Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Lost dog's emotional reunion with family....."}]

Smile 9 7 25

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

<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, September 7, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Lost dog's emotional reunion with family.....

Daily Smile: Sunday, September 7, 2025

 Lost dog's emotional reunion with family.....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

Hunting

Yellowstone National Park's famed oldest wolf pack, the Mollie

s, was just following its stomachs when it left the safety of the park's boundaries recently and denned on the Shoshone National Forest, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist says.

"They're looking for food," Ken Mills told Cowboy State Daily during an online interview Thursday.

The Mollie's have made brief forays out of the park previously. But this year, they made an unprecedented move, said Mills, a large carnivore biologist and wolf management specialist, and in doing so have created a tempest of controversy.

The Mollie's settled down east of Yellowstone — and within the boundaries of Game and Fish's Wolf Hunt Area 1.

That's prompted an outcry from conservation groups and wolf advocates, who want wolf hunting shut down there, at least for this year, to spare the Mollie's.

. She's a member of the pack and, at age 12, is thought to be Yellowstone's oldest wolf. The average life expectancy of a Yellowstone wolf is about 4 years and the oldest known animal was Wolf 478F of the Cougar Creek Pack, which lived to be 12 1/2.

Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce and Game and Fish Commission member Bill Mai told Cowboy State Daily that Wyoming wolf management should be based on science, not "emotion" over one wolf or one pack.

Bruce and Mai said they and other officials have been flooded with emails calling for hunting to be suspended in the Mollie's denning area.

Among the groups opposing hunting the Mollie's is the Western Watersheds Project.

Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist and the group's executive director, said wolf hunting isn't based on sound science but rather amounts to needless "trophy hunting."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Moving East"}]

At its meeting July 14 in Sheridan, the Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously to accept the department's recommendations for the 2026 wolf hunting seasons.

That includes a total wolf mortality quota of 20, less than half the 44-wolf quota in 2025.

An outbreak of canine distemper among wolves in northwest Wyoming was cited as a primary reason for the reduction.

The mortality quota designates the number of wolves that can die before the hunt is shut down, regardless of how many hunters are left holding unfilled wolf tags.

The quota for hunt areas 1 and 2 was set at four.

That means a total of four wolves can be taken in either of those hunt areas, or both hunt areas combined, Mills said.

When the department set the recommended quota the Mollie's hadn't denned there yet, he noted.

At that time, there were 20 wolves in seven packs in Wolf Hunt Areas 1 and 2, he said.

Had the Mollie's been there, the quota might have been set higher, Mills said.

On Jan. 1, the Mollie's included seven adult wolves, he said.

One of the adults has since died, and another has returned to Yellowstone, where it might have found a mate, Mills said.

The pack is now thought to include five adults and five pups, he said.

The Mollie's in recent years had specialized in hunting bison. But that requires a large pack — and deep winter snow, which leaves bison more vulnerable.

The pack has shrunk because of poor "pup recruitment" in recent years, he said. And the mild 2025-26 winter, with light snow, made bison hunting difficult.

Previously, the Mollie's had taken hunting forays north of Yellowstone into Montana, Mills said. But rival packs there have grown too large for the Mollie's to risk it.

Wolf packs are highly territorial and will fight, sometimes to the death, over territory and prey.

So this year, the Mollie's followed elk east out of the park and onto the Shoshone National Forest, Mills said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Governor Must Sign Off"}]

Bruce said even if the Game and Fish Department wanted to alter the 2026 wolf hunting seasons the matter is out of its hands.

With the commission's vote of approval, the hunting season plan headed to Gov. Mark Gordon's desk for his signature and final approval, she said.

Gordon hadn't signed the proposal as of Thursday, Amy Edmonds, spokeswoman for his office, told Cowboy State Daily.

"The governor considers multiple factors when reviewing all rules, including public input, state and agency authority, and wildlife management objectives," she said in a text message.

Mai said he expected pushback on the 2026 wolf hunting season proposals, but not from the direction it came.

