ask the wolf.'

Recovery Nothing to heal, the boot is past saving·No doctor needed

It lunged for your calf and met your spur rowel coming the other way, and the yelp it made was worth the fright. A scratch through your trouser cuff is the whole of the damage, you can't even find a mark by firelight.

• A torn trouser cuff and a red graze that fades by morning
• The story of the yelp, which improves with each telling

Recovery Nothing worth a bandage·No doctor needed

It snapped at your calf three strides from the deadfall and got air, and you cleared that dead pine like a steeplechaser with the whole pack's breath on your heels. You looked back from the saddle to see them milling at the log, and you laughed until you shook.

• Not a tooth touched you, legs still humming from the finest sprint of your life
• A jump you'll retell for years, growing a foot each season
• /me measures the height of the deadfall with a flat hand, then raises the hand higher

Recovery Nothing to heal, just breath to catch·No doctor needed