September 2023 - 57

We slip down the two-track into the first
of them, a place where an optimist turned
soil with a walk-behind plow and a realist left
it rusting and stepped away from the traces
forever. The plow removed and now a conversation
piece in the ranch house front yard.
Past the second meadow, easing along the
stream between clumps of blue spruce, skeletal
aspen that have shed autumn leaves. It
is light now, shooting light. We stop for a
second, check rifles, whisper. Move on with
the three-step-and-stop dance.
Movement. Grayness up the hill at the
edge of the pines. A deer. Two. No, three.
Doe? Buck? Doe? One doe for sure, then
the next one. The rifle at the shoulder. An
ear moves, revealing horn. A buck. A daggone
buck and the crosshairs trembling.
No thought of taking a knee or sitting or
going prone. Just the .270 on the shoulder
off-hand. O'Connor's caliber. Twitching
and bouncing crosshairs, but then the sway
stopping, if only for a second. The trigger
found, somehow and the dawn rent by reverberation.
Opening morning's first salvo and
a dreamer's first deer. A forkhorn mule deer
buck. Don Quixote's 30-incher, a trophy
by any tape.
- Tom Reed is the author and editor of several
books, most recently, " Mouthful of Feathers, Upland
in America, " which is an anthology of hunting stories
released from Cornmill Press, 2023. He lives with his
family on a small ranch in white-tail country but
not far from the sagebrush and aspen of mule deer
territory.
- Lori Eslick is an illustrator, artist, presenter, children's
picture book illustrator 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 | 55

http://www.eslickart.com

September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2023

September 2023 - 1
September 2023 - 2
September 2023 - 3
September 2023 - 4
September 2023 - 5
September 2023 - 6
September 2023 - 7
September 2023 - 8
September 2023 - 9
September 2023 - 10
September 2023 - 11
September 2023 - 12
September 2023 - 13
September 2023 - 14
September 2023 - 15
September 2023 - 16
September 2023 - 17
September 2023 - 18
September 2023 - 19
September 2023 - 20
September 2023 - 21
September 2023 - 22
September 2023 - 23
September 2023 - 24
September 2023 - 25
September 2023 - 26
September 2023 - 27
September 2023 - 28
September 2023 - 29
September 2023 - 30
September 2023 - 31
September 2023 - 32
September 2023 - 33
September 2023 - 34
September 2023 - 35
September 2023 - 36
September 2023 - 37
September 2023 - 38
September 2023 - 39
September 2023 - 40
September 2023 - 41
September 2023 - 42
September 2023 - 43
September 2023 - 44
September 2023 - 45
September 2023 - 46
September 2023 - 47
September 2023 - 48
September 2023 - 49
September 2023 - 50
September 2023 - 51
September 2023 - 52
September 2023 - 53
September 2023 - 54
September 2023 - 55
September 2023 - 56
September 2023 - 57
September 2023 - 58
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