Rich Landers: Well, well…guess where I found my lost hunting dog?

A short preseason bird-dog workout session turned into a marathon when my English setter ran out of sight and never came back this morning. 

I was trying to take advantage of the cool morning before the predicted 80-degree high temps. But my dog Scout lost me in rugged terrain.   I looked and looked. Even though he had a beeper collar, I couldn’t hear him or see him.

I left my phone number with a farmer plowing his field and with rural residents and two other hunters working their dogs.

Then my heart sank when I came upon three healthy-looking coyotes together.  I approached to 25 yards and they didn’t seem to want to leave. They walked away 5 yards and stopped. Repeat. I didn’t have a gun, but finally threw rocks and chased them away. 

I looked for blood … hoping for the best but fearing for the worst.

My friends Dan and Zach came to help.  We combed several square miles. It was getting hot and I knew Scout would be looking for water at all costs, but there was no open water in the area.

I was getting desperate after nearly four hours. Walking down a trail I saw quail tracks in the dust.  If Scout had been in this area at all, he’d be on those quail, I thought.

I went down the trail into brush and sure enough, I heard the faint beep of Scout’s collar. 

I called as I walked toward the sound.  He seemed to be getting closer, but stalled in the brush.  Maybe he’s on point, I thought.

I continued into the very thick cover. The collar beeper was getting very loud.  I heard a whimper. I busted through the brush to the brink of steep muddy slopes leading down about 10 feet to a 6-foot-square board-sided well.

Scout, desperate for water, slipped in while trying to drink and couldn’t get out. He had churned up the muddy bottom trying to get out. He was exhausted.

I slipped in, too, making the rescue, but we both clawed our way out – black with mud from toe to head.

I’d have never found my best hunting partner if I hadn’t heard his beeper.

I walked a very tired Scout back a half mile to the vehicle, stopping twice as he pointed the tell-tale quail along the way.

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