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

A Sweetwater County animal control officer holds George, a pesky opossum that was living under a local resident's home in summer 2022.

Despite What Wildlife Experts Say, Wyoming Has Plenty Of Opossums -- And They Reek

Cowboy State Daily readers reached out to us -- en masse -- to tell us although there may not be an "official" opossum population in Wyoming, they're here and there are a lot of them. And, as a bonus, they really stink.

Mark HeinzDecember 08, 2024

A scout rifle is a short-barreled, all-purpose rifle with a low-powered scope for quick target acquisition. The design was conceived by Marine Corps veteran and legendary small arms expert Jeff Cooper. Van Dorsten Custom Firearms in Sheridan specializes in scout rifles.

Made In Wyoming: Gunsmith Gets Back To Basics Making Custom “Scout Rifles”

With the hunting rifle world increasingly dominated by magnum-caliber, extreme-range rifles, semiautomatics and super-powered scopes, a Sheridan gunmaker hopes to carve out his niche with compact, handy “scout rifles.”

Mark HeinzDecember 08, 2024

Randy Haas, an assistant professor in the University of Wyoming department of anthropology practices using an ancient weapon called an atlatl. He did it with his son, Hank, on his back to see if it was possible for ancient people to hunt huge beasts like mammoths while packing their kids.

Stone Age People Could Easily Hunt Packing A Baby, Wyoming Anthropologist Finds

Taking your toddler hunting is nothing new in Wyoming, or in human history for that matter. A University of Wyoming anthropologist says there's evidence that stone-age hunters took their kids hunting with them.

Mark HeinzDecember 07, 2024

Thieves are targeting horses, stealing their tails to sell on the black market for big money.

Horsehair Thieves Cutting Off Horse Tails And Manes In Albany County

Thieves supply a black market for horsehair by sneaking into pastures and stalls and cutting off the animals’ tails and manes. Horse owners say there’s been a rash of such crimes around Laramie.

Mark HeinzDecember 07, 2024

Parc Omega is a wildlife preserve in Canada that lets people stay in lodges next to a wolf preserve, with large picture windows to view the predators up close.

Lodges That Let People "Sleep With The Wolves" A Bad Idea, Wyoming Wildlife Experts Say

A wildlife preserve in Canada has lodges where visitors have only a pane of glass between them and a pack of wolves. Billed as a chance to “sleep with the wolves,” Wyoming wildlife officials say it’s a terrible idea.

Mark HeinzDecember 07, 2024

Yippie-Ki-Yay! Cody Gun Range Offers Holiday “Die Hard” Experience

For those who think “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie, a gun range in Cody will let you shoot the weapons Bruce Willis uses in the classic action film. Yippie-Ki-Yay!

Mark HeinzDecember 07, 2024

Canadian Man Severely Mauled After Jumping On Polar Bear To Save Wife

A Canadian man was severely mauled on Monday after jumping on a polar bear that was attacking his wife. His heroics are similar to how a Wyoming wrestler saved a friend by jumping on a grizzly bear in 2022.

Mark HeinzDecember 06, 2024

Cade Cole hunts and guides hunts for elk in the Dubois area. He said hunting was rough this year in the aftermath of massive wildfires.

Wyoming Has Plenty Of Elk, But Hunters Aren’t Finding Them This Year

Even though parts of Wyoming have more elk than ever, hunters are reporting a poor season this year. Warm weather and the aftermath of massive wildfires are likely to blame.

Mark HeinzDecember 05, 2024

A clue on a recent episode of the nationally syndicated quiz show "Jeopardy!" featured a direct reference to retired University of Wyoming archeology professor Robert Kelly.

Retired Wyoming Professor Completely Surprised He Was A "Jeopardy!" Answer

Retired University of Wyoming archeology professor Robert Kelly doesn't watch TV, but his siblings do. He said he was completely surprised on Thanksgiving when he started getting texts telling him he was an answer on "Jeopardy!"

Mark HeinzDecember 03, 2024

The Selfie Control Instagram filter from the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board tells people when they're too close to take photos of wildlife.

App Aims To Keep Tourists From Getting Mauled When Taking Selfies With Wildlife

The Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board is trying to keep tourists in Wyoming from getting gored and mauled by wildlife. Its Selfie Control Instagram app tells people when they’re too close for photos.

Mark HeinzDecember 02, 2024

A hunter killed a cow elk in southeast Colorado last week and discovered these bizarre deformities to the animal’s hooves. He’s not certain what caused the weird growth, but it seems to mirror the effects of an elk hoof disease that’s been spreading in Washington State.

