December 2024 - 36

The Bryan Gross Memorial is located on the North Platte River trail north of the Richards Street bridge near the last place Gross was seen.
UNFORGETTABLE
I remember July 28, 2011, like it was yesterday.
Jake, Bryan's best friend, was in an instructor class
I was teaching at the academy when he received the
call that Bryan was missing. He left the class to assist.
Later that day myself and the other members of his
group joined the search, but Bryan wasn't found.
Bryan and several officers had responded to a
call involving a young girl that jumped from the
Yellowstone Bridge in Douglas. The river was high
and running fast, and officers quickly located her.
Bryan, one of those who had spotted the struggling
girl, took off his gun belt, vest, boots and shirt
and went in the river after her. A strong swimmer,
Bryan grabbed the girl and pushed her toward shore
into the waiting arms of Officer Jeremiah Owens,
another of Bryan's friends. Jeremiah pulled her safely
to shore and turned around to see only the rushing
water, Bryan was gone.
The words " No Greater Love " are etched on the
Memorial wall at the Wyoming Law Enforcement
Academy. It is in reference to the Bible verse that
says, " There is no greater love than this, that a man
would lay down his life for his friends. " Bryan did
that. He sacrificed his life so another may live. He
36 | December 2024
was a hero of the highest order. We know that now,
but at the time our collective hearts and the hearts
of his family members were shattered.
In the years following, we honored Bryan's memory
any way we could. Bryan loved many things, and
two of the big ones were hunting and kids. There
was an archery shoot coordinated by Amy and Jake,
along with a run. But as a hunter safety instructor,
I was always surprised at the number of kids taking
the class who had never been or had no one to take
them into the field. Bryan's gun, as it is still called
in my house, was the catalyst for a program to do
just that. One to two students each year were taken
into the field by an experienced outdoorsperson to
mentor and spend time with those who had no one
else in their life to do so. We used the .243, now less
pristine than its original condition, in each of the
nearly 24 hunts that took place in the first decade.
Harvests included pronghorn, white-tailed deer,
mule deer, elk and in one instance, a turkey for a
young, disabled hunter.
In addition to the program, my kids, nieces and
my brother used the gun for several successful harvests,
including my son's WYO Slam, as we called
it, with his taking of two deer, one of each species,

December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2024

December 2024 - 1
December 2024 - 2
December 2024 - 3
December 2024 - 4
December 2024 - 5
December 2024 - 6
December 2024 - 7
December 2024 - 8
December 2024 - 9
December 2024 - 10
December 2024 - 11
December 2024 - 12
December 2024 - 13
December 2024 - 14
December 2024 - 15
December 2024 - 16
December 2024 - 17
December 2024 - 18
December 2024 - 19
December 2024 - 20
December 2024 - 21
December 2024 - 22
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December 2024 - 24
December 2024 - 25
December 2024 - 26
December 2024 - 27
December 2024 - 28
December 2024 - 29
December 2024 - 30
December 2024 - 31
December 2024 - 32
December 2024 - 33
December 2024 - 34
December 2024 - 35
December 2024 - 36
December 2024 - 37
December 2024 - 38
December 2024 - 39
December 2024 - 40
December 2024 - 41
December 2024 - 42
December 2024 - 43
December 2024 - 44
December 2024 - 45
December 2024 - 46
December 2024 - 47
December 2024 - 48
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2024
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
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