Outdoors Reporter

Mark Heinz

Mark Heinz covers the outdoors and wildlife for Cowboy State Daily.

He previously worked or freelanced for numerous newspapers and magazines across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, covering all manner of news and feature stories. He has a strong background in topics related to wildlife, hunting, and wildlands conservation. He's written extensively since the 1990s about the controversies surrounding wolves, grizzly bears and mustangs.

He also enjoys people-centric stories with quirky edge of humor and has written several such pieces for Cowboy State Daily.

Mark lives in Laramie with his wife, Kendy, and the youngest of their five children.

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Latest from Mark Heinz

Marmots might seem pudgy and harmless, but they can disable vehicles by chewing up hoses and wires. Some people wrap their cars in tarps to protect against the ravenous rodents. The National Park Service recomends wrapping your car from the bottom up to ward off the critters.

Marmots Might Seem Harmless, But They’ll Chew Up And Destroy Your Car

Marmots might seem pudgy and harmless, but they can disable vehicles by chewing up hoses and wires. Some people are now wrapping their cars in tarps to protect against the ravenous rodents.

Mark HeinzJune 14, 2025

Hunter Brian van Lanen and guide Lance Kronberger pose with a male grizzly bear that van Lanen shot near Norton Sound, Alaska in September 2024. It set the record for the largest-ever hunter-killed grizzly.

Wisconsin Man Sets New World Record For Largest Grizzly Ever Killed By A Hunter

A Wisconsin man has set a new world record for the largest grizzly ever killed by a hunter. The size of the Alaskan bear is "staggering" and experts say this record will be next to impossible to beat.

Mark HeinzJune 14, 2025

Bigfoot crossing Cheri Alguire via Alamy 6 14 25

After Two Sasquatch Sightings In Colorado, Boulder County Puts On Bigfoot Hunt

Boulder County has been buzzing with Sasquatch fever after two reported sightings this year both in the vicinity of Longmont. So a group of Bigfoot-hunters went out on Friday night to track him down. Although they came up empty-handed, the group plans another outing this summer.

Mark HeinzJune 14, 2025

A locked gate blocks Boswell Road at the Ox Yoke Ranch property line. The property owners say they want to allow public access, but are worried about liability issues — because official jurisdiction over the road remains murky.

Popular Snowy Range Road Stays Closed Because Nobody Can Figure Out Who Owns It

Boswell Road in southeast Wyoming’s Snowy Range has been there since before Wyoming was a state. But it remains officially closed because nobody can figure out who owns it. In the meantime, the closure is killing a housing project.

Mark HeinzJune 14, 2025

Yellowstone National Park visitor Vince Botkin said unidentified tourists used a drone to buzz an osprey nest in the park. The National Park Service confirmed that “an individual” was cited for illegally flying a drone near an osprey nest late Thursday.

Tourist Who Buzzed Yellowstone Osprey Nest With Drone Could Get Six Months In Jail

A tourist allegedly used a drone to buzz an osprey nest in Yellowstone National Park and could face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine for the violation of park rules.

Mark HeinzJune 12, 2025

Tempers flared during a legislative hearing Wednesday during debates over whether Wyoming ranchers should be allowed to sell their landowner hunting tags. It could be just a warm-up to the fight that’s ahead in the 2026 session. Pictured is Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Cultural Resources Committee Chairman Sen. Tim French, R-Powell, in a file photo from the 2025 session.

Tempers Flare Over Selling Landowner Hunting Tags During Heated Hearing

Tempers flared during a legislative hearing Wednesday in debates over whether Wyoming ranchers should be allowed to sell their landowner hunting tags. It could be just a warm-up a fight ahead in the 2026 session.

Mark HeinzJune 12, 2025

A group of pronghorn does relentlessly pursue a coyote that tried to snatch one of the herd’s fawns in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley.

Yellowstone Antelope Relentlessly Chase Coyote That Tried To Snatch Fawn

Getting a meal is no easy task for coyotes in Yellowstone National Park. One unfortunate coyote was relentlessly pursued by some pronghorn after trying to snatch a fawn in the Lamar Valley.

Mark HeinzJune 10, 2025

A Wyoming bull elk with a group of females.

‘Nonresident Native’ Tags Could Bring Former Wyomingites Back Home To Hunt

People born and raised in Wyoming who move to other states must pay expensive nonresident tag fees to come back to hunt. Legislators are considering lower-priced “nonresident native” hunting tags for them.

Mark HeinzJune 09, 2025

After being shot down in the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 session, a proposal to let Wyoming landowners put their hunting tags up for sale was revived before a legislative committee Friday.

Controversial Proposal To Let Landowners Sell Hunting Tags Revived

After being shot down during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 session, a proposal to let Wyoming landowners put their hunting tags up for sale was revived before a legislative committee Friday.

Mark HeinzJune 07, 2025

Despite their declining numbers across Wyoming and the West, mule deer remain wildly popular among wildlife watchers and hunters.

Wyoming’s Golden Age Of Mule Deer Is Gone, With Fewer Than Half Of Peak Numbers

Wyoming has fewer than half of the 500,000 mule deer it did during the heyday of the 1960s to 1980s, and it will likely never see mule deer herds like that again, a Game and Fish official told legislators Friday.

