July 2022 - 37

Eric Atkins, Spanish professor and world traveler, fishes the East Fork of the Wind River near Dubois.
Camping just off the road I started a
campfire. I was thinking of the Rustic Pine in
Dubois, and how much fun it is to be there at
happy hour, to shoot pool and listen to corny
songs on the jukebox. I also was thinking
about the gaping holes in my education, and
how I'd never be able to address the bigger
questions if I continued spending my life on
trout streams in this manner.
A rancher chugged by in an old truck.
He braked and idled there on the two-track.
Henderson growled. The man backed up and
stopped a few yards from my camp. He rolled
down his window to talk.
" I don't think you can camp here, " he
said. He put this truck in park. He wore a
straw cowboy hat and kept a nervous cattle
dog in the cab with him.
" Oh, it's BLM land, " I said. I was pretty
sure, and the well-used campfire ring
reassured me.
The rancher dug around in his dusty truck
and produced a gazetteer. I went to my truck
and got mine. And for a while the two of us
traced our fingers along the pages trying to
determine where we were, exactly.
The moon was up. We were in Wyoming,
and the temperature was dropping. I spread
my copy across the hood of his truck. He
got out and petted my dog. His dog ran
wildly around the sage galloping in the silver
moonlight.
" Anyways, " he finally said. " Did you do
any good? "
I told him about the pod of cutthroat
that rose all evening to a size 14 Adams.
He listened.
" I guess I don't own those fish anyhow, "
he said with a grin. And he climbed back
into his truck. His dog leapt up, clearing
him completely and taking her seat in the
passenger's side. He took the Ford out of
park and puttered off.
In my tent, with a semi-dry dog snoring
beside me, I thought about those trout. The
stars swirled above the Absaroka Range. Elk
sang all night.
- Dave Zoby is a freelance writer based in Casper.
Wyoming Wildlife | 37
Brookies and cutthroats are
fall spawners so, if you time
it right, you can encounter
some fish in their most
brilliant colors. They bloom
with absurd slashes of
orange and red, particularly
the males.

July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2022

July 2022 - 1
July 2022 - 2
July 2022 - 3
July 2022 - 4
July 2022 - 5
July 2022 - 6
July 2022 - 7
July 2022 - 8
July 2022 - 9
July 2022 - 10
July 2022 - 11
July 2022 - 12
July 2022 - 13
July 2022 - 14
July 2022 - 15
July 2022 - 16
July 2022 - 17
July 2022 - 18
July 2022 - 19
July 2022 - 20
July 2022 - 21
July 2022 - 22
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July 2022 - 25
July 2022 - 26
July 2022 - 27
July 2022 - 28
July 2022 - 29
July 2022 - 30
July 2022 - 31
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July 2022 - 33
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July 2022 - 37
July 2022 - 38
July 2022 - 39
July 2022 - 40
July 2022 - 41
July 2022 - 42
July 2022 - 43
July 2022 - 44
July 2022 - 45
July 2022 - 46
July 2022 - 47
July 2022 - 48
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