Outdoors

Mountain lions are known for their long, thick tails, but experts are baffled over somebody cutting the tail off a mountain lion that might have been killed illegally in Montana.

Nobody Can Figure Out Why Someone Cut Off And Took Mountain Lion’s Tail

Investigators are baffled by the case of somebody killing a mountain lion in Montana, and then cutting off and taking the animal’s head and tail. Taking a head makes sense, officials say, but the tail is baffling.

Mark HeinzFebruary 27, 2025

Spirit was the last cub of Wyoming's most famous bear, Grizzly 399, and was born in 2023. Spirit hasn't been seen since 399 was struck and killed by a car in October 2024, but many people think the cub might have survived the winter and will reappear soon.

Wyoming Grizzlies Could Start Waking Up Any Day, Will Grizzly 399’s Cub Show?

Wyoming’s grizzlies should start emerging from hibernation any time now, but nobody’s sure if Grizzly 399’s cub, Spirit, will be among them.

Mark HeinzFebruary 26, 2025

Wyoming Hunters Say Proposed 100,000-Acre Land Swap Would Be A Raw Deal

An exchange of roughly 100,000 acres between the federal government and a ranch in southcentral Wyoming would improve recreational access, supporters say. But Cowboy State hunters say the swap would be a raw deal.

Mark HeinzFebruary 25, 2025

Sculptor Jocelyn Russell and a rendering of how a larger-than-life bronze memorial to Grizzly 399 could look. It features the famous mother bear with her brood of four cubs huddled underneath her.

New Sculpture Of 399 And 4 Cubs Planned To Memorialize World’s Most Famous Bear

Wyoming’s Grizzly 399 was the world’s most famous bear and is about to be memorialized in larger-than-life bronze. A huge sculpture of the bear with her famous brood of four cubs is planned to be up in the Jackson area by spring 2026.

Andrew RossiFebruary 23, 2025

Firearms instructor Jason Crotteau shoots an SDS Tisas 2011 pistol – which is a Turkish clone of a far more expensive Staccatto 2011 pistol.

‘Turkish Revolution’ Hits American Firearms Scene With Cheap, Plentiful Imports

Turkish firearms were once considered a joke in the United States. Now they’re becoming wildly popular with American shooters, frequently selling for a fraction of the price of domestic brands.

Mark HeinzFebruary 23, 2025

A group of self-described tree-hugging hunters are trying to influence a lawsuit between the state of Montana and Yellowstone National Park about how bison are managed.

Environmentalists Known As “Tree-Hugging Hunters” Want More Yellowstone Bison Hunted

A group of environmentalists who describe themselves as “tree-huggers who hunt," are uniting around a message that might surprise some: They say it’s time to hunt and kill more bison outside Yellowstone National Park.

David MadisonFebruary 23, 2025

Yellowstone National Park employees Rick Hutchinson, right, and Jim Peaco guide the specially designed Little Dipper boat into the boiling waters of Grand Prismatic Spring to collect measurements of the temperature and structure of the feature in 1996.

Little Dipper Allowed Scientists To Float On Scalding Grand Prismatic Spring

Between 1992 and 1996, the Little Dipper was the first and only watercraft in Yellowstone National Park that could safely study Grand Prismatic Spring from the surface of its scalding water. The boat disappeared sometime after 1997, and its fate remains uncertain.

Andrew RossiFebruary 22, 2025

A Winchester Model 1894 rifle has been in Bob Budd’s family for a century. It still shoots straight and symbolizes a connection with the past.

Wyoming Family’s Winchester Rifle Has Been Dropping Deer For A Century

A Winchester Model 1894 rifle has been in Cheyenne resident Bob Budd’s family for a century. He says it still shoots straight and symbolizes a connection with the past as his grandfather and father killed their first deer with it, as did Budd and his two sons.

Mark HeinzFebruary 22, 2025

Opponents of coyote hunting contests say they involve needless killing. But supporters say these events involve ethical coyote hunting, with firearms or archery equipment.

Coyote Hunting Contest Prompts Wyomingites To Weigh Pros, Cons Of Events

Supporters of coyote hunting contests say that they’re helping big game herds. Opponents claim the events accomplish nothing and make Wyoming look bad.

Mark HeinzFebruary 21, 2025

A pair of skiers stop to gawk at a bison near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

Doesn’t Matter The Season, Tourists Still Get Way Too Close To Bison

It really doesn't matter the season, tourists continue to get way too close to wildlife in Yellowstone. Like Thursday morning, when Daryl Adams in Louisiana pulled up the Old Faithful webcam and witnessed dimwitted tourists just feet away from bison.

Andrew RossiFebruary 20, 2025

Coyote Hunt Organizer Says She's Getting Death Threats Over Upcoming Event

An organizer of a coyote predator hunting contest in Sublette County says she’s getting death threats because people are perceiving it to be a “celebration” of the torture and killing of a wolf there last year.

