Summer 2009

IGW: From Whence It Came
by Pat and Don Hastings Sr. Founders

I was standing in a field in Montana one evening as dusk was creeping in and I was doing an imitation of someone with a hot foot or maybe an old Indian dance.While hopping up and down I was saying, “Shoo, shoo!”Now looking back, that seems silly as can be, but I was not alone. In the circle,which I was part of, were four or five men, some in game warden uniforms and all doing the same thing with variations. Out in the middle of the circle was a grizzly bear cub that probably only weighed a 150 pounds or so. It was eyeing this spectacle, but at the same time appeared ready to make a dash into the line, much like a half back in a football game. Our job was to contain him until we could get more tranquilizer in him. I had not quite decided yet what I was going to do if he decided that through me was his easiest route. I was not accustomed to bull dogging grizzlies, cubs or not. My wife Pat was nearby, also involved in this operation.

What was a middle aged semi-retired couple from Illinois doing in the middle of a Montana field corralling grizzly bears? That was just one of the hundreds of similar situations we found ourselves in as we roamed the world doing features for our IGW magazine.Here is how we came about doing these extra-ordinary things.

In early 1984 I was an Illinois Conservation Police Officer and talked to a DU delegate at some conference (I wish I knew his name) and he suggested game wardens should have a trade magazine of their own. He said he thought about starting one but never did. I went home and told my wife Pat we should start one. She had just retired from running several of our businesses and was lukewarm to starting another. She also reminded me that we knew nothing at all about publishing a magazine. She was right about that, but I kept thinking about it.

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