Storm Watch Quotes
"For Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, this wasn’t one of those days. This was a day that would both start and end with blood on the snow."
"During his lifetime in the Rocky Mountains, Joe had rarely been bothered by long winters, but this year was different. He was getting tired of constant snow making everything he did more difficult."
"The snowpack in the mountains was one hundred and fifty percent of normal, which was a relief after several years of drought, but getting through it had been cruel."
"Joe knew that assumption was incorrect. He’d personally seen a big black alpha male and other wolves in the pack during the last decade."
"It was the fifth verified wolf kill of the current winter, and that was becoming a problem. Especially since there weren’t supposed to be wolves in the area at all."
"You have to get used to a lot of new vehicles, don’t you?" the rancher asked. "Yup," Joe conceded. "Maybe if you wouldn’t crash so many, it wouldn’t be such a big deal."
"The last thing he wanted to do—ever—was to compound an already bad situation by further wounding an injured animal that might then elude him and die alone in misery."
"The sun was blazing in a cloudless sky and the pure white surface sparkled. It was almost a shame to mess it up."
"I’m not a joiner. I’m a grown-ass man with a wife and a child and I want to be left alone."
"Snowplows had scraped the surface of the highway clear on I-25 South and the direct rays of the high-altitude light were doing the rest."
"Joe snorted at the last line and said aloud, 'That’s just what everybody is worried about—that he’s just getting started.'"
"Because the snow was so deep, Joe couldn’t clearly see oncoming traffic in the northbound lane."
"The looming humpbacks of the Bighorns framed the western horizon, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky."
"The fury of the storm, he determined, had been largely concentrated on the eastern side of the Bighorns after all."
"Joe knew Ryan Steck quite well, and he knew that the deputy planned to run for sheriff when Tibbs officially announced his retirement in the coming weeks."
"Joe shook his head. It wasn’t that Norwood was snowed in, but that Tibbs figured he might be."
"Joe took the phone away from his face and looked at it with suspicion for a few seconds."
"Joe punched off and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat as if it were infected by some kind of virus that made people stupid."
"Joe waited until the snow eased up and he could see the twinkling lights of Laramie before calling Marybeth."
"Even innocent things you might post, like a selfie or a reference to the weather, can give away your location."
"They want to paint everyone who disagrees with them as criminals. It's what they do."
"The items were glowing, and my guess is they were written and submitted by his parents."
"If I did, I’d be making his point for him, wouldn’t I?"
"Our president is not the guy in the White House—it’s the secretary of the interior."
"One can’t sit idly by and just hope it all turns out for the best."
"You’d be surprised how many people say that. I wish it helped more than it does."
"We game wardens are always on duty. Twenty-four seven."
"I’ve only got a few months left to retire to collect my full pension. I can’t get fired now."
"Don’t call again this early unless it’s an emergency."
"Well, that didn’t go exactly according to plan."
"No watching porn when the governor comes in."
"Joe has a way of ruining everything he touches."