"I thought we would get a lot of negative public input. But I didn't think it would be in this regard. I thought it would be from some of those western Wyoming residents whose elk herds have been so affected by wolves because of the reduction in (wolf) quotas," he said.

Instead, the commission and department have been "flooded with emails" calling for the Mollie's to be spared, he said.

"The majority of those emails are from folks who aren't from Wyoming," and many came from other countries, Mai said.

Bruce said she thinks many of the emails were essentially form letters sent by groups opposing the hunts.

Mai said the commission understands the concerns of people who value wolves for wildlife watching and as a tourist attraction.

However, it came down to trusting the expertise of Game and Fish personnel, he said.

"Wyoming has an incredible department, with the top large carnivore biologists in the nation, for both bears and wolves," he said.

Bruce said the attention drawn by the Mollie's possibly reflects changing attitudes toward wildlife.

"We see that trend growing across the nation, very much personalizing, individualizing and almost humanizing wildlife," she said.

Molvar said science actually favors wolves not being hunted.

Wolves are a self-regulating species, he said. As the wolf population grows, so does the tension between packs competing for territory and prey.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"\"They kill each other,\" Molvar said."}]

The Mollie's have tremendous scientific value because they were one of the first Yellowstone packs to specialize in hunting bison, he said.

"If those packs are continually decimated as they wander outside the park and they dissolve, they will never get back to the pack sizes needed to hunt bison," he said.

Moreover, wolves have significant economic value because they're one of the top draws for tourists, Molvar said.

Wolves hunted and shot outside the park might become skittish, thereby ruining wolf-viewing opportunities within Yellowstone, he said.

State authorities essentially ignored a 2019 proposal, led by Indigenous groups, to establish a 31-mile no-wolf-hunting buffer zone around Yellowstone's boundaries, he said.

"It would just be good stewardship and sound scientific management to put Yellowstone wolves off-limits for hunting," Molvar said.

Bruce and Molvar did agree that the location of the Mollie's den shouldn't be revealed.

The supposed location has been circulating on social media, Bruce said, adding that revealing such information is strictly against Game and Fish policy.

Ironically, that information is seemingly coming from parties claiming to oppose the Mollie's being hunted, she said.

Game and Fish doesn't publicly release information on pack locations to protect the wolves while they're denning with pups and to uphold the principle of fair-chase hunting once the season starts, she said.

Molvar said he, too, wants the pack's location to remain secret.

"It's smart for everybody, I think, to not advertise the location of this pack," Molvar said. "There are plenty of poachers out there who like bragging about their willingness to 'shoot, shovel and shut up' when it comes to wolves.”

The Mollie’s are named for the late Mollie H. Beattie, who was head of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1995 when wolves were restored to Yellowstone and central Idaho. She died of brain cancer a year later.

Wolf 1090 F 7 23 26

<title>Mollie's Wolf Pack Was Just 'Looking For Food' When It Left Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The famed Mollie’s Pack was just “looking for food” when it left Yellowstone to den on the Shoshone National Forest, a biologist says. But in doing so, the wolves kicked off a tempest of controversy over whether they should be hunted.

Mollie's Wolf Pack Was Just 'Looking For Food' When It Left Yellowstone

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Law Enforcement

Federal and state investigators spent more than seven months building a drug trafficking case against a Jackson man before launching coordinated predawn raids across southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho that uncovered methamphetamine, cocaine, cash and two AR-15 rifles, newly filed court documents reveal.

The investigation culminated shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday, when agents executed simultaneous search warrants at homes in Etna, Jackson and Victor, Idaho, arresting 42-year-old Julio Jaimes Angeles.

At first authorities released few details about the operation, saying only that "large amounts" of methamphetamine and cocaine had been seized.

[{"type":"text","text":"A probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday paints a much fuller picture."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Months Of Investigation"}]

The affidavit shows DEA Task Force Officer Jeffery Allison opened a narcotics investigation into Angeles in December after investigators suspected he was selling methamphetamine and cocaine throughout southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho.

Working with a confidential informant and an undercover officer, investigators completed three controlled drug purchases from Angeles between January and April.

Those purchases totaled roughly 84 grams of methamphetamine and 90 grams of cocaine, the affidavit states.

When an undercover officer later tried to arrange another methamphetamine purchase in May, investigators say Angeles referred the buyer to another person in Victor, where about 56 grams of methamphetamine were purchased.

Meanwhile, investigators obtained court approval to install a GPS tracking device on Angeles' pickup truck.

From January through July, agents monitored the truck's movements and learned Angeles regularly visited a second home he owned at 445 Pinto Lane in Etna, often for brief visits inconsistent with someone living there full-time.

Investigators also conducted surveillance and trash pulls at the property.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Simultaneous Raids"}]

On Tuesday, officers executed search warrants at the Etna home, Angeles' primary residence in Jackson, and a third residence in Victor.

The affidavit says investigators found 40 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of methamphetamine, two AR-15 rifles and about $58,000 in cash at the Jackson residence.

After the arrest, investigators say Angeles admitted selling methamphetamine and cocaine and directed officers to additional narcotics stored at the Etna property.

There, officers recovered 54.1 grams of cocaine and 141.1 grams of methamphetamine.

Investigators say the drugs were hidden inside a garage closet connected to an entertainment room furnished with a pool table, foosball table, couch and television.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Children Visiting "}]

During the Etna search, officers encountered four adults and two children, ages 6 and 9, inside the home.

The children's father told investigators they were visiting from Pennsylvania for a birthday party and had spent the previous night at the house after Angeles offered them a place to stay.

The father reportedly told investigators he was unaware drugs were inside the home.

The affidavit says investigators believe Angeles knowingly allowed the children to remain inside a residence containing methamphetamine, forming the basis for a child endangerment charge.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Charges Filed"}]

Angeles made his initial appearance at a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning in Lincoln County Circuit Court, where Judge Thomas O. Deering advised him of the charges and set his bond at $250,000 cash only. 

He is charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance — one involving methamphetamine and the other cocaine — as well as felony possession of both drugs and one count of child endangerment.

Julio James Angeles 7 23 26

<title>Multi-State Drug Raid Shows Kids Slept in Home With Hidden Meth, Cocaine | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A monthslong investigation ended with coordinated raids in southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho, where investigators found meth, cocaine and two AR-15s. They also allege children ages 6 and 9 stayed overnight in an Etna home where drugs were hidden.

Multi-State Drug Raid Shows Kids Slept in Home With Hidden Meth, Cocaine

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Around Wyoming

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead — a legacy Wyoming ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River — has hit the market.

The 2,062-acre ranch located just south of Bondurant doesn’t boast a $20 million mansion, but is still listing as one of Wyoming’s most expensive properties on the market today at $59.5 million. 

That’s because it’s one of the rarest opportunities Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener says he’s ever seen.

Widener, who specializes in high-end ranch properties, says the ranch’s size and its intact nature — including the original homestead — make it almost impossible to compare to anything else on the market. The ranch’s size is particularly notable given its proximity to heavily carved-up valleys near Jackson Hole. 

“If you took a ruler and made a line and had a radius around Jackson Hole and you did 100 miles out, this would probably be the largest ranch without encumbrances on it,” he said. “It’s probably one of the larger ranches in existence without easements on it — no encumbrances — and it’s certainly the only one I know of that’s never been sold since homesteading.”

The ranch’s marquee feature is its live water. The 2-mile stretch of the Hoback River means private access to a productive cutthroat trout fishery, all surrounded on three sides by mountains and federally managed land. 

“Every corner you go around that looks like the fish will be in it — they’re in it,” Widener said. “They’re nice-size cutthroat rising to dry flies … It’s just really fun, visual fishing, with the river and the mountains in the background.”

The Hoback isn’t the only live water on the ranch, either. Fisherman’s Creek provides important irrigation diversions that support large meadows across the valley floor, which in turn supports 45 to 100 livestock.

Today the ranch runs about 45 horses for one of the owners. In earlier times, from 80 to 150 cattle grazed there. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wildlife And Wilderness"}]

The ranch lies in a major elk migration corner, and animals have been visible on most of Widener’s visits, from calving cows to bugling bulls in the fall. 

Widener has also seen sage-grouse and sandhill cranes. Grizzly bears and wolves use the property and the surrounding national forest.

The outdoor recreation opportunities are “massive,” Widener said. They range from off-roading, hiking, mountain biking and swimming in freshwater springs to horseback riding. 

There’s also a spot where previous owners maintained a private airstrip. The old windsock is still there, fluttering in the valley breeze.

The homestead’s historic bones are still visible, Widener said. That includes the original homestead and its associated cabins. Some of those cabins still have spent cartridge casings hammered into the walls after they were used to carve the occupants’ initials. 

Widener said the family selling the ranch has chosen not to be identified, but said they are well-known locally and have decided to go in a different direction after the passing of the family’s patriarch a few years ago. 

That history includes a lightning-struck tree near the entrance.

“It looks like a limber pine, but it could be a ponderosa,” Widener said. “It’s really big and old.”

The lightning bolt came straight down, striking the tree in the 1940s, leaving it half-dead. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A 'Show Ranch' Opportunity"}]

In an era when many legacy ranches are getting chopped into smaller luxury parcels, Widener said he sees Hoback River Homestead as a “show ranch” opportunity — the kind that doesn’t come around in every generation.

Other big ranches in the region, such as the Little Jenny, which sold 8 to 10 years ago, contend with public roads slicing through their heart. The Hoback River Homestead does not have that. It sits behind a locked gate on one side, and is surrounded by national forests on the other three sides.

Widener remembers thinking when he first visited how remote the ranch felt. 

“I remember looking around thinking, ‘Man, there’s nobody here,’” he said. “We see this ranch as far more valuable due to its privacy.”

The ranch sits halfway between Jackson and Pinedale, however, and is a short drive from either community, making it convenient for last-minute dinner decisions like sushi in Jackson or steak in Pinedale.

“This is a rare deal, and it would be a shame to see someone not continue on with keeping it as a large parcel — if not making it larger,” he said. “Very few landowners are making ranches larger. A lot of them are getting split up. I’d certainly like to never see this one get split up.”

Hoback 005 7 23 26

<title>2,000-Acre Wyoming Homestead On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the 2,000-acre Hoback River Homestead is on the market. The legacy Wyoming ranch has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River and is listed at $59.5 million.

2,000-Acre Wyoming Homestead On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million

Public Safety

Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday have prompted a lengthy identification process that investigators say could take months, while renewing hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.

Deputies with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office say a deceased individual was discovered in a building on Happy Jack Road. The remains were "essentially skeletal."

The sheriff's office, working with the Laramie County Coroner's Office, said there is no evidence of foul play or any threat to the public.

The discovery has already stirred emotions across Wyoming's missing persons community.

"You're excited because you want closure," said Desirée Tinoco, founder of Missing People of Wyoming. "You want one of those cases that, for years, has been forgotten."

Then comes the realization that every identification also brings devastating news to someone.

"You start to really sympathize and understand this is going to be terrible news also for somebody," Tinoco said. "They are going to get answers, and it's obviously not what they want to hear."

Stacy Koester, president of the Gillette-based nonprofit WyoFind Search, Rescue and Recovery of the Missing, said families across the state experience the same emotional conflict whenever unidentified remains are found.

Loved ones "are both anxious and terrified," she said. "They're hopeful that it could be their person, but they're also terrified that it's their person. They're hopeful because then they'd have answers, but they're terrified because those answers could be devastating."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Who Could It Be?"}]

Both Tinoco and Koester said the location immediately made them think of Nash Quinn, the Laramie-area man who vanished July 8, 2024.

Quinn frequently rode his bicycle in the Pilot Hill, Rogers Canyon and Happy Jack Road areas. Deputies and aerial search teams spent days combing those locations after he disappeared.

Both women, however, stressed there is no evidence connecting the newly discovered remains to Quinn.

Tinoco said that after hearing a dispatch call that the clothing found with the remains might date to the 1990s, she realized the remains could just as easily belong to someone who disappeared decades ago or even someone merely passing through Wyoming.

Before investigators had released many details, she had already received a call from a woman in Colorado whose missing friend was last seen wearing clothing similar to what early reports described.

"Could it be related? We don't know," Tinoco said. "I told her to contact the sheriff's office. That's what you always want to do."

[{"type":"text","text":"Koester likewise cautioned against speculation."}]

"Rumors tend to fly like wildfire," she said. "Nobody knows anything except for law enforcement, and everybody needs to be patient and wait for law enforcement to do what they have to do."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long Wait Ahead"}]

Every discovery, Tinoco said, has the potential to unlock something that had long been buried.

"Getting those new tips, getting that new traction on cases, is what we want," she said. "Even if it isn't for that case, it'll get some good attention on it."

Investigators say the identification process may take several months because of the condition of the remains. No additional information will be released until authorities positively identify the deceased and notify next of kin.

Tinoco said cases like this also remind people how many Wyoming disappearances remain unsolved, some dating back decades.

She noted that many of those investigations are so old the original investigators have retired or died, leaving families and nonprofit organizations to continue pushing for answers.

For now, investigators are asking for patience while they work to determine who was found inside the abandoned building. 

Body found on Happy Jack 7 23 26

<title>Skeletal Remains Found In Abandoned Building West Of Cheyenne | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday could take months to identify, investigators say. The discovery has renewed hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.

Skeletal Remains Found In Abandoned Building West Of Cheyenne

Don Day Weather

Chance of rain in Wyoming on Thursday, otherwise partly sunny in much of the state. Flood watch in parts of central and eastern Wyoming. Highs in the 70s and 80s. Lows in the 50s and low 60s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Chance of rain, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 84 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m. and a low near 61.

Chance of rain, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 84 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m. and a low near 60.

 Flood watch until midnight tonight. Rain likely today with a high near 79 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 60.

 Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 80 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 52.

  Slight chance of rain after 5 p.m., gradually clearing today with a high near 85 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m., a low near 57 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

Slight chance of rain, breezy, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 77 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 8 p.m., a low near 56 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

 Slight chance of rain, patchy smoke after noon, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 80 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 50.

 Slight chance of rain mainly after 1 p.m., patchy smoke before noon, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 83 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 52.

  Slight chance of rain before 10 a.m., patchy smoke after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 81 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 50.

 Chance of rain mainly after 1 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 78 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m. and a low near 52.

  Chance of rain, patchy smoke before 8 a.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 84 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 52.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Chance of rain mainly after 2 p.m., patchy smoke after 11 a.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 79 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m. and a low near 47.

Slight chance of rain after 1 p.m., gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 87 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 64.

:  Chance of rain, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 86 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m. and a low near 64.

  Slight chance of rain before 10 a.m., gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 88 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 61.

   Chance of rain, patchy smoke after 10 a.m., gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 63.

  Chance of rain, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 88 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 59.

:  Chance of rain, mostly cloudy today with a high near 87 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 60.

Chance of rain, mostly cloudy today with a high near 84 and wind gusts as high as 16 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 61.

   Rain likely today with a high near 81 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 61.

:  Rain likely, mostly cloudy today with a high near 78 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 59.

  Flood watch until midnight tonight. Chance of rain after noon, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 81 and partly cloudy overnight with a chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 61.

  Flood watch until midnight tonight. Rain likely today with a high near 79 and mostly clear overnight with a chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 59.

  Rain likely, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and wind gusts as high as 16 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 59.

   Flood watch until midnight tonight. Rain likely after noon today with a high near 77 and partly cloudy overnight with rain likely before midnight and a low near 59.

Daily Smile: Sunday, September 7, 2025

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