Michael Pearce

RUSSELL COUNTY, Kan. -- For years, the field of native grass was waist-high and full of pheasants.

One Saturday, it was ankle-high and Chris Kaufman and friends saw just one rooster pheasant . . . and didn't get it.

"Tradition is still a tradition," said Kaufman, of Winfield, Kan. "The first field of the season is always the same first field of the season."

Kaufman's host, Rod Meier, blamed a severe August hail storm for the flattened field and its few birds.

WICHITA, Kan. -- Evening shadows were almost across the water by the time I arrived.

My black-thumb gardening skills had stretched a morning's job into most of the day and robbed me of two of three hours I'd reserved for gathering a few fillets.

After my fly rod was rigged from hundreds of assorted flies, I selected two exactly alike and left the others behind.

I headed to the water with the confidence of a hungry man walking to a seafood counter.

WICHITA, Kan. -- During four deployments, Sgt. Maj. Dave Santos led men in often-violent areas of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last week, he led men in the peaceful setting of Kansas' Smoky Hills in a far different environment.

"I'm just Dave on this hunt," he told a gathering of 10 Fort Riley soldiers that included several privates. "Out here we're equals. It's important you understand that we're on a level playing field while we're here."

KIOWA COUNTY, Kan. -- Class was in session, and Greg Wyrick had his students' full attention.

As thick as my leg but longer, the big northern pike was obviously in ambush mode.

A face big enough to engulf a football, with enough sharp teeth to pop it like a soap bubble, faced into the current, looking for something to ravage.

CHASE COUNTY, Kan. -- It often doesn't bode well for a species when Timothy Barksdale comes with his cameras.

In recent years, he has shot video of some of a species' last breeding displays in the wild.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Kan. -- Within the dark confines of a camo blind, Cara Shaw's eyes perked as they traced the movement of a nearby buck -- the first deer seen on her first deer hunt.

At her side, Val Jansen looked on with pride. For 15 years, she has shared every endeavor with her granddaughter.