Hunter Baffled By Elk’s Weirdly Deformed Hooves

A Colorado hunter killed a cow elk last week that looked normal and healthy — except for some weirdly deformed hooves. Biologists say the elk is not a mutant, but the bizarre hoof deformities mirror the effects of an elk disease that’s spreading in other states.

Mark HeinzDecember 01, 2024

Critics Say Unchecked Traps Killing Wyoming Mountain Lions, Pets

Some claim traps should be checked more often to save pets and wildlife that get caught in them. But one experienced trapper says they already do that, and freeing a mistakenly trapped grizzly isn’t a DIY job.

Mark HeinzDecember 01, 2024

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This opossum showed up last week in a garage in Pine Bluffs. Opossums aren’t known to permanently occupy Wyoming, but they might occasionally wander in from Nebraska.

Wyoming Isn't Known For Having Opossums But It's Got At Least One

Wyoming doesn’t have a known wild opossum population, but that could change as two neighboring states have them -- Nebraska and Colorado. One showed up in Pine Bluffs last week and seems to have a fondness for cat food.

Mark HeinzNovember 30, 2024

Flocks of wild turkeys are moving about Casper. Although the city outlawed feeding them about a year ago, it hasn't seemed to cut down on the wild turkeys coming into town.

No, You Can’t Make Wild Turkeys In Sheridan And Casper Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Mobs of wild urban turkeys in Sheridan and Casper, Wyoming, can be thankful they’re not on the Thanksgiving menu. It’s illegal to hunt turkeys in those cities, although that could change in Sheridan.

Mark HeinzNovember 28, 2024

An Estes Park, Colorado couple got to see the inside of a bear’s mouth the safe way – when it tried eating one of the nine Ring cameras they have set up to capture wildlife videos.

Bear Caught On Video Trying To Eat Colorado Couple's Ring Camera

An Estes Park, Colorado, couple got to see the inside of a bear’s mouth the safe way last week — when it tried eating one of their nine Ring cameras. They've caputured lots of wildlife on the cameras, including an elk sneezing on one.

Mark HeinzNovember 27, 2024

After chasing off a photographer that got too close, a bull moose checks out a camera near Wyoming’s Grand Tetons.

Spot Near Grand Teton Is A Moose Magnet, But Too Many People Could Ruin It

If you want to see a moose, there's a spot near Kelly, Wyoming, that draws a ton of them during the early winter. It's so popular that locals are worried that the area will be discovered and ruined by the gawking humans.

Mark HeinzNovember 25, 2024

Wojtek was an orphaned brown bear cub that was adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II and served honorably during the war. He helped move ammunition during battle and achieved the rank of corporal.

Polish Army Fought Alongside 600-Pound Bear Who Liked Booze & Cigarettes In World War II

As a Polish war unit prepared to enter the war zone in Italy in 1943, they hit a snag because animals were not allowed to accompany troops into battle but they got around that rule. They officially enlisted the bear as a private, giving him a salary and a serial number.

Mark HeinzNovember 24, 2024

Fierce Loyalty Of Wyoming’s Wolf Packs Make It Easier To Track Them

Wyoming's 350 wolves are scattered among 30 packs, raising the question of how those wolves, packs and pack membership are tracked. It's quite simple. They don't veer outside their packs. They live and die with the packs they were born into.

Mark HeinzNovember 23, 2024

A station with bags for people to pick up and pack out their poo while hiking on Mount Elbert in Colorado, the second tallest peak in the Lower 48.

No More Free-Range Pooping: Human-Poop Bags At Hiking Trailheads Are A Thing Now

“Sustainable pooping” has become an outdoors recreation catchphrase, with people expected to pack their own human waste out in plastic bags. Kiosks with these human-poop bags are popping up along popular hiking trails, like Mount Elbert in Colorado.

Mark HeinzNovember 22, 2024

If Wyoming Grizzlies Make It To Utah, They’ll Probably Get Sent Back

While it’s almost certain that Wyoming grizzlies will eventually migrate into Utah, they won’t be welcome to stay there. Unlike Wyoming, Utah does not have a sustainable habitat for grizzly bears.

Mark HeinzNovember 22, 2024

University of Wyoming trustees meet Friday, rejecting a proposal to allow concealed carry on campus.

University Of Wyoming Trustees Reject Campus Concealed Carry On Split Vote

The University of Wyoming trustees voted Friday against allowing the concealed carry of handguns on campus. But the Wyoming Legislature could still override that decision.

Mark HeinzNovember 22, 2024

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