Mark HeinzJune 06, 2025

Lawmakers Ponder What, If Anything, Can Be Done To Regulate Extreme-Range Hunting

Wyoming legislators on Friday discussed what can be done, if anything, to regulate extreme-range hunting. In one much talked-about instance, a hunter in Fremont County shot an antelope from 2,000 yards away.

Mark HeinzJune 06, 2025

Jeremy Shellhorn, from left, Miranda Foster and Pam Murcia install an innovative sign to deter speeding through a grizzly bear corridor in Grand Teton National Park.

‘Sad Bear’ Signs Target Stretch Of Highway Where Grizzlies Keep Getting Hit

Researchers are taking a new route to keep drivers from barreling through Grand Teton grizzly habitat. They're tugging on people's heartstrings by putting up “sad bear” roadside signs, urging them to slow down.

Mark HeinzJune 06, 2025

Other Authors

A group of pronghorn graze near a Wyoming wind farm.

As Minerals, Wind And Solar Projects Boom In Wyoming, Should Companies Pay For Displaced Wildlife?

State Sen. Larry Hicks is proposing a bill that would compensate Wyoming residents for “loss of property” when huge wind, solar, minerals or other energy projects displace wildlife.

Mark HeinzJune 05, 2025

When the first Hogs For Hope motorcycle rally against wolf torture rolled into Daniel on May 26, 2024, locals blocked off the front of the Green River Bar with trailers. Rally organizers had planned to meet on the front porch of the bar and present wolf advocates with a check from donations raised by Hogs For Hope.

Hunter Calls For Counter-Protest During Daniel Rally Against Wolf Torture

An outdoorsman is calling for people to show up in Daniel on June 14 to support Wyoming’s wolf management policies and to counter what he says is the inaccurate demonization of local resident Cody Roberts.

Mark HeinzJune 05, 2025

The antler auction in Jackson has been a tradition each May for 58 years, but this year sales plummeted to about half of normal.

Early Elk Migration Could Be To Blame For Low Sales At Jackson Antler Auction

An early elk migration out of the National Elk Refuge could be to blame for a plunge in revenue from this year’s elk antler auction in Jackson. The annual auction consistently pulls in about $200,000 but this year’s auction generated only $109,000.

Mark HeinzJune 04, 2025

Cows and bison with Devils Tower in distance.

Wyoming Rancher Says His Cows Mysteriously Fell Over Dead, Like Cows On Colorado Ranch

A Crook County rancher said the baffling deaths of 15 Colorado cattle is eerily familiar. He never did figure out what killed more than 40 of his cows years ago. “It killed them instantly, whatever it was. They just dropped,” Clint Snook said.

Mark HeinzJune 03, 2025

Goliath, a 33-year-old, mustang stallion who lived a hardscrabble life on the Wyoming range now enjoys freedom on a 9,000-acre sanctuary in Oregon.

Elderly Wyoming Mustangs Enjoy Life On Oregon Sanctuary They Helped Make Famous

Goliath and Blue Zeus are two huge mustang stallions who lived hardscrabble lives on the Wyoming range and now enjoy freedom and plentiful forage on a 9,000-acre horse sanctuary in Oregon. Goliath is 33-years-old while Blue Zeus is 24.

Mark HeinzJune 03, 2025

Grizzly 1063, aka Bonita, has one cub left, after her other two cubs were killed last month by a large male grizzly.

Hazing Of Grizzly 1063 Led To Cubs Being Killed, Photographer Tom Mangelsen Says

World famous wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen said he believes the National Park Service's "hard hazing" of Grizzly 1063 last month led to two of her cubs being killed and cannibalized by a large male grizzly. The National Park Service disputes that.

Mark HeinzJune 03, 2025

The Higgs family ranch near Coal Creek, Colorado, lost 15 cattle in a single day. The animals, mostly heifers (mother cows) died suddenly after suffering seizures, and nobody can figure out why.

15 Cattle Dropped Dead In One Day On Colorado Ranch Remains A Mystery

A Colorado ranch family suffered a devastating loss when 15 head of cattle died suddenly in a single day. Weeks later, they still haven’t figured out why.

Mark HeinzJune 02, 2025

Ticks may be tiny, but tens of thousands of them at a time can be big trouble for Wyoming moose. The blood-sucking parasites can even mean a miserable death for moose.

As Tough As Moose Are, Tens Of Thousands Of Ticks Can Bring Them Down

Given their massive size and cantankerous attitudes, Wyoming’s moose might seem practically indestructible, but if enough ticks pile on to a moose, they can kill it -- and they do.

Mark HeinzJune 01, 2025

Spirit is the sole cub born to Grizzly 399 in 2023.

Why It Probably Doesn't Make Any Sense To Keep Searching For Grizzly 399's Cub, Spirit

Since Wyoming’s most famous bear, Grizzly 399, was killed by a car last fall, there hasn't been a verified sighting of her cub, Spirit. Famed wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, who named the cub, says it would probably take genetic testing to positively identify the bear.

Mark HeinzMay 31, 2025

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