Mark HeinzFebruary 19, 2025

Ryan Williams Spencer Albritton killed this 500-pound black bear in North Carolina, where such a bear would be on the small side.

Eastern Black Bears Are Blimps, Dwarfing Wyoming Grizzlies

In Wyoming, a black bear over 400 pounds is considered a rare trophy. But back East, it would be puny. Bears there gorge on fresh crops and sometimes top 800 pounds.

Mark HeinzFebruary 18, 2025

This huge wolf track in Moffat County, Colorado, is thought to have been made by a female wolf that was relocated from Oregon to Colorado in late 2023.

Colorado “Mystery Wolf” Might Be From Wyoming

Fifteen wolves from Canada, have been spreading out across northwest Colorado after being released last month. There’s also reportedly another mystery wolf running around, although nobody is sure where it came from. It might be from Wyoming.

Mark HeinzFebruary 17, 2025

Why Are These Three Turkeys Endlessly Circling A Gravestone?

If you walk into a graveyard and see three turkeys endlessly circling one headstone, it could be offsetting -- even spooky. That was the scene at a cemetery in North Dakota last week. Although it may seem bizarre, turkey growers say it's no big deal.

Renée JeanFebruary 17, 2025

People might think letting their cats out helps their pets live their best kitty lives, but they’re actually murder machines, killing billions of birds and small animals.

Outdoor Cats Are "Murder Machines" Killing Over 1 Billion Birds Every Year, Say Biologists

Letting pet cats out to roam might seem like it’s doing them a favor, but don’t be fooled — Fluffy is a murder machine. “The estimates are that cats in the U.S. kill a billion birds a year. A billion,” one wildlife biologist told Cowboy State Daily.

Mark HeinzFebruary 16, 2025

Yellowstone Has An Active Ancient Undersea Wasteland 7,300 Feet Above Sea Level

Monument Geyser Basin is one of the most unique areas of Yellowstone National Park. Its ancient undersea wasteland at 7,300 feet above sea level features formerly underwater cones that are still active.

Renée JeanFebruary 16, 2025

Demonstrating a suppressor attached to a Traditions 350 Legend.

Gun Owners Expect Trump To Lift Nearly 100-Year-Old Restrictions On Silencers

Under the Trump administration, Wyoming gun rights advocates hope that a 91-year-old restriction on suppressors — aka silencers — will be lifted. However, nobody expects fully automatic weapons to become readily available.

Mark HeinzFebruary 15, 2025

Since 2008, Wyoming Catholic College has required its students to complete a winter expedition.

Subzero Camping 101 Required For All At Small Wyoming College

The Wyoming backcountry offers a snowy campus for instructor-led expeditions into the Tetons at Wyoming Catholic College. Students are required to complete a course in subzero camping, and some even have fun.

David MadisonFebruary 15, 2025

Liberty Cap at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

The Gumper, Lactose Spring And Puff 'N Stuff Geyser — Yellowstone’s More Obscure Places

For every Old Faithful and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, there's a host of other obscure places like The Gumper, Lactose Spring and Puff 'n Stuff Geyser. A former ranger, turned historian, extensively researched every notable name in Yellowstone.

Andrew RossiFebruary 15, 2025

Wyoming Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik before his retirement Sept. 11, 2024. He began his career with Game and Fish in 1995 and was appointed as director by Gov. Mark Gordon in 2019.

Trump Picks Former Wyoming Game And Fish Chief Nesvik To Head Fish And Wildlife

Only months after retiring as director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Brian Nesvik has been picked by President Donald Trump to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mark HeinzFebruary 12, 2025

‘Shot Heard ‘Round The World’ Observance To Honor 250th Anniversary Of Revolutionary War

Kevin Cox has organized an event on April 19 where gun owners in all 50 states will fire their guns at the same time on the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, otherwise known as the "Shot Heard 'Round The World."

Mark HeinzFebruary 11, 2025

Mikenna and ticks – Mikenna Smith, an entomologist at Teton County Weed and Pest in Jackson, holds an American dog tick.

Oh Yay. There's A New Type Of Tick In Wyoming.

Wyoming already had three well-known ticks that are harmful to humans in the state: The Rocky Mountain wood tick, brown dog tick and a soft tick. Now, it's got a fourth. The American Dog Tick is here and seems to be concentrated in Sheridan County.

Dale KillingbeckFebruary 09, 2025

Wyoming Redneck Chronicles, Part 2: Cheyenne Mechanic's .50 Caliber Black Powder Cannon

A fully-functional miniature black powder cannon sounds like the dream of many a Wyoming man’s inner 14-year-old. Cheyenne mechanic Geno Stecks agrees his .50 caliber piece – modeled after a Revolutionary War Naval gun – is an absolute hoot.

Mark HeinzFebruary 09, 2025

Debbie Neves is one of many mountain lion hunters who succeeded with the help of hounds. Pursuing mountain lions with hounds remains the most effective way to hunt them.

Are Wyoming Mountain Lions Better At Killing Each Other Than Hunters Are At Killing Them?

The best hunters of mountain lions? Mountain lions. A study of mountain lions in the Snowy Range Mountains suggests that the big cats can control their own population just as well, or better, than hunters can.

Mark HeinzFebruary 09, 2025

The Rainbow Room at Big Sky Resort in Montana.

Inside the Smoke Shack Underworld At A Ski Resort Near You

You won't find any smoke shacks listed on a trail map, but they're there. Across the Rocky Mountain West, fort building ingenuity lives on in the shadows of ski areas where friends gather to defog their goggles and fill makeshift structures with marijuana smoke.

David MadisonFebruary 08, 2025

Tiny, A 2,000-Pound Texas Longhorn Is An Officially Registered Emotional Support Animal

Meet Tiny, A 2,000-Pound Texas Longhorn And Officially Registered Emotional Support Animal

Fed up with the “emotional support animal crock of crap,” a Texan decided it would be funny to try registering his massive longhorn steer as an emotional support animal. It worked.

Mark HeinzFebruary 08, 2025

Kevin Costner standing in what he figures to be one of the same campsites used by President Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in 1903.

Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner” TV Show Premieres Saturday Featuring Wyoming Parks

A documentary series premiering on Fox Nation this Saturday explores connections between two of the first national parks, and it follows up Costner’s unscripted project “Yellowstone: One-Fifty.”

David MadisonFebruary 07, 2025

Fishing Could Be Limited To Lures, Flies Because Too Many Released Fish Are Dying

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is considering changes to fishing regulations on the North Platte drainage to artificial flies and lures at the Gray Reef and Fremont Canyon dams because too many released fish are dying.

Zakary Sonntag for Cowboy State DailyFebruary 06, 2025

Trump Administration Shuts Down Controversial Biden-Era Rock Springs Management Plan

Sweetwater County officials were thrilled at news that a controversial federal land management plan had been shut down by the Trump administration. Newly-appointed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum made the decision late Wednesday.

Mark HeinzFebruary 06, 2025

Hunters Say Proposal To Take Away Hunting, Fishing Privileges For Trespass Is Draconian

A proposal to ban people from hunting and fishing anywhere in the country if they get caught trespassing in Wyoming goes overboard, some outdoorsmen said. Others say, the current law is too weak and stiffer penalties are needed.

February 05, 2025

Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce testifies about the potential for grizzly delisting during a Wyoming legislative committee meeting Feb. 4, 2025.

Wyoming Game And Fish Director Says “Stars Are Aligned” For Grizzly Delisting

Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce told legislators Tuesday that getting grizzlies delisted is a top priority for the agency. “I think the stars are aligned,” she said.

Mark HeinzFebruary 04, 2025

Jeff Vanuga of Dubois, Wyoming, captured a remarkable sequence of a wolf pack taking down and devouring a bison, then the bison's herd getting upset and charging people on a nearby road.

Angry Bison Charges Into Crowd Watching Wolf Pack In Yellowstone

As people gathered on a road in Yellowstone to watch a pack of wolves devour a bison, the buffalo’s herd charged into them last week. The stampede sent bundled-up tourists running off the road and behind vehicles for safety.

Andrew RossiFebruary 03, 2025

Sagebrush act as natural snow fences, holding moisture that allows for regeneration of plants come spring, while providing forage in the depths of winter for sage grouse.

Sagebrush Murder Mystery Reveals Two Potential Killers Of Range Plant

In Montana’s Centennial Valley, a sagebrush die-off triggered an investigation into what was killing this anchor species of the open range. The killers turned out to be insects native to the sagebrush seas of the West.

David MadisonFebruary 02, 2025

Like Wolves, Wyoming’s Stray Cats Aren’t Protected From Torture

Wyoming’s stray cats could end up benefiting from a push to protect wolves from torture. Like wolves, they’re considered predators, and some advocate for controlling their numbers through spaying or neutering rather than shooting them.

Mark HeinzFebruary 02, 2025

Grand Prismatic Spring has become the second most popular Yellowstone National Park feature behind only Old Faithful. Much of that has happened in the 21st century as its become a social media darling.

How Grand Prismatic Spring Became Yellowstone's Social Media Darling

In two decades, Grand Prismatic Spring ascended from a beautiful backwater spot to the second most popular destination in Yellowstone National Park. Grand Prismatic’s profile has exploded as Yellowstone’s social media darling.

Andrew RossiFebruary 01, 2025

Curt Gowdy State Park was one of Joel Parker's stops visiting all of Wyoming's state parks in summer 2024.

Tourist Visits Every Wyoming State Park In A Week: Here Are His Favorites

A tourist from Montana visited all 12 of Wyoming’s state parks in a whirlwind weeklong road trip last summer. He also hit all of Montana’s in 2023, and says Wyoming's are "higher quality, on average, in terms of scenery." Here are his favorites.

Anna-Louise Jackson for Cowboy State DailyFebruary 01, 2025

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