Lost and Found?

Twas a wise man once noted, " thing cannot be lost if no one knows is missing?" Prime example, whilst hunting quail last January in the Arizona desert, dog whistle and e-collar transmitter suddenly go missing. Only I did not know it for who knows how long so'see what I mean.

Anyway one afternoon Annie pointed a big covey in a soap-tree yucca patch. The covey came out in a scatter and I got lucky and knocked down a pair. She fetched them up, then headed off to hunt the singles?

That's when I saw the big boar javelina trotting down the fence-line on a direct path to intercept Annie, nose down, unawares, diligently searching. For the uninitiated bird dogs and javelina boars do not mix well.

Here I need to fill in a little background information. While Annie never leaves home without the e-collar strapped on I only rarely, in emergencies such as this when I really need get compliance like Right Now! trip the trigger?actually my tooting the whistle and pushing the button has become so rare the surprise is she still knows.

So here comes the boar, not charging mind you, but as I say on a direct line? On automatic pilot now hand goes first for the dangling whistle then'shit! No whistle, no transmitter? Panicked I do the next best thing, fire a warning shot in the general direction, turn the air blue with unprintable expletives and?Wonder of wonder the boar turns tail, the dog comes running? No doubt wondering what the hell but still? Dad just shot so?

A quick pockets check and a bit of head-scratching? Well hell, no doubt left in truck or back in camp? While it pains me to confess, truth is I have no clue? not even a wild guess as to when or where I last saw the pair. In other words no idea even where to start looking. In case you've never been the Arizona desert is one big, pretty much same here, same there place.

Now it is several days and many hours futile searches later and I have given up all hope of somehow stumbling on the missing items. Gale and I are sitting on the edge of yet another dry wash enjoying the shade of a mesquite thicket when?

Wonder of wonders right across the way? You guessed it there in all their glory hang the missing culprits.

"By god now I remember, hot afternoon, what three, four days ago, I hung them while I stripped down to tee-shirt?"

"Chuck, YOU are REALLY starting to worry me."

What can I say?

-Chuck Robbins