Tracks of Hope — Don Bendell

Tracks of Hope . . . a Modern Day Western is a true story about the tracking experiences of Colorado rancher, cowboy, and best-selling author Don Bendell. Don grew up bowhunting as a little boy in Ohio, as well as performing as an American Indian Fancy Dancer, after spending years in the Boy Scouts under the tutelage of his Scoutmaster father. Don grew up earning a Green Beret and served as one in South Vietnam in 1968-1969, then became a Scoutmaster himself creating a new troop (which still exists) sponsored by the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, NC. Moving out west to southern Colorado in 1982, Don became a cowboy, rancher, and a licensed big game guide and outfitter. Over time, after his tracking skills were well honed and polished, Don was called on to track missing hikers, fugitives, and prized animals in the Rocky Mountains and southwest desert. Though white, he worked with the Navajo Tribal Police in the Four Corners looking for 3 cop killers hiding out on the giant Navajo Reservation. Tracks of Hope is filled with heart-wrenching stories, humorous stories, romantic stories, and exciting, adventure-filled stories based upon his varied tracking successes and failures. It is fascinating getting inside the mind of a modern day tracker, as you will learn when you open the pages of this book. As you will discover inside, tracking a person or animal is a whole lot more than seeing their footprints in the mud. It requires getting inside their mind, spotting their tendencies, and never giving up long after all others lose hope. Tracks of Hope sometimes becomes a Trail of Tears and at other times becomes a Journey of Joy.