CHANDLERVILLE — Brandy was lost, surely for good.

The English setter vanished while pheasant hunting Jan. 10 at Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. Mike Willen, 67, calls her the best hunting dog he has ever owned. Still, alone amid the park’s 16,500 acres — mostly prairie, with no shelter — the 12-year-old pooch seemed doomed, especially facing threats of snarling coyotes and sub-zero temperatures, plus thirst and hunger.

“I would’ve bet anything I’d never find her alive,” Willen says.

The massive park carries a mailing address of Chandlerville, about 50 miles southwest of Peoria. Though the area includes spotty timber, it’s mostly flat land and prairie, with no houses and few windbreakers. There are camping areas, though they’re more or less desolate in January.

Still, even in the cold, hunters come for the day, recently for pheasant. On Jan. 10, Mike Willen made the familiar 20-mile drive north from his home in Jacksonville. At his side was Brandy, which he bought as a pup a dozen years ago.

“She’s got the best nose of any dog I’ve ever had,” says Willen.

Despite a heart murmur detected seven years ago, Brandy remained energetic and reliable on the hunt, never prone to bolt away. That’s why Willen never bothered with a chip.

“She always was a well-behaved dog,” he says.

But as he cut her loose to find pheasants on Jan. 10, Brandy quickly disappeared. Willen figured she’d come around eventually. But as hours progressed, despite repeated whistle blows by Willen to call her back, there was no sign of Brandy. As the sun set, he made the sad drive home without his old friend.

By word and signs, the park quickly notified hunters to keep an eye out for Brandy, a plea Willen repeated on Facebook. Over the next several days, hunters would call her name, time and time again. But, adding to the conundrum, Brandy is hard of hearing, almost deaf.

As the days tumbled one after another, with no dog sighting, Willen began to lose hope. Especially with a heart condition, a 12-year-old dog would have a hard time defending herself.

“She wouldn’t stand a chance against a pack of coyotes,” Willen says.

Meanwhile, the temperature plummeted into single digits by the weekend. Then, Jan. 15 through 17, the daily lows plunged to zero, minus 4 and minus 2, with the wind chill as bad as minus 20.

With no real shelter or food for the dog, Willen pegged her as a goner. So, when he got a call Jan. 20 saying Brandy had been found, his first reaction was sadness. After all, the pooch had been missing for 10 days.

“I figured they’d found the body,” he says.

Earlier that Jan. 20 morning, Paul Hennensent, 44, and son Bobby, 14, left their home in Smithshire, 10 miles southwest of Monmouth. They trekked to Jim Edgar Panther Creek to hunt pheasants with General, their English pointer.

Coming upon a grassy rise, General stopped, as if pointing toward a pheasant, yet seemingly confused.

“He was acting strange,” Hennensent says. “He wasn’t quite normal.”

So, Hennensent trudged ahead through tall grass to see what lurked ahead. At first, he wasn’t sure. Then — unaware of the missing Brandy — he yipped to his son, “My gosh, Bobby! It’s another dog, on point.”

Ahead of the second dog, they flushed and shot the pheasant. Then they took a look at the second dog.

“She was in pretty rough shape,” Hennensent says. “But as wrung-out as she was, she was on point.”

The weak dog looked gentle, so the boy scooped her up in his arms and the two brought her back to their truck. They gave her some water and a cup of General’s food. Then they headed to the park office, where — gesturing toward the dog — they asked Assistant Park Superintendent Nate Goetten if anyone was missing an English setter.

“His eyes got big and he couldn’t believe it,” Hennensent says, chuckling.

Goetten still marvels at Brandy’s perseverance amid the cold, coyotes, thirst and hunger.

“Where did she go for 10 days?” Goetten wonders.

Park Superintendent Billy Lowe echoes the amazement: “I have no idea how the dog survived the weather, let along got up to hunt. It’s a pretty amazing story.”

That day, after a call to Willen, he sped to the park. When he approached Brandy, he noticed that she’d lost some serious weight. But she also looked excited.

“Her tail was just wagging,” he says.

Willen got her home and got her plenty of water and food. Monday, he took her to the vet, who found Brandy had dropped from 35 to 28 pounds. But otherwise, she seemed in good shape. Still, the vet prescribed worm pills, just to be careful.

“We don’t know what she ate, maybe a dead rabbit or something,” Willen says.

Still on the mend, Brandy is itching to hunt again. Willen will take her out soon, after she puts on a few pounds.

“I’d like to thank all the hunters who looked for her, along with the staff,” Willen says.

This weekend, he was to meet up with the Hennensents to personally express his gratitude for their saving Brandy. No doubt, the hunters will also ponder how she somehow stayed alive for 10 days under such terrible challenges and conditions.

“We’ll never know,” Willen says. “I wish she could talk.”

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter.com/LucianoPhil.