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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Hark The Herald 2: Tuesday, December 24, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Hark The Herald 2: Tuesday, December 24, 2024

 A couple sits down to reflect on a great Christmas with their family as they quietly remember the horror....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Crime & Courts

Wyoming knife enthusiasts have it good. Knife regulations here essentially mirror the state’s firearms statutes.

For instance, law-abiding adults over age 21 who qualify to carry a concealed firearm also qualify to carry a concealed blade, including such knives as switchblades.

That might not be the case in other states. Knife regulations vary not only by state but also by city, county and town jurisdiction, Doug Ritter, the founder, chairman and CEO of the national Knife Rights organization, told Cowboy State Daily.

Generally speaking, if a state has permissive firearms regulations, it likely also has broad knife freedoms, he said. And if a state restricts firearms, it likely restricts knives.

So, Wyomingites shouldn’t take for granted that their favorite knife will be legal everywhere they travel, Ritter said. He recommends using Knife Rights’ 

 app to check state, county and local regulations when taking knives on the road.

Dylan Sparks of Buffalo told Cowboy State Daily that he appreciates Wyoming’s knife freedom.

“I carry about a 9- or 10-inch Ka-Bar. And I open carry it wherever I go,” he said.

A Ka-Bar (sometimes spelled K-Bar) is a fixed-blade fighting and utility knife. It was officially adopted by the Maine Corps in 1942 as the Mark 2.

“It’s primary purpose for it is that it’s a tool,” although it could be used for self-defense, said Sparks, a Marine Corps veteran who is running for mayor of Buffalo.

Sparks said his Ka-Bar has raised some eyebrows when he’s traveled outside Wyoming.

“I’ve been approached by police officers” and sometimes “quizzed” about why he had the knife clearly visible in a sheath on his hip, he said.

However, none of those encounters have resulted him in being cited for breaking any regulations, Sparks said.

“I’ll open carry it until somebody says, ‘Hey, you can’t do that',” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Right To Bear Arms"}]

Knife rights should be protected under the Second Amendment, as firearms rights are, Sparks said.

“It should be a universal freedom,” he said. “It’s a matter of freedom, to keep and bear arms.”

As he sees it, law-abiding citizens shouldn’t lose knife freedoms over what criminals might do with knives.

“A criminal can hurt you with whatever they want to hurt you with. It can be a gun, it could be a knife, it could be a stapler, or anything,” Sparks said.

Firearms policy expert George Mocsary stated in a text message to Cowboy State Daily that, according to its wording, the Second Amendment covers knives.

“The Second Amendment doesn't say ‘firearms.’ It says ‘arms’,” wrote Mocsary, a professor of law at the University of Wyoming and director of UW’s Firearms Research Center.

“That includes knives, swords, and other edged weapons. Sabres, for example, were common cavalry weapons in the Founding era,” he stated.

“Stun guns came up in the 2016 Supreme Court case of Caetano v. Massachusetts, in which Justice Alito's concurrence strongly suggested that they were, or at least could be, protected.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Double-Edged Blades"}]

Master bladesmith Audra Draper of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily that most of her customers order hunting knives or kitchen cutlery.

“I very rarely get people who want fighting knives or anything like that,” she said.

She added that she hasn’t run into legal snags making knives for customers in other states.

“I have had customers from overseas whose knives could not get to them” because they were banned in those countries, Draper said.

She noted that people who own “doubled-edged” blades, such as daggers, should be mindful of regulations against such knives when they travel.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Length Restrictions"}]

Ritter said many of the people who reach out to his organization for help and advice regarding alleged knife restriction violations weren’t directly busted for having the knife.

Instead, the trouble frequently starts with a traffic stop, during which an officer notices a knife, he said, mentioning hunters traveling with large, fix-bladed hunting knives.

“There are many cities and towns that have blade length restrictions,” he said.

“If you’re carrying a big old 7-inch cold steel blade, that might be a problem, even it’s a folding knife, and you’ve got it clipped in your pocket,” Sparks said.

Knife Rights has lobbied for “knife law preemption” in several states, he said, meaning state regulations should preempt any further restrictions that local jurisdictions attempt to impose.

Knife Rights successfully litigated to overturn a restriction on switchblades in Massachusetts, and is litigating to have similar bans overturned in Minnesota and California, Ritter said.

“People need to be careful, because they have to (abide by knife restrictions). That’s why we’re trying to get rid of those restrictions. And hopefully, I’ll live long enough to see that happen,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Get Training"}]

Firearms and self-defense trainer Bill Tallen of Cody told Cowboy State daily that people considering carrying a knife for self-defense should take the same approach as those looking to carry a firearm.

“If you think you would want to rely on a knife as a self-defense weapon, you better train with it. Find a qualified trainer,” he said.

On an historical note, Tallen said that as he understands it, knife restrictions might have resulted from past class prejudice.

Pistols were considered a “a gentleman’s weapon” whereas knives, clubs and the like were regarded as the weapons of common rabble, he said.   

Former Sublette County Sheriff Hank Ruland told Cowboy State Daily he didn’t have to deal with much knife crime during his career.

However, law enforcement officers can’t take for granted how deadly knives can be, he added.

“Officers are trained according to the ’21-foot rule’,” he said.

“Meaning if a suspect comes at you with a knife, you have 1.5 seconds if he’s 21 feet away before he’s on you and stabs you,” Ruland said.  

Knife rights blade 8 2 26

<title>Knife Rights Advocates Say Second Amendment Should Apply To Blades, Too | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Knife rights advocates say knives should be protected like guns as the Second Amendment doesn't say ‘firearms,' it says ‘arms’, says UW professor George Mocsary. Wyoming adults with clean records can carry almost every type of knife, a right not all states enjoy.

Knife Rights Advocates Say Second Amendment Should Apply To Blades, Too

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wildlife

As hunting season settles over the mountains surrounding Snyder Basin in Sublette County, the moose begin drifting toward a Wyoming woman's ranch. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with calves.

[{"type":"text","text":"To Pamela Chrisman, their arrival isn't surprising."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"It's been happening for nearly 40 years."}]

"They'd come in here and hide from the hunters," Chrisman explained. "This is kind of a safe haven for all those guys."

What began with one hungry old cow moose slowly blossomed into one of Wyoming's most remarkable wildlife stories — a bond built not through training or taming, but through decades of building trust.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fish Creek Ranch "}]

Chrisman was born in Big Piney and has spent nearly her entire life ranching beneath Snyder Basin, where cattle, horses and wildlife have always been part of daily life.

[{"type":"text","text":"She was about 21 years old when she moved onto the remote ranch."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There was no bathroom, no telephone, no running water,\" she recalled."}]

Winters meant trips to the outhouse through deep snow. Eventually, her mother helped install a well, and the two spoke each night over a CB radio.

[{"type":"text","text":"The isolation never bothered Chrisman."}]

She grew up following her father while he worked cattle and said she always felt at home outdoors.

[{"type":"text","text":"Animals had always occupied a special place in her life."}]

She remembered adopting a steer as a girl, loving her horses, dogs and cats, and riding horseback home after her school bus became stranded in the snow.

Long before the moose arrived, caring for animals was simply part of who she was.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grandma Mouse"}]

"Sometime in the 1980s", Chrisman says an aging cow moose wandered onto the ranch and began eating hay alongside her horses.

[{"type":"text","text":"The old moose was gaunt."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"She was really, really gray,\" Chrisman recalled."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead of chasing the animal away, she let it eat."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She affectionately named the old cow \"Grandma Mouse.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The name stuck, and so did the moose."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Grandma Mouse kept returning."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then she brought offspring."}]

Chrisman watched as one generation followed another. There was Merry Mouse, Miss Mouse, Baby Mouse and an old bull she simply called Old Boy. Each had its own personality.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They have different temperaments,\" she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Building Trust"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"At first, the moose simply shared pasture with Chrisman's horses."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The horses accepted them."}]

"They'd go in and stand next to her in the corral," Chrisman said. "She could eat with them."

[{"type":"text","text":"Over time, something even more unusual happened."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The moose began trusting Chrisman herself."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She developed a routine."}]

"I just gave them a hoop or a holler and shook the bucket," she said. "There they come."

Eventually, the relationship became close enough that Chrisman posed for photographs hugging the animals and even briefly sitting atop one especially gentle cow named Miss Mouse.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I could actually get on her,\" she said. \"They just liked me.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She never tried turning the experience into a roadside attraction."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"In fact, she discouraged visitors."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The moose accepted her, but they remained wary of everyone else."}]

"I wouldn't let them up there," Chrisman said. "You better stand back, because they're just not really impressed about having quite a few people around."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'They Know Where To Come' "}]

To many people who spend time in Wyoming's backcountry, getting close to a moose is reason for concern, not celebration.

competing in an ultramarathon through the Wyoming wilderness, and nearly all agreed on the animal they feared most. 

[{"type":"text","text":"It wasn't bears."}]

Massive, territorial and fiercely protective of calves, moose have earned a reputation as one of Wyoming's most unpredictable wild animals.

[{"type":"text","text":"That is what makes Chrisman's story so extraordinary."}]

To outsiders, the idea that generations of wild moose would willingly return to the same ranch — and trust the same woman — might sound almost impossible.

But John Lund, regional wildlife supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Pinedale Region, said the behavior makes biological sense.

"It's not uncommon," Lund said of multiple generations returning to the same property, especially when an area provides high-quality habitat and protection from people, predators and other disturbances.

Lund said wildlife managers believe moose, much like deer and elk, likely learn seasonal locations from their mothers.

He also said big-game animals quickly learn where hunting pressure is low and return to those places year after year.

While moose hunting is much more limited than elk hunting, he believes the same principle applies.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Chrisman, that's exactly what she has witnessed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They know where to come,\" she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"R-E-S-P-E-C-T "}]

At one time, Chrisman estimated as many as 10 moose regularly visited the ranch.

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, about four or five still stop by."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Grandma Mouse is gone."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So are Merry Mouse, Miss Mouse and Old Boy."}]

But each winter, Chrisman still puts out an alfalfa bale and a few pellets.

[{"type":"text","text":"She still watches the hills."}]

Descendants of those first visitors still find their way back beneath Snyder Basin.

Lund said becoming comfortable around one person "isn't unheard of," though he cautioned that moose are still wild animals. Cows can become aggressive while protecting calves, bulls often become dangerous during the fall rut, and any moose that feels cornered or threatened could attack.

[{"type":"text","text":"Chrisman agrees that respect has always been the key."}]

"They aren't as mean as people put them up to be," she said. "But you've got to respect them and give them enough room."

[{"type":"text","text":"She never tried to make the moose into pets."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She simply offered them a place where they were safe."}]

Moose lady Pam2 8 8 26

<title>Meet The Moose Whisperer: For 40 Years, Wild Moose Return To Her Big Piney Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For nearly 40 years, generations of wild moose have returned to Fish Creek Ranch near Big Piney, Wyoming, where they trust Pamela Chrisman so much she can walk up and pet them. "This is kind of a safe haven for all those guys," she said.

Meet The Moose Whisperer: For 40 Years, Wild Moose Return To Her Big Piney Ranch

Wyoming Life

Entertainment

Every August, the highways to South Dakota begin to thunder as hordes of bikers pour into the Black Hills.

What began in 1938 with the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club has grown into one of the most famous motorcycle gatherings in the world. 

Some have made the trip for decades. Others are rolling into the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the first time.

Greg Griswold remembers the first time he approached Sturgis from Gillette on Interstate 90.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Holy shit, we're going to Sturgis,\" he remembers thinking."}]

At home, he drives a truck in the oil field. His wife, Toni, works as an assistant manager at an apartment complex. Between them, they have four children and eight grandchildren.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We're very much the all-American family,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But when they leave for Sturgis, something changes."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's an absolute getaway from everything that is life,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The New Guy"}]

Amid all that freedom are a few unwritten rules, and one false move can get you punched in the face — or worse, a full-out ass-kicking.

A 20-something-year-old stone mason from Sheridan who goes by Grout is heading to Sturgis for the first time for the 86

 annual rally, which began Friday and runs through Aug. 16.

Newly single, Grout — aka Sean Severs — said he's especially looking forward to "the party." He said this while packing up his tent for the campgrounds. 

This year, he's riding alongside a Sheridan biker known as Coach, a Sturgis veteran tasked with showing the first-timer the ropes.

For Grout, the draw is the "vibe" — meeting people, seeing new places, and being surrounded by thousands of people that share his love of chrome.

But every first-timer eventually learns there is more to Sturgis than showing up and having a good time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Sage"}]

Bob Pruitt has spent 45 years in the saddle and has made the trip to Sturgis more than half a dozen times.

[{"type":"text","text":"They call him Pretty Bobbie."}]

The modern-day mountain man stands over 6 feet tall, and is bald and broad-shouldered, with enormous paws, a scraggly gray-and-white beard and piercing blue eyes.

[{"type":"text","text":"His voice is heavy, each word landing like a hammer on a nail."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Yet somehow, standing next to him, you feel safer."}]

Maybe that's because Pretty Bobbie has been around long enough to know where the trouble is — and how to stay out of it.

His advice for anyone headed to Sturgis is simple: Have fun, pay attention, and understand the unwritten rules before you accidentally break one.

[{"type":"text","text":"The first is perhaps the easiest."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 1: Hands Off"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A motorcycle is not a park bench."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't sit on one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't lean against one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't climb aboard for a photograph."}]

Pretty Bobbie's advice is concise: "You want to touch a motorcycle, get your own."

[{"type":"text","text":"Griswold understands why."}]

Sturgis can offer everything from battered old Harleys coaxed across several states to meticulous customs that cost staggering amounts of money and craftsmanship.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Their bike is what they live for,\" he said of some riders. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Admire it, then keep walking."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 2: Don't Play Biker"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Sturgis is not the place to cosplay as an outlaw biker."}]

Griswold said an easy way to attract the wrong kind of attention is to show up wearing motorcycle-club insignia you haven't earned.

The sleeveless vest is commonly called a "cut," he said. Patches can identify a club, chapter or territory, including the curved "bottom rocker."

"A good way (to get your ass kicked) is show up with a cut that is flashing the wrong bottom rocker," Griswold said about the arched patches across the back of vests that usually indicates what territory a rider is from.

An experienced club member may recognize that an outsider simply doesn't know better, "but don't bet on it."

For a prospect, as in someone who wants to join some of the more notorious clubs, “he’s trying to prove to the club that he’s willing to go the extra mile for the club.”

[{"type":"text","text":"In a low, ominous voice, Griswold elaborates. "}]

"The 1% badge is only for those who have actually done the deed, and we’re talking — we’re talking death,” he said. "They’ve taken a life.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 3: Know When To Shut Up"}]

Pretty Bobbie said problems at the Sturgis rally begin the same way they do everywhere else.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Most people get bound up because they drink too much,\" he said."}]

Then people start talking trash, getting overly friendly or asking questions of people who clearly don't want to answer them.

"The way to run afoul on a biker is messing with his bike, mess with his old lady, start talking shit or asking too many questions," he said. 

Want to make friends? “Nod to them,” he said. "If they nod back, yeah, you'd probably be all right talking to them. If they don't nod back, leave them alone. They don't want to be messed with.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Basic awareness goes a long way.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 4: Leave The Old Lady Alone"}]

A surefire way to get your ass kicked at Sturgis is by "messing with someone's old lady,” Pretty Bobbie continued.

[{"type":"text","text":"The term itself might sound less than flattering to an outsider."}]

In biker culture, Pretty Bobbie said calling a woman “old lady” is "the utmost term of respect."

"If you hear a guy say, 'This is my wife,' he loves her," Pruitt said. "You got a guy say, 'Yeah, this is my old lady,' he'll kill for her."

Problems often begin when the drinks start flowing and guys start getting a little too friendly.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Chummy chummy,\" as Pretty Bobbie puts it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Asked about his wife, the hard biker softened immediately."}]

"I'd set the world on fire for her," he said. "She's everything to me."

[{"type":"text","text":"And who says romance is dead?"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 5: Watch The Road"}]

Whether it's your first ride to Sturgis or your 40th, the goal is the same: Don't make it your last.

By Saturday during the 2025 rally, the South Dakota Highway Patrol had already recorded 58 injury crashes and four fatal crashes in the western part of the state. There were also 103 DUI arrests by that point. 

With the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally kicking off this weekend, many bikers offered tips on how to avoid getting your ass kicked at the celebration. One 45-year vet says "Understand the unwritten rules before you accidentally break one."

Hark The Herald 2: Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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