Navigating the waves of a prairie ocean for sharptails, solitude, and the sound of wind lapping against the grass.
Pictures and words by Tom Carpenter
Let's go!
A land as big as the sky.
Waves of shortgrass: sharptail country.
Asters: Summer's not quite over.
Final blooms.
Riding the crest of a wave: Success.
Colors of the prairie: Tympanuchus close-up.
Resting up: Found ‘em in the snowberries.
It’ll take an hour to get there: Let’s set sail.
Worth the voyage.
The prairie doesn’t tame easily.
Forgotten … or just left behind.
Where once there was a hayfield.
Old homestead: Quiet stories whispered to the sky.
Porthole to the prairie.
Winding creekbottom, dry.
Sunset through a feather.
Tuckered out.
Tom Carpenter is editor at Pheasants Forever.