It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, June 9th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. “5 to thrive” is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.
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The days of Wyoming bursting at the seams with nearly a half-million mule deer are long gone and aren’t coming back.
That’s what an official with Wyoming’s Game and Fish department told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz. According to the latest available number from 2024 counts, Wyoming’s mule deer population is sitting about 50% below the Game and Fish Department’s objective for the species.
“The numbers peaked at about half a million mule deer in Wyoming in the like the 60s through 80s. That was like the golden age of mule deer… We're down to about 213,000 mule deer in Wyoming now, which is fewer than what game and fish would like to see on the landscape… human development, whether it be subdivisions or energy projects, whatever, that disrupts mule deer migration routes… Another thing that kills a lot of them is roadkill getting hit on the highways. Mule Deer are by far the most commonly struck large animal in Wyoming.”
Other factors influencing the decline in mule deer numbers include weather-related problems such as drought and winterkill, competition with other species, disease and predation.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wildlife photographers Rob and Jennifer Gunderson have seen a lot of questionable behavior over the years in Yellowstone.
But on Tuesday, when the couple was celebrating their 20th anniversary with a visit to Yellowstone National Park, they told Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi that they captured an increasingly common incident of dangerous behavior in Yellowstone.
“It was their first time in Yellowstone in decades, and they were joking about the fact that people can be that foolish in the park, but they didn't think that they'd ever see anything like that with their own eyes… that nobody could be that reckless with their lives, let alone their children's lives, while they're in the park. And yet it played out right in front of them. They saw this, and it's not just one woman with one toddler. If you look in the video, there are several mothers with very young children. One's holding an infant well within the 25 yard boundary that the park asks that you keep between yourself and bison. And it's just very fortunate for them that the bison was patient, because had it decided it was having a bad day, we might not just be talking about injuries, there could have been fatalities.”
While seemingly placid most of the time, bison are aggressive, multi-ton wild animals that are decidedly not child-friendly. Approaching a bison is one of the most dangerous decisions anyone can make in Yellowstone.
Read the full story HERE.
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Ernest Hemingway did some of his best writing in Big Horn, Wyoming, at the historic Spear Ranch, which he prized for its solitude and seclusion. It was at the Spear Ranch in rural Sheridan County where Hemingway wrote at least some of his famous novel, “A Farewell to Arms.”
Now Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that that very ranch has just hit the real estate market for $29 million dollars.
“Ernest Hemingway came to Wyoming in 1928 he was looking for a place to write. He wanted seclusion. He wanted solitude… he eventually ended up at the Spear ranch, and so he wrote at least a little bit of A Farewell to Arms at the Spear ranch. And the ranch itself is a really, really cool place. This ranch was formed in like, the late 1880s … the main house is it's the original house… So a lot of history on this property, a really in a really cool place. It's just beautiful.”
The picturesque Bighorn Mountains are just to the south and west of the ranch, rising to 11,000 feet, while a 1.6-mile section of the Little Goose Creek, an outstanding trout fishery, meanders through the property. The main house offers 7,414 square feet of New England-style living space, with natural oak wood flooring, eight bedrooms, a formal dining room, and the latest, high-end appliances in the kitchen.
Read the full story HERE.
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U.S. Highway 30 runs a few hundred yards north of Interstate 80 through the eastern Wyoming town of Pine Bluffs, on the west side of the Nebraska border.
Now more of a lazy county road, U.S. 30 for decades was a bustling thoroughfare running east and west through Wyoming before the interstate was built.
And Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the busiest spot on the highway in Pine Bluffs was Pete’s Service.
“Pete's was the place to be, right there along the highway. Big, beautiful gas station, full service… the classic Mobil station, the big red Pegasus on it. Now it's still there, but it's no longer a working service station, but there are dozens and dozens of old vintage gas pumps piled up in front of it… he used to do more, as far as restoring them and use them for parts… But it's a really cool… display of old, vintage petroleum stuff… there's some people in Pine bluffs that say… it's just junk. Let's get rid of it. And others say, No, it's historic. It's a landmark for the area.”
For decades after it opened in 1924, thousands of cars a month would stop at the Mobil station. Now, though, when people stop by to peruse his collection of rusted pumps and service station memorabilia, owner Kerry Odean tells them that instead of gasoline, sodas and candy, he sells memories.
Read the full story HERE.
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A provision of the Trump-endorsed One Big Beautiful Bill Act is prompting two tech-oriented Wyoming legislators to warn of federal government overreach and potentially dire consequences.
The bill, U.S. House Resolution 1 of 2025, would extend the 2017 personal income tax cuts and instill other tax provisions, but could add at least $3 trillion to the nation’s long-term deficit. And Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Wyoming legislators are raising a warning flag about a provision of the bill that could violate the 10th Amendment’s guarantee of certain state rights.
“Somewhere in all of that, according to state representative Daniel Singh, the 10th Amendment is being trampled, and what he's talking about is a clause that says the states cannot enforce any AI strictures for 10 years. Right? So the feds are investing all of these millions into their own AI developments, and then there's a clause that says the states cannot do anything about it. And so Daniel Singh was like… What happens if we want to legislate something and we cannot?... The powers not set aside for the federal government, are left to the states in the 10th Amendment… it's about state sovereignty. It's about local control, and those are tenants that are very near and dear to Wyoming.”
Wyoming’s Senior Sen. John Barrasso’s office isn’t sure if the AI provision is going to be in the bill once it hits the Senate floor.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming's Myron Cook has become the Bob Ross of geology, drawing and explaining everything about rocks on YouTube.
With more than 20 million views, his retirement gig is spreading his unique gospel of geology to a whole new audience. Cowboy State Daily videographers Reilly Strand and Hannah Brock spent the day with Cook on a field trip to Thermopolis.
“Hello. I'm Myron Cook. What an amazing, strange place this is. Now, how do you make sense of this? 95% of the time I'm on my own when I do my work, I prefer it that way, actually, and it just keeps me kind of young. I guess, certainly in my head it does. So we're kind of going out of sequence. We're gonna we're gonna look at some rock up on top of this hill here. I just wanted to communicate geology, and I knew it had to be through video, and it had to be through YouTube. I didn't know video, and I certainly didn't know YouTube on Tata do all that when I know I'm gonna record a little shot of me hiking or whatever, I'll just carry it like this. Someday I'm going to fall and destroy my equipment. I just know it. I had to learn all the video editing and all that I do everything myself. Let's see if we can find the trail.”
“63 year old Myron Cook is one of Wyoming's most prominent YouTubers. He grew up in Wyoming, but spent decades around the world as an exploration geologist in the oil and gas industry. Now his retirement is spent drawing millions of views on his geology videos while exploring the hot springs State Park and Thermopolis. His process unfolds, part science, part storytelling.”
“My particular focus is bringing the history of the Earth in focus and the geological processes that occur to create the beauty around us in.”
You can watch the full video at cowboystatedaily dot com.
Watch the full video HERE.
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And if you're looking for a fun place to grab drinks and mingle on a Saturday night in the south-central Wyoming town of Wamsutter, population 193, here are two words for you: Good luck.
But if for some reason you find yourself in this outpost community off I-80 between Rock Springs and Rawlins — whose biggest employer is a truck stop, and whose own residents have all blown in from elsewhere — Cowboy State Daily’s Zakary Sonntag has another two words for you: Desert Bar.
“The exterior’s got cinder block flaking, painted wood paneling. The sign is so weather beaten you can barely read it, and that actually makes it kind of charming, in my opinion, but what's surprising about it is just how dead it is… on a recent weekend evening, the Saturday night rush amounted to a grand total of two patrons, including one truck driver who ran out of hours between Portland and Omaha, and yours truly. And if you are to believe what the manager Audrey craft tells us, this used to be a really happening place… the owner may not be around by the time that happens. Rosemary Roe is 95 years old. She's owned the Desert Bar for almost 50 years. She bought it in 1977 and she is still every day walking to work.”
Despite the current lack of customers, Roe told Cowboy State Daily that she believes business will bounce back and it’ll all work out.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
