March 2021 - 47

white setter, it was timing. There had been a
failed marriage and on the heels of it, and at
my heel, was a young bird dog with a partner
who hunted to live, lived to escape. And so it
was. Weekends were hunting. Vacations were
hunting. The young dog grew and learned and
did it all well, even the retrieving, so un-setter-like. And in six years, six short years, he
was dead. Victim of a failed heart or congested
lung. Idiopathic, the veterinarian called it. I
cursed it as I dug his grave at the base of our

favorite chukar cliff, so pained I vowed to
never come back.
But 20 years fell like sand from those cliffs,
and I did return. I returned with his grandson,
a lovable big goof who wasn't much of a bird
dog and I returned with a young female setter,
distantly related, who I see the fire in, who is
every bit what he was, just at another time.
Each time I have returned, I have sat quietly
and sometimes I've talked to him, laughed
about the chukar tracks on his grave, read his

name etched there into the stone of the crag.
Mostly, I've thanked my hunting gods for
making me a bird-dog man.
- Tom Reed lives with his family and a few bird dogs on
a small ranch not far from the grave of his old hunting
pal, Hank, somewhere out in the wild Big Horn Basin.
He is the author of several books which can be found
in the Game and Fish Store.
- Lori Eslick is an illustrator, artist, presenter, children's
picture book illustrator, author and workshop leader.
She regularly creates illustrations for Wyoming Wildlife
magazine's Wild Country Dispatch column. More of her
work can be seen at eslickart.com.

Wyoming Wildlife | 47

http://www.eslickart.com

March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2021

Cover
From the Director
In this issue
A couple pennies
Mailbag
Opening shot
News
Ask Game and Fish
Project profiles
Case files
In the field
Tracking the rarest carnivores
Seeking the slam
A family matter
Getting kids outside
Wild country dispatch
Backpage
March 2021 - Cover
March 2021 - From the Director
March 2021 - In this issue
March 2021 - A couple pennies
March 2021 - Mailbag
March 2021 - Opening shot
March 2021 - 7
March 2021 - News
March 2021 - 9
March 2021 - 10
March 2021 - 11
March 2021 - Ask Game and Fish
March 2021 - Project profiles
March 2021 - Case files
March 2021 - 15
March 2021 - In the field
March 2021 - 17
March 2021 - Tracking the rarest carnivores
March 2021 - 19
March 2021 - 20
March 2021 - 21
March 2021 - 22
March 2021 - 23
March 2021 - 24
March 2021 - 25
March 2021 - Seeking the slam
March 2021 - 27
March 2021 - 28
March 2021 - 29
March 2021 - 30
March 2021 - 31
March 2021 - A family matter
March 2021 - 33
March 2021 - 34
March 2021 - 35
March 2021 - 36
March 2021 - 37
March 2021 - Getting kids outside
March 2021 - 39
March 2021 - 40
March 2021 - 41
March 2021 - 42
March 2021 - 43
March 2021 - 44
March 2021 - 45
March 2021 - Wild country dispatch
March 2021 - 47
March 2021 - Backpage